Trump’s Radical Nominees Are a Warning Sign for the Next Four Years
Article by Steven Jiang
Donald Trump is no longer a candidate. His bitter four-year crusade to retake the White House finally culminated in his historic victory on November 5, 2024. Throughout his campaign, he spewed divisive rhetoric, viciously attacked judicial institutions, and spread misinformation about immigration.
Now, Trump holds the most powerful office in the United States, where his actions will have real consequences. All eyes are on the transition to the new Trump administration.
(Notably, this transition has been peaceful compared to what happened four years ago.)
As president, Trump is tasked with filling key leadership posts within the executive branch. The sprawling federal bureaucracy includes department secretaries, agency heads, and foreign ambassadors. Who Trump chooses for his inner circle will shape how he governs for the next four years.
Senate Republicans, who hold a majority in the chamber, will decide whether or not to approve Trump’s nominees.
Trump’s picks so far have followed a clear pattern: staunch loyalists with little government experience. Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran, was nominated for Secretary of Defense. He chose QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorist Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Robert F. Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaxxer with no medical background, was tapped to lead Health and Human Services. Most notably, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) withdrew his nomination for Attorney General after revelations of drug use and alleged money-for-sex schemes with minors.
For a party that supposedly champions religion and social morality, it’s laughable how
low they’ve sunk. Quite frankly, many of Trump’s picks are a reflection of his own moral depravity. Pete Hegseth had an extramarital affair with his third and current wife and has sustained numerous sexual misconduct allegations (sound familiar?). Matt Gaetz’s repulsive record speaks for itself. But it’s somehow acceptable when the Republicans do it.
However, Trump’s appointees go far beyond the high-profile disasters. Throughout his political career, Trump has always claimed to be a populist. He’s vowed to “drain the swamp” of Washington and fight the elitist “deep state.” Yet Trump’s second Cabinet is filled with corporate executives who couldn’t care less about the working-class voters in the Rust Belt. He appointed billionaire Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education. He’s surrounded himself with the likes of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has vowed to slash government spending by $2 trillion.
Trump’s nominees are downright embarrassing. In his first term, he inexplicably appointed neurosurgeon Ben Carson as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Carson knew shockingly little about real estate. In a congressional hearing, he infamously confused the acronym REO, meaning “real estate owned,” with an OREO cookie. Instead of a meritocracy, we have a modern-day spoils system.
Continuing his long standing denial of climate change, Trump also appointed oil executive Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy. He’s a strong supporter of fossil fuels and fracking (surprise!) and will almost certainly roll back the Biden administration’s climate regulations on businesses. Trump clearly seeks to further politicize an existential threat to humanity.
But Trump’s supporters claim that he achieved a so-called “mandate for governance” after his “landslide victory” last November. If the American people overwhelmingly voted for Trump’s policy agenda, who are we to oppose his Cabinet appointees? In reality, Trump’s Electoral College sweep hardly amounted to a popular vote landslide. He won 49.8% of the popular vote with a two million vote margin over Kamala Harris. By contrast, Hillary Clinton won 2.9 million more votes than Trump in 2016, despite losing the Electoral College.
The Republicans in the Senate must step up and choose country over party. These people are more than just a symbolic repudiation of the “establishment.” They are barely qualified cronies who will hold very real power over the federal bureaucracy. They will be in charge of crucial issues like national security and education. They’re set on implementing Trump’s radical agenda for America to dismantle the fabled “deep state.” Winning an election does not grant a president absolute power, and the American people deserve better.