Person The Year?

December 19, 2024
6 mins read

Who is Trump Really Appointing? 

Words by Carmen Macri 

 

Every morning, it feels like there’s a new headline: “President-elect Donald Trump appoints someone with no experience in their assigned government role,” and we all just have to deal with it. These are just his nominees — most still need Senate approval, but with Republicans taking control of the Senate, it feels like a sure thing.

 

Now, let’s dive into who Trump is attempting to appoint — keyword, attempting. A few picks have already dropped out or are under heavy public scrutiny, whether for lack of experience or a stack of allegations. But hey, that’s Trump for you.

 

Starting with the obvious pick, the one we could see coming from miles away …

 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Department of Health and Human Services. For the most part, people do seem pleased with this choice, even though Kennedy has made some wild claims: that  vaccines cause autism, wi-fi causes cancer and “leaky brain,” antidepressants lead to school shootings, chemicals in water turn kids transgender and HIV might not cause AIDS. Oh, and he’s long insisted vaccines don’t protect against disease. On the flip side, he’s all about “Making America Healthy Again” by aiming to tackle the chronic disease epidemic by rooting out corruption in health agencies and reforming incentives in the healthcare system. He also wants stricter regulation of chemicals in our food and more transparency around vaccines, so people can make informed decisions. Aside from the conspiracies, RFK does seem like he will get the job done. 

 

Elon Musk for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Vivek Ramaswamy. I’m sure we are all well aware of this choice as it went supernova online. If you only know Musk as the guy who sells electric cars and loves space, you might be wondering why everyone’s so fired up. He hasn’t exactly done anything wrong — it’s more that he says wild stuff online, brushes off hefty complaints within his company and now heads a government agency. Plus, a billionaire running the Department of Government Efficiency? Feels a little on the nose, doesn’t it?

 

 

Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. The joke practically writes itself: Trump saw the word “secretary” and figured Rubio was his guy. But why this choice? Let’s revisit a few of Trump’s past tweets about his new pick because, as we know, Twitter tells all. (No, I will not call it X.) 

“Rubio is totally owned by the lobbyists and special interests. A lightweight senator with the worst voting record in Senate. Lazy!” OK, not horrible. Trump has definitely said worse. 

“Marco Rubio is a total lightweight who I wouldn’t hire to run one of my smaller companies — a highly overrated politician!” That one did not age well. God, I love irony. 

“Marco Rubio is totally weak on illegal immigration & in favor of easy amnesty. A lightweight choker – bad for #USA!” Bad for the USA, you say? 

 

Pete Hagseth for Defense Secretary? Yes, that Pete Hegseth — the Fox News host. The same one who reportedly paid a secret financial settlement to a woman accusing him of sexual assault back in 2017. Sure, he’s a veteran with military service under his belt, but let’s not forget he was also a co-host on “Fox & Friends.” Really? And it gets more interesting. According to “The New Yorker,” newly released documents and a whistleblower report just unveiled a massive bombshell about Hegseth.

“A trail of documents, corroborated by the accounts of former colleagues, indicates that Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran — Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America — in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct.” 

 

 

 

Russell Vought for Office of Management and Budget. Before we get into the obvious, has anyone seen “The Boys”? VOUGHT? You can’t make this stuff up. For those outside the niche fandom — Vought is the family behind the injectable that creates “superheroes” like Homelander (who is basically a nazi). Now, back to the real reason this pick raises eyebrows: Vought was a key architect of Project 2025. Interesting, considering Trump has publicly distanced himself from it, claiming no involvement — yet somehow managed to hire at least 17 people connected to the project. (More on that in a minute.)

 

 

 

 

Linda McMahon for the Department of Education — let that sink in. Sure, she’s not just a former WWE performer; as CEO, she turned the company into a multibillion-dollar global empire, which is undeniably impressive. What’s less impressive? The stack of sexual assault allegations surrounding WWE and the fact that she has zero experience in education. In October, she was accused of failing to prevent the sexual abuse of teenage WWE workers, a lawsuit her lawyers called “baseless.” But you know what’s actually baseless? Appointing someone with no educational background to run the Department of Education, especially when Trump has openly declared he wants to abolish the department altogether.

 

 

 

Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. Don’t make me laugh. He faced a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking, a probe he could have overseen had he not withdrawn from consideration. Why? Because of resurfaced sexual misconduct allegations. Yes, allegations, plural — because, of course, there’s more than one. This is Trump’s cabinet we’re talking about. Where to begin? Illicit drug use? Sex with a minor? Paying women for sex? Take your pick. The torch has now been passed to Pam Bondi, former Florida Attorney General. Finally! Something that makes sense.

 

 

Here is the full list of Trump’s cabinet and staff nominations: 

Senate confirmation required: 

Highlighted are associated with the America First Policy Institute or Project 2025

 

Marco Rubio – State

Pam Bondi – Attorney General 

Pete Hegseth – Defense 

Kristi Noem – Homeland Security 

Lori Chavez-DeRemer – Labor 

John Ratcliffe – C.I.A

Tulsi Gabbard – D.N.I. 

Mehmet Oz – Medicare and Medicaid

Lee Zeldin – E.P.A.

Elise Stefanik – U.N.

Robert F. Kennedy – Health 

Doug Burgum – Interior 

Doug Collins – Veterans Affairs

Scott Bessent – Treasury 

Brooke Rollins – Agriculture 

Howard Lutnick – Commerce 

Sean Duffy – Transport 

Martin A. Makary – F.D.A.

Chris Wright – Energy 

Linda McMahon – Education 

Matthew G. Whitaker – NATO

Scott Turner – Housing

Dave Weldon – C.D.C 

Janette Nesheiwat – Surgeon General 

Russell T. Vought – O.M.B 

Mike Huckabee – Ambassador to Isreal 

Pete Hoekstra – Ambassador to Canada 

Todd Blanch – Department Attorney General

  1. John Sauer – Solicitor General 

Jamieson Greer – U.S Trade Rep

Jay Bhattacharya – N.I.H. Director 

John Phelan – Navy 

Jim O’Neill – Health Deputy 

Kash Patel – F.B.I.

Charles Kushner – Ambassador to France 

Jared Issacmen – NASA (shout out!) 

Adam Boehler – Hostage Affairs Envoy 

Daniel Driscoll – Army Secretary 

Paul Atkins – S.E.C.

Michael Faulkender – Treasury Deputy 

Billy Long – I.R.S. 

Kelly Loeffler – Small Business 

Frank Bisignano – Social Security 

David Perdue – Ambassador to China 

Brandon Judd – Ambassador to Chile 

 

Senate confirmation not required: 

 

JD Vance – Vice President

Susie Wiles – Chief of Staff 

James Blair– Deputy Cheif of Staff 

Taylor Budowich – Deputy Cheif of Staff 

Stephen Miller – Deputy Cheif of Staff 

Dan Scavino – Deputy Cheif of Staff 

Thomas Homan – Boarder Czar 

Michael Waltz – National Secretary Advisor 

Bill McGinley – Government Efficiency Counsel 

David Warrington – White House Counsel 

Steven Cheung – Comm. Director 

Karoline Leavitt – Press Secretary 

Will Sharf – Staff Secretary 

Sergio Gor – Personnel 

Elon Musk – Government Efficiency Lead

Vivek Ramaswamy – Government Efficiency Lead

Brendan Carr – F.C.C

Alex Wong – Dep. Nat. Sec. Adviser 

Sebastian Gorka – Dep. asst. to Press. 

Steven Witkoff – Middle East Envoy 

James Braid – Legislative Affairs 

Alex Latcham – Public Liaison 

Vince Haley – Domestic Policy 

Kevin Hassett – N.E.C Director 

Keith Kellogg – Ukraine and Russia Envoy 

Massad Boulos – Senior Advisor 

Peter Navarro – Trade and Manufature 

Caleb Vitello – I.C.E Acting Director 

 

Withdrawn: 

 

Matt Gaetz – Attorney General 

Chad Chronister – D.E.A 

Since a young age, Carmen Macri knew she wanted to be a writer. She started as our student intern and has advanced to Multi-media Journalist/Creative. She graduated from the University of North Florida and quickly found her home with Folio Weekly. She juggles writing, photography and running Folio’s social media accounts.

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