Former President Donald Trump has been floating names of friends and political allies for top jobs in his second administration, fueling speculation about potential picks for senior Cabinet and White House gigs.
During steady campaign appearances across the country, the former president often casually drops hints that certain supporters will soon land jobs in his administration. Trump doesn’t make specific job promises, but the roster of prospects offers a glimpse at who could be on his short list for key jobs and signals that a second Trump Cabinet would look very different from the first.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Doug Burgum, Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy, Lee Zeldin and Robert Lighthizer are among the people Trump has recently praised on the campaign trail and who are viewed as contenders for senior slots in a second Trump term. The former president has also said he plans to enlist Elon Musk for an advisory post.
The hints at a second-term Cabinet suggest Trump will prioritize loyalty in top positions after his first term was marked by significant turnover in senior positions. Trump fired some of his first-term Cabinet via the social network then known as Twitter. Some resigned amid ethics controversies. And some resigned in protest of his response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Kennedy, a former Democrat and scion of the famed political dynasty, appears to be a likely candidate for a senior post if Trump wins a second term. Prior to Kennedy dropping his own presidential bid and endorsing Trump, the former president told CNN he would “certainly be open” to Kennedy playing a role in his administration.
Kennedy has since joined Trump’s transition team as an honorary co-chair and has been stumping with the GOP presidential hopeful on the campaign trail.
“Bobby will do great on health and on the environment,” Trump said in a September interview with the news outlet Full Measure.
Pressed on whether that meant leading the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump said, “No. No. It doesn’t mean anything. It means it could be, but I didn’t make deals with anybody because it’s not appropriate to do it at this [time]. It’s too early.”
Kennedy, who has long pushed unsupported anti-vaccine claims, has expressed a number of ideas for a future Trump administration to implement on environmental and health matters, mostly around his “Make America Healthy Again” concept.
He wrote in a September Wall Street Journal opinion piece that Trump might “revisit” standards for pesticides and other chemicals, such as glyphosate, which Trump’s EPA in 2019 declined to ban.
Kennedy was rumored to be in the running to lead EPA or for another environmental post in President Barack Obama’s administration, but he told POLITICO’s E&E News last year that he was never contacted about a Cabinet-level job.
Another potential contender for Trump’s Cabinet: North Dakota Gov. Burgum, who was on the short list to be the former president’s running mate earlier this year.
Trump called Burgum “Mr. Secretary” in a July call after Burgum learned he wouldn’t be Trump’s running mate, the North Dakota governor told CNN. Burgum’s term as governor ends in December, and he is not running for reelection.
Burgum has been a prominent surrogate for the former president and is widely considered a possible contender for a Cabinet job, potentially leading the Energy Department. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told The Hill that Trump had asked him whether Burgum would be a good Energy secretary, though Cramer suggested an energy “czar” position for the governor. Trump said in May that Burgum “probably knows more about energy than anybody I know.”
Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, has also thrown her support behind Trump. She was named an honorary co-chair of Trump’s transition team and has said she would be “honored to serve” in a second Trump term.
Trump signaled a prime administration spot for Ramaswamy, the founder of a pharmaceutical company who ran to be the GOP presidential nominee but dropped out early this year and endorsed Trump.
“We’re gonna bring him in,” Trump said of Ramaswamy during an Oct. 9 rally in Pennsylvania. “I don’t like talking first. I like to win. We gotta win. Somebody said, ‘Oh, sir, who’s gonna be secretary of State?’ I said, ‘Do me a favor. Let’s win first.’ OK. Vivek knows that, but he’s going to be a part of something that’s going to be really big.”
Trump suggested during a September rally that Ramaswamy or Zeldin, a former New York Republican congressman, could be tasked with an effort to dismantle the Education Department under a second Trump term.
“I’m going to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states,” Trump said in September. “We’ll get somebody great. We’ll get — Lee Zeldin is here with us tonight. I think that’s a job for Lee. Or Vivek,” Trump said.
Ramaswamy has some pretty well-established positions from his presidential run, including a fossil fuel-centric energy agenda — “drill, frack, burn coal,” he said last year at the first GOP primary debate — and a plan to cut 75 percent of the federal workforce and eliminate some agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Although Trump has cut ties with many of his first-term Cabinet officials, his former U.S. trade representative remains in good standing with the former president and appears to be in the running for another top job in a second Trump term.
Lighthizer is a rumored contender for Treasury secretary or another senior gig leading an agency or serving in the White House. Such a position could put Lighthizer in a prominent role carrying out Trump’s aggressive tariff plans that he’s helped develop, which include across-the-board levies of at least 10 to 20 percent on all imported goods and a higher rate on goods from China.
Trump regularly praises Lighthizer during campaign speeches. “Bob Lighthizer and his team did a great job,” Trump said this month during a speech in Detroit, referring to Lighthizer’s work on the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Musk is poised to advise a Trump administration on “government efficiency,” the former president announced. Trump announced plans to put Musk in charge of a commission “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government,” Trump said.
Musk wouldn’t officially serve in the Cabinet, Trump told Fox News this month. “He doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet. He just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting.”
With the exception of the vice president and the White House chief of staff, a president’s Cabinet members are subject to Senate confirmation. So the makeup of the Senate next January could influence which nominees win congressional approval.
Democrats currently hold a slim, 51-seat majority in the upper chamber, which could make Trump’s confirmations difficult. But the Democrats are defending a number of seats in November’s elections and appear poised to lose their majority.
If Trump wins the presidential election and Republicans win a majority, the incoming president would face an easier time winning confirmation for his Cabinet picks.
