Return to the White House

USA, after the vote the race for key roles in the Trump administration: the names in the running

The Trump 2024 Transition Team is ready to promote the 'America First' agenda. But first he must start the process of selecting candidates to put faces to key roles in his cabinet and administration

7 November 2024

Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Associated Press/LaPresse

4' min read

With the polls just closed in all US states, Donald Trump's campaign team went into 'transition' mode, with an unexpected acceleration that surprised both the President-elect's aides, exhausted from the long election marathon, and the media. In a meeting convened in Palm Beach, Florida, just 12 hours after the end of the election," says "Politico", the bible of international politics in general and US politics in particular, "Trump's advisers rushed to start the transition plans, in particular how to manage the selection process on people and policies that will shape Trump's second White House.

In the background, the priorities already announced by Trump on the campaign trail, from border security to oil drilling to bring down fuel prices and help ensure US energy independence. With Congress potentially in full Republican control, Trump's team and his transition advisers led by Howard Lutnick, president and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of the Trump 2024 Transition Team, are poised to promote aspects of his "America First" agenda. Not forgetting the promise to solve the two wars, in Ukraine and Israel, in 24 hours. But first they must begin the process of selecting candidates to put faces to the key roles in his cabinet and his administration as a whole.

Ft: Bessent vying for the Treasury

In the key role of Treasury Secretary, the figure in charge of managing economic policy, the name of billionaire Scott Bessent, one of Donald Trump's main campaign donors, is advancing. Bessent, according to the Financial Times, is seeking candidates to be his deputy in the role currently occupied by Janet Yellen. Bessent is a hedge fund manager who was formerly Trump's economic advisor when he was president.

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Trump & Musk: i bad boys che hanno in pugno l’America

the role of business and the scouting work of think tanks

The first big decision Trump will have to make is who will be his chief of staff. Susie Wiles, his top campaign adviser, is one of the leading candidates, according to several Trump advisers telling the Washington Post. Another possible name is that of lawyer Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute. The transition process undertaken by the Trump team also relies on the scouting work of conservative think tanks, including the America First Policy Institute, whose leadership is playing a leading role.

For the key position of Secretary of State, Robert O'Brien, Trump's former national security advisor, is said to have mentioned the names of Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is already in the running as Trump's possible vice-president, at a lunch with conservative members of Congress a few weeks ago. On the same occasion, the names of Senator Bill Hagerty , former White House economic advisor during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell were also circulated. Senator Tom Cotton (veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served in the 101st Airborne Division) would instead be a possible name for the role of Secretary of Defence.

The transition co-chair, Howard Lutnick, gave names and resumes of well-known Wall Street businessmen such as Steve Schwarzman, Chuck Schwab, and Ross Perot Jr. who were asked to help identify candidates for top positions. Trump's transition team has also requested policy memos from potential administration officials, while Linda McMahon, a former small business administrator and co-chair of Trump's transition, has been tasked with drafting policies on issues ranging from intelligence to economic policy, immigration to energy policy.

The outsiders close to the White House

Judging by the political and financial proximity to candidate Trump shown in recent months, and their presence at Mar-a-Lago the day after the election, many are betting on a leading role in the new administration for conservative media anchorman Tucker Carlson and Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk. For him, in particular, a role as a reformer of the organisation of the federal administration would be under consideration, with an eye above all to cutting expenses and administrative costs.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the leader of the anti-vaccine movement and former presidential candidate who is part of Trump's transition team, made the media rounds by announcing that he did not want to 'take away anyone's vaccines', although he confirmed his recommendation to Trump to remove fluoride from public water. According to several observers of US politics, reports the Washington Post ennedy could have a leading role in the Trump administration, particularly in the area of healthcare.

On this front, DeSantis would instead be the main sponsor of Joseph Ladapo, a Nigerian-born doctor who currently heads Florida's health department, to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services. John Fleming, a former Trump administration official and deputy chief of staff in 2020 and current Louisiana treasurer, would instead be in talks with Trump's advisers for a senior position at the Department of Commerce.

The wait for the agreement with the General Services Administration

Numerous questions remain about how Trump's team will handle its return to control of the executive branch, including whether and when it will sign an agreement with the General Services Administration to obtain federal resources to help transition efforts. The GSA is an independent agency of the US government founded in 1949 to help manage and support the basic operations of the US administration. On 6 November, the department reiterated that it was 'ready to work with President-elect Trump's transition team to complete the required agreement to receive GSA administrative services and support'. A White House official confirmed that Trump's transition team has not yet entered into the agreement, although transition co-chair Lutnick told CNN that it 'probably' will.

Rejecting GSA support - an unprecedented move by a presidential transition - would mean that Trump's transition could privately raise unlimited amounts of money from undisclosed donors for the transition and circumvent federal ethical commitment requirements. But it could also complicate or even prevent the transition team from gaining access to items such as government email addresses or cyber protection information technology.

Trump and his team must also decide whether, how, and when to deliver on the long list of campaign promises, from implementing the 'largest deportation' of immigrants in American history, to enacting new tariffs on imports, to radically reshaping the administration and the federal government. Some of his most important promises may prove difficult to realise, such as cutting many taxes, including those on overtime, gratuities, and Social Security benefits.