This is an article from the May 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 2) and was written by one of our students, Kirill K. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
Trump’s cabinet picks have been controversial, to say the least. Some may even see it as an attempt to repeat the spoils system of Andrew Jackson (Trump’s favorite president), in which Jackson gave high government positions based on support rather than merit. So, let’s look at some of Trump’s most infamous cabinet picks with a pinch of healthy criticism.
First, the elephant in the room: Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As we all know, no one elected Elon Musk. He is purely a businessman and has no prior government experience. Both of these are red flags, but it only worsens when you look at what DOGE is supposed to do. The idea behind DOGE is to fire federal workers to reduce the government budget. While this does not sound too out of the ordinary, as many presidents focus on similar objectives, the fact that a billionaire is the chief advisor to Trump and how he talks about cutting around 428 federal agencies down to 99 should raise more red flags.
Well, DOGE is somehow worse than I thought. Musk started a war to dismantle USAID, an agency responsible for delivering civilian aid and developmental assistance to foreign nations; the National Endowment for Democracy, an organization advocating for democracy worldwide; and two federally-ran radio stations, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Moving away from Elon, let’s see the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. Yes, you heard it right, an anti-vaccine activist was chosen for a position responsible for the health and well-being of people. RFK Jr. is infamous for his anti-science views, such as spreading the debunked “vaccines cause autism” claim, quoting HIV/AIDS denialists, claiming that the atrazine water supply causes gender dysphoria, promoting raw milk, and opposing water fluoridation. During the 2025 measles outbreak, he promoted dubious treatments, such as vitamin A or cod liver oil, and though he recommended vaccines, overexaggerated their potential harms.
Moving on from anti-vaccine activist to dictator apologist, we meet Tulsi Gabbard, also a former Democrat and Director of National Intelligence. She became infamous in 2017 for her visit to Syria, which was arranged by men connected to the extremist Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Gabbard would meet up with the now despondent dictator Bashar al-Assad and conflate all Syrian opposition with al-Qaeda and ISIS after her visit.
Furthermore, Gabbard earned a bad reputation for her views on Ukraine. Originally, she demonstrated support for Ukraine, but, in March of 2022, she began to spread the bogus claim that there are US Biolabs in Ukraine with deadly pathogens (note: Pro-Russian disinformation accounts on Twitter also quoted her as proof that Russia was right to invade Ukraine). Even Mitt Romney called her out for the false claims she made.
Yet another bad pick was Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. This choice sparked confusion since Hegseth was mostly known as a Fox News pundit, and his only military experience was his service in the Army National Guard. Besides his foreign policy surrounding the Gaza Strip, which includes supporting Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister wanted for war crimes, Hegseth got into controversy over his tattoos.
One of his tattoos depicts a Jerusalem cross, popularized by the Crusaders, and—more controversially—a tattoo reading kafir, which in Arabic means unbeliever, for which he was accused of instigating islamophobia.
Moving on to another bad choice, we have our new FBI Director Kash Patel. Patel is infamous for spreading the deep state conspiracy theory (claim that a shadow government exists), his involvement with QAnon, and authoring a children’s book, The Plot Against the King, which is about the infamous Trump-Ukraine scandal. This same man called for the Hoover Dam to be transformed into the “Deep State Museum.”
Moving away from the conspiracist category, we go into the unprofessional category and are greeted by Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education. McMahon was the founder of the WWE, and she was barely, if ever, involved in schooling and education. Her nomination was harshly criticized by the National Education Association for wanting to eliminate the very department she is leading. However, it is important to mention that not all of Trump’s cabinet picks are new faces, as there are some old ones.
Specifically, Russell Vought as the Office of Management and Budget director. While Vought has previously held the same position, he has radicalized since. Vought is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist who helped to author Project 2025, an initiative by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank aimed at concentrating power in the hands of the executive branch.
As Vought himself admitted, he wants to restrict pornography and immigration through Project 2025, as well as expand presidential powers. Additionally, he supports a national abortion ban, called Democrats “increasingly evil” for supporting secularism, and published an OMB memo instructing federal agencies to stop all training on “critical race theory” in 2020.
Additionally, we have Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar.” He is largely responsible for the deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States, opposed to sanctuary cities, and supported separating children from their parents as a deterrence for illegal immigrants. He also authored Project 2025.
Yet, the most concerning thing about Homan is his affiliations with SPLC-designated hate groups. He, for instance, collaborated on the project “Defend the Border and Save Lives” with The United West, which is an infamously Islamophobic “counter-jihad” group responsible for distributing the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” which claims there is a purported threat of Islam to Western civilization and compares muslims to Nazis. Additionally, he met with Terry Newsome right after the election to discuss mass deportations. The problem is that Terry Newsome is an associate of Proud Boys, a neo-fascist hate group of self-proclaimed “Western chauvinists.”
Then, we have Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel. First of all, who is Mike Huckabee? Well, he is the former governor of Arkansas, whose own daughter, Sarah Huckabee, is the current governor. But why is Mike Huckabee a bad choice? Well, he is a Christian Zionist who claims that Palestinians do not exist and that the West Bank (which he refers to as Judea and Samaria) settlements are legal. So, despite Trump’s claim, Huckabee certainly would not “bring peace to the Middle East.”
As grim as this looks, not all of Trump’s picks came through. Matt Gaetz, his pick for Attorney General, had to resign due to the massive criticism from Republicans following the fact that Gaetz is accused of child sex trafficking and statutory rape. Also, Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur and conspiracy theorist, who was originally planned to run DOGE with Elon, dropped out due to friction with the staff and to focus on his potential 2026 Ohio gubernatorial campaign.
Finally, we have Elise Stefanik, who was originally nominated as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Her appointment was canceled at the last minute since Trump worried that her exit from the House of Representatives may decrease the slim Republican majority. Maybe, it is for the better, since she is a staunch Israel supporter and accused the UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas.
It’s important to note not all of Trump’s cabinet picks are random loyalists. For example, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, did have experience in foreign policy, specifically influencing foreign policy towards Latin America during the first Trump administration. However, it’s weird that Trump chose a warhawk, someone who calls for military intervention, as his Secretary of State, despite Trump’s running on isolationism.
Another pick with some experience is Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Labor, who supported the “Protecting the Right to Organize Act,” which would weaken right-to-work laws and give advantages to workers who join unions.
Overall, the problem with Trump’s second cabinet is that his executive branch picks are immensely based on loyalty over quality and experience. Trump surrounded himself with yes men, sacrificing their quality over loyalty, which is why our government contains conspiracy theorists, a tech billionaire, and Christian nationalists with ties to their own interests.
