With a new year comes a new president and, with him, a new cabinet. On January 20th, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. While people might hear about a few of the members, the majority will be largely unknown to the general public. This article serves as a short introduction to each of the cabinet members.  

Confirmed 

• Scott Bessent has been confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury. Bessent is the founder of the hedge fund Key Square Management. He has voiced enthusiastic support for the controversial tariffs planned by the Trump administration that economists have warned as leading to inflation.

• Pamela Bondi has been confirmed as Attorney General. Bondi is a former attorney general for the state of Florida and was a member of Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment. She has recently told the Justice Department to go after private companies and universities over diversity programs.  

• Douglas Burgum has been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior. Burgum is the former governor of North Dakota and has recently ordered that Alaska and the continental shelf be made available for oil drilling. 

• Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as Secretary of Defense. Hegseth is a former host of Fox and Friends on Fox News. He has been accused of sexual assault and has made comments that women should not serve in combat. 

• Douglas Collins has been confirmed as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Collins is a former representative for Georgia and an Air Force veteran. 

• Kristi Noem has been confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security. Noem is a former governor of South Dakota. She has physically accompanied raids conducted by ICE to deport immigrants. 

• Marco Rubio has been confirmed as Secretary of State. Rubio is a former senator from Florida and presidential candidate. He has attempted to halt all foreign aid, dismantle the United States Agency for International Development responsible for foreign civilian aid, and has praised recent comments made by Trump regarding the forced removal of Palestinians from Gaza.  

• Eric Turner has been confirmed as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Turner is a former NFL player and representative for Texas. Turner has previously advocated for private equity to be more involved with housing and is likely to oversee budget cuts in the department. 

• Christopher Wright has been confirmed as Secretary of Energy. Wright was the CEO of the fracking company Liberty Energy. Wright has been a major advocate for the oil industry against climate change legislation and said during his hearing that he believes “there isn’t dirty energy or clean energy.” 

• John Ratcliffe has been confirmed as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe was the director of national intelligence for the last year of Trump’s first term. His CIA has offered buyouts to employees who resign in an effort to reshape the agency to fit with the second Trump administration’s agenda. 
• Russel Vought has been confirmed as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was the director of the OMB during the last year of Trump’s first term. He is a self-described Christian nationalist and played a significant role in the controversial Project 2025, which outlines plans to completely reshape the federal government.

• Lee Zeldin has been confirmed as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin is a former representative from New York. Zeldin has made several comments questioning the severity of climate change. 

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is an environmental lawyer and former presidential candidate. In the past, Kennedy has expressed anti-vaccine views as well as support for the consumption of raw milk. 

• Tulsi Gabbard is nominated to be Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard is a former presidential candidate and representative for Hawaii. Her nomination has drawn criticism due to her past visits to Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad and comments seen as sympathetic to Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Nominated 

• Lori Chavez-DeRemer is nominated to be Secretary of Labor. Chaves-DeRemer is a former representative for Oregon and was a supporter of the pro-union PRO Act during the Biden administration. She has received vocal support from a number of union leaders for her pro-labor record; however, many others remain cautious of a Labor Department under Trump.

• Howard Lutnick is nominated to be Secretary of Commerce. Lutnick is the CEO of finance firm Cantor Fitzgerald. He has been a vocal supporter of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. 

• Linda McMahon is nominated to be Secretary of Education. McMahon is the wife of professional wrestling mogul Vince McMahon and served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. Trump made a point of dissolving the Department of Education during his campaign, and McMahon appears to be willing to do so. 

• Brooke Rollins is nominated to be Secretary of Agriculture. Rollins was the president of the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation. She was also a co-founder and president of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that also housed other nominees like Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick.

• Jamieson Greer is nominated to be the United States Trade Representative. Greer is an attorney partnered with corporate law firm King & Spalding. He has promised to enforce Trump’s protectionist policy, including the controversial tariffs. 

• Kelly Loeffler is nominated to be Administrator of the Small Business Administration. Loeffler is the former CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt.  

• Elise Stefanik is nominated to be the United Nations Representative for the United States. Stefanik is a former representative for New York. She has claimed that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was responsible for the January 6th attack on the Capitol and said during her confirmation hearing that Israel is a “beacon of human rights”.