Washington (AP) In addition to reflecting his defining stances on trade and immigration, Donald Trump’s selections for his new White House and Cabinet represent a variety of backgrounds and points of view, raising concerns about the ideological pillars that may underpin his last years in office.
The former and incoming president has brought together television personalities, former Democrats, a wrestling executive, and traditional elected Republicans in a way that makes it clear that he intends to impose tariffs on imported goods and crack down on illegal immigration, but also leaves open a variety of options for other policy pursuits. He has assembled his second administration more quickly than he did eight years ago.
It’s going to be a genuine jump ball and zigzag, according to Marc Short, who served as Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff during Trump’s 2017–21 administration. The president has two major goals and doesn’t feel strongly about anything else. He surrounded himself with more conservative ideas during the first administration, and the outcomes indicated that we were mostly heading in the same direction. This is more varied.
In fact, a president who applauds autocratic leaders like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary is set to appoint Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida who has criticized authoritarian governments worldwide, as his top ambassador.
Alongside other billionaires, former governors, and other opponents of facilitating worker organization, Republican Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon has been appointed as a pro-union labor secretary and will sit at the Cabinet table.
For a president who pledged additional tax cuts, improved services for veterans, and no reductions in the biggest federal expenditures—Social Security, Medicare, and national defense—the potential Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, wants to reduce deficits.
Abortion rights activistTrump’s conservative Christian constituency has long criticized the Health and Human Services Department as an agency where the anti-abortion movement needs to have greater clout, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is his pick to head that department.
Members of Trump’s slate will not always agree with the president and most definitely not with one other, according to former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. However, he downplayed the possibility of irreconcilable differences: By definition, a strong Cabinet will include individuals with a variety of viewpoints and abilities.
Trump’s political persona is rooted in this kind of unpredictability. He is the former reality TV star who has already overthrown Washington once and is making big, often incongruous promises to win back the support of citizens, particularly working-class ones.
According to Gingrich, Donald Trump has refocused political activism and leadership toward a more business mindset.
Given the scope of Trump’s 2024 campaign pledges and his history of switching between Cabinet members and national security officials during his first term, there is obviously a great deal of potential for conflict.
This time, Trump has promised to increase U.S. energy output, impose taxes on foreign goods, stop illegal immigration and start a vast deportation force, and get revenge on those who opposed and persecuted him. He has also pledged to reduce taxes, increase salaries, put an end to the wars in Ukraine and Israel, simplify government, safeguard Social Security and Medicare, assist veterans, and suppress cultural progressives.
In recent weeks, when he appointed senior White House staffers and finalized his planned list of federal department heads, Trump made references to several of those pledges. However, he brushed aside any potential problems or policy contradictions in his announcements.
As a deficit hawk, Bessent has argued that rising interest rates and the nation’s increasing debt are what cause consumer inflation. However, he is also in favor of prolonging Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which increased the total amount of debt and the yearly debt service payments that investors purchasing Treasury notes must make.
Bessent is a millionaire hedge fund manager who amassed his fortune in global markets. However, he has largely supported Trump’s tariffs. Instead, he sees tariffs as one-time price adjustments and leverage to accomplish U.S. foreign policy and domestic economic goals, rejecting the notion that they contribute to inflation.
For his part, Trump said that Bessent would assist him in bringing about a new Golden Age for the US.
Trump pledged that Chavez-DeRemer will bring about historic collaboration between labor and business, restoring the American Dream for working families.
Trump ignored the congressman from Oregon’s strong support for the PRO-Act, a Democratic-backed bill that would, among other things, facilitate worker unionization. When Democrats controlled the House, that proposition was approved. However, Trump has never included it in his agenda, and it has never had any discernible Republican support in either chamber on Capitol Hill.
Trump made no reference to the former Democrat’s support for abortion rights when he announced Kennedy as his choice for health secretary. Trump instead focused on Kennedy’s plan to attack the American food processing, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries.
Additionally noteworthy are the whims of Trump’s foreign policy. Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, gave conflicting answers on Sunday about the Russia-Ukraine war, which Trump says would never have begun if he had been president because he would have persuaded Putin not to invade his neighbor.
During his appearance on Fox News Sunday, Waltz reiterated Trump’s worries about recent developments, such as President Joe Biden’s approval of the transfer of antipersonnel mines to Ukrainian soldiers.
Waltz stated that instead of reacting to this escalation ladder, we must advance past it, restore calm, and regain deterrence. However, Waltz stated in the same interview that he is collaborating closely with Biden’s staff during the transition and that the mines are required to assist Ukraine in halting Russian gains.
Trump’s choice for the top intelligence position in the US, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is a vocal supporter of Putin and Syrian President Bashar al Assad, who is linked to Russia and Iran.
Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Russell Vought are perhaps the most significant wild cards in Trump’s ruling team. In his first tenure, Vought oversaw Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, and he is vying for the same position again. The Department of Government Efficiency is an external advisory body headed by Ramaswamy, a mega-millionaire venture capitalist, and Musk, the richest man in the world.
The latter attempt to identify waste is a sort of quasi-official exercise. Although it lacks formal authority, Trump has the ability to direct Musk and Ramaswamy’s suggestions through official channels, such as Vought.
Vought, a key author of Project 2025, the conservative movement’s blueprint for a hard-right shift in American politics and society, sees OMB as a power center of the executive branch that has the ability to override the bureaucracies of implementing agencies in addition to being a significant office that shapes Trump’s budget proposals for Congress.
Gingrich cited Chavez-DeRemer as an example of how Trump would handle divisions within his administration.
According to Gingrich, he may not share her views on union matters, but he may not stop her from advocating for the PRO-Act on her own. He’ll listen to anyone, too. He will definitely spend presidential capital if you can persuade him.
According to Short, loyalty and personality are more likely to have an impact on Trump.
According to Short, Vought presented him with possible spending cutbacks from the prior administration that Trump would not accept. This time, Short continued, maybe Elon and Vivek provide backup, giving Vought the imprimatur of two wealthy businessmen.
According to Short, he will always figure out who has been kind to him. You already see that: The unions got the labor secretary they wanted, and Putin and Assad got the DNI (intelligence chief) they wanted. This is not so much a team-of-rivals situation. I think it s going to look a lot like a reality TV show.
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