OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President-elect Donald Trump seems to be in a hurry when it comes to filling the top jobs in his second administration.
Trump has announced about 20 Cabinet and other high-level jobs in the almost two weeks since he easily defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th president.
Trump is hiring a lot more people than he was eight years ago, after his first win in the White House. It’s also faster for him to make his choices than it was for President Biden after the 2020 election and for President Obama 16 years ago.
For one thing, things are moving quickly because Trump and his top aides are much more experienced this time than they were eight years ago. And this time, Trump has a stronger national mandate because he won the national vote and the Electoral College by a big margin, which he didn’t do in his 2016 White House win.
“He certainly knows the ropes and I guess in some ways, he kind of knows the dopes. He knows who he likes and knows who he doesn’t. He knows what he wants to accomplish,” Matt Mowers, a veteran Republican consultant and 2020 GOP congressional nominee in New Hampshire who worked on Trump’s 2016-2017 transition and served in the first Trump administration, told Fox News.
“It shows that they recognize that with only four guaranteed years, they have to make an impact starting on day one. So it’s one of the reasons why they’ve chosen candidates at the speed he has and really started to announce policy at the speed he has – because they know they only have four years to really fundamentally guarantee a change of direction of the country based on what he campaigned on,” Mowers emphasized.
Matthew Bartlett, another Republican consultant who also served at the State Department during Trump’s first term, told Fox News that “we are seeing the operation warp speed, that Trump is rapid-fire naming Cabinet and agency heads.”
“Some of that is because he absolutely knows who he wants in place for his second term,” Bartlett said. “And it’s possible that some of it is because he is extemporaneously firing off names that are in his ear. So this looks like a mix of professionals and possibles.”
But the past-face of announcements could potentially have a downside when it comes to the Senate confirmation of some of the more controversial picks by Trump.
“The American people have an appetite, maybe even a demand, for a disruptor, but I’m not sure that they voted to see a destroyer as a Cabinet secretary,” Bartlett said.
And he predicted that some of the nominees “are going to go down” during the Senate confirmation process.
WATCH:
Pro-Trump businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have officially joined Donald Trump’s administration, according to a statement from the president-elect.
Trump announced in a statement on Tuesday that the two would jointly lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency. Both Ramaswamy and Musk were vocal throughout Trump’s campaign about the need to reduce the size and power of the federal government.
“I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE],” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
‘DOGE’ is also a cryptocurrency that Musk has often promoted.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump said in a statement.
The Department of Government Efficiency is not a new government agency. Trump said it will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” and “partner” with the White House and Office of Management and Budget to drive structural government reform, ABC News reported.
“‘This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!’ stated Mr. Musk,” the statement continued.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President-elect Trump appoints Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). pic.twitter.com/WtoLBZSgGM
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) November 13, 2024
Trump speculated that the effort could become a modern-day version of the “Manhattan Project” in terms of its scope, influence, and legacy.
“Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time. To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before,” Trump wrote.
“I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans. Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending.
“They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘WE THE PEOPLE.’ Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026 — A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!”
