The news came on Tuesday afternoon, three weeks after Donald Trump’s election victory against outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris: the Cabinet was complete.
“After completing the selection process of his incoming Cabinet, President-elect Trump is entering the next phase of his administration’s transition,” Susie Wiles, the transition chief of staff and Trump’s pick for White House chief of staff wrote in an email.
Trump has also named numerous high-level, non-Cabinet roles, ranging from NATO ambassador (Matthew Whitaker) to deputy chief of staff for policy (Stephen Miller).
It all happened so fast. By contrast, the first Trump administration took months to put together its cabinet picks.
Some things seem likely to change under the new administration.
For one thing, one-time border point person Harris—who has distanced herself from any association with Biden-era immigration policy—is being replaced by Tom Homan, Trump’s former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The former cop and Border Patrol agent is poised to play a unique and critical role in coordinating and executing Trump’s immigration policies. (On the campaign trail, Americans who spoke with The Epoch Times consistently listed the border as a top issue.)
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Trump loyalist once discussed as a possible running mate, is on pace to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The agency has long been critical to how open or closed the border remains.
On Truth Social, Trump pledged to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods until they adequately address illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Alongside White House picks like Homan and immigration hawk Miller, it looks like a serious shift.
And then there’s DOGE, the time-limited “Department of Government Efficiency” commission to be managed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
It too, sits outside the Cabinet. But Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is hoping to give it more teeth through legislation.
Trump 2.0 is also taking a different approach to energy, one that explicitly knits together issues over and above energy alone.
In addition to selecting North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, another past contender for his running mate, to lead the Department of the Interior, Trump has placed the businessman and politician at the head of a new council that will guide national energy policy.
“This council will oversee the path to U.S. energy dominance by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the economy, and by focusing on innovation over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote in a statement on the moves.
“With U.S. energy dominance, we will drive down inflation, win the A.I. arms race with China (and others), and expand American diplomatic power to end wars all across the world.”
Trump’s foreign policy, intelligence, and national security picks are key to that bigger picture.
There’s some diversity in the perspectives. Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, a longtime critic of regime change wars, is slated to be director of national intelligence. She could bring a very different perspective to bear on matters of war and peace than Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s choice to serve as secretary of state.
The overall tenor is hawkish on China and strongly pro-Israel, even as the man who ran as a peacemaker may seek to build on a new ceasefire in the Middle East and avoid a costly war over Taiwan.
Yet, as war drums beat across the planet, it may prove to be the case that foreign policy marks an area of greater continuity between Trump and Biden than either would care to admit while in campaign mode.
Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), Trump’s prospective national security adviser and one of many military veterans (in his case, a former Green Beret) likely to serve, offered up a vision of unity that could appeal to much of Washington, though perhaps not all of Trump’s base.
“We are hand in glove—we are one team,” he said on Fox News, saying he met with current national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
—Nathan Worcester
BOOKMARKS
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned on Nov. 26 that Mexico may impose retaliatory tariffs if President-elect Donald Trump issues tariffs against that country. Trump has promised tariffs against Mexico if it does not stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., but Sheinbaum said: “One tariff will follow another and so on until we put our common businesses at risk.”
Incoming border czar Tom Homan warned Denver Mayor Mike Johnston that he would be breaking the law if he used local police to thwart federal efforts to deport illegal immigrants. “He’s willing to go to jail, I’m willing to put him in jail,” Homan said, citing Arizona vs United States ruling by the Supreme Court, which gives the federal government purview over immigrant registration.
Ontario resident Denise Tisor has been arrested for allegedly selling $70,000 in phony Taylor Swift tickets on Facebook Marketplace. Victims were asked to pay for tickets that were supposed to become usable a few days before the concert but never materialized.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country will not enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Similar warrants, issued for crimes against humanity related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, have been issued against former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
The Biden administration wants weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, Zepbound, and Ozempic to be covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Although the drugs, which cost up to $1,000 a month, are covered for patients with diabetes, Biden wants to expand that coverage to those with obesity.
—Stacy Robinson