How Trump's Cabinet is (and isn't) diverse

Nov 25, 2024

POLITICO'S West Wing Playbook: Transition of Power

By Lisa Kashinsky, Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols, Megan Messerly and Ben Johansen

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Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the preparations, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s transition. POLITICO Pro subscribers receive a version of this newsletter first.

DONALD TRUMP just quietly appointed a more diverse Cabinet than in his first administration.

Really.

The top Cabinet jobs have largely gone to white men. But Trump has roughly doubled the number of women in high-level positions so far from his initial 2017 team to now (so much for MARK CUBAN’s theory that Trump doesn’t surround himself with “strong, intelligent” women).

Trump will have the first female White House chief of staff in SUSIE WILES. His press secretary, KAROLINE LEAVITT, will be the youngest person to stand behind the briefing room podium. Former Rep. TULSI GABBARD would be the first person with Pacific Islander roots to be national intelligence director (h/t Reuters).

Sen. MARCO RUBIO would be the first Hispanic secretary of State if he, like many others on the list, gets through Senate confirmation. Hedge-fund executive SCOTT BESSENT, Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, could be the highest-ranking openly gay Cabinet member (Treasury outranks Transportation, sorry PETE BUTTIGIEG). He would also be the first openly gay Republican to win Senate approval for a Cabinet post (RIC GRENELL became the first openly gay person to hold a Cabinet-level position after Trump named him acting national intelligence director during his first term, but he didn’t go through the formal confirmation process).

There’s even some ideological diversity among the ranks of the MAGA loyalists Trump has appointed to carry out his agenda: Gabbard was an elected Democrat before she left the party and ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, first ran for president as one. Trump’s pick for Labor secretary, Rep. LORI CHAVEZ-DeREMER (R-Ore.), is pro-union — and has already drawn some criticism from conservatives because of it. Bessent is a former Democratic donor and GEORGE SOROS protégé.

Diversity is usually Democrats’ calling card. While Trump’s second initial Cabinet is more diverse than his first, it is not as diverse as JOE BIDEN’s starting team.

Trump instead seemingly prioritized loyalty in making his senior picks and his Cabinet appears aligned on some issues, such as immigration. He never made it his stated mission to build a diverse Cabinet, making it unclear what kind of impact the staffing decisions may have on his administration. In fact, the Republican spent much of his campaign railing against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, even mocking Vice President KAMALA HARRIS as a “DEI hire.”

His team wasn’t even aware that Wiles would be the first female White House chief of staff until after the decision was made, according to a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, granted anonymity to share details of the private discussions.

The former and future president “has never cared about race or gender when making personnel decisions, he has always cared about hiring the best people for the best jobs, and his Cabinet positions are a reflection of that,” the transition official told West Wing Playbook. “The media has never given Donald Trump enough credit for giving people opportunities and empowering them, especially women.”

That’s quite the contrast with Biden, who, facing pressure from Democrats to diversify their ticket during his 2020 campaign, vowed to select a woman as his running mate, promised to create a Cabinet that was reflective of the country’s demographics and committed to nominating a Black woman to the Supreme Court.

Although Biden has faced plenty of criticism from inside the tent about how, once in office, he ultimately empowered a small group of mostly older white men inside the West Wing, he’s taken enormous pride in the diversity of his administration. In public remarks, Biden often touts that he has the “most diverse Cabinet in history” and celebrates Harris as the “first Black woman of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.”

But it’s that kind of focus on identity that is giving the Democratic Party pause as officials debate where they went wrong this election cycle — especially after Trump won a second term with Republicans’ most diverse coalition in decades.

And yet, even though Trump’s team is shaping up to be more diverse this time around, there’s still plenty of homogeneity within its ranks.

Ever a fan of that “central casting” look — and of people who can clearly articulate his agenda on television (Vice President-elect JD VANCE, anyone?) — Trump has gravitated toward people with TV backgrounds, particularly those with Fox News on their resume. SEAN DUFFY (secretary of Transportation nominee) is a former Fox Business host and fellow reality TV alum. PETE HEGSETH (secretary of Defense nominee) is a former Fox & Friends’ weekend edition host. Gabbard is a Fox contributor and just about everyone else Trump has announced is a frequent guest on the network.

The Florida Man has also picked a whopping 12 people so far who have ties to his adopted home state (he even swapped one Floridian, former Rep. MATT GAETZ, for another, PAM BONDI, when Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general became untenable). He’s tapped at least five people associated with Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint he disavowed amid Democratic attacks on the campaign trail. And he’s got at least five billionaires coming onboard.

With help from Kimberly Leonard

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POTUS PUZZLER

How many people were in GEORGE WASHINGTON’s first Cabinet?

(Answer at bottom.)

Pro Exclusive

Newsom moves to protect EV incentives from Trump — and Musk, via our WES VENTEICHER

A ‘Make America Healthy Again’ agenda takes shape, via our CHELSEA CIRRUZZO

Trump team eyes quick rollback of Biden student debt relief, via our MICHAEL STRATFORD

Will FERC Chair Phillips stay under Trump?, via our CATHERINE MOREHOUSE

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THE BUREAUCRATS

TO CATCH YOU UP: On Friday night and over the weekend, Trump announced a flurry of appointments, nearly filling out his Cabinet.

Bessent, the billionaire hedge fund manager widely considered the favorite to lead Treasury, was announced as the agency’s secretary.
Chavez-DeRemer, the Oregon lawmaker who raised eyebrows as a union-friendly Republican, was tapped as Labor secretary.
SCOTT TURNER, the former NFL tight end turned motivational speaker of the America First Policy Institute was tapped to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Turner also served as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term.
RUSSELL VOUGHT, a prominent co-author of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, will reprise his role as director of the Office of Management and Budget, a post he had during the first Trump term.
Trump also filled out some major health posts to execute on RFK's “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Fox News medical contributor JANETTE NESHEIWAT will serve as surgeon general; former House member DAVE WELDON of Florida will serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and MATT MAKARY, a Johns Hopkins surgeon who criticized the Biden administration’s Covid response, was selected as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
After a week of intense internal fighting about the position, Trump tapped loyalist BROOKE ROLLINS as his Agriculture secretary. Rollins served as director of the Office of American Innovation and acting director of the Domestic Policy Council during the first Trump administration.

REMEMBER ME? Vice President Harris has been lying low since her loss earlier this month, unwinding with family and friends in Hawaii before coming back to the nation’s capital. But privately, as our CHRIS CADELAGO and EUGENE DANIELS report, Harris has been instructing advisers and aides to keep her options open — whether it’s another presidential run in 2028, or even to succeed GAVIN NEWSOM as California governor in two years. As Harris has repeated in phone calls, “I am staying in the fight.”

She’s expected to explore those and other possible paths forward with family members over the winter holiday season. The vice president has more than the next couple of months to make her decision. Most immediately, Harris and her advisers are working to define how and when she will speak out against Trump and reassert her role within the Democratic party.

RFK BULKS UP: JIM O’NEILL, former health official and associate of billionaire investor PETER THIEL, is being considered as deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, our DAVID LIM, ADAM CANCRYN and LAUREN GARDNER report. O’Neill held several roles in the agency during the GEORGE W. BUSH administration, including principal associate deputy secretary. O’Neill has advocated for people to be able to take medicines once their safety, but not effectiveness, is reviewed by the FDA.

O’Neill was considered to lead the FDA during Trump’s first term, but was passed over for SCOTT GOTTLIEB.

A message from PhRMA:

PBMs get rebates on medicines. They should share those savings with you. PBMs get rebates that can lower the cost of some medicines by 50% or more. Those middlemen often force you to pay full price. Why? Because they refuse to share savings that can lower what you pay at the pharmacy. Congress should make sure medicine savings go directly to patients, not middlemen.

Agenda Setting

BITING HIS LIP: Special counsel JACK SMITH has dropped his criminal investigation into Trump for attempting to subvert the 2020 election, arguing the Department of Justice policy prohibits him from continuing the case after his inauguration, our KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN report. In a six-page court filing on Monday, Smith said he consulted with DOJ officials about whether an ongoing prosecution against a person elected president might continue.

But he said officials concluded that a longstanding prohibition on prosecuting a sitting president would apply to Trump. Smith left open the possibility that the DOJ might resurrect the charges after Trump finishes his second term.

WATCHDOG PURGE: After two in-house investigators at U.S. intelligence agencies recently quit their jobs, there’s growing fear in Washington that others will leave — or they could be the start of a purge of government watchdogs, Josh and NAHAL TOOSI report. A wave of departures by inspectors general would give Trump the opportunity to nominate or appoint people of his choosing — leaving dozens of federal departments, agencies and offices subject to oversight that owe their loyalty and job security to the president.

In the wake of the election results, CIA Inspector General ROBIN ASHTON and Intelligence Community Inspector General THOMAS MONHEIM revealed they plan to leave the government in coming weeks. Although neither cited Trump’s win for their move, the timing troubled some longtime IG advocates.

“I’m very disappointed that the two IGs have resigned,” said former Justice Department Inspector General MICHAEL BROMWICH. “I think preemptively resigning makes things too easy for the incoming administration to avoid oversight. To prematurely run for the exits, in my view, that is not the way to handle the responsibility.”

GETTING OFF TO A HOT START: Incoming border czar TOM HOMAN confirmed that states that refuse to “cooperate” with Trump’s mass deportation plans would have their federal funding slashed in retribution, Mediate’s DAVID GILMOUR reports. Homan appeared on the Fox News show Life, Liberty & Levin to speak with host MARK LEVIN, who suggested that the Trump administration had a “powerful weapon” in the form of federal funding that it could utilize against blue states that don’t comply with the administration’s mass deportation plan.

Homan confirmed this kind of retribution was a possibility: “And that is going to happen. I guarantee President Trump will do that.”

A message from PhRMA:

What We're Reading

Trump is trying to control Congress. Republicans are quietly pushing back (POLITICO’s Olivia Beavers, Jordain Carney and Myah Ward)

Devoted Aide Who Keeps Good News Flowing Will Follow Trump to the White House (NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan)

Why Wall Street likes Trump’s pick for Treasury (POLITICO’s Sam Sutton)

A message from PhRMA:

Congress should make sure medicine savings go directly to patients, not middlemen.

PBMs negotiate rebates that can lower the cost of some medicines by 50 percent or more. Yet, they can charge you full price at the pharmacy.

It’s time to lower costs for patients by taking on the middlemen. Learn more.

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

Washington’s first Cabinet was four people: Secretary of State THOMAS JEFFERSON, Secretary of Treasury ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Secretary of War HENRY KNOX and Attorney General EDMUND RANDOLPH.

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Jennifer Haberkorn and Rishika Dugyala.

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