New US government

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Newly elected US President Donald Trump is currently putting together his cabinet. Tesla billionaire Elon Musk has been put in charge of a newly created Ministry of Government Efficiency. A presenter from Trump's favorite channel Fox News is to become US Secretary of Defense.

Musk is to work with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to reduce bureaucracy, cut spending and restructure federal agencies, Trump wrote on Musk's online platform X. The department will work "outside the government". Musk supported Trump during the election campaign with lavish donations.

Musk not only supported Trump financially - he also appeared at campaign events.

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120 million dollars invested in election campaign
Musk is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and has become firmly intertwined with Trump's inner circle in recent months. The tech titan and richest person in the world has done a lot to earn this position. Up until mid-October alone, he poured around 120 million dollars into the ex-president's election campaign, particularly in the potentially decisive state of Pennsylvania. He also flooded his more than 200 million followers on his online platform X day after day with calls to vote for Trump and scathing criticism of Democratic rival candidate Kamala Harris.

Vivek Ramaswamy

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Musk particularly harped on the controversial topic of immigration. He spread the false claim that the Democrats were flying in migrants to turn the election. Even users who don't follow him directly saw pro-Trump posts about the "for you" vote flushed into their timelines.

Biotech entrepreneur with Musk in ministry
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is to work alongside Musk in the new ministry. Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur. He ran as a political outsider in the 2024 Republican primaries and is a successful author who has campaigned for market-oriented reforms in the past.

Pete Hegseth

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Fox News host as Secretary of Defense
Fox News presenter and veteran Pete Hegseth is set to become US Secretary of Defense. "Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First," said Trump. With Hegseth at the helm, "America's enemies" would be warned. Hegseth has served as a soldier in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba. "Our military will be great again, and America will never back down," said the future US president.

Too "extremist" for the US army
Hegseth once said he left the army in 2021 after being labeled an extremist there. "The feeling was mutual - I didn't want this army anymore either," Hegseth said in his book "The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free".

Hegseth currently hosts the program "Fox & Friends Weekend" on the right-wing conservative channel Fox News. Trump liked to appear on the morning show during the election campaign to promote his issues.

As previously reported, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is to become US Secretary of Homeland Security. The Republican was very committed to border security, Trump explained on Tuesday. Noem was the first female governor to deploy National Guard soldiers "to help Texas fight the Biden border crisis".