The president-elect began filling his cabinet ahead of the January 16 inauguration, tapping neocon Marco Rubio as secretary of state and non-interventionist Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Some see this move as a strategy to calibrate the country’s foreign policy.

Meanwhile, war veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth is poised to become the next defense secretary.

Billionaire Elon Musk has been tasked to lead the newly launched Department of Government Efficiency alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Matt Gaetz — who was formerly the target of a sex trafficking investigation by the Department of Justice — has been tapped attorney general to head the very same department, at the surprise of many Republicans.

Senate Democrats are on a race against time to confirm as many federal judges as possible to limit the influence of Republicans, who are expected control both the executive and legislative branches of government.

In the last part of the programme, we get an update from Japan on Shigeru Ishiba’s re-election as Prime Minister.


9:05am-9:50am: Donald Trump's cabinet picks

9:05am-9:50am: Kendall Johnson, Head of the School of English and former Director of the American Studies Programme, The University of Hong Kong

9:05am-9:30am: Ross Feingold, Director of Research at Cyrus Consulting and former Asia Chairman of Republicans Abroad

9:30am-9:50am: Jeffrey Swartz, Professor at Cooley Law School and former court judge in Miami Dade County


9:50am-10:00am: Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba's victory

9:45am10:00am: Masato Kamikubo, Professor at the Graduate School of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto)