Inside Trump’s new Cabinet: A mix of disruptors, negotiators and TV stars
CNN
President Donald Trump is set to convene his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday – a gathering of agency leaders who’ve taken different approaches to proving their loyalty to Trump in public and private.
President Donald Trump is set to convene his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday – a gathering of agency leaders who’ve taken different approaches to proving their loyalty to Trump in public and private. Cabinet meetings, typically staid affairs with brief photo opportunities at their start, morphed into something much different during Trump’s first presidency. He kicked them off by touting his administration’s accomplishments, and then each Cabinet member took a turn lavishing praise on the president while television cameras were rolling. Wednesday’s gathering is intended to serve as a moment to touch base and ensure Trump’s federal agency heads “are rowing in the right direction,” a White House official said. Also attending: Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who has led a frenetic effort to slash spending and remake the government that has frequently left agency leaders and federal workers confused and uncertain about their own employment. Musk, nominally a senior adviser to the president, is playing a massive role in Trump’s administration. That’s despite the fact that – unlike actual Cabinet members – he won’t be confirmed by the Senate. (For the record, 18 of 22 Cabinet nominees have been confirmed so far.) Trump’s second-term Cabinet is a mix of disruptors chosen to take wrecking balls to the agencies they lead, political loyalists certain to implement the president’s agenda, a handful of negotiators with experience in diplomacy and foreign policy, and TV-friendly faces whose primary roles are likely to be selling Trump’s accomplishments to the public. Here’s a look at who makes up Trump’s Cabinet ahead of Wednesday’s meeting:
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