Pompeo, Kennedy … and Musk? Who could be in Trump’s new administration | US election 2024

Elon Musk, who became a full-fledged Trump cheerleader and has billions in federal contracts, has reportedly sought a role in another Trump administration in charge of the regulators who oversee him. Trump appears to be ruling out a Cabinet role for Musk, but has said he wants the tech billionaire to have some sort of unspecified role in his administration. The world’s richest person has proposed the creation of a department of government efficiency.

Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director and secretary of state and staunch ally of Trump, chose not to challenge his former boss for the Republican nomination. The staunch supporter of Israel and a sworn enemy of Iran is widely considered a key candidate for a top role in the new administration, possibly as secretary of state for defense.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, son of the assassinated Bobby Kennedy and nephew of JFK, whose independent presidential campaign has at times reached as high as 10% of the vote, is confident he has a shot at a role in Trump’s cabinet after he supported the Republican. While senior members of Trump’s campaign have ruled out Kennedy getting a Health Department job, Trump has said he would let him “do whatever he wants” with women’s health care if he gets to the White House, citing how Kennedy would be able to “go wild” on food and medicine.

Richard Grenell, a former Fox News contributor who is among Trump’s closest foreign policy advisers, is likely in the running for secretary of state or other top foreign policy and national security posts. A former US ambassador to Germany and a vocal backer of Trump’s America First credo on the international stage in his first term, he has advocated creating an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine to end the war there, a position Kiev considers unacceptable.

The far-right Republican senator from Arkansas emerged as a dark-horse candidate to be Trump’s running mate in the final weeks of the vice presidential selection process. In an infamous 2020 New York Times story headlined Send In the Troops, Tom Cotton compared Black Lives Matter protests to an insurgency and called on the government to deploy the US military against protesters by invoking the Insurrection Act. He is well-liked among Trump donors and is also seen as a candidate for defense secretary.

A pensioner neurosurgeon and former US Housing Secretary Ben Carson has pushed for a national abortion ban – a position at odds with most Americans and even Donald Trump himself. During his 2016 run, he ran into controversy when he compared abortion to slavery and said he wanted to see the end of Roe v Wade. When the Supreme Court reversed its decision in the Dobbs case, he called it “a decisive correction.” Carson could be nominated by Trump for housing and urban development secretary.

A key economic adviser to Trump and ally of JD Vance, Scott Bessent, the head of the Key Square macro hedge fund, is seen as a possible cabinet challenger. The Wall Street investor and a prominent Trump fundraiser has praised Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tool.

Michael Waltz, a former US Army Green Beret who now serves as a Florida congressman, has solidified his reputation as a leading proponent of a tougher stance on China in the House of Representatives. He played a leading role in sponsoring legislation aimed at reducing America’s dependence on minerals sourced from China. Waltz is known to have a solid friendship with Trump and has also voiced support for US aid to Ukraine while pushing for greater oversight of US taxpayer funds earmarked to support Kyiv’s defense efforts. He has been tipped in the American media as a candidate for either Minister of Defense or Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Robert Lighthizer is Donald Trump’s most senior trade official. He firmly believes in tariffs and was one of the leading figures in Trump’s trade war with China. Described by Trump as “the greatest US trade representative in American history”, Lighthizer is almost certain to be back in the new cabinet. Although Scott Bessent and billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson probably have a better shot at becoming Treasury Secretary, Lighthizer has a couple of outside chances: He could possibly reprise his old role as US Trade Representative or become the new Commerce Secretary.

A former White House domestic policy adviser, Brooke Rollins has a close personal relationship with Trump. Considered by many to be one of Trump’s more moderate advisers, she supported the former president’s first-term criminal justice reforms that reduced prison terms for some relatively minor offenses and is seen as a leading candidate for chief of staff.

One of Trump’s two co-campaign managers, Susie Wiles, may compete with Brooke Rollins for the chief of staff position. Although her political views remain somewhat ambiguous, she is seen as to have presided over a successful and streamlined presidential election. Supporters believe she could introduce a level of organization and discipline that was often absent throughout Trump’s first term, marked by a series of changes in the chief of staff role.

Although he has been less prominent on the campaign trail than in previous election cycles, the 47th president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was active behind the scenes, advocating for his friend JD Vance as a candidate. He has built a loyal following in the Maga universe via his Triggered podcast and has taken a role with his brother Eric Trump in the transition process to establish a new administration. The formal co-chairs of the transition are Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.

A senior policy adviser in the early part of Trump’s first term who was the chief architect of the Muslim travel ban, Stephen Miller is expected to be back in the White House for a second Trump term, which the president-elect has said will bring the largest mass deportation in american history. The anti-immigration extremist is also the founder of America First Legal, a group he describes as the right’s “long-awaited answer” to the American Civil Liberties Union, and is already helping to drive plans for Trump’s second term.