As he aims to turn the nation’s capital upside down, President-elect Trump is turning to allies and supporters of his MAGA movement and America First agenda as he quickly moves to assemble his second administration.
The former and future president is clearly placing plenty of emphasis on loyalty as he makes increasing provocative picks for top cabinet posts.
And unlike eight years ago, when the first-time politician first took control of the White House, he is not in the market for establishment types or those who served in his first administration, but in his mind, proved disloyal.
Case in point – This week’s announcement from the president-elect that he was nominating as attorney general Rep. Matt Gaetz, the controversial conservative lawmaker from Florida who has been one of Trump’s biggest defenders in Congress as he’s repeatedly claimed the criminal investigations into Trump were “witch hunts.”
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) arrives with President-elect Donald Trump’s motorcade at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. As both the House and Senate GOP conferences hold their leadership elections, President-elect Donald Trump is in Washington to meet with Congressional Republicans and with President Joe Biden at the White House. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
In making his announcement – which sent shock waves through the nation’s capital – Trump highlighted that “Matt played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization.”
Gaetz, following the nomination, stepped down from Congress, ahead of a potential damaging report by the House Ethics Committee into sexual misconduct allegations that the lawmaker has denied.
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On Wednesday afternoon, the president nominated his former rival in the presidential race – turned staunch advocate – Robert Kennedy Jr., as Health and Human Services Secretary.
Kennedy endorsed Trump shortly after suspending his campaign, and has since hit the campaign trail while touting his plans to “Make America Healthy Again” under a potential Trump presidency.
In making the announcement, Trump said “I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,”
Trump turned to another loyalist – former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate turned MAGA rock star who this year became a Republican and a top campaign trail surrogate for the former president – as his pick for Director of National Intelligence.
A day earlier, Trump named combat veteran, Army National Guard officer and Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth, another major supporter, as his choice for Defense Secretary.
In announcing that Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York was his pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, Trump noted that “Elise is a strong and very smart America First fighter… She was the first Member of Congress to endorse me and has always been a staunch advocate.”
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And Trump called former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, whom he is aiming to install as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, “a true fighter for America First policies.”
He named South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a conservative firebrand and MAGA-world star who has long been a fierce Trump ally and supporter, as his choice for Homeland Security secretary.
Noem will work with Stephen Miller, whom the president-elect has picked as his incoming deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller was the architect of much of the first Trump administration’s hard-line policy on immigration and border security.
She will also collaborate with Thomas Homan, who, as acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during the first administration, was often the face of Trump’s controversial immigration policies. The president-elect has named Homan as his incoming “border czar.”
And Trump named Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his choice for Secretary of State.
Rubio was a rival to Trump during the combustible 2016 Republican presidential nomination battle, but over the years has become a strong Trump ally in the Senate.
Trump also named Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida as his national security adviser. Waltz, a former Army Green Beret, is a longtime Trump ally.
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Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler who raised big bucks for Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns, noted that Trump is in a very different situation than he was eight years ago, when he first won the White House.
“He’s got a stronger mandate because he won the popular vote, and he won all seven swing states,” Eberhart emphasized. “I also think he knows what he wants, and he knows better how to get what he wants out of Washington. He’s going to have a more cohesive, more MAGA team, that’s hopefully able to accomplish more.”
Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A leading strategist in Trump’s political orbit, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News that “one thing that is noticeable this time around is that instead of a team of rivals who are all over the place ideologically, Trump is largely bringing people on who are aligned with his America First agenda.”
Matt Mowers, a veteran Republican consultant and 2020 GOP congressional nominee in New Hampshire who worked on Trump’s 2016-2017 transition and served in the first Trump administration, told Fox News that Trump has “decided he needs everyone aligned.”
“What he’s doing is he’s choosing a lot of people who aren’t just going to undo the Biden polices but really try to take a hammer to the bureaucracy… which is what he calls the ‘deep state,'” Mowers added.
Those whom the president-elect feels have not shown their loyalty to him appear to be iced out.
Trump this past weekend announced in a social media post that he would not ask former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – who served as ambassador to the U.N. in his first administration – and former Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas – who served as CIA director and then Secretary of State in Trump’s first term – to join his incoming cabinet.
Former Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. ambassador, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, 2024. ((PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images))
Haley ran against Trump in this year’s Republican presidential primaries and ended up as the final challenger to the former president in what turned into a divisive nomination battle. Haley made clear this week that she wasn’t seeking a job in the second Trump administration.
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Pompeo seriously mulled making his own 2024 White House run before ultimately deciding not to launch a campaign.
Both politicians eventually endorsed Trump this year, following the primary season.
But a source in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News that the president-elect “is not looking to give a platform for those with future presidential ambitions other than JD Vance.”
