President-elect Trump is rounding out his Cabinet just a few weeks after securing a second White House term, filling the top jobs that will carry out his agenda in the years to come.
Trump has had some history-making picks, including the first woman to ever serve as White House chief of staff, as well as some other controversial choices. Trump has already had one withdrawal – former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) took his name out of consideration after it was clear he would not muster enough GOP support in the Senate to get confirmed.
Trump’s Cabinet is also rounded out by a number of media personalities, including those who’ve had prominent engagements with Fox News.
Here are five takeaways on Trump’s Cabinet picks.
Many MAGA loyalists, but not all
Trump has long been a figure who prizes loyalty, and his Cabinet choices reflect that.
Unlike his first administration, when he nominated several more establishment-type figures who he did not have a previous relationship with, this time Trump quickly assembled a team of agency leaders who have been staunch allies with solid credentials in the MAGA movement.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) has been tapped to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) is the pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) is Trump’s choice to lead the CIA and former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) has been chosen for the Department of Veterans Affairs. All four were part of Trump’s impeachment defense team in 2020.
Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, also served as an attorney for his impeachment defense team and worked on efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has tied herself closely to Trump and his orbit for years, parlaying that into a nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Brooke Rollins, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Agriculture, was a top White House aide in his first term and a leader of the influential America First Policy Institute in recent years as it sought to promote Trump’s agenda while he was out of office.
But other picks fit less neatly into Trump’s preference for loyalists.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was one of Trump’s fiercest rivals during the 2016 GOP primary before becoming a strong ally during his presidency. He is Trump’s pick for secretary of State.
Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent is a former Democratic donor who only recently became an adviser to Trump and his campaign.
And North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) ran against Trump in the 2024 GOP primary before dropping out and endorsing him, eventually getting the nod to lead the Department of the Interior.
Women secure top jobs
Trump’s Cabinet choices exhibit some diversity, including two Latino nominees, a Black nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development and an openly gay nominee for Treasury secretary.
But perhaps most notable is the number of women poised to take on top jobs in the next Trump administration, especially because much was made of Trump’s issues appealing to female voters during the 2024 campaign.
Trump has tapped women to lead the Department of Homeland Security (Noem), the Justice Department (Bondi), the Department of Agriculture (Rollins), the Department of Labor (Rep. Lori Chavez-Deremer) and the Department of Education (Linda McMahon).
He has also chosen women to serve as director of national intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard), ambassador to the United Nations (Stefanik) and surgeon general (Dr. Janette Nesheiwat), as well as White House press secretary (Karoline Leavitt).
Mark Cuban, the businessman who campaigned for Trump’s rival Vice President Harris, suggested in October that Trump did not want to be challenged by women in his orbit, comments that drew pushback from Wiles and others.
A spectrum of ideologies
Trump has never fit the traditional mold of a conservative Republican, and the Cabinet he has assembled in many ways reflects the coalition he built to return to the White House.
He has nominated two long-time Democrats in Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the latter of whom has drawn criticism from some conservatives for his shifting views on abortion access.
Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department, Chavez-DeRemer, had the backing of labor groups like the Teamsters and was one of just a few House Republicans to sign on in support of the PRO Act, which would have bolstered collective bargaining rights. Trump has in the past spoken hostilely about striking workers.
And Scott Bessent, who is Trump’s choice to serve as Treasury secretary, is a former Democratic donor who worked with George Soros, the financier and backer of progressive causes who has become a boogeyman on the right.
Some of Trump’s nominees are also making history as the first in their roles. Bessent is the first openly-gay Treasury nominee. Leavitt is the youngest individual to serve as press secretary. And Wiles is the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
Fox News appearances boots Cabinet pick profiles
If there was a common thread to be found among many of Trump’s picks, it’s that they were regular presences on Fox News or had other television experience.
Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Defense secretary, has for years served as a co-host on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” Sean Duffy, who is Trump’s pick for Transportation secretary, had been a co-host of a show on Fox Business Network and a contributor to Fox News, in addition to a one-time participant on the MTV reality hit “The Real World.”
Mehmet Oz, who was tapped to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former daytime talk show host once made famous by Oprah. Nesheiwat, the choice for surgeon general, was also a frequent Fox News guest.
Other nominees, such as Rubio, Stefanik, Noem and Leavitt, were regulars on Fox News and other cable news shows as they defended Trump and promoted his campaign messaging on the airwaves.
One source close to the transition said Trump was reviewing television clips of some candidates as he made his final decisions, a reflection of how much the president-elect values someone who both looks the part and can deliver his desired message.
Some difficult confirmation battles lay ahead
As Trump rounds out the list of 15-Cabinet roles, as well as other key appointments, not all of his choices are guaranteed to glide through the confirmation process, even with Republicans holding 53 seats in the Senate.
Gaetz’s withdrawal amid questions about sexual misconduct and a House ethics report on his behavior showed that GOP senators would not merely fall in line and give Trump’s nominees a rubber stamp, and there are a few nominees likely to face intense scrutiny in the weeks to come.
Hegseth is facing his own allegations of sexual assault related to a 2017 incident at a California hotel, which was detailed in a recently released police report. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied wrongdoing. And while he is a veteran, he has not run a place as sprawling as the Pentagon.
Gabbard, who is Trump’s choice to serve as director of national intelligence, is likely to face questions from senators over her foreign policy views and rhetoric. She has previously been accused of parroting Russian talking points about its invasion of Ukraine, and she faced backlash for meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who she also refused to call a war criminal.
“We’ll have lots of questions,” Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said to CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Dana Bash. “She met with [Syrian leader Bashar Assad]. We’ll wanna know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was, as a member of Congress. We’ll wanna get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context.”
Bondi will likely face questions from Democrats in particular who may voice concerns about Trump’s pledge to use the Justice Department to go after his political rivals.
And Kennedy’s repeated anti-vaccine rhetoric, among other controversial views, is certain to come under a microscope as he seeks confirmation to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
