Donald Trump spectacularly fell out with many of the people he appointed to his first White House team. One of his top aides from then now calls him a “fascist”.
As the Republican begins building a new administration during the 75-day transition, he is prioritising loyalty above all to deliver on his far-reaching goals.
Two people are already promised influential roles by Trump: the erratic entrepreneur Elon Musk to find billions in government savings, and the equally erratic vaccine denier Robert F. Kennedy Jr in charge of the nation’s health.
With people like that in the mix, disruption is guaranteed.
Trump 2.0 intends to impose sweeping tariffs on US imports, deport illegal immigrants en masse, fire thousands of “deep state” civil servants and broaden the already daunting powers of the presidency to go after his political enemies. He’s also vowing a more muscular foreign policy.
He’ll need effective operators to achieve all that, starting with the pivotal job of White House chief of staff.
Day to day, the role is arguably second only to the president’s for its influence in Washington, coordinating with Congress and across the sprawling administration to deliver on his priorities.
In defeating Kamala Harris, Trump ensured that a woman is still yet to become commander-in-chief. But a woman could take the chief of staff role for the first time since it was created after the Second World War.
Susie Wiles is hotly tipped, having served as one of the two co-campaign managers who delivered Trump’s stunning election victory against Vice President Harris. Another candidate in the frame is Brooke Rollins, who was an acting director for domestic policy during Trump’s first term.
Whoever takes on the job will need to impose greater order than seen during his dysfunctional time in office from 2017 to 2021, when Trump churned through four chiefs of staff.
The longest serving was John Kelly, who two weeks before the election said his former boss fits with “the general definition of fascist” and that Trump had once expressed approval for the loyalty of Hitler’s Nazi generals. The campaign denied he ever said that.
With so many voters anxious about their personal finances, the role of Treasury secretary will also be key. A clutch of names from Wall Street are being circulated including Scott Bessent and John Paulson, both hedge fund managers who agree with Trump’s approach on tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation.
The new Secretary of State will be in charge of executing the president’s foreign policy, which in the first term involved cosying up to autocrats such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. This time, Trump wants a swift end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and he has Iran in his sights.
Potential candidates for the State Department include Robert O'Brien, Bill Hagerty and Marco Rubio, while the next national security adviser will be another important player given Trump’s isolationist stance.
The 47th president will need a Homeland Security Secretary able to deliver on his signature goal of mass deportations and an end to crossings by illegal immigrants across the US-Mexico border.
The much-prosecuted Trump will also be seeking a compliant Attorney General to take charge of the Department of Justice, which is pursuing two federal cases against him dating from his actions in his first term.
He has vowed to pardon his supporters who staged a deadly riot at Congress on January 6, 2021 in a bid to forestall certification of his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden.
Unlike then, when he was furiously denying that he had lost, Trump will enjoy cooperation from the outgoing administration with Biden inviting him to a transition meeting and Harris pointedly vowing a “peaceful” handover.
