The Presidential Cabinet in the United States is made up of 26 members, most of which need Senate confirmation. Of the 26, there are 15 department heads, 10 Cabinet Level officials and the vice president. Trump has announced 23 so far, with the Chair of Council of Economic Advisers, the Administrator of Small Business Administration and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy not being announced at the time of writing this article. Tracking and understanding Cabinet picks is important is because they help set the tone of the administration and its goals.
Marco Rubio, Florida Senator, has been announced as Secretary of State. Once a Trump rival, Rubio has fallen in line with Trump over the years and has many hardline views on foreign policy. However, Rubio said he wants to maintain international alliances like NATO, which is something Trump is against.
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News Weekend personality has been picked for Secretary of Defense. He is an Army veteran but has no Pentagon or government experience. His job will be to oversee the military departments and have operational and administrative control over what they do. Hegseth was likely picked for this role because of his loyalty to Trump and how he will push to undo Biden’s diversity and inclusion reforms.
The pick for Attorney General has been surrounded by controversy with the original nominee, Matt Gaetz, stepping down following several ethical problems and concerns being expressed about his alleged sexual misconduct. The new pick, Pam Bondi, was the AG of Florida and was a backer and defender of Trump by donating money to his campaign and criticizing the numerous trials against the President-Elect in the past couple of years.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, who ran third party this past election cycle, has caused a lot of controversy by pushing anti-vax ideology in interviews and recently pushing to remove fluoride from the water.
Linda McMahon, famous for having established the WWE into a multibillion-dollar enterprise and Trump’s Administrator of Small Business Administration in his first administration, is going to be the Secretary of Education. She served a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education before resigning for a failed Senate run. It is likely that she was picked because of her work with the America First Policy Institute, a think tank that has called themselves the “White House in waiting.”
Former Democratic presidential nominee Tulsi Gabbard traded parties and endorsed Trump for president and was nominated for Director of National Intelligence. This choice has caused concerns in the intelligence community for several reasons. One of them is her close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and her defense of strongmen in the Middle East, something Trump may like, considering his close relationship with Putin as well.
These are just some of those that have caught the news’s attention. Several of the other people not discussed in this article are long-time donors to Trump, conservative think-tank leaders or backers, or other Fox News personalities.
