Loyalty trumps everything – What we know about the 47th president-elect’s cabinet

O f 44 people who served in Donald Tump’s cabinet during his first administration, only 4 endorsed him for the presidency in 2024. As he told influential podcaster Joe Rogan days before the election, his biggest mistake was to appoint “disloyal people”.

The 47th president-elect clearly doesn’t intend to make the same mistake this time round, from what we know of the cabinet choices and other political appointments he has made so far.

Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles

The first appointment to be announced by the Trump team was not a huge surprise. Trump said that Wiles had “just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history”, describing her as “tough, smart, innovative”, and “universally admired and respected”.

An experienced political operator who cut her political teeth working on Ronald Reagan’s campaign team in 1980, Wiles has decades of experience in Republican politics in Florida, where she masterminded Ron DeSantis’s successful campaign for governor.

Her relative lack of Washington experience has been spun as a virtue by people close to Trump who say she has no pre-existing loyalties or ties to Washington bureaucrats or insiders.

Secretary of State: Marco Rubio

Once a bitter rival whom Trump ridiculed as “little Marco” when he ran against him in the 2016 Republican primaries, Marco Rubio was elected to the US Senate in 2010 with the support of Tea Party funding. Considered hawkish on foreign policy, Rubio’s confrontational stance against China will align him closely with the president-elect.

Rubio’s views on Nato in the past – he co-sponsored a bill which would prevent any US president from pulling out of Nato without congressional approval – would put him at odds with Trump. So would his hard line on Russia. But more recently he has endorsed Trump’s position on Ukraine, saying the war “needs to be brought to a conclusion”.

Rubio is a staunch supporter of Israel, who views Iran as a “terrorist regime”. He urged the Netanyahu government to respond with force to missile attacks launched in Israel by both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah.

Attorney General: Matt Gaetz

In typical Trump fashion, his cabinet picks have combined controversy with surprise. But none more so than Matt Gaetz as attorney general. A long-time Maga stalwart, Gaetz has been a vocal supporter of Trump in Congress, opposing his impeachment on both occasions.

In his 14-year career in state and federal politics, the 42-year-old lawyer from Hollywood in Florida, has attracted plenty of controversy – being investigated after allegations of sexual misconduct and misuse of campaign finance rules. Since being elected to Congress in 2016, Gaetz has come to represent the far-right Trump loyalist wing of the GOP.

Homeland Security: Kristi Noem

The South Dakota governor was considered a strong contender for the vice-presidential nomination earlier this year until she revealed in her memoir that she had killed an “untrainable” family dog. This admission quickly put paid to these ambitions.

But Noem was a very vocal supporter of Trump’s immigration policy throughout the campaign and is expected to take a hard line on this issue as secretary of homeland security. Her willingness to use terms like “invasion” to describe immigration demonstrates some of the tone we can expect to come from the Trump administration.

Border Tsar: Tom Homan

Tom Homan is another returning cast member from the first Trump administration where he was acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Now appointed as Trump’s “border tsar”, Homan is another immigration hardliner.

A recent TV interview, in which he made the Trump case for mass deportation and said the concern over splitting up families was easily solved (“families can be deported together”), gave a foretaste of immigration policy during the second Trump White House.

National Security Advisor: Mike Waltz

Former Green Beret veteran Mike Waltz has years of experience in defence and foreign policy. He is particularly known as a China hawk, having called the country an “existential threat” to the US in the 21st century, much like Russia had been in the 20th century.

He is a passionate supporter of Israel and told journalists earlier this year that he opposed a ceasefire and hostage deal because it would not end the conflict. He supports Trump’s stance on Nato and, in 2023, co-sponsored legislation to authorise the use of military force against the cartels in Mexico.

Defence Secretary: Pete Hegseth

A veteran of the US National Guard and Fox News, Pete Hegseth is another surprise appointment. In fact, it was reported that his appointment as defence secretary took nobody by surprise more than the top brass at the Pentagon itself.

As a Fox News presenter, Hegseth called for several top generals to be fired, including the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, General C.Q. Brown, for what Hesgeth called their “woke” agenda which he said was undermining US military strength.

In a book published earlier this year, Hegseth wrote: “The next president of the United States needs to radically overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. Lots of people need to be fired.”

Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard

Formerly a Democrat in the House of Representatives representing Hawaii, Gabbard is another surprise pick. She was a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, and after losing the 2020 Democratic nomination to Joe Biden, she left the party in October 2022 and endorsed Trump in August this year.

Gabbard is opposed to continued US support for Ukraine and has been criticised for her extreme views about Ukraine and Russia. She has no experience in intelligence, having never worked in the sector, and has not served on any congressional intelligence committees.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy

Another appointment which must rank as surprising but not unexpected after the election campaign is that of Elon Musk. Trump has asked the world’s richest man to work alongside pharmaceutical billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Together they are tasked with making cuts estimated at more than US$2 trillion (£1.6 trillion), about one-third of the overall budget of the federal government. Trump has referred to this as his administration’s “Manhattan Project”.

To achieve the cuts, Musk – whose Tesla is the only US car company not to employ unionised labour – will inevitably run up against the labour unions and the strong workplace protections which benefit federal government employees.

Controversially, this appointment will give Musk power over the very departments that regulate his companies – and which have launched a raft of investigations over issues such as the safety of his Tesla cars and environmental damage allegedly caused by his SpaceX projects in recent years.

These are not cabinet roles. But there is intense speculation that Musk, in particular, whom Trump praised in his victory speech as a “super genius”, will play a central role in the president’s inner circle. But, in echoes of the often chaotic hiring and firing that characterised Trump’s first term, there are also reports that Musk’s extremely high media profile may already be grating on the president-elect.

GOING FURTHER

• Cabinet confirmation process and recess appointments, explained | CNN

• Mike Pence urges Senate Republicans to reject RFK Jr for US health secretary | THE GUARDIAN

• Two Trump cabinet choices in jeopardy over sexual misconduct allegations | THE GUARDIAN

• Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon pick, sparks alarm over far-right extremism | THE GUARDIAN

• Trump’s administration and White House staffing picks and likely contenders – so far | THE GUARDIAN

• Trump’s defense secretary pick said women shouldn’t be in combat roles. These female veterans fear what comes next | CNN

• As attorney general, Gaetz would go from being under DOJ scrutiny to leading the nation’s top law enforcement agency | CNN

• Johnson tells Tapper why House Ethics Committee report on Gaetz should not be released | CNN

Sources:

▪ This piece was originally published in The Conversation and re-published in PUBLIC SQUARE UK on 18 November 2024. | The author writes in a personal capacity.

▪ Cover: Shutterstock/Anna Moneymaker.