President-elect Trump is filling out his Cabinet just weeks after securing a second term in the White House, filling the top posts that will carry out his agenda in the coming years.
Trump had made some history-making decisions, including becoming the first woman to ever serve as White House chief of staff, as well as several other controversial decisions. Trump has already had one retreat – former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) withdrew his name after it became clear he would not attract enough Republican support in the Senate to be confirmed.
Trump’s Cabinet is also rounded out by a number of media personalities, including those who have had prominent stints on Fox News.
Here are five insights into Trump’s Cabinet picks.
Many MAGA loyalists, but not all
Trump has long been a figure who values loyalty, and his Cabinet’s decisions reflect that.
Unlike his first administration, when he nominated several more establishment figures with whom he had no previous relationship, this time Trump quickly assembled a team of agency leaders who were staunch allies with solid credentials in the MAGA movement.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) selected to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) is Trump’s pick to head the CIA and former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) has been selected to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. All four were there Trump’s impeachment defense team in 2020.
Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, also served as counsel for his impeachment defense team and worked on efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) has had close ties to Trump and his entourage for years and has parlayed that into a nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Brooke Rollins, Trump’s nominee to lead the Agriculture Department, was a senior White House adviser in his first term and in recent years a head of the influential America First Policy Institute, which tried to advance Trump’s agenda during his term.
But other recommendations fit less well with Trump’s preference for loyalists.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was one of Trump’s fiercest rivals during the 2016 GOP primaries before becoming a powerful ally during his presidency. He is Trump’s choice for Secretary of State.
Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent is a former Democratic donor who recently became an adviser to Trump and his campaign.
And North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) ran against Trump in the 2024 GOP primary before dropping out and endorsing him, eventually being put in charge of the Interior Department.
Women secure top jobs
Trump’s Cabinet picks have some diversity, including two Latino nominees, a black nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development and an openly gay nominee for treasury secretary.
But perhaps most notable is the number of women poised to take top positions in the next Trump administration, particularly because of the emphasis placed on Trump’s issues Appeal to female voters during the 2024 campaign.
Trump has tapped women to lead the Department of Homeland Security (Noem), the Department of Justice (Bondi), the Department of Agriculture (Rollins), the Department of Labor (Rep. Lori Chavez-Deremer) and the Department of Education (Linda McMahon).
He has also chosen women to serve as Director of National Intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard), Ambassador to the United Nations (Stefanik) and Surgeon General (Dr. Janette Nesheiwat), and White House Press Secretary (Karoline Leavitt).
Mark Cuban, the businessman who campaigned for Trump’s rival Vice President Harris, suggested in October that Trump did not want to be challenged by women around him, comments encountered resistance by Wiles and others.
A spectrum of ideologies
Trump has never fit the time-honored mold of a conservative Republican, and the Cabinet he has assembled in many ways reflects the coalition he built to return to the White House.
He has nominated two longtime Democrats, Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the latter of whom has been criticized by some conservatives for his changing views on abortion access.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Labor Department, Chavez-DeRemer, had that Support of working groups like the Teamsters and was one of the few Republicans in the House of Representatives to support the PRO Act, which would have strengthened collective bargaining rights. Trump has expressed hostility toward striking workers in the past.
And Scott Bessent, whom Trump chose as Treasury secretary, is one former Democratic donor who worked with George Soros, the financier and supporter of progressive causes who has become a bogeyman of the right.
Some of Trump’s nominees also made history by being the first in their roles. Bessent is the first openly gay candidate for Treasury. Leavitt is the youngest person to serve as press secretary. And Wiles is the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
Fox News Appearances Boots Profiles of Cabinet Picks
If there’s a common denominator in many of Trump’s endorsements, it’s that they were regulars on Fox News or had other television experience.
Pete Hegseth, the candidate for Secretary of Defense, has served as a co-host on “Fox & Friends Weekend” for years. Sean Duffy, Trump’s pick to be transportation secretary, has co-hosted a show on the Fox Business Network and been a contributor to Fox News, as well as a one-time contestant on the MTV reality hit “The Real World.”
Mehmet Oz, named head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former talk show host who once rose to fame on Oprah. Nesheiwat, who was elected surgeon general, was also a repeated guest on Fox News.
Other nominees like Rubio, Stefanik, Noem and Leavitt were regulars on Fox News and other cable news programs, where they defended Trump and spread his campaign messages across the airwaves.
A source close to the transition said Trump watched television clips of some candidates as he made his final decisions, a reflection of how much the president-elect values someone who is both good-looking and can deliver the message he wants.
There are some tough confirmation fights ahead
As Trump completes the list of 15 Cabinet positions and other key appointments, there is no guarantee that all of his picks will make it through the confirmation process, even if Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate.
Gaetz’s retreat Amid questions about sexual misconduct and a House ethics report into his conduct, it became apparent that Republican senators wouldn’t just fall in line and put their stamp on Trump’s nominees, and there are some nominees who are likely to face intense scrutiny in the coming weeks will be.
Hegseth is facing his own allegations of sexual assault related to a 2017 incident at a California hotel. which was detailed in a recently released police report. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing. And although he is a veteran, he has never run a place as sprawling as the Pentagon.
Gabbard, whom Trump picked as director of national intelligence, is likely to do so ask yourself questions from senators because of their foreign policy views and rhetoric. She was previously accused of parroting Russian arguments about invading Ukraine and faced backlash for meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whom she also refused to call a war criminal.
“We’re going to have a lot of questions,” Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told CNN’s “State of the Union” host Dana Bash. “She met with [Syrian leader Bashar Assad]. As members of Congress, we want to know what the purpose was and the direction taken. We would like to have the opportunity to discuss previous comments she has made and put them into full context.”
Bondi will likely face questions especially from Democrats who may raise concerns about Trump’s promises to apply the Justice Department follow up his political rivals.
And among other things, Kennedy’s repeated anti-vaccine rhetoric other controversial viewswill certainly come under scrutiny as he seeks confirmation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
