Donald Trump completed his slate of cabinet secretaries last week in rolling announcements — and hidden in his big reveals could be a message of who he appreciates most.
The president-elect relied on six compliments when broadcasting picks for his next administration. Sometimes he was “proud,” other times he was “thrilled,” and, most of the time, he was “pleased.” Perhaps these different phrases provide some insight into Trump’s thinking.
Penta Group partnered with Axios to track how many times Trump used certain terms to introduce his Cabinet and staff picks.
“There is one final decider and as his statements come out, you can see slight nuances in the language,” Penta CEO Matt McDonald told Axios. “It kind of reminds meof the old Kremlinology of the Cold War, where people were parsing whatever public indicators there were to tell who was up or who was out.”
Here is a breakdown of his compliments:
“Pleased”
“Pleased” seemed to be his go-to term, with the president-elect saying it 18 times, more than any other term analyzed. This included when he introduced Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence, Mike Huckabee as the US ambassador to Israel, and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head DOGE.
“Very Pleased”
By contrast, he was “very pleased” four times, including when picking Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead Medicare and Medicaid and Dr. Marty Makar to lead the FDA.
“Most pleased”
According to Axios, this superlative praise was reserved for just one administration pick: Scott Bessent. The billionaire, who served as an economic advisor to Trump’s 2024 campaign, was tapped to serve as treasury secretary.
“Thrilled”
Trump said he was “thrilled” to announce two of his nominees: Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy and Robert F Kennedy Jr as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
“Proud”
The president-elect was “proud” to announce four nominees, including Dr Janette Nesheiwat as surgeon general and former Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as secretary of labor.
“Honored”
This term was reserved for just three individuals. Trump was “honored” to tap Congressman Mike Waltz as his national security adviser, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador, and Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.
“Great Honor”
Trump said it was his “great honor” — in lowercase letters — to only one person nominated to serve in his next administration: Linda McMahon. She was tapped to serve as his education secretary.
Three others, though, received the same introduction but with a capital G and a capital H, perhaps emphasizing just how great his honor actually was. This list includes Matt Gaetz, the first failed nominee. He withdrew his bid to be the attorney general after a barrage of backlash over his sex trafficking allegations.
Marco Rubio, who Trump once referred to as “little Marco,” was also given the compliment when Trump introduced him as his nominee for secretary of state.
Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick for secretary of agriculture, also received the double-capped praise.
