The 47th president-elect Donald Trump has recently made some of his White House cabinet selections for his upcoming presidency. Trump has submitted his picks for Chief of Staff, Secretary of State, Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, and more.
Donald Trump has picked Susie Wiles to serve as Chief of Staff for his upcoming presidency, which makes her the first woman to hold this position. Susie Wiles is an American politician who has worked with Trump in the past. According to CBS News, Wiles worked with Trump on his 2016 presidential campaign, where she worked as the chief strategist for Florida. In September of 2018, she helped Ron DeSantis on his campaign to be Florida governor and helped Trump on his 2020 campaign. In 2024, she was Trump’s co-campaign manager, and when Trump declared his win she was brought onto stage to announce that she will be Chief of Staff.
Donald Trump picked Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. According to the New York Times, in Rubio’s work as a senator, he made aggressive foreign policies for China, Iran, and Venezuela. Trump made a quote about Marco Rubio taking on this position, saying he would be “a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”
Donald Trump made the selection to have Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Robert F. Kennedy is the nephew of the U.S. 35th president, John F. Kennedy. According to Congress.Gov, the official website for U.S. legislative information, Robert entered politics early, focusing on environmental causes and children’s welfare. He has had a lot of achievements in his career, for example founding the Waterkeeper Alliance, the largest advocacy group for clean water, founding Children’s Health Defense, being an independent candidate for the 2024 presidential election, and more. According to CNN News, Donald Trump made a post on X stating “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Donald Trump has not only appointed people to previous cabinet positions but also is planning to open new ones. Donald Trump has announced he is opening a new department in the White House called the Department of Government Efficiency. According to CBS News, the purpose of this department is to reduce wasteful government spending, and this department will be run by Elon Musk and Vievk Ramasway. Elon Musk is a South African businessman who founded SpaceX and is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla. Vivek Ramasway is an American Entrepreneur who founded a biotech company named Roivant Sciences.
People involved with politics have both praised and voiced their concerns for Donald Trump’s picks. According to Semafor, a global website varying in all different topics, Mike Pence was caught giving graces to the president-elect’s choices for staff. Pence was Trump’s vice president in his 2016-2020 presidency and ran with Trump in his 2020 campaign. Pence said, “I am very encouraged by the early appointments by the president-elect. These are all conservative men and women who will serve the country well.” On the other hand, Republican politician Nikki Haley criticized Trump’s picks for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to The Guardian, Nikki Haley went on SiriusXM radio show and said, “So now she’s defended Russia, she’s defended Syria, she’s defended Iran, and she’s defended China…No, she has not denounced any of these views. None of them. She hasn’t taken one of them back. This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer,” regarding Tulsi Gabbard. She also said, “He’s a liberal Democrat, environmental attorney, trial lawyer who will now be overseeing 25% of our federal budget and has no background in healthcare. Some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know when he is given reins to an agency, what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes,” regarding Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s pick for HHS secretary.
Donald Trump has many more picks that he has already selected, for example Scott Besset as Treasury Secretary, Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, etc. These picks are subject to change between now and January 20th and there are still many positions that are still waiting to be filled. These picks help Americans and citizens around the world see Donald Trump’s values and plans for America over the next 4 years.
