Barely one week after winning the 2024 presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump has rapidly begun assembling a Cabinet where loyalty is seemingly prioritized over experience. This has left many scratching their heads, wondering what kind of Cabinet Trump is trying to build.
After selecting the more traditional Susie Wiles for Chief of Staff and Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, Trump turned to fierce loyalists for other key spots, regardless of their qualifications – or lack thereof.
Nowhere was this more apparent in Trump’s choices for Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, and Homeland Security Secretary.
In nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth for the top Pentagon job, Rep. Matt Gaetz for AG, former Democrat turned Republican Tulsi Gabbard for DNI, and South Dakota Gov, Kristi Noem for Homeland Security Secretary, Trump has made it clear that he wants a Cabinet much in his own mold.
Indeed, in addition to loyalty, Trump’s Cabinet nominations reflect his desire for Cabinet officials who share Trump’s worldview and will likely allow Trump to expand his power via a rubber-stamp Cabinet.
With the exception of China – where every nominee, including Rubio is hawkish – his recent nominees are highly likely to push for drastic cuts in American support for Ukraine, and weakening America’s role in defending democracy abroad generally.
Quite simply, Trump’s Cabinet – unfortunately – reflects a doubling down on his base, rather than an effort to broaden his constituency by including more traditional Republicans who remain hawkish in regard to America’s role in defending our interests in Europe and the Middle East.
Put another way, the widespread confusion – even among Republicans – to Trump’s latest round of Cabinet nominations underscores Trump’s efforts to not only run a very loyal White House, but also to surround himself with people who, like him, outrage the political establishment.
Two things connect all four of these controversial nominees: their longtime loyalty to Trump, and their ability to, in the words of one Trump ally, introduce a “state of shock” as “people who are a total challenge to the system.”
To that end, Hegseth’s most important qualification, aside from his military background, appears to be his intense focus on overhauling a military he considers too “woke” and a supply base that is too bloated.
The latter is a genuine concern. Our military-industrial base is slow, excessively wasteful, and woefully hollow at a time when China, Russia, and Iran are growing increasingly threatening.
However, the former concern – that the military is too “woke” – while arguably legitimate, is hardly a reason to select someone for the second in command of the United States armed forces.
The Wall Street Journal warned that Trump and Hegseth’s stated drive to purge the military of “wokeness” may do severe damage to our national security by politicizing the military at a dangerous time.
With that in mind, the two most surprising nominations came within hours of each other last Wednesday, when Trump announced that Gabbard would be the Director of National Intelligence, and that Gaetz would be nominated for the country’s top law enforcement job.
Gabbard and Gaetz are no stranger to controversy. Gabbard has been criticized for her questionable statements regarding Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and parroting Russian state propaganda surrounding Ukraine.
Gabbard’s past support for conspiracy theories has raised serious concerns over her potential role overseeing America’s vast intelligence community, which is responsible for many of the assessments Gabbard has deemed fake, such as Assad’s use of chemical weapons.
And yet, despite Gabbard’s controversial past, Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz sparked the most confusion and anger.
Gaetz, who resigned from Congress following the announcement had been under an ethics investigation for sex trafficking, drug use, and potential bribery. That House ethics report was set to be released in the coming days, although Gaetz’s resignation officially ends the investigation, regardless of whether he is officially appointed AG.
Top former and current Republicans, including former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Max Miller, and Sen. Thom Tillis have cast doubt that Gaetz will even be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.
As Rep. Miller, a Republican Congressman and former Trump aide put it, “Micky Mouse would be better than Matt Gaetz,” and Miller predicted that Gaetz will be “excoriated by members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle.”
These confirmation hearings will also be a test of just how much Trump can push the GOP-led Senate to do his bidding.
McCarthy, who was the target of Gaetz’s ire when Gaetz led the effort to remove McCarthy from Speaker, told Bloomberg that “Gaetz won’t be confirmed. Everybody knows that.” But, it remains to be seen whether three or more Republican Senators want to pick a fight with Trump just weeks into his second term.
At Homeland Security, Kristi Noem – who had been on the shortlist for Vice President prior to her own controversy surrounding an admission that she killed her dog – seems questionable given her lack of law enforcement background.
However, it is highly likely that Noem was tapped in order to give the White House more control over the issue of immigration, which will be run through “Border Czar” Tom Homan, as well as for her loyalty to Trump.
Ultimately, how Trump’s nominees fare in the Senate remains to be seen, particularly Gaetz and Gabbard. Both of them have made enemies on Capitol Hill, and are widely seen as too big of a shock to make it through.
Still, with the GOP controlling the Senate, and Trump dominating the GOP, it is not out of the question that extremely divisive nominees are forced through and take up critical roles in what is shaping up to be an untraditional administration.
Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant.