How Trump Picked His Nightmare Cabinet Nominees
Many of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees are so underqualified for their positions that authoritarianism scholars have called them “anti-qualified.” But what they lack in relevant experience is substituted by something that Trump values far more: fealty. With dozens of nominees lined up to lead different agencies, extreme loyalty stands as the one common denominator between whose careers live and die under the MAGA leader’s second term.Among them stand five billionaires, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom Trump has tapped to lead something he calls the Department of Government Efficiency. Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, was also one of his major campaign donors.Thirteen individuals who have a future in the next Trump White House made cameos at Trump’s criminal trials earlier this year, including Sebastian Gorka for counterterrorism chief, Kash Patel for FBI director, Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, Dan Scavino as senior adviser, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.Another dozen have been hosts on Fox News or were regular contributors to Trump’s favorite network. They include ex–Fox anchor (and accused rapist) Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, Keith Kellogg to serve as Ukraine-Russia envoy, Representative Michael Waltz as national security adviser, and Sean Duffy for transportation secretary.And, of course, several nominees are directly tied to Project 2025, which Trump briefly tried to distance himself from during his campaign after the details of the Christian nationalist agenda proved incredibly unpopular with the American public. They include Russell T. Vought for White House budget director, Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary, Michigan GOP chairman Pete Hoekstra to serve as U.S. ambassador to Canada, former ICE official Tom Homan to serve as border czar, and Brendan Carr—who has warned TV networks that they would face consequences for political bias—to lead the Federal Communications Commission.Trump’s transition team had previously promised that loyalty would be the singular criterion. In October, transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick said that no quality would be more important for incoming staffers than total allegiance to the chief Republican.While explaining how Trump’s last administration buckled under the weight of staff turnover due to disagreements in “vision,” Lutnick said that the new agenda is to eradicate any internal hostility to the Republican’s plans.“They’re all going to be on the same side, and they’re all going to understand the policies, and we’re going to give people the role based on their capacity—and their fidelity and loyalty to the policy, as well as to the man,” the Wall Street billionaire said at the time.
Many of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees are so underqualified for their positions that authoritarianism scholars have called them “anti-qualified.” But what they lack in relevant experience is substituted by something that Trump values far more: fealty.
With dozens of nominees lined up to lead different agencies, extreme loyalty stands as the one common denominator between whose careers live and die under the MAGA leader’s second term.
Among them stand five billionaires, including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom Trump has tapped to lead something he calls the Department of Government Efficiency. Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, was also one of his major campaign donors.
Thirteen individuals who have a future in the next Trump White House made cameos at Trump’s criminal trials earlier this year, including Sebastian Gorka for counterterrorism chief, Kash Patel for FBI director, Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, Dan Scavino as senior adviser, and Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Another dozen have been hosts on Fox News or were regular contributors to Trump’s favorite network. They include ex–Fox anchor (and accused rapist) Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, Keith Kellogg to serve as Ukraine-Russia envoy, Representative Michael Waltz as national security adviser, and Sean Duffy for transportation secretary.
And, of course, several nominees are directly tied to Project 2025, which Trump briefly tried to distance himself from during his campaign after the details of the Christian nationalist agenda proved incredibly unpopular with the American public. They include Russell T. Vought for White House budget director, Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary, Michigan GOP chairman Pete Hoekstra to serve as U.S. ambassador to Canada, former ICE official Tom Homan to serve as border czar, and Brendan Carr—who has warned TV networks that they would face consequences for political bias—to lead the Federal Communications Commission.
Trump’s transition team had previously promised that loyalty would be the singular criterion. In October, transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick said that no quality would be more important for incoming staffers than total allegiance to the chief Republican.
While explaining how Trump’s last administration buckled under the weight of staff turnover due to disagreements in “vision,” Lutnick said that the new agenda is to eradicate any internal hostility to the Republican’s plans.
“They’re all going to be on the same side, and they’re all going to understand the policies, and we’re going to give people the role based on their capacity—and their fidelity and loyalty to the policy, as well as to the man,” the Wall Street billionaire said at the time.
