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Three weeks into Donald Trump’s second term as president-elect, little about this transition to the White House looks like his first. In 2016, Trump was unprepared for victory and had announced only four Cabinet nominations. In contrast, this time, Trump has quickly filled most top jobs with stalwarts of conflicting worldviews.
Trump has been working out of his palatial estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and has shown a new level of discretion. He has been reviewing resumes of potential department heads and plotting his first moves after taking office on January 20. Allies say this more determined Trump is emboldened by his electoral success and more confident in his understanding of executive power learned from his first four years in Washington.
In contrast to his first transition, Trump is not allowing individual agendas and big personalities to get in the way. Allies say everyone understands they have a two-year window with a majority in the House and Senate, and that if they are not running at breakneck speed, they shouldn’t be part of the administration. Senate Republicans, off this week for Thanksgiving, have been digesting the firehose of staffing announcements coming from Palm Beach as they prepare for their new majority.
Despite concerns about some nominees, including allegations of sexual misconduct and enabling sexual exploitation, Trump has moved forward with his picks. His transition team has also been criticized for using its own security and information systems, as well as maintaining its own ethics plan, which will be posted online in compliance with federal law. Trump has not said if or how he plans to untangle himself from his business empire before taking office.
Trump’s picks, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have been accused of various controversies, but Trump’s advisors say the through-line is that all these picks are intensely loyal to the president-elect and committed to delivering the massive shakeup to Washington he has promised. Senate Republicans are being pressured to support these picks over traditional litmus tests of conservative orthodoxy. As one senator said, “This isn’t a new administration coming in. And so when people are criticizing his picks, the president has done this job before. He knows exactly what he needs. He knows who he wants to put in those positions. That’s why he’s been able to move fast, because he knows he has four years to reach the mandate that the American people said they want the government going in a different direction.”