Ideas? Suggestions? Predictions?
Sec’y of the Interior - Kristi Noem
Sec’y of Education - Mike Miles
Sec’y of Commerce - Jamie Dimon
Sec’y of Transportation - Elon Musk
Here’s an interesting article about this (laid out for easy perusing):
Acting Secretary of the Interior
Acting Secretary of Education
Acting Secretary of Commerce
Acting Secretary of Transportation
Assuming that one of McConnell’s picks makes it to the top of the Senate, I expect that Trump will largely need to fire down to get people that are MAGA. The Senate will try to get him to hire Republicans.
We would need to dig down through the current hierarchy to try and find candidates.
The obvious role for Jamie Dimon is clearly as Secretary of the Treasury, not Commerce, but today he said he’s not going to join the new administration. And I can’t imagine Musk running the Transportation Department. Being a cabinet secretary is beneath him.
Senate Republicans will confirm whomever he nominates. They couldn’t do otherwise.
As for predictions, I’d lay money on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton getting the nomination for AG. Trump has other options that are more polished, but there’s no candidate who’s demonstrated as much willingness to corruptly use his office to advance Trump’s interests.
That’s not how politics work - even including with Trump (historically).
The Majority Leader doesn’t put a law up for the vote to find out whether it will pass or fail. He circulates it, amends it, and finds out whether it would win a vote before he brings it to the floor, and subsequently the two parties can vote on party lines, for appearances, even though there might still have been some people against on the majority side and some people for on the minority side.
And, likewise with appointments in the Executive branch. The President suggests some folk; the Senate majority suggests some folk; the House majority suggests some folk; and the Senate majority indicates back to the President, privately, which people aren’t going to make the cut and are a waste of time to nominate. The President just makes himself look like an incompetent by nominating people who will get rejected.
Trump tried to nominate a few people that the Senate rejected to and those nominations sat, not being picked up by McConnell for years. And, indeed, he came out of it looking like an idiot.
Yeah. I messed that up.
HHS: RFK Jr.
Elon Musk will work outside the administration so he can keep all of his conflicts of interest.
Whoever Trump appoints and the Republican-dominated Senate confirms will be more awful that you can guess at, and will mostly be figureheads beholden to the Heritage Foundation backers who don’t need to be bothered with the petty daily functioning of overseeing bureaucracy or answering media questions about why they are doing such shitty things.
Stranger
Assume for a second that Trump wants Jim Jordan in his cabinet. What department would he get?
Department of ignoring child molestation?
I’m trying to stay out of the news cycle these days on anything related to Trump, but I stumbled across two articles that are pertinent here and offer a good illustration of how the cabinet is likely to be comprised of the worst of the worst. One is that Steve Bannon has been pushing for Marjorie Taylor Greene for Homeland Security. The other was a statement from RFK Jr that if he has any control over it, he would shut down entire departments within the FDA. It’s gonna be a shit-show for sure.
Elon Musk will not be given an actual legal cabinet position. If offered, he wouldn’t take it. He doesn’t need it to influence Trump to his advantage, and actually taking such a job isn’t his thing.
RFK Jr. is going to literally kill a lot of people if given the opportunity. (Trump has zero loyalty to him and may now cast his aside, or he could give him a spot in Cabinet; it’s anyone’s guess.)
I’m guessing it will be whomever falls out of the clown car first and is obsequious enough to suit him.
Elon is going to be in charge of fraud and waste. That’s what they said, right?
He said we’re going to have to suffer some temporary hardship.
Stephen Miller in charge of the deportation program.
RFKjr in charge of health. No more vaccines. No more fluoride.
yippee
There’s certainly some consultation that goes on between the Administration and Senate majority over whom the President will nominate, but I think you’re overstating that influence (e.g. nobody gives a shit what the House thinks). Trump will nominate who he wants, and Senate Republicans will fall in line. Openly opposing your party’s President on whom he says he needs in his Cabinet is a pretty major breach. He managed to get his initial nominations – including duds like Betsy DeVos and Scott Pruit – confirmed despite a narrow Republican majority.
That said, every Administration has a couple of nominees who blow up in their face. Trump had to withdraw Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary when he became too much of a liability. I don’t think Trump will nominate RFK Jr. for a Senate-confirmed position (maybe he’ll make him a “health czar” or some such) but he’s also a candidate I could see Republicans rebelling against – not because he’s insane, but because his long record as a Democrat will provide lots of ammunition to piss off the Republican base.
Pope John Paul II is unavailable to be secretary.
Formalities don’t really faze Donald. During his last term he ordered VA officials to run policy decisions by three guys who didn’t hold official posts in government.
Trump had a better relationship with the House. He appointed Mark Meadows to be his Chief of Staff, even.
I don’t know that Paul Ryan or Meadows proposed anyone to him but it’s certainly not impossible. He also appointed people on the recommendation of people who supported his campaign and from friends (mostly in politics).
When you need to hire someone, networking is a common method. You need a list of names to call, and that’s just all it is.
The House has no part in the selection but that’s not what I said.
That’s a big job. It’s fairer to say that the entire administration will be in charge of it, with Individual #1 right up front leading the charge (so he can grab the best before anyone else).