Trump appoints Mike Huckabee ambassador to Israel. Rubio and Waltz, two hawks (loyalists) for foreign policy

Two ongoing wars - in Ukraine and the Middle East, with the involvement, however indirect, of the United States - call for quick choices of high-profile and experienced figures. So do the tensions with China around Taiwan and those with North Korea in the Sea of Japan.

Rubio - 53 years old, Cuban-American, born in Miami - is the great advocate of an aggressive, muscular foreign policy against America's geopolitical enemies: from China to Ira and Cuba. At one time he was also a rival and critic of Trump.

In recent years, however, he has softened some of his positions to come closer to the line of Trump, who has promised to reduce the engagement - financial and political - of the United States in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. It has also withdrawn its initial objections to mass expulsions of illegal immigrants, again conforming to its leader's forceful promises.

Rubio said in recent interviews that Ukraine should seek a negotiated settlement with Russia rather than focus on regaining territories that are now controlled by Russia's forces. He was also among the 15 Republican senators to vote against a $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine passed in April. "I'm not on Russia's side, but unfortunately the reality is that the way the war in Ukraine will end is with a negotiated settlement," Rubio told Nbc in September. Again: 'The US is funding a war that is at an impasse.

Rubio - who was also considered for the vice-presidency, which later went to JD Vance - has greatly helped Trump's campaign to win decisive support among voters of Hispanic origin. His initiatives in Congress were numerous and always aggressive: against China's TikTok, against Beijing's technology companies, but also against Cuba and Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela.

With Waltz - 50 years old, former Special Forces Green Beret, National Guard officer, Afghanistan war veteran, Florida Congressman - Trump also filled the second box of the three that make up the American foreign policy team: Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence and National Security Advisor.

Waltz, 50 years old and an iron-clad Trumpian, is considered a wall-to-wall advocate with China: a foreign policy hawk who has harshly criticised Beijing's moves in the Asia-Pacific, going so far as to suggest that the US must be prepared for conflict in the region. And looking at national security in a broader sense, he has already advised Trump to reduce reliance on China on strategic minerals. He has also been very critical of NATO and the allies' contribution to collective security, as well as support for Ukraine. In a recent article he declared that 'the era of blank cheques to Kiev is over'.

Waltz, a former Green Beret, the army's special corps, and a multi-decorated man, will be Trump's closest figure in foreign policy: the chair of national security advisor does not require parliamentary confirmation, but coordinates the positions of the various ministries and implements the White House's priorities. It is no coincidence that Trump fired three security advisers during his first administration, because of disputes or because they were not aligned with him.

For the Pentagon, Trump is looking for a loyal, unencumbered general ready to carry out orders. A decision is expected in the next few days, and the names of candidates range from well-known figures in the military to a list of loyalists from the first Trump administration, among whom retired General Keith Kellogg, 80 years old, already in the National Security until 2020, seems to stand out. On the other hand, the candidature of former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has been crushed before it even took shape: Trump dismissed him with a post on social media.

But also the new Pentagon chief, in the president-elect's vision, will above all have to swear to follow and support the commander in chief without objection. Trump wants to avoid the hindrances and controversies that, in his first term, forced him to change the Secretary of Defence four times: former officers and experts in military strategy followed one another in the same chair only to resign or be fired, sometimes remaining in office for very short periods, often showing some resistance to the directives coming from the White House.

"The choice of defence secretary will tell us a lot about how Trump will reorganise the Pentagon," said Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine colonel. Trump - Cancian explained - wants to avoid confrontation with the military, he is looking for military personnel who 'support his desire to end US involvement in wars', and who agree to use the military to control the US-Mexico border and support the hard line against Iran.

A America first Pentagon, then, in line with the new administration's isolationism, criticism of Europe and NATO. Harsh against China. But flexible in following directions.

After the nomination of Rubio and Waltz, it is also in the Secretary of Defence that Trump wants to find support. "I would like to have generals like Hitler had, totally loyal, ready to follow orders," this is what Trump confided in his first term, according to the reconstruction of John Kelly, Marine general and Trump's chief of staff in the White House from 2017 to 2019.

Beyond the unbelievable glorification of Nazism, in his time as president, Trump has certainly grown frustrated at encountering resistance that was incomprehensible to him, even in the Pentagon and the armed forces. Time after time, senior Pentagon officials, whether in uniform or suit and tie, attempted to redress Trump's statements on social media, worked to dissuade, delay, or scuttle Trump's plans: on transgender military rights; on announced troop withdrawals from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan; on the call to use the military to police the Mexican border and curb civil unrest in the streets of Washington.

Kellog, a figure of proven loyalty to the tycoon, would be a guarantee for Trump in this respect. A retired general, and therefore close to the interests of the military leadership, he was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and, during the campaign, proposed a plan to end the war in Ukraine, which includes forcing Moscow and Kiev to sit at the negotiating table and excluding Ukraine's membership of NATO

'The generals were not as flexible as he had imagined: as a result, Trump became tougher on the military leadership,' Cancian further explained.

Launching the handover, outgoing Secretary of Defence General Lloyd Austin stated a few days ago that 'the United States military stands ready to obey all lawful orders in its chain of command' and emphasised that 'every soldier swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States'.

Almost a warning to Trump, who expects more from his ministers as well as from the military leadership. And that is why he is also looking for a loyalist for the defence ministry: a general who is not cumbersome, even grey, but who will follow orders and show total loyalty to the new president.