By Grace Panetta/Originally published by The 19th
President-elect Donald Trump is picking key Cabinet positions with an eye on installing loyalists and enacting an aggressive second-term agenda focused on hefty tariffs and mass deportations.
Trump has announced a few senior staff and Cabinet picks and is reportedly tapping more immigration hardliners and foreign policy hawks to serve in key national security roles.
It’s still an open question of how diverse Trump’s Cabinet will be compared to his first, which was the least diverse presidential Cabinet in decades, with White men serving in the bulk of Cabinet posts and senior staff positions in the White House.
Of the nearly 40 Senate-confirmed Cabinet officials in the first Trump term, eight were women, and three were women of color. Trump’s first Cabinet included just one Latino, Alex Acosta as secretary of labor, and one Black man, Ben Carson as secretary of housing and urban development. Under Trump, only White men served in the four “inner Cabinet” positions of attorney general and secretaries of state, defense and treasury.
Trump’s first Cabinet also experienced high levels of turnover and churn. The tumult was especially pronounced in his administration’s final months and weeks, as several top officials quit over Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
It’s a contrast with the outgoing Biden administration, which has prioritized diversity in Cabinet officials and political appointees. Of the two dozen currently serving Senate-confirmed and acting Cabinet-level officials under Biden, just seven are White men. Biden’s appointees have included several firsts, including the first Black secretary of defense and the first Native person to serve in a presidential Cabinet.
Here’s what we know so far about Trump’s Cabinet and senior staff picks:
Announced by Trump:
Chief of Staff | National Security Adviser | Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | Ambassador to the United Nations | Border czar
Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles
Trump announced that Wiles, a longtime Florida political operative who co-managed his successful 2024 campaign, will serve as his White House chief of staff. Wiles will be the first woman ever to serve in the role. Wiles, Trump said in a statement, is “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected.”
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: Reince Priebus, John F. Kelly and Mark Meadows.
National Security Adviser: Rep. Michael Waltz
Trump is tapping Michael Waltz, a House member from Florida, as his top national security official in the White House. Waltz is the first Green Beret to serve in Congress and is decorated for his service in combat abroad. Waltz also espouses hawkish foreign policy views, especially when it comes to China. In a statement, Trump said Waltz “has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda, and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!”
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: Michael Flynn, Keith Kellogg (acting), H.R. McMaster, John Bolton, Charlie Kupperman (acting) and Robert O’Brien.
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Former Rep. Lee Zeldin
Trump is nominating Zeldin, a former House member from Long Island and unsuccessful 2022 candidate for governor of New York, to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards.”
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: Scott Pruitt and Andrew Wheeler.
Ambassador to the United Nations: Rep. Elise Stefanik
Stefanik, who entered politics as a center-right member of Congress, hitched her star to Trump’s wagon and has emerged as one of his most high-profile surrogates and allies in Congress. She’s served in House leadership as conference chair and drew national attention for leading a series of high-profile hearings questioning college presidents about anti-Semitism on their campuses, which led to three Ivy League university presidents resigning. In a statement, Trump called Stefanik “a strong and very smart America First fighter.”
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: Nikki Haley, Jonathan Cohen (acting) and Kelly Craft.
Border czar: Thomas Homan
Trump is bringing back Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in his first term, as a border czar, a non-Senate-confirmed position. In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said that Homan’s role would cover “the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security” and that Homan will also “be in charge of all Deportation” of undocumented immigrants.
Reported but not confirmed by Trump:
Secretary of State | Deputy chief of staff for policy | Secretary of Homeland Security
Secretary of State: Sen. Marco Rubio
Trump is expected to pick Rubio, the U.S. senator from Florida and his onetime political opponent in the 2016 Republican primary, as secretary of state, The New York Times reported late Monday. Rubio, a longtime China and Iran hawk, also played a key role in shaping the first Trump administration’s policy toward Latin American countries.
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo.
Deputy chief of staff for policy: Stephen Miller
Miller, an immigration hardliner and senior adviser to Trump, first entered Trump’s orbit as a speechwriter in his 2016 campaign. In the White House, Miller was an architect of the administration’s signature immigration policies, including the ban on immigration from majority-Muslim countries, restrictions on asylum and the separation of children from their parents at the border. Now, Trump has asked Miller to be a deputy chief of staff for policy with an even more expansive mandate than in Trump’s first term, CNN first reported.
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: Rick Dearborn and Chris Liddell.
Secretary of Homeland Security: Gov. Kristi Noem
CNN reported early Tuesday that Trump will pick Noem, a key ally and the governor of South Dakota, to run the Department of Homeland Security. Noem, who has scant national security experience, would be charged with running a sprawling department including several agencies governing immigration policy, the Transportation Security Agency and the Secret Service. In Trump’s first term, his secretaries of homeland security came under scrutiny for their role in the family separation policy.
Who held the position in Trump’s first term: John F. Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen and Chad Wolf (acting).
