WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s personnel choices for his novel Cabinet and White House reflect his signature positions on immigration and trade, but also a range of viewpoints and backgrounds that raise questions about what ideological anchors might guide his inauguration in the Oval Office .
With his second administration quickly coming together – more quickly than eight years ago – the former and novel president have brought together television personalities, former Democrats, a struggling executive and traditionally elected Republicans in a mix that makes clear his intention to impose tariffs on imported goods Selling and cracking down on illegal immigration, however, leaves open a number of possibilities for other policy goals.
“The president has his two big priorities and doesn’t feel strongly about anything else — so it’s going to be a real bounce ball and zigzag,” predicted Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s 2017-21 term. “In the first administration he surrounded himself with more conservative thinkers and the results showed that we were largely rowing in the same direction. It’s more versatile.”
Indeed, Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who has denounced authoritarian regimes around the world, is positioned to serve as a top diplomat for a president who praises autocratic leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban .
Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon has been called to the Cabinet table as pro-union labor secretary, along with several billionaires, former governors and others who oppose making it easier for workers to organize.
Incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants to reduce deficits for a president who has promised more tax cuts, better veterans services and no cuts to the biggest federal expenditures: Social Security, Medicare and national defense.
Abortion rights advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Trump’s choice to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which has long been targeted by Trump’s conservative Christian base as an agency where the anti-abortion movement needs to exert more influence .
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted that members of Trump’s slate will not always agree with the president, let alone with each other. But he minimized the potential for irreconcilable differences: “A strong cabinet, by definition, means that there are people with different opinions and different skills.”
This kind of unpredictability is at the core of Trump’s political identity. He is the former reality TV star who has already upended Washington once and is returning to power with sweeping, sometimes contradictory promises that have convinced voters, especially working class voters, that he will do it all again .
“What Donald Trump has done is reorient political leadership and activism toward a more entrepreneurial spirit,” Gingrich said.
Given the breadth of Trump’s 2024 campaign promises and his pattern of rotating through Cabinet members and national security personnel during his first term, there is also plenty of room for conflict.
This time, Trump has promised to impose tariffs on foreign goods, end illegal immigration and deploy a mass deportation force, boost U.S. energy production and retaliate against those who defied and prosecuted him. He added promises to cut taxes, raise wages, end the wars in Israel and Ukraine, streamline government, protect Social Security and Medicare, lend a hand veterans and suppress cultural progressivism.
Trump alluded to some of those promises in recent weeks as he completed his proposed list of federal department heads and named top White House aides. However, his announcements ignored any political paradoxes or possible complications.
Bessent is acting as a deficit hawk, warning that rising government debt coupled with higher interest rates is driving consumer inflation. But he also supports extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which increased total debt and annual debt service payments to investors who buy Treasury securities.
As a hedge fund billionaire, Bessent built his fortune on global markets. Still, he has broadly supported Trump’s tariffs. He rejects the idea that they fuel inflation, instead portraying tariffs as one-time price adjustments and leverage to achieve U.S. foreign policy and domestic economic goals.
Trump, for his part, said Bessent “will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States.”
Trump promised that Chavez-DeRemer would achieve “historic collaboration between businesses and workers that will restore the American dream for working families.”
Trump did not address Oregon congresswomen’s powerful support for the PRO Act, a Democratic-backed measure that would make it easier for workers to unionize, among other things. This proposal was passed by the House of Representatives when Democrats had the majority. But it had no measurable Republican support in either chamber of the Capitol, and Trump never made it part of his agenda.
When Trump named Kennedy his nominee for health secretary, he made no mention of the former Democrat’s support for abortion rights. Instead, Trump focused on Kennedy’s intention to conquer US agriculture, food processing and drug manufacturing.
The vagaries of Trump’s foreign policy are also noticeable. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, conveyed mixed messages Sunday as he spoke about the war between Russia and Ukraine, which Trump claims would never have started if he had been president because he told Putin about it would have convinced him not to invade his neighboring country.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Waltz reiterated Trump’s concerns about recent escalations, which included President Joe Biden’s approval of sending anti-personnel mines to Ukrainian forces.
“We need to restore deterrence, restore peace and stay ahead of this escalation ladder rather than reactive,” Waltz said. But in the same interview, Waltz said the mines were necessary to lend a hand Ukraine “stop Russian gains” and said he was working “hand in hand” with Biden’s team during the transition.
Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, the highest intelligence position in the administration, is an outspoken defender of Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Russia and Iran.
Perhaps the biggest wildcards in Trump’s government constellation are budget and spending advisors Russell Vought, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Vought led Trump’s Office of Management and Budget in his first term and is in line for the same post again. Musk, the world’s richest man, and Ramaswamy, a megamillionaire and venture capitalist, head an external advisory board called the Department of Government Efficiency.
The latter attempt is a quasi-official waste identification exercise. It has no legal authority, but Trump can forward Musk and Ramaswamy’s recommendations through official government channels, including through Vought.
As a lead author of Project 2025, the conservative movement’s blueprint for a rightward shift in U.S. government and society, Vought sees the OMB not only as an influential office in shaping Trump’s budget proposals to Congress, but also as a center of executive power, ” powerful”. enough to override the bureaucracy of the implementing agencies.”
On the question of how Trump could deal with the differences within his administration, Gingrich referred to Chavez-DeRemer.
“He may not agree with her on union issues, but he may not stop her from pushing the issue herself,” Gingrich said of the PRO Act. “And he will listen to everyone. If you convince him, he will definitely spend the president’s capital.”
Short said other factors are more likely to influence Trump: personalities and, of course, loyalty.
Vought gave him “potential spending cuts” in the first administration, Short said, “that Trump wouldn’t agree to.” This time, Short continued, “maybe Elon and Vivek are there for support,” giving Vought the imprimatur of two wealthy businessmen .
“He will always calculate who was good to him,” Short said. “You can already see this: the unions got the labor minister they wanted, and Putin and Assad got the DNI (intelligence chief) they wanted. … This isn’t so much a team of rivals situation. I think it will be very similar to a reality TV show.”
