President-elect Donald Trump has wasted no time in staffing his incoming administration, making a flurry of personnel announcements in the past few days alone. The battle is fierce at the highest levels of the MAGA world, and while the cabinet picks have yet to be announced, let's take a look at who has been picked so far.
Vice President JD Vance
J.D. Vance will become America's millennial vice president and the second-youngest vice president in history.
He was serving his first term as a senator from Ohio when President Trump nominated him as his running mate.
Mr. Vance is seen as an heir to the MAGA movement, which took an economic populist stance and skepticism toward U.S. foreign involvement, including funding for Ukraine.
Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was first elected to the Senate in 2010.
The son of Cuban immigrants, he is considered a foreign policy hawk who strongly supports a hard line on Iran and communist China.
Rubio was famously nicknamed “Lil Marco” by Trump when he ran against him in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, but his nod to the state's seat is in line with his relationship with President-elect Trump. It shows the deepening of the relationship.
Mr. Rubio is highly regarded by establishment Republicans, but has recently adopted a more economically populist policy stance favored by the party's MAGA wing.
Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth
President Trump has nominated “Fox & Friends Weekend” host Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. Hegseth is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and has received two Bronze Stars. Hegseth was a surprise nomination as Sen. Joni Ernst and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard are vying for the position. He graduated from Princeton University and received a master's degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Department of Homeland Security: Kristi Noem
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been chosen to oversee the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security. As Secretary of Homeland Security, Noem will oversee ICE and be tasked with implementing many of President-elect Trump's deportation and border security plans. The governor of South Dakota was once in the running to be President Trump's running mate, but was removed from the running after he admitted in his memoir that he once killed a puppy, Cricket, because he deemed him “untrainable.”
CIA Director: John Ratcliffe
John Ratcliffe is a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during President Trump's first term.
While serving as director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe denied unproven claims by “lying spies” that Hunter Biden's laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
“Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of a Russian disinformation campaign,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business Network days after the Post first reported on the Biden family's extensive overseas business dealings. spoke.
Ratcliffe is considered a hawk on China, accusing the communist country of a “massive cover-up” about the origins of the coronavirus.
UN Ambassador: Elise Stefanik
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been selected as President Trump's ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik is the fourth-highest-ranking Republican in the House and a staunch ally of President Trump. The election of the upstate New York congressman was cheered by the president-elect's Jewish supporters. Mr. Stefanik's harsh questioning of campus anti-Semitism is widely seen as leading to the ouster of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Border Emperor: Tom Homan
Tom Homan led Immigration and Customs Enforcement's removal operations under President Barack Obama in 2013 and was selected by President Trump to lead the agency in 2017.
Border czar Homan did not require Senate confirmation, and President Trump tasked him with overseeing the ambitious deportation plan.
Homan has been a vocal supporter of deportations, saying he won't allow sanctuary cities to stand in the way of President-elect Trump's efforts to deport more than 1 million criminal immigrants.
“We're going to get the job done without you, without you,” he told “Fox & Friends” Monday.
White House Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles
Susie Wiles led Trump's 2024 presidential campaign alongside Corey Lewandowski and Chris Lacivita. Wiles is a veteran of Florida politics and is widely credited with galvanizing Ron DeSantis' then-struggling gubernatorial campaign. Mr. Wiles, a Washington, D.C., outsider, is widely credited with running the most disciplined campaign of Mr. Trump's three presidential campaigns.
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have been tapped to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Ramaswamy is a businessman who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and later became a campaign agent for President-elect Trump. Musk, a former supporter of Barack Obama, has become a major donor and campaign spokesperson for Trump. Tesla's CEO handed out $1 million in cash at a series of town halls in the battleground state of Pennsylvania in the lead-up to the election.
The Department of Government Efficiency is a new agency created to oversee and reduce federal spending. Its initials stand for DOGE, a meme-based cryptocurrency.
National Security Advisor: Mike Walz
Congressman Mike Walz has been selected as President Trump's national security adviser. The Florida congressman is the first Green Beret elected to Congress.
He is considered a China hawk and has been a strong critic of Biden's failure to withdraw from Afghanistan.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff: Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller served as senior immigration adviser to President Trump during his first term in office. Mr. Miller, 39, is a supporter of strict border security and deportations. Before joining Trump's orbit, Miller worked for former Sen. Jeff Sessions.
