The Second Trump Administration

Updated: November 21, 2024

Here is a tracking list of key Trump appointments. It will be updated whenever a new one gets announced:

Linda McMahon

Position: Secretary of Education

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 19, 2024

Source: Bloomberg via Getty Images

McMahon served as Administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first presidency and is a current co-chair of the presidential transition. She is a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, and is married to Vince McMahon, who had been the WWE’s longtime leader. As Secretary of Education, McMahon would oversee the Department’s role of distributing billions of dollars to schools nationwide and managing the federal student loan portfolio. President-elect Trump campaigned on dismantling the Department of Education, and has vowed to cut off federal funds to colleges and schools that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.”

Dr. Mehmet Oz

Position: Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 19, 2024

Primarily known for being the host of the Dr. Oz Show, Dr. Oz has been tapped to administer the agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid services. Oz has faced criticism in the past for promoting pseudoscience on his show. He also previously ran in 2022 for the U.S. Senate representing Pennsylvania and was defeated.

Howard Lutnick

Position: Secretary of Commerce

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 19, 2024

Lutnick is the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and is a co-chair of the presidential transition. He was a prominent fundraiser for the Trump campaign and a proponent of Trump’s tariff plan. As Secretary of Commerce, Lutnick would be concerned with promoting American industry and business, as well as overseeing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sean Duffy

Position: Secretary of Transportation

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 18, 2024

Duffy at a committee hearing. Source: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sean Duffy is a co-host of The Bottom Line on Fox News and formerly represented Wisconsin’s 7th district from 2011 to 2019. Prior to his political career, he was a reality television personality and district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin. As Secretary of Transportation, Duffy would oversee several agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Chris Wright

Position: Secretary of Energy

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 16, 2024

Wright’s official portrait. Source: The Denver Post

Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy and is a fierce advocate for continuing to use fossil fuels for energy. He was a campaign donor for Trump and has been an opponent of efforts to fight climate change. As Secretary, Wright would oversee U.S. energy policy and production, nuclear power, and the military’s nuclear weapons program.

Karoline Leavitt

Position: White House Press Secretary

Needs Senate Confirmation: No

Announced: November 15, 2024

Leavitt (center) gives a statement to the press. Source: Getty Images

Leavitt, who served as the national press secretary for Trump’s 2024 campaign, has been tapped to serve as White House Press Secretary. A chief aspect of that job is giving the daily White House press briefing to the White House Press Corps. Leavitt will be the youngest press secretary, at just 27. Prior to her role on the Trump campaign, Leavitt served internships in the White House communications office and on Capitol Hill and unsuccessfully ran to represent New Hampshire’s 1st district in 2022.

Doug Burgum

Position: Secretary of the Interior

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 14, 2024

Burgum gives a speech. Source: AP

The outgoing North Dakota governor was announced to be Trump’s pick for the job during a speech the president-elect gave at Mar-a-Lago tonight. As Secretary of the Interior, Burgum will be responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land, natural resources, and national parks. Burgum had launched a short-lived bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 and later endorsed Trump, becoming an adviser for the Trump campaign’s energy policy. He was on Trump’s shortlist for potential running mates. Burgum has taken climate change more seriously than most of his fellow Republicans, setting up a goal for his state to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, but has also been friendly with the oil industry. Prior to government service, Burgum worked in the tech sector.

Doug Collins

Position: Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 14, 2024

The former four-term Republican congressman from Georgia was named Trump’s pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides benefits, healthcare, and cemetery services to military veterans. Collins had retired from politics following a failed bid for Georgia’s Senate seat in 2020. An ardent Trump supporter, Collins has served as legal counsel for Trump following his retirement from politics. He also currently serves as a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Position: Secretary of Health and Human Services

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 14, 2024

Kennedy announces his withdrawal from the 2024 race. Source: Reuters

Trump announced his nomination of the controversial anti-vaxxer and Kennedy family scion on November 14th. AS HHS Secretary, Kennedy would be the President’s chief adviser on health and welfare and would have the responsibility of overseeing many key agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RFK Jr. ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election before dropping out and endorsing Trump in August 2024. He is the chairman and founder of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group. Prior to his nomination, Kennedy had said that the Trump administration would advise the removal of fluoride from public water and that the CDC and FDA would be reorganized.

Tulsi Gabbard

Position: Director of National Intelligence

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 13, 2024

Gabbard giving a speech. Source: AP

Tulsi Gabbard, who served as a congresswoman from Hawaii, has been tapped as DNI. Gabbard also serves as a United States Army Reserve officer. She will be the executive head of the United States Intelligence Community, and oversee all the various intelligence agencies in the U.S. government. Her appointment is somewhat unconventional, as Gabbard has very little intelligence background. Gabbard ran for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2020 but switched to the Republican Party in 2024. She is now a staunch pro-Trump supporter and also serves as co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy

Positions: Commissioners of the Department of Government Efficiency

Needs Senate Confirmation: No

Announced: November 12, 2024

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Source: Getty Images

Trump announced that Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a prominent Trump supporter, and former presidential primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, will head the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). It is essentially a blue ribbon commission with the role of advising the federal government to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.” Trump has said that this commission’s task will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 – the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. This appointment is yet another signal of Musk’s increasing influence over the incoming Trump presidency.

Pete Hegseth

Position: Secretary of Defense

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 12, 2024

Perhaps the most unconventional Trump cabinet pick so far, Hegseth is currently a co-host of the Fox News TV show “Fox & Friends Weekend”. He is an Army National Guard officer and a former executive director of veterans’ political advocacy groups. He was an occasional adviser to Trump during his first term as president, reportedly persuading Trump to pardon three American soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes related to shooting non-combatants in Iraq. Hegseth had previously been considered as a potential Secretary of Veterans Affairs. If confirmed, Hegseth, who has no prior government experience, will be responsible for overseeing the world’s most powerful military and the largest federal agency by budget.

John Ratcliffe

Position: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 12, 2024

John Ratcliffe, who served as Director of National Intelligence in the last months of the first Trump presidency, has been picked to head the CIA. Before holding that position, Ratcliffe served 3 terms as a congressman from Texas. Ratcliffe has been known as a skeptic of the intelligence community and faced controversy during his previous stint as DNI for being too partisan for the role.

Marco Rubio

Position: Secretary of State

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 11, 2024

Rubio speaks at a campaign rally. Source: AP

Rubio has served as senator from Florida since 2011, and since 2021 has been the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Rubio would bring a traditional GOP perspective of foreign policy as the nation’s top diplomat. Rubio has been known for his hawkish views on many U.S. adversaries but he has also supported maintaining alliances such as NATO. This pick is a culmination of Rubio’s evolution from being one of Trump’s primary opponents in 2016 to being a staunch ally of the president-elect.

Kristi Noem

Position: Secretary of Homeland Security

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 12, 2024

Noem speaks at a campaign event for Trump. Source: AP

Noem currently serves as the governor of South Dakota, a position she has held since 2019. If confirmed to head the Department of Homeland Security, she would oversee a sprawling list of agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement (CBE), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), and the Secret Service. Noem gained notoriety over the summer after she revealed in her book that she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog. Just like Trump’s other picks, Noem has been staunchly pro-Trump. 

Lee Zeldin

Position: Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 11, 2024

Zeldin speaks at the RNC. Source: Getty Images

Zeldin, a former New York congressman, was picked to serve as EPA administrator. In a statement on X, he said he would “restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs and make the U.S. the global leader in AI” and also committed to clean air and water. During Zeldin’s stint in Congress, he was a staunch Trump defender during both impeachments. He ran for Governor of New York in 2022 but lost to Democrat Kathy Hochul in a tighter race than usual. 

Mike Waltz

Position: National Security Advisor to the President

Needs Senate Confirmation: No

Announced: November 11, 2024

Waltz speaks at an event. Source: Getty Images

A retired Army National Guard officer and military veteran, Waltz currently serves as representative for Florida’s 6th congressional district. Prior to his congressional career, Waltz served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon under Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates. Waltz is considered one of Congress’s hawkish members on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China due to the Communist Party’s internment of its Uyghur population. 

Stephen Miller

Position: White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

Needs Senate Confirmation: No

Announced: November 11, 2024

Miller speaks at a campaign rally. Source: Reuters

Miller served as senior adviser and director of speechwriting during Trump’s first term. An immigration hardliner, he was the chief architect of the so-called Muslim travel ban and the policy of separating migrant children from their parents. He has been an advocate of the mass deportation program advocated by Trump during his campaign.

Tom Homan

Position: “Border Czar”

Needs Senate Confirmation: No

Announced: November 10, 2024

Homan speaks at the RNC. Source: AFP via Getty Images

Homan is a former police officer and immigration official who served during the Obama and Trump administrations. During the Trump administration, Homan served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from 2017 to 2018. He is a strong advocate of mass deportation of undocumented migrants and an opponent of sanctuary city policies, and was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents. As Trump’s “border czar”, he will presumably be in charge of carrying out the deportation policies. 

Elise Stefanik

Position: Ambassador to the United Nations

Needs Senate Confirmation: Yes

Announced: November 10, 2024

Stefanik at a committee hearing. Source: Reuters

As ambassador to the U.N., Stefanik would be the chief spokesperson for the U.S. at the United Nations. Stefanik is staunchly pro-Israel and has criticized the U.N. for being biased against Israel. She has advocated for reassessing the U.S.’s funding of the international organization in this regard. Previously elected as a moderate conservative, Stefanik has since then become a vocal supporter of Trump during his impeachment trial and as he contested the 2020 election results. She also serves as Chair of the House Republican Conference, the fourth highest position in House Republican leadership. 

Susie Wiles

Position: White House Chief of Staff

Announced: November 7, 2024

Wiles disembarks from a plane. Source: AP

Wiles is a longtime Republican political consultant who served as co-chair of the Trump 2024 presidential campaign. She previously worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign and Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign. She was also the manager of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 2018. In his victory speech, Trump referred to her as the “ice maiden”. Wiles would be the first female Chief of Staff.