Now that Donald Trump has been elected president, there has been much speculation over who will fill his cabinet and be appointed to top positions in government departments.
Trump’s transition team has already made some announcements, and there are strong contenders for further ones. Here’s a brief rundown:
Chief of Staff
For his Chief of Staff — the person who will set his schedule and coordinate meetings — Trump chose Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. Priebus was instrumental in backing Trump and keeping him a legitimate choice for the GOP, even when many in Trump’s own party wanted to disown him and/or favor a more traditional Republican candidate such as Jeb Bush.
Priebus and Trump didn’t always see eye to eye, especially in the beginning of Trump’s campaign, but as time went on and it became apparent that Trump would be the party’s nominee, Priebus reined in other Republicans and kept the rules fair for everyone.
Trump’s chief of staff will have much responsibility due to the policymaking inexperience and lack of Washington connections of the incoming president. There had been some speculation that Trump might have chosen Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon, who became the chairman of Trump’s campaign late in the race, but Bannon instead will be Trump’s chief strategist and senior counsel, a more behind-the-scenes role.
Secretary of State
Among the short list of Trump’s possible picks for the manager of the country’s international relationships are former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Afghanistan military commander Stanley McChrystal and Senator of Tennessee Bob Corker.
But it’s also possible Trump might pick none of the above people for the job. Trump likely has a less than stellar view of this position based on the people who have occupied it in years past and its relationship to the forces of globalization.
Secretary of the Treasury
There have been rumors that Trump might choose his own campaign finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for the job of Treasury Secretary; Mnuchin was a former trader at investment bank Goldman Sachs, but whether he fully aligns with Trump’s vision for taxes, the IRS and government borrowing is an open question.
Initially, Trump had wanted this position to go to his friend, financier and corporate takeover specialist Carl Icahn, but Icahn turned the job down. Reportedly, Trump also desired JPMorganChase chief Jamie Dimon for the role also, but Dimon too didn’t want the job. Other possible candidates are former governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty and Thomas Barrack, Jr., the chairman of equity firm Colony Capital.
Secretary of Defense
Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn was an important voice in Trump’s campaign, and there are strong murmurs that Flynn may be Trump’s top choice for defense chief, but whether Flynn wants the job is difficult to say.
There would also be an issue if he did because he retired from the military less than seven years ago, and there’s a rule about former military personnel serving in the Secretary of Defense role (a civilian job) so quickly after their service in the military; he would require a Congressional waiver to get around this.
Another top pick for the job might be Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a prominent booster of Trump during his campaign. Also, outgoing Senator of New Hampshire Kelly Ayotte and former Senator of Arizona Jon Kyl are contenders for this position.
Attorney General
Jeff Sessions (see above) is reportedly also being considered for this role, but Trump’s top pick is likely to be Rudy Giuliani, a tireless Trump backer and quasi-Trump surrogate on political talk shows. Giuliani and Trump have been good friends for years, and the former New York City mayor was a longtime federal prosecutor who put away many top crime and Wall Street figures such as Genovese family Mafia Boss “Fat Tony” Salerno and investment banker Michael Milken.
If somehow Giuliani is not chosen for the job, there were rumors that Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie was being considered, but the baggage in Christie’s closet from his “Bridgegate” affair as well as other New Jersey-related corruption issues might scuttle this idea.
Secretary of Labor
This role will be an important one for Trump due to how much importance he’s placed on jobs for the nation. Trump’s prime candidate for the position is Victoria Lipnic, the workforce policy counsel for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Secretary of the Interior
Trump’s positions on solar and wind power are well known (he considers them to be too costly to be worthwhile), but who he wants to manage the government’s natural resources is not yet known. Some people have said that Harold Hamm, the CEO of oil and gas firm Continental Resources, will be Trump’s pick for this job while Trump has teased that it may be former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin.
Certainly, Palin is the more familiar choice, and she was a vocal Trump supporter during his campaign. But her resignation from her previous government job may be a discouragement.
Secretary of Agriculture
Trump’s top candidates for this role, which helps develop overseas markets for American food products, include former Governor of Kansas Sam Brownback, former Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue, Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Chuck Conner.
Secretary of Commerce
The Commerce Secretary oversees many of the government’s numbers such as those from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Trump’s is considering Chris Christie (see above) as well as former steel executive Dan DiMicco and private equity CEO Lewis Eisenberg.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
This job will be extremely important for Trump because of how this person will help manage the replacement of Obamacare and run programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Retired neurosurgeon, Trump advisor and early GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson is reportedly a top pick for this role, as are former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal and Governor of Florida Rick Scott, who is the former CEO of a chain of hospitals.
Secretary of Energy
Management of the nation’s nuclear arsenal (the biggest component of this job) could fall to the above-mentioned Harold Hamm, CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies James Connaughton or private equity honcho Robert Grady.
Secretary of Education
While Trump has said he wants to dramatically shrink the Department of Education, it’s rumored that Ben Carson (see above) is a top pick to head it. Also mentioned has been Williamson Evers, an expert on education policy at the Hoover Institution.
Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs
This will be an important role for Trump because the person in it will help overhaul this troubled department, which has been roundly criticized by people both in and out of government.
The nation’s treatment of veterans at veterans’ hospitals and other government facilities is shameful, and the person in this position will need to clean house both literally and figuratively. The top pick for the job is Jeff Miller, the former chairman of the House Veteran Affairs Committee.
Secretary of Homeland Security
Again, this is a key role for President Trump because the individual leading this department will be responsible for the nation’s security, and specifically, its border security. The heretofore-mentioned Senator Jeff Sessions is a top name for this job, as is outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who Trump has prominently pointed to many times in his campaign.
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The EPA is a government department Trump would like to thoroughly gut. To help him do it, Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Myron Ebell is a prime candidate, having been a longtime skeptic of climate change, like Trump. In case Ebell somehow doesn’t make the cut, other people under consideration include lawyer Jeffrey Holmstead and the above-mentioned Robert Grady.
Trade Representative
The person charged with trade negotiation with China might well be the heretofore-mentioned Dan DiMicco, a former steel company CEO who’s a harsh critic of Chinese trade policy. For Trump, this position will be an important pick.
Ambassador to the United Nations
Both the above-mentioned Senator of New Hampshire Kelly Ayotte and diplomatic spokesman Richard Grenell are reportedly being considered for this job, which is less prominent than that of Secretary of State, above.
Director of the CIA and National Intelligence
Threats to the U.S. are near an all-time high, and Trump has pledged to re-institute torture as an interrogation method as much as possible. To help him carry it out (where legal), the above-mentioned Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, former Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend and former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Peter Hoekstra are top contenders for this role.
National Security Advisor
This job will be important given Trump’s lack of experience in government. Again, Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn (see above) is someone whose name has come up for this spot, which is more bureaucratic in nature than the role of Defense Secretary.
It should be mentioned that Trump’s own children, particularly his daughter Ivanka and his son Donald Trump, Jr. may be considered for government positions, given their hard work for him during his campaign.
The exact people forming the new president’s cabinet will likely crystallize over the next month or so. Given Trump’s carefully considered choice for vice president earlier this year, he will likely make equally sound appointments for all of his top advisors.