WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump spent much of his first term feeling hurt and betrayed by those he brought to power. This time he’s not taking any risks.
As he works to staff his administration for a second time, Trump has turned to a stunning mix of candidates. Many of those he selected are personal friends. Others are familiar faces on Fox News Channel or other conservative networks. Some have extensive experience in the areas they have been selected to lead, while others appear to have none. Some seem designed to shock and awe, others to serene, and others to unleash chaos.
The youngest supporters of his cause stand side by side with long-time allies. China hawks could hold positions of power alongside a peace activist. But no matter how different the ideology or the strength of the resume, they will be there above all else to enforce Trump’s will.
In his first term, Trump resented the efforts of aides and advisers to “manage” the newcomer to Washington and grew frustrated with leaks coming from rival factions engaged in ideological war and competing for his ear.
Now, aides and allies say, he is putting loyalty above all else and aiming to contain infighting and maximize his ability to reshape Washington during his second tour in the Oval Office.
“When he was first elected,” Trump “didn’t have that much experience in D.C. or the relationships with the people in Washington,” said Marc Lotter, a former staffer who now works closely with the America First Policy Institute associated with his transition. “So many people he reached out to tried to take advantage of that to try to get him to agree with them, rather than living up to his views and what he was elected to do.”
Now Lotter said of Trump: “When he makes a decision, he wants them to implement it.”
Presidents always appoint trusted advisors and those who might support their goals. But critics fear that Trump is building an administration aimed at stamping out any significant internal opposition to his policies and impulses.
Trump is grief-stricken, hungry for retribution, and has a list of those he wants to target. He will take office with far fewer guardrails and checks on his power than last time. He will return to Washington with a Republican-controlled Congress and a conservative Supreme Court with three justices he appointed who have ruled that he is largely immune from prosecution.
Trump has long said that the biggest mistake of his first term was picking the wrong people. He had come to Washington as an outsider who had never served in government and said he relied on others for personnel recommendations.
“We did such a good job. But we’ll do a much better job now because I know the people now. I know the good and the bad. I know the weak, the strong. I know the stupid ones. I know the smart ones. I know them all,” he said at a rally in North Carolina on the final leg of the race.
He blamed his aides for hindering his first-term efforts, calling them “stupid” and feeble. The extent to which Trump faced resistance from his own appointees often reflected the exceptional nature of his orders.
His first term was filled with examples of aides trying to outmaneuver Trump by moving slowly or ignoring instructions they considered unwise. Sometimes they tried 11th-hour campaigns to turn them around. At other times, they hesitated, hoping Trump would forget what he had ordered and move on to something else.
A key example came just weeks before he left office: Trump signed informal documents drafted by some of his political advisers ordering the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, but he faced stiff resistance from his national security team . In the end he reversed course.
When he pushed to send busy U.S. troops to contain mass protests in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by Minneapolis police, aides resisted over concerns about the military’s illegal apply of force against their own Citizens of the country were worried.
In 2016, Trump filled much of his team with high-profile business leaders, many of whom had worked in the industries they were supposed to regulate. These included names like Rex Tillerson, who ran energy giant ExxonMobil before becoming secretary of state.
Trump also sought to surround himself with a cadre of military leaders he liked to refer to as “my generals.” This time, Trump has gone in a completely different direction.
In many cases this means no specialist knowledge is required. Lee Zeldin, who was named administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has little experience with climate or regulatory issues. Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman nominated to lead the country’s intelligence agency, has been welcomed by Kremlin allies for her moderate stance on the war in Ukraine. And Pete Hegseth, a weekend Fox News co-host who was named defense secretary, has no experience at the Pentagon.
Aides say Trump picks people he believes are committed to his “America First” agenda and those he believes can best carry it out, and he’s content about that himself His controversial decisions are already shaking up Washington.
“The American people overwhelmingly re-elected President Trump, giving him a mandate to follow through on the promises he made during the campaign – and his Cabinet picks reflect his priority of putting America first,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson.
Some of his earliest announcements had suggested a more conventional approach, including the selection of U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, as his national security adviser.
But some of Trump’s recent decisions have landed like lead balloons.
His decision to nominate Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general sparked open shock and concern among Democrats, who fear he will retaliate against Trump’s opponents and shield his allies from prosecution. Even Gaetz’s Republican House colleagues, who were meeting at the Capitol at the time of the announcement, initially thought the news was a joke.
Another choice that caused a stir was his decision to lead the Department of Defense. Hegseth is a veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and received two Bronze Stars. He was executive director of Concerned Veterans for America and has written several books on the subject. But he has no experience at the Pentagon or leading an organization close to the size and complexity of the Defense Department.
Running the Pentagon is a monumental task and Hegseth appears to be “totally unqualified,” said Matthew Waxman, a Republican former senior official at the State and Defense departments and the National Security Council who directs Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program.
“I respect everyone who has served in uniform. “But Hegseth is not a serious man to run the Pentagon,” Waxman said. “I look at Hegseth and say: He will be a hundred times better at fighting culture wars than real wars if, unfortunately, we have to fight one.”
Overall, Waxman said of Trump’s personnel choices so far: “I think he values loyalty more than governance.” And that’s hazardous for the country. This is hazardous for American leadership in the world.”
Trump’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who has pledged to weaken federal health research and oversight, to head the Department of Health and Human Services was the latest example of Trump prioritizing loyalty over expertise.
Kennedy was a staunch opponent of the very COVID-19 vaccines that Trump boosted production in 2020. But he provided crucial support for Trump and helped the Republican boost his electoral appeal. While even Trump aides had dismissed Kennedy’s chances for a Cabinet post given some of his extreme political views, the president-elect pushed through anyway, showing he would not pander to cautious voices. ___ Colvin reported from New York.
