Column 481       November 15, 2024Trump’s First Cabinet

Trump has quickly assembled many of the people who will serve in his cabinet and in other senior positions during his second term. The cabinet consists of the vice president and the heads of the 15 executive departments, each of which, require Senate confirmation. Nine have been announced:

Marco Rubio, a Florida senator, will be Secretary of State.
Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican congressman, will be Attorney General.
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and a veteran Iraq and Afghanistan, will be Defense Secretary.
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, will be Homeland Security Secretary.
John Ratcliffe, former Texas congressman and director of national intelligence, will be C.I.A. director.
Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic House member and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who served in Iraq, will be Director of National Intelligence.
Lee Zeldin, a former congressman from New York, will be E.P.A. Administrator.
Elise Stefanik, an upstate New York congressman, will be U.N. Ambassador.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long-time health and safe vaccine advocate, will be Secretary of Health and Human Services

Senate confirmations are not required for staff positions. So far 11 have been named.
JD Vance will be Vice President.
Susie Wiles, a political tactician, will be Chief of Staff.
James Blair, a political director will be Deputy Chief of Staff.
Taylor Budowich will be in charge of communications and personnel as Deputy Chief of Staff
Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, returns to the White House as homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff for policy and will be another Deputy Chief of Staff.
Dan Scavino, one of Trump’s closest advisers will be another Deputy Chief of Staff
Thomas Homan, has decades of experience in immigration enforcement, and he will be
Border Czar.
Michael Waltz, Florida congressman and former Green Beret is a hawk on China and Iran will be National Security Adviser.
Bill McGinley, served as a cabinet secretary during Mr. Trump’s first term, has been named White House Counsel
Elon Musk, needs no introduction, will be co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency
Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and political newcomer, will be co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Steven Cheung, previously served as communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign and was the White House director of strategic response in Trump's first term, will be communications director.
Sergio Gor, an ally and business partner of Donald Trump Jr.'s, has been selected for personnel office director.

There are two named Transition officials:
Howard Lutnick, chairman and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, will be Transition Co-Chair.
Linda McMahon, a major donor to Mr. Trump, will be Transition Co-Chair.

We will be hearing much more from these people in the months ahead. Hopefully the Senate will go along. But I have my doubts if they will just gavel through Matt Gaetz’s conformation. Matt is a very hard-nosed investigator, anti-crime guy that the deep state wants to avoid. And with the stunt the Senate leadership pulled off with early voting on the Senate Majority Leader by the old Senate, instead of Trump’s new Senate, I’m afraid the Senate could be controlled by RINOs.

RFK, Jr. will also face an uphill battle for confirmation because of his anti-Fauci stance. Fauci, a liar and criminal from the get go, gets a pass by the deep state.

But we’ll see just how Trump plans to handle this. It will be interesting.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

1. Trump's Picks So Far: Here's Who Will Be Advising the New President by Morgan Phillips, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Louis Casiano, Andrea Margolis, Chris Pandolfo, Greg Wehner from Fox News

2. Is This Why Trump Rolled Out a Ton of Controversial Picks? by Matt Vespa from Townhall