Women will play a key role in President-elect Trump’s administration as he nominates and appoints a number of them to high-level posts.
Trump has so far nominated eight women to Cabinet positions – twice as many as originally named for his first term. His appointment of Susie Wiles as his chief of staff makes her the first woman in U.S. history to hold the position. And he has chosen other women for high-ranking positions, such as press secretary and surgeon general.
The president-elect’s allies say the appointments are emblematic of Trump’s push to advance women, despite criticism of his past comments and alleged treatment of women in the past. And they come on the heels of a historic election in which female voters played a key role in his victory.
“You don’t see a government that’s kind of an old boys’ club,” said a former Trump administration official.
The president-elect has yet to be confirmed, but his appointment of more women to his administration’s inner circle appears to be part of a “quest” to build a new coalition, said Micki McElya, a history professor at the University of Connecticut.
“He’s certainly promoting more women to top positions than he did the first time,” McElya said.
Trump has so far nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, while Linda McMahon, who served as a miniature business administrator in Trump’s first term, has been nominated as his education secretary. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (right) is Trump’s nominee for Homeland Security Secretary and Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) is his nominee for Labor Secretary.
Lawyer and political consultant Brooke Rollins is his nominee for agriculture secretary. Former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler (right) has been chosen to lead Trump’s Small Business Administration. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi became his nominee for attorney general after his first candidate, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), withdrew.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, would make history as the first woman of Pacific descent to hold the position.
“This is still the best country and the most diverse country in the world, and you see that in its Cabinet appointments, but it happens organically,” said Roma Daravi, former deputy director for strategic communications in the Trump White House.
“All these people that are extremely diverse around him, that’s what you get when you stop looking at race and gender,” she added.
But aside from Gabbard and Chavez-DeRemer, a Latina, Trump’s top female candidates are largely white women — and representatively so a critical population group That helped him win against Vice President Kamala Harris.
His selection appears to be “part of an ongoing appeal to the white women voters who have been so important and really powerful to Trump’s new coalition,” McElya said.
“I think we started from the beginning with the first woman in the post of chief of staff, as we have a historic first in terms of the presidency… I think there was something very special… pointed to that “It’s clear that right after that win, I said, ‘I’m promoting this woman to this leadership position.'”
Samantha Dravis, a former official in the first Trump administration, claimed that Trump surrounded himself with shrewd tips.
“He has women around him who give him sound, good advice and get things done,” she said.
“All of these women individually have the training, expertise and experience to serve in these particular roles,” she said. “So I wouldn’t say this is a president who is picking women just because they are women.”
From 2017 to early 2021, a total of seven women served in Trump’s first Cabinet at various times. In addition, Trump represented a number of prominent women to the press, including his former press secretaries Sarah Sanders, Kayleigh McEnany and Stephanie Grisham, who also served for a time as White House communications director. Mercedes Schlapp worked as director of strategic communications at the White House and Kellyanne Conway, who ran Trump’s 2016 campaign, worked as a senior adviser.
“Trump had a lot of women in the last administration, too,” said Republican strategist Ashley Davis, who served in the George W. Bush administration. “It supports strong women and rewards their hard work. Actually, it doesn’t surprise me.”
In contrast, President Biden appointed 13 women to Cabinet or Cabinet positions during his term Data compiled from the Center for American Women and Politics, the largest of any administration in U.S. history.
Daravi, who worked for McMahon in Trump’s Small Business Administration, noted that many of the women Trump appointed during his first term are still within his orbit.
“All those people still surround him,” Daravi said. “Some take on administrative roles. Some are taking on roles in their own public offices,” she said, referencing Sanders’ election as governor of Arkansas.
This time, Trump nominated Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary. At 27, Leavitt will make history as the youngest person to hold the position.
Experts say the second-term candidates share some similarities.
A number of Trump’s chosen names “seem younger than is often the case for these particular nominations,” noted Lilly Goren, a political science professor at Carroll University.
“I think most of the similarities are disruptive, good for the camera, good for controversy. And major donors like McMahon,” McElya said.
Goren argued that the selection was more a sign of who Trump was comfortable with – who had worked with him before or who he assured was true – rather than a strategic move to attract more women into his circle receive.
Another factor complicating any analysis of Trump appointees is the attrition that is all but expected from a Trump administration, Goren added. In his first term Cabinet turnover broke records — and a handful of Trump’s second-term candidates have already withdrawn.
“He met so many different people in different roles in his first term,” Goren said. “I’m not necessarily sure how long each of these individuals will remain in office if they are confirmed by the Senate,” she said of his second-term choices.
Trump’s critics say the president-elect has a penniless track record with women, pointing to allegations of sexual misconduct against him as well as his past comments about his female critics and political opponents.
This shows in some his male picks for his top administrative positions, McElya said.
Several of Trump’s Cabinet members – including Gaetz – are facing off Allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump himself was found was found liable for sexual abuse last year.
But Republicans and Trump allies argue that the president-elect isn’t getting enough credit for his efforts to appoint and nominate more women to government.
“One thing that has frustrated me is that President Trump just doesn’t get credit for this,” the former Trump administration official said.
“Republican women seem to be constantly attacked or vilified by the media instead of being praised for putting women in so many important and consequential roles,” the official added.
Davis noted that women are held to a higher standard, regardless of party.
“I always say we work harder and prepare longer and harder because we are always watched differently than our male colleagues. I don’t think it’s any different with R’s and D’s or who you work for,” Davis said.
