Trump’s staff picks tell us about his plans for a second term

A week after Donald Trump won a second term in the White House, the contours of his new presidency have begun to emerge.

The president-elect has announced about a dozen nominees, the first steps in filling out his White House staff and key government departments. He also commented in the media and on social media, revealing what he will prioritize when he takes office in January, focusing mainly on immigration and foreign policy.

After a sometimes tumultuous start to his first term, Trump is laying the groundwork for his next administration with a more clearly defined agenda — and the staff ready to carry it out.

Here’s a look at what we’ve learned so far.

Some of Trump’s recently disclosed appointments suggest that the president-elect’s campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US is not an exaggeration.

Stephen Miller, who has been Trump’s closest adviser and speechwriter since 2015, is likely to shape any mass deportation plans — and turn back both undocumented and legal immigrants — as Trump’s choice for White House deputy chief of staff for policy. During Trump’s first term, he was instrumental in developing the administration’s strict immigration policies.

Thomas Homan, acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in Trump’s first term, supported the president’s order to separate undocumented families detained at the US-Mexico border. Now he’s back with an even wider portfolio, as Trump’s “immigration tsar”.

“I’m going to run the largest military this country has ever seen,” Homan said at a legislative conference in July.

Critics have warned that Trump’s mass deportation plan could cost more than $300b. In an interview with NBC News last week, however, the president-elect said cost is not an issue.

“When people have killed and killed, when drug dealers have destroyed countries, now they will return to those countries because they don’t live here,” he said. “There is no price tag.”

Many conservatives believe that China poses one of the greatest threats to continued US global dominance, both economically and militarily. While Trump has been cautious, limiting most of his China criticism in the commercial sectorhe is filling his foreign policy team with outspoken China critics.

The president-elect chose Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, a retired Army colonel, as his national security adviser – a key foreign policy position within the White House. Waltz said the US is in a “cold war” with China and was one of the first members of Congress to call for a US boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

In October, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee to be the US ambassador to the UN, accused China of “malicious election meddling” amid reports that Chinese hackers tried to collect information from the former president’s phones.

Although Trump has not yet officially announced his choice for secretary of state, Florida Senator Marco Rubio – another China hawk – appears to be the frontrunner for the diplomatic job. In 2020, Rubio was punished by the Chinese government after he took steps to punish the country for harassing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

US-China relations were often rocky during Trump’s first term, amid trade disputes and the Covid pandemic. The Biden administration, which kept many of Trump’s tariffs on China and imposed new ones, immediately calmed the waters. Now it looks like the next Trump administration will pick up where the last one left off.

While the list of Trump’s political appointees grows, there is one group that remains small — and extremely influential.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been in full attendance at Trump’s transition headquarters at Mar-a-Lago. According to media reports, he advises the president-elect on cabinet nominees and even joined a conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.

On Tuesday night, Trump announced he was assigning Musk to work with tech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in a “government efficiency department” tasked with identifying new budget cuts.

Musk has regularly offered his political views on his social media platform X, including supporting Florida Senator Rick Scott’s bid to become the next Senate majority leader.

Musk’s political committee spent about $200m to help Trump’s presidential campaign, and he promises to continue funding the group’s efforts to advance the president’s agenda and help Republican candidates in the upcoming congressional elections.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen where Robert F Kennedy Jr, his significant other, lives. Trump said he plans to give the former Democrat and vaccinator, who abandoned his independent bid and sided with the Republicans, a role in making America “well” again.

“He wants to do other things, and we’ll let him do it,” Trump said in his victory speech.

With Trump taking office, Republicans control the Senate and may still take the House, however narrowly. However, the president-elect’s early actions suggest he is more concerned with exercising his presidential powers than working with the legislative branch.

Last week, he tweeted that Senate Republican leadership should smooth the way for more presidential appointments — allowing him to fill top executive jobs without Senate approval when Congress is absent. The move would strengthen the president’s power by undermining the agency’s constitutional role of “advise and consent” to political appointees.

Meanwhile, the president-elect continues to turn a blind eye to many of the congressmen. Chiefs who move into administrative roles can be quickly replaced by the appointment of the governor of their country. But any House vacancies — like those created by the departures of Stefanik and Waltz — require a special election that could take months to organize.

Some Trump advisers, including Musk, have warned that the president-elect could jeopardize his legislative agenda if he ousts more Republicans in the chamber.

Even in the best of circumstances, congressional legislation takes time, effort and compromise. Executive action, such as new immigration legislation, can be done at the touch of the president’s pen.

Trump’s actions indicate that, at least for now, he is more focused on the latter.

Trump has just begun filling thousands of jobs opening up under the new president’s administration, not including the top jobs he said he would replace.

In 2016, as a newcomer to politics, he had to rely on many Republicans for important roles. This time, he has plenty of candidates with proven track records of support and after eight years, Trump’s loyalists are the Republican establishment.

On Tuesday, Trump nominated South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary, and Fox News host and conservative author Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. Both have been staunch defenders of Trump from the start.

Others, like Rubio and Stefanik, were critical of Trump early in his presidential bid, but have now spent years demonstrating that their harsh words are a thing of the past.

Rubio, who ran for president against Trump in 2016, may still have White House aspirations. Trump often soured on nominees who seemed drawn to the limelight during his first term, and even the warmest of relationships could turn sour.

Trump may be placing a high premium on credibility with his first staff announcements, but administration pressures will reveal that his second year in office ends up being different than his first.