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The members of Trump’s Cabinet have various ideologies despite their common focus on ‘America First’. Some nominees are driven by a desire for revenge, others are focused on stabilizing the markets, and another group is dedicated to cutting down on staff and budgets, even if it seems like an impossible task.
Written by David E. Sanger
For over forty years as a reporter for The Times, David E. Sanger has provided coverage on five different American presidents.
Before taking office, President-elect Donald J. Trump made his last selections for cabinet positions and other roles, creating an administration that his team claimed was unified, loyal, and focused on the "Make America Great Again" agenda. However, closer examination reveals that there are actually three separate factions within the administration, each with their own set of beliefs and ideologies that are barely kept in check during the confirmation process.
A group of individuals seeking revenge, headed by possible candidates, has been given orders to dismantle the Justice Department, intelligence agencies, and Defense Department. Their goal is to track down and target members of the alleged deep state and those involved in the prosecution of Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump is putting together a team focused on calming the markets, with the potential leader being Scott Bessent, a wealthy individual from Wall Street who is being considered for Treasury secretary. While Mr. Bessent supports the idea of deregulation and lower taxes under the MAGA agenda, he may push back against some of Mr. Trump’s more drastic measures, such as imposing tariffs that could lead to inflation and disrupt the post-election stock market growth.
A team headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is working on reducing the size of the government, with the ambitious goal of cutting at least $2 trillion from the annual federal budget. This amount is larger than the total cost of salaries for all federal employees. Just to provide context, the total federal budget for the 2024 fiscal year was $6.75 trillion.
The interaction and potential conflicts between these missions are a major uncertainty for the new administration.
Having a variety of different beliefs and opinions 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 perspectives that sometimes contradict his "Make America Great Again" platform and loyalty to him. It is difficult to picture some of his picks fitting in at a Trump rally.
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