Following his victory, Trump has quickly begun to assemble the cabinet for his second term. A president\u2019s cabinet comprises 16 positions – the Vice President and the heads of the 15 executive departments. Some are required to be confirmed by the Senate, while others are not. Mr. Trump has been swift to nominate his staff, and so far, most of his picks have raised questions regarding their qualifications and controversial views. Here are a few of those who have been revealed so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cA strong advocate for our
\nnation, a true friend to our
\nallies and a fearless warrior
\nwho will never back down to
\nour adversaries.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFor Secretary of State, Florida Senator Marco Rubio is Trump\u2019s pick. The President-elect said Senator Rubio would be \u201ca strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.\u201d This had been an anticipated decision, due to his aggressive foreign policy approach toward China, Iran, and Venezuela \u2013 countries that Mr. Trump frequently criticised during his campaign. As a war hawk, Rubio\u2019s stances on foreign policy align with Trump\u2019s isolationist views. Initially, his views conflicted with Trump\u2019s, particularly on the issue of Ukraine. Mr. Rubio cosponsored bipartisan legislation that would block the president from taking the United States out of NATO without the approval of Congress, after concerns that Trump might do that. More recently, Mr. Rubio has taken on a similar approach to Trump\u2019s, calling for the conflict to be concluded. How they plan to achieve this is unknown. The role of the Secretary of State must be confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump has offered the role of UN Ambassador to Elise Stefanik. Ms. Stefanik, former Democrat turned Trump-supporting Republican, is among the first of Trump\u2019s cabinet picks. She represents an upstate New York district in the House and is a member of the Republican leadership in the chamber. Shortly after the announcement, Ms. Stefanik posted on social media that she accepted the offer, saying that she was ready to pursue \u201cpeace through strength leadership on the world stage.\u201d In this role, she will represent and speak for the U.S. at the United Nations, and although she has been Chair of the House Republican conference, she has minimal experience in foreign policy and national security. Notably, House Republicans appear on the way to win a narrow majority in the next Congress, so Ms. Stefanik\u2019s departure could lower their margin. For Ms. Stefanik to take on the role, a Senate confirmation is required.<\/p>\n
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and vaccine-denier, has been chosen for the Head of the Health and Human Services Department [HHS secretary]. Notably, Mr. Kennedy has no medical or public health degree. If he is confirmed, Mr. Kennedy would have wide-ranging control of a department of 80,000 employees, across 13 operating divisions that run more than 100 programs. This includes the regulation of food and medicine that Americans consume in their daily lives, deciding whether Medicare and Medicaid will pay for drugs and hospital treatments, and the protections against infectious diseases. Many public health experts are deeply concerned with Mr. Trump\u2019s selection. A former director of the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) said that having Mr. Kennedy as Health Secretary \u201cwould pose incredible risks to the health of the nation.\u201d Mr. Kennedy is most notoriously known for promoting misinformation about vaccines, including that they cause autism \u2013 a theory that has long been debunked. He campaigned with Trump on the promise to \u201cMake America Healthy Again,\u201d a broad range of policies aimed at overhauling current health protocols. He\u2019s expected to go to war with the Food and Drug Administration, promoting things like \u201craw milk,\u201d which can be dangerous, especially amid a bird flu epidemic among dairy cows. This role requires confirmation and whether the Senate, even under the control of Republicans, would confirm Mr. Kennedy is a question that remains unanswered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m straight up just saying
\nwe should not have women in
\ncombat roles\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nTrump\u2019s pick to lead the country\u2019s armed forces is Fox News host Pete Hegseth. Mr. Hegseth is a former Army National Guard officer who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Now, he is well-known to the Fox and Friends Weekend audience. Historically, defence secretaries have held higher-ranking roles beforehand, worrying lawmakers who don\u2019t think Mr. Hegseth is qualified. \u201cI see no evidence that this person has relationships whatsoever with our overseas partners,\u201d said Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Additionally, some of Mr. Hegseth\u2019s views about the military have sparked controversy. \u201cI\u2019m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,\u201d he said recently. Questions have arisen regarding how he would run the Pentagon when his belief that women shouldn\u2019t be in combat roles and how he would manage millions of employees. A Senate confirmation is required for this job.<\/p>\n
A polarising figure on Capitol Hill, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, was originally selected for Attorney General. The AG is the nation\u2019s top law enforcement officer. Mr. Gaetz, who is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee and was the focus of a three-year federal sex trafficking investigation which ended in 2023. Mr. Gaetz is seen as untrustworthy and unethical even by many of his fellow Republicans in Congress. Some of his colleagues described their response to this pick as \u201cstunned and disgusted,\u201d and Sen. Lisa Murkowski dismissed Mr. Gaetz as \u201cnot a serious pick.\u201d Not long after the announcement, Mr. Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration, stating \u201c…my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump\/Vance Transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
To replace him, Mr. Trump chose Pam Bondi, attorney and lobbyist. Ms. Bondi is currently registered as a lobbyist for law enforcement-related clients. Floated for attorney general during Trump\u2019s first term, Bondi is a fierce Trump loyalist and has been for some years now, recently leading the legal arm of the Trump-aligned think tank, the America First Policy Institute. She will need to be confirmed by the Senate for this role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following his victory, Trump has quickly begun to assemble the cabinet for his second term. A president\u2019s cabinet comprises 16 positions – the Vice President and the heads of the 15 executive departments. Some are required to be confirmed by the Senate, while others are not. Mr. Trump has been swift to nominate his staff, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":4393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[234,308,311,310,309],"wf_post_folders":[247],"class_list":["post-4377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-inter","tag-donald-trump","tag-emily-reid","tag-politics","tag-us-politics","tag-usa"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Emily Reid","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/emily-reid\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/White-House-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["International<\/a>"],"unlinked":["International<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Donald Trump<\/a>","Emily Reid<\/a>","Politics<\/a>","US Politics<\/a>","USA<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Donald Trump<\/span>","Emily Reid<\/span>","Politics<\/span>","US Politics<\/span>","USA<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 3 December 2024","modified":"Updated on 4 December 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 3 December 2024 23:58","modified":"Updated on 4 December 2024 00:05"},"featured_img_caption":"PHOTOGRAPH: NILS HUENERFUERST VIA UNSPLASH","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4377"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4406,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4377\/revisions\/4406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4377"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=4377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}