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Trump’s Cabinet: Various ideologies hidden beneath the facade of ‘America First’
There are different groups of possible nominees with different goals: some focused on seeking revenge, others on stabilizing markets, and another group on aggressively reducing the number of people and budgets, possibly without success.
Written by David E. Sanger
For over 40 years, David E. Sanger has reported on five different American presidents during his time at The Times.
President-elect Donald J. Trump has completed his selection of cabinet members and other appointees, creating what his team has called a cohesive and loyal administration focused on the Make America Great Again agenda. However, beneath the surface, there are at least three separate groups with different beliefs and ideologies, which have been kept in check during the confirmation process.
A group of individuals seeking revenge, led by potential candidates, have been tasked with dismantling the Justice Department, intelligence agencies, and Defense Department. Their goal is to target the deep state and anyone involved in prosecuting Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump has a team dedicated to keeping the markets stable, with Scott Bessent potentially leading it. Bessent, a billionaire from Wall Street, has been selected by Trump for Treasury secretary. While Bessent supports deregulation and lower taxes like Trump, he would likely work to prevent extreme measures such as tariffs that could cause inflation and disrupt the post-election stock market growth.
A team led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is aiming to significantly reduce the size of the government. Their goal is to cut at least $2 trillion from the annual federal budget, which is more than the total amount spent on federal employee salaries. In 2024, the total federal budget was $6.75 trillion.
One of the major uncertainties of the new administration is how these missions will overlap and conflict with each other.
Having a variety of different beliefs and perspectives is typically viewed as a positive aspect of presidential cabinets. However, what stands out about President Trump’s recent cabinet choices is the diverse backgrounds and viewpoints that exist beneath their outward display of loyalty to the "Make America Great Again" slogan and to Trump himself. Some of his picks may not seem like they would fit in well at a Trump rally.
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