Your Guide to Trump’s Cabinet Appointments
Who will be running our country, what I’m most scared of and a read I’m enjoying
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Today below the paywall I have an answer to the most-asked question on my IG, what scares me most right now.
I was tempted to write today’s substack like a Hollywood screenplay. Trump’s transition strategy is playing out like a badly written James Bond right now as the president-elect zips around Mar a Lago on a golf cart with his right hand henchman Elon Musk by his side.
According to Politico:
The president-elect took Musk to the gift shop at Mar-a-Lago to look at hats, and the men dined alfresco with Melania Trump, as club members applauded and craned their necks for a glimpse of Trump with the world’s richest man.
Trump and his transition advisers, according to a person familiar with the setup, are reviewing candidates from a room at Mar-a-Lago with long tables and a few televisions where he can be shown media clips and bios of candidates on screen.
People close to Trump say he has always sought input from a random assortment of advisers, ranging from captains of industry to the Las Vegas waitress who Trump said became the inspiration for his no-tax-on-tips proposal.
I take it back. This isn’t a bad Bond movie, it’s a Trump-centric reality show.
Musk isn’t the only one whispering in Trump’s ear. Also aiding the transition is Charlie Kirk. the founder of the conservative youth activist group Turning Point USA, former assistant to Donald Trump Jr. and the man responsible for some of the most annoying rage bait you’ve seen come on your Instagram feed. He helped build Candace Owen’s early career and he’s developed the messaging and organizing arm of the MAGA movement that as we saw this election, delivered. (If you want to learn more about the rise of Turning Point, I highly recommend the book Raising Them Right)
The people Trump surrounds himself with for the first year of his presidency will reflect exactly what he plans to do in the first 100 days so we need to get acquainted with them. A friend called me yesterday and asked for a full explainer because this is the first time she’s paid attention to cabinet appointments. That’s why I’m creating this guide. Knowledge is power going into this administration. We don’t need to bathe ourselves in news every moment of our days, but we need a working rubric for what we are facing.
Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
What you need to know: First off, to clarify this is not a real Department, they are fancily named and powerful consultants/advisors. This means they won’t need to give up their lucrative day jobs. The DOGE (a joke about a crypto currency, ugh) will advise on dismantling government bureaucracy and restructuring government. Elon has the most powerful megaphone in the world and I think a key effect of this official will be destruction of people’s faith in government. They will likely advise on the President’s budget (requires Congressional approval), which administrative offices to move around (how I expect they’ll dismantle Department of Ed) and which programs to functionally end without formally ending them.
Secretary of State: Marco Rubio (unconfirmed)
What you need to know: There are rumors that Senator Marco Rubio will be Trump's future secretary of state. A former critic of Trump, Rubio has returned to the president-elect’s orbit with his tail between his legs. He is a hardliner against Hamas and Iran and sits on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees in the Senate, good pre-requisites for Trump. However there are many people in the MAGA universe who consider him too loyal to institutions and insufficiently loyal to Trump.
My MAGA source is hoping for Tulsi for Secreatry of State.
White House Health Czar: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (unconfirmed)
What you need to know: Much like efficiency twins, there is no such thing as a health czar yet, but that is what Trump has promised to name RFK for helping to deliver him the MAHA vote. This could just be the most dangerous appointment for American’s general health and well-being for the short-term. His goal is no less than a complete revamping of the FDA.
Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles
What you need to know: Wiles was one of Trump’s 2024 campaign managers (there were 2) and 2016 Florida strategist and will be the first ever female White House Chief-of-Staff. In addition to running the campaign of Ron DeSantis, Wiles was most recently a lobbyist for a variety of megacorporations. Her firm, Mercury, has large contracts with several junk food companies like Kellogg’s, high fructose corn syrup sauce maker Kraft-Heinz, and Nestlé SA.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy: Stephen Miller
What you need to know: In 2020 the New Yorker called Miller, who is often described as a white nationalist, the true driving force behind the Trump administration’s racist agenda. Try to remember the very worst of Trump’s immigration policies during his first term. Stephen Miller was the main mastermind behind all of them including the Muslim travel ban in January 2017 and the family separation policies that left children in cages in facilities along the border. He will help Trump craft Executive Orders, drive messaging on immigration issues and work with the Department of Homeland Security on immigration policy implementation.
Miller has big plans to tackle what he calls anti-white racism:
Miller and other aides plan to “dramatically change the government’s interpretation of civil rights-era laws to focus on ‘anti-white racism’ rather than discrimination against people of colour”.
Such an effort would involve “eliminating or upending” programmes meant to counter racism against non-white groups.
While on the campaign trail he said “America is for Americans and Americans only” echoing a famous slogan, “Germany for Germans only.”
United Nations Ambassador: Elise Stefanik
What you need to know: Representative Stefanik, a 40-year old rising MAGA star has been intensely vocal about her defense of Israel and will likely bring that to the UN. Stefanik arrived in Congress as a moderate (we have a bunch of mutual friends) and quickly pivoted to pro-Trump rhetoric.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator: Lee Zeldin
What you need to know: I asked a few of my Republican friends why Lee Zelden for EPA - they said ‘shrug emoji.’ Zeldin served four terms in Congress and ran food Governor of New York, he has more of a business background than an environmental policy one and has said his focus will be deregulation.
He will be tasked with undoing Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that pushed hard for a green energy transition. A lot of the IRA money is going into Republican majority districts and has already started creating new jobs so Zeldin will have to get creative with how he dismantles it.
Border Czar: Tom Homan
What you need to know: Homan is the former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, contributor to Project 2025 and Fox News contributor and was chose to police the border (Homan is also a former cop). He’s a big fan of family separations at the border and criminalizing unauthorized crossings.
Addressing illegal immigrants in the US during the RNC he said: “You better start packing now.”
National Security Advisor: Mike Waltz
What you need to know: Representative Waltz is most well known as a vocal critic of China and has advocated for reducing U.S. dependence on Chinese minerals and protecting American institutions from Chinese espionage. He is a combat-decorated Green Beret and loyalist, he was also a 2020 election denier. He will lead the national security team’s work on reassessing the United States’ posture toward Ukraine, Russia, the conflict in the Middle East, China and Iran.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
What you need to know: The former Arkansas governor (and former Fox News host) once said there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian. The evangelical stalwart is staunchly opposed to a two-state solution. You may know him as dad to Sarah Huckabee Sanders or as the person behind the constant IG ads for conservative kids propaganda “The Kids Guide.”
There are more and I will continue to post about this in the stack!
What I’m reading:
It’s about that time of year where I start fantasizing about spending my holidays in the Cotswolds. I loved reading this substack The Truth About The Holiday Cottage for the hot tea on that cottage.
