A Cabinet for Change: Unpacking the Second Trump Administration's Key Picks

Aarush Bathula

After November’s close presidential election in the United States, the details surrounding the second Trump administration’s cabinet picks suggest a radical shift in state policy and priorities. This article attempts to uncover key Cabinet picks and present the ambitions and policy points proposed by each.

Secretary of State - Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio, 53, is the administration’s nomination for Secretary of State. A lifelong Florida Republican, Rubio is the son of working-class Cuban immigrants with strong Catholic morals. In his words “It’s hard to be apolitical when you grow up in a community of political exiles”. His political journey began with being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000, becoming the Speaker of the Florida House in 2006, until he became a U.S. Senator in 2011.

Rubio’s appointments in the Senate reflect his hawkish foreign policy views. A senior member of the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Vice-Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Rubio has been outspoken in his criticisms of perceived foreign military and economic threats, particularly those stemming from China, but also including Iran, Russia and North Korea. The State Department under Marco Rubio looks poised to escalate the threatened trade war with the PRC and take on a particularly bold attitude to geopolitical tensions.

Interesting to note, however, is that Marco Rubio’s appointment seems a rather safe bet, far from the isolationism that many were expecting and to the anger of some hardliners in the Republican party. In his 2023 book, Rubio writes: “We must be engaged with the world,” indicating that the State Department would not retire itself entirely from foreign collaboration. Rubio’s experience in foreign policy assignments has received a lukewarm response from regional partners in Europe. “They are obviously rightwing, but good thinkers,” said a European diplomat. “They’ve made statements I would not necessarily agree with, but they are not outside the parameters of normal policymaking options. They are pro-alliances and NATO.”

Secretary of the Treasury - Scott Bessent

Scott Bessent, 62, is the administration’s nomination for Secretary of the Treasury. A Yale graduate, Bessent has spent decades working in finance. A key partner at Soros Fund Management, Bessent soon founded his own hedge fund - Key Square Group.

As Trump’s primary economic advisor, Scott Bessent has outlined a 3-point plan to direct the administration’s economic efforts in the coming years.

Deregulation, domestic energy production and efficient inflation reduction mark the core tenets of the approach, relying on the private sector’s incentive to take over from “bloated government spending”. Bessent argues that deregulation would lessen the strain placed on the budget deficit, which he aims to lower to around 3%. Secondly, greater US energy production would lead to a fall in the barrel price of oil, allowing for a reduction in supply-side upward pressure on prices. Another point to note here would be that greater US oil production could create tensions with Middle Eastern OPEC partners who may not appreciate a significant reduction in oil prices.

Bessent has also argued that Trump’s threat to impose a 20% tariff on all imported goods serves merely as an edge-case scenario and that negotiations with respective trade partners would typically lead to more relaxed agreements being made. It remains to be seen how defining a role Scott Bessent would play as the voice and primary proponent of the radical tax cuts and tariff-centric policies of the second Trump administration come inauguration.

Attorney General - Pam Bondi

Pam Bondi, 59, is the administration’s nomination for United States attorney general. Taking the helm of the Florida attorney general office in 2011, Bondi was the first female attorney general in the state’s history. During her time as Florida attorney general, Bondi led an unsuccessful attempt to overturn President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known commonly as Obamacare. She was a part of Trump’s 2019 impeachment defence team and since 2023 has served as the Chair of the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute.

The role of attorney general brings with it the ability to dictate the future of the Department of Justice’s suits brought against Donald Trump during the Biden administration. The role of AG can also serve as a means for the administration to enact the promises of payback that Trump threatened earlier in 2024, particularly against what he called the “Biden crime family”. Bondi’s loyalist attitude to the Trump campaign could also see her in charge of settling the pardons Trump promised to hand out to the January 6th protestors in the storming of the capitol. The economic ramifications of her appointment could also stem from the steps that she decides to take in the administration’s goal to reduce cross-border drug trafficking and perceived voter fraud.

Secretary of Commerce - Howard Lutnick

Howard Lutnick, 63, is the CEO of middle market investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald, and the administration’s nomination for Secretary of Commerce. Having worked at the firm since his graduation from college, Lutnick has been the face of Cantor Fitzgerald for decades.

A particularly important period in his life came during and following the September 11 attack in New York City, which saw the passing of many of the firm’s employees. In the coming years, Lutnick made the decision to pay out $180 million to the relatives of the employees affected by the attack, marking his commitment as a symbol of his patriotism and dedication to those of his own. This spirit led to much of the philanthropy and political activity Lutnick has carried out, including fundraising and donations to the Trump campaign.  As Secretary of Commerce, Lutnick has a tough job ahead of him - moulding United States policy to achieve the domestic reliance and economic independence that the Trump campaign had campaigned on.

Secretary of Labor - Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, 56, is the administration’s pick for Secretary of Labor. Trained in business administration, Chavez-DeRemer is seen as a centrist and moderate choice for the position. During her term in the United States House of Representatives, her voting record has been noteworthy for being relatively mainstream Republican and at times even bipartisan. Caucusing with Democratic leadership on cannabis reform and cosponsoring the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act (a bill to strengthen worker unions), Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination contrasts the more radical pro-business choices this article has discussed.

In fact, Chavez-DeRemer digressed from the rest of the Republican party in her explicit support for and cosponsoring of the Protecting the Right to Organise Act which would strengthen federal protections on the formation of and support of worker and trade unions. How her policy choices leading the Department of Labor will fit in with the other conservative and pro-business attitudes of the rest of the cabinet and Administration as a whole will be interesting to watch in the coming years.

The second Trump administration’s cabinet nominations reflect a mix of moderate and experienced policymakers and equally unconventional picks, signalling a bold yet measured approach to governance. Future developments will reveal how these choices shape the administration's policy priorities and political trajectory.