Election Day 2024 was only a few weeks ago, and Donald Trump has already announced his choices for his second term Cabinet. As it turns out, an incoming president and his transition team can act with incredible speed when they abandon the vetting process altogether.
There’s been a fair amount of commentary about the differences among the Republican’s selections — a Politico report described the incoming cabinet as “the team of randos” — though there are some common denominators tying Trump’s picks for his second term together.
Trump has picked a lot of television personalities (especially from Fox News): In his first term, the GOP president relied heavily on people he saw and liked on cable news. As his team for a second term takes shape, Trump is poised to stack his cabinet with even more television personalities.
Pete Hegseth (Fox News host), Dr. Mehmet Oz (syndicated host), Sean Duffy (Fox Business host), Mike Huckabee (former Fox News host), Tulsi Gabbard (former Fox News contributor), Tom Homan (former Fox News contributor), Dr. Martin Makary (frequent Fox News commentator), and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat (Fox News contributor) will collectively form a “Made-for-TV cabinet.”
If we widen the aperture a bit, this same list can also include Sebastian Gorka, a prominent far-right media commentator, and Linda McMahon, who maintained a high public profile as part of the professional wrestling company she helped lead, often appearing in front of the camera. (Trump, it’s worth noting, is himself a former television personality.)
Trump has picked a lot of Project 2025 authors and contributors: Ahead of Election Day, the former president went to great lengths to distance himself from the right-wing blueprint. After Election Day, Trump has tapped the document’s authors and contributors for key roles in his second term administration.
An Associated Press report summarized, the president-elect is “stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as ‘border czar’; and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy.”
That is, of course, a partial list, which also includes John Ratcliffe, a Project 2025 contributor whom Trump now wants to lead the CIA, and Brendan Carr, who wrote part of the Project 2025 document, and who’ll likely soon lead the FCC.
Trump has picked several people accused of sexual misconduct: Given his own scandals related to sexual misconduct (Trump denies any wrongdoing), common sense might suggest that the president-elect would exercise some caution in this area. That’s clearly not the case. As The Washington Post reported, “[Matt] Gaetz, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Trump’s initial picks to head the Justice, Defense and Health and Human Services departments, respectively — have each been accused of sexual misconduct. In addition, Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for education secretary and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, was accused in an October lawsuit of failing to prevent the sexual abuse of teenage WWE workers. None have faced criminal charges and all have denied wrongdoing.” Trump has picked a lot of Floridians: The Sunshine State is over-represented in Trump’s upcoming team, with Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi, Dave Weldon and Michael Waltz poised to join the next administration. (I’m not including Gaetz on this list, though he’s also a Florida Republican.) There are still some key slots that need to be filled, and applicants hoping to make the cut should probably keep these categories in mind.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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