Why 'ideological and policy disagreements' are expected in Trump’s Cabinet: analysis

10 December 2024

As Donald Trump continues to make filling his Cabinet one of his first priorities, a number of the controversial picks were once publicly critical of the president-elect.

Miami Herald reports several political experts spoke with McClatchy News about what this could mean for the incoming president.

Vanderbilt University political science professor David Lewis said, "The addition of these old rivals — many of whom have strong personalities — could have several effects on the incoming administration."

He added, "These are not shrinking violet kinds of people, and they do have different views from one another. So there will be some ideological and policy disagreements in the Cabinet."

The MAGA leader has seen this before, the Herald notes.

"In the first administration, there was some reporting suggesting there were big internal fights between prominent people in the administration, and that the president kind of liked that," Lewis emphasized.

However, some experts like George Mason University emeritus professor of public policy James Pfiffner said, "It seems that Trump is willing to forgive any number of outspoken insults to him, as long as the person changes their tune and praises him sufficiently."

Likewise, University of Wyoming emeritus professor of political science Jim King said a handful of Trump's "so-called rivals were never real threats to Trump’s ambitions," such as MAGA nominees Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).

Democratic strategist Matthew McDermott told McClatchy News their relationship to the president-elect "doesn’t represent a traditional 'former rival' dynamic — they didn’t run against Trump directly but instead served as critics of the Democratic Party, often positioning themselves as foils to Trump’s opponent."

Miami Herald's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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