Trump’s Proposed Cabinet Is the Stuff of Nightmares
Donald Trump already has a handful of potential Cabinet picks in mind for his second administration—and they couldn’t be more alarming.
For White House chief of staff, the MAGA leader is reportedly considering either Susie Wiles, his top campaign adviser, or Brooke Rollins, president of the far-right America First Policy Institute, according to Trump allies that spoke with The Washington Post.
Other options for top positions include either billionaire hedge fund investor John Paulson or economic adviser Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary, and a toss-up between former Trump staffer Ric Grenell and Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
But people who had previously worked alongside these candidates had their qualms about Trump’s choices.
Grenell, who was roundly criticized for his inexperience while serving as Trump’s acting director of national intelligence for a handful of months in 2020, is reportedly also in the running for other top intelligence positions, including heading the Central Intelligence Agency in order to unearth the secrets of the “deep state,” according to RawStory.
“Everyone knows he has no qualifications for this job,” Mark Groombridge, who worked closely with Grenell at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, told Foreign Policy upon Grenell’s ascension to the coveted Cabinet position in 2020. According to Groombridge, Grenell had “many talents,” but the job’s requirements—such as impartiality—“don’t comport with that skill set at all.”
Upon hearing the news that Grenell had a pathway toward becoming CIA director, at least one former FBI agent lamented to her followers on X: “God help us.”
Trump has also thrown around other names for potential roles in his administration, including suggesting that renowned anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have free rein over the nation’s health policies. World’s richest man Elon Musk has already agreed to head up a new department under the Trump admin—the Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as “DOGE”—which will focus on slashing government spending.
If Musk is to be believed, he’ll be looking to cut more than $2 trillion in federal spending—more than the country’s entire discretionary spending budget, which funds the military, national defense, as well as allocations for other federal agencies. The tech billionaire has also promised to launch a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.”
Trump’s campaign had reportedly scoured thousands of potential names but refused to disclose them ahead of the election due to Trump’s own superstitions. The picks largely come at the recommendation of the soon-to-be 47th president’s allies, who have claimed that incoming staffers would be given their positions based on their devotion to Trump’s vision for America—and to Trump himself, placing a premium on loyalty above all other skills, qualifications, or attributes.
In an interview with the Financial Times last month, Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick lamented that Trump’s last administration buckled under the weight of staff turnover due to disagreements in “vision,” promising that a second Trump term would focus on eradicating any internal hostility to the Republican’s plans.