• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, November 18, 2016

Throughout the campaign, Trump surrogates like Ben Carson insisted there were "two Trumps, a private persona and a provocative public one." Now that Donald Trump is president-elect, which Trump will govern?

His first two major appointments sustain the idea of two Trumps.

They leave the door open for him to move in various directions. He'll either veer toward the more-traditional, Paul Ryan-vein of the Republican Party through his Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, or pursue the full-nationalist, alt-right ideology of chief strategist and senior counselor Steve Bannon.

Trump’s transition team has now made a few additional top appointments, which help to paint a picture of what a Trump presidency might entail.

Longtime supporters Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have been appointed to top positions in the Trump Administration.

Lt. Gen. Flynn, who tweeted back in February that “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions,” will be Trump’s national security advisor. In his tweet, Flynn added a link to a video that claims Islam aims to have “80% of people enslaved or exterminated.”

While the rhetoric may be subdued, one can assume these positions, which Flynn has held publicly, will inform his role as adviser to the president.

Adding to the alt-right, Bannon-esque direction in which Trump appears to be moving, he tapped one of his earliest supporters in Congress, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be Attorney General. Sessions has been criticized over the years for racially tinged comments, including being barred from serving as a federal judge after colleagues testified he joked the KKK was "OK" — until he discovered members smoked marijuana.

The third significant recent appointment is Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as director of the CIA. Pompeo appears to be a more moderate selection, having taken his time to tepidly endorse Trump, supporting Sen. Marco Rubio in the primaries.  

Trump is meeting with Mitt Romney this weekend. His team has also floated South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for a potential cabinet post -- again confusing the narrative. The trend is toward a staunchly nationalist and less civil rights-oriented administration, particularly considering the Flynn and Sessions appointments.