Trump Begins Filling Cabinet with Loyalists

By Mary Alice Miller
Days after president-elect Trump won the presidential election with all swing states, a majority of the electoral college, and the popular vote, he began naming loyalists to his cabinet. Trump’s Republican party flipped the Senate majority and has a razor thin majority in the House, which will allow him to enact the most draconian elements of his agenda.

Trump named his co-campaign manager Susie Wiles as his Chief of Staff. If confirmed, Wiles will become the first woman too serve in that position. Wiles has worked for Florida Senator Rick Scott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. She served as deputy director during President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign.

Stephen Miller is named to be Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller was the architect of the first Trump administration’s immigration policy, most notable Family Separation during which children were forcibly separated from their migrant parents. To date, 1,000 children have not been reunited with their parents.

Tom Homan is picked to become Trump’s ‘border czar”. Homan supported the original version of Family Separation, but now states that families can be deported together. The conundrum will be mixed citizenship families where some children are undocumented while others are citizens.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been nominated to be Trump’s Secretary of State, implementing Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. Rubio is known as a ‘foreign policy hawk” with a tough stanch on China and Iran. Rubio believes the Ukraine-Russia was will end in a negotiated settlement. If confirmed, Rubio will be the first Hispanic to serve in that role.

New York Congressional representative Elise Stefanik was named as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik has said that the United Nations is infected with “antisemitic rot.” Stefanik’s gained a national profile during congressional hearings about campus protests when she was combative against the former president of Columbia University. She has voted against military aid for Ukraine.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been picked to lead Homeland Security. Noem’s national security experience seems limited to sending South Dakota National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border and supporting the first Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban. Noem is most notable nationally for her autobiography in which she described killing a dog because it was untrainable.

Former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin has been nominated to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin has a negligible record on environmental issues, except for backing Trump’s exit from the Paris Climate Agreement and castigating Gov, Kathy Hochul’s renewable energy targets. Zeldin left Congress to run an unsuccessful challenge against Hochul.

Florida Rep. Mike Waltz has been named as National Security Advisor. A former Green Beret, Waltz was a fierce critic of Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and has called for Europe to provide more support for Ukraine which the U.S. limits its support.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was nominated to serve as ambassador to Israel. Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel, has reportedly stated that Hamas is a terrorist group that should not be negotiated with and does not support an Israeli-Hamas cease fire.

Bill McGinley is to serve as Trump’s White House general counsel. McGinley worked in Trump’s first administration as Cabinet Secretary. McGinley has also served as outside counsel for election integrity to the Republican National Committee.
Former Texas Rep. John Radcliffe was nominated to become head of the CIA. Radcliffe, a staunch Trump supporter, criticized the FBI and the Justice Department for investigating Trump.

Fox tv personality Pete Hegseth was selected as Defense Secretary. Hegseth served as Army National Guard infantry captain and did tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, but lacks high level military leadership experience. Hegseth’s skills as a television communicator could be useful if Trump actually issues an executive order to establish a warrior board that would remove three- and four-star admirals and generals for “lacking in requisite leadership qualities” to purge Trump’s perceived “enemies from within”. The executive order would seek to out military leadership insufficiently loyal to Trump and cleanse the those who think like the retired admirals and generals who warned the public about Trump’s fascist tendencies in the lead up to the General Election.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are set to lead a newly established Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has said he would cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, one third of the entire $6.7 trillion federal budget. Musk has a lot of business with the federal government via Space X and Starlink, presumably business that would not be subject to cuts. Cutting Social Security would get Musk 3/4 of the way to his goal.

However, the threatened cuts could be a ruse to remove professional federal employees and replace them with Trump loyalists, one of the elements of the Project 2025 playbook. Ramaswamy ran against Trump during the Republican Primary, then endorsed Trump when he dropped out of the race.

Despite a Republican majority in the Senate, Trump has requested that they allow him to make recess appointments to the executive and judicial branches.

This move is not only a test of loyalty, but the first salvo in Trump’s efforts to expand his presidential powers and control the entirety of the federal government. The Senate’s role is advice and consent under Separation of Powers, the confirmation of federal cabinet and judicial nominees. There are issues in which the Senate Republican majority agrees with Trump, such as tax cuts, limiting unauthorized immigration, and curbing military aid to Ukraine. But, many Senate Republicans may balk at pardons of January 6 defendants, because a lot of Senators experienced the terror of that day first hand.

As we go to press Trump has nominated Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Security and Matt Gaetz for Attorney General.