Tuesday Briefing: Trump starts building his cabinet

November 12, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for key positions and the U.N. climate talks in Azerbaijan.

Plus, West African fine dining.

Elise Stefanik stands at a podium during a Trump rally.

Representative Elise Stefanik was asked to be the U.N. ambassador. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Trump starts forming his administration

President-elect Donald Trump is making decisions about his administration.

Trump appointed Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, to the role of U.N. ambassador and is expected to name Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, to be deputy chief of staff with a vast portfolio.

Thomas Homan, a senior immigration official in the last Trump administration, was named “border czar.” Trump last week picked his campaign manager, Susie Wiles, to be his chief of staff.

Stefanik has relatively little diplomatic or foreign policy experience. A staunch supporter of Israel, she has accused the U.N. of being plagued by “antisemitic rot” and proposed blocking funding for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

Many Israeli officials in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government have celebrated Trump’s victory. We talked to Patrick Kingsley, our Jerusalem bureau chief, about what may lie in store for the Middle East.

What changes might we see in the relationship between Israel and the U.S.?

Patrick: Many on the Israeli right hope that a Trump presidency will give them greater political cover to install Jewish settlers in Gaza, entrench Israeli control over the West Bank, overhaul the Israeli judicial system and launch bigger strikes on Iran.

But Trump is unpredictable, and his interests may not always align with Israel’s. For example, he suggested last month that he would not support regime change in Iran, a goal for some Israeli leaders.

Trump has promised in the past to bring peace to the Middle East. With the region in tumult, how plausible is that goal?

When last in office, Trump helped forge landmark diplomatic ties between Israel and three Arab countries, ties that remain intact. Once back in power, he may aim to forge a similar pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But he will find it far harder to seal a deal between Israel and the Palestinians — without which it will be impossible to achieve lasting peace in the region. And while it’s likely that early in his tenure there will be cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon, those truces would likely have been reached under a Harris presidency, too.

Read the full Q&A with Patrick here.

More on Trump and diplomacy

Bitcoin prices reached a new high of about $82,000 as a rally that began after Trump’s election gained steam.
Will Trump rekindle a bromance with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un? Some South Koreans are worried.
As Trump threatens a bigger trade war with China, tariffs may be more potent, but the Chinese economy is less reliant on U.S. markets.
Some in Iran’s new government think Trump’s presidency will provide an opportunity to make a lasting deal with the U.S.

A glass and metal structure marks an entry point to venue in Baku Azerbaijan where COP29, the U.N. climate talks, begin on Monday.

Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press

U.N. climate talks opened

World leaders opened the global climate summit, COP29, in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, yesterday and faced a bleak reality: The U.S., the country responsible for pumping the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, is expected to soon drop out of the fight against climate change.

During the two-week talks, financial support for developing countries is expected to be a focus, but the U.S. is likely to abandon its plans to give aid. Trump also intends to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the 2015 international pact to protect the planet.

Context: The talks are being hosted by an autocratic government whose economy relies almost entirely on fossil fuels. Why is COP29 being held in Baku?

A pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Europa League football match in Amsterdam. Jeroen Jumelet/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

How the attacks on Israeli soccer fans unfolded

Tensions were already high in Amsterdam before the attacks last week on visiting Israeli soccer fans at an Europa League match. The city is home to a large Muslim population, many of whom are angry over Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war.

Things started to escalate in the hours leading up to the match Thursday night: Israeli soccer fans stoked anger by chanting incendiary slogans, including declaring that there were “no children” in Gaza anymore, and by defiling the Palestinian flag. Civic leaders say the Israeli fans were then assaulted on multiple occasions in different locations. Here’s what else we know about how the attacks unfolded.

MORE TOP NEWS

People standing next to a destroyed building.

Destruction in the town of Almat, north of Beirut. Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

The Middle East

Lebanon: The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for more than 20 towns and villages in the south as its conflict with Hezbollah deepened.
Gaza: Israel’s military said that it had expanded a humanitarian zone it created in the south ahead of a U.S. deadline for Israel to deliver more aid or risk a cutoff of military supplies.
Diplomacy: Leaders from across the Muslim world met in Riyadh as Saudi Arabia has signaled a rapprochement with Iran.
Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested to delay testifying at his ongoing corruption trial.
Syria: More than 470,000 people, mostly Syrians, have fled Lebanon and crossed into Syria in the last six weeks, aid groups say.

Elsewhere

Japan: Shigeru Ishiba won a vote in Parliament to carry on as prime minister and will lead a minority government.
China: Local authorities shut down a nighttime bike ride between two cities after it drew tens of thousands of students.
Haiti: Prime Minister Garry Conille was fired by the country’s ruling council after a political power struggle.
U.K.: The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver halted sales of his children’s book and issued an apology in response to accusations that the book stereotyped Australian Indigenous culture.
Space: A brief visit of NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft near Uranus in 1986 overlapped with an exceptional solar event, scientists said.
Colombia: Sara Samaniego brands herself as Latin America’s first recycling influencer through her character, Marce the Recycler.

Sports

Soccer: A Premier League referee has been suspended after footage emerged on social media of him criticizing Jurgen Klopp.
N.F.L.: The sky is falling in on the Chicago Bears after another loss, this time against the New England Patriots, writes Mike Sando.
Tennis: Barbora Krejcikova, No. 10 in the women’s singles rankings, criticized the Tennis Channel after comments were made on a broadcast about her physical appearance during the WTA Finals.

MORNING READ

Five people are gathered around a table covered with food and a purple tablecloth.

Photograph by Delali Ayivi. Set design by Leilin Lopez-Toledo

The immigrant cuisines most recognizable in Europe and the U.S. are often those served at hole-in-the-wall restaurants and halal carts. But today, chefs and restaurateurs of West African descent are seeking a different entry point: They are opening high-end restaurants in Paris, London, New York and elsewhere, creating some of the most exciting dishes you’ll find today.

Lives lived: Hama Amadou, a politician who alternated stints in high office in Niger with prison and exile, has died at age 74.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

An exercise gender gap: Women have less time to work out than men. Their health pays the price.
Mattel’s mistake: The toy company accidentally listed a porn website on the packaging for its dolls for the movie “Wicked.”
A question to our culture reporters: When everyone else at the theater gives a standing ovation, do I have to?

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

A woman in jeans and a black shirt sits on a couch and gazes at a framed photograph of a young child.

Nolis Anderson for The New York Times

The grief of never having grandchildren

A growing number of Americans say they are unlikely to have children. Now their parents are grappling with what that means for them.

Would-be grandparents may experience a deep sense of longing and loss when their children opt out of parenthood, even if they understand that their children do not “owe” them a family legacy, said Claire Bidwell Smith, a therapist based in Los Angeles. It’s a kind of grief, she said, that our culture tends not to recognize, and that people don’t know how to talk about. Read more here.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A plate of crispy smashed potatoes with fried onions and parsley.

Jospeph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini

Cook: These are the crispiest smashed potatoes with fried onions and parsley.

Read: The Booker Prize will be announced today. Which of these six novels should win?

Watch: “Dune: Prophecy” takes place 10,000 years before the action in the two “Dune” movies.

Travel: Cruise lines are offering more off-season trips in the Mediterranean at bargain prices.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Gaya

P.S. Russell Goldman is our new senior global news editor.

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