Donald Trump‘s second term as president will largely be shaped by the loyal allies who have stood by him during his four years outside of the White House.
As the clock ticks down to his inauguration on January 20, all eyes will be on Mar-a-Lago as Republicans jostle for a cabinet spot or a senior role in the West Wing.
DailyMail.com breaks down who the president-elect has picked so far – and who is almost certain to take a spot.
Susie Wiles – White House Chief of Staff
President-elect Donald Trump brings soon-to-be White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to the podium after he declared victory on Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida
Trump picked his campaign manager Wiles as the first female chief of staff in White House history.
Behind-the-scenes Wiles, nicknamed the ‘Ice Baby,’ orchestrated one of the greatest political comebacks in modern politics and will bring her no-nonsense attitude as a political operative to the West Wing.
‘Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,’ Trump said in a statement announcing his choice.
The daughter of the late NFL football player and legendary gameday broadcaster Pat Summerall, Wiles first worked in national politics in 1980, joining Ronald Reagan’s successful campaign as a scheduler.
She then worked in Florida for Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney and later as an adviser for Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton. Wiles then helped now Sen. Rick Scott win the Florida governor’s mansion in 2010. She briefly worked for the 2012 presidential bid of former Utah Gov. John Huntsman.
Wiles was first inducted into the Trump orbit during his successful 2016, managing campaign operations in Florida. That state was called in his favor early-on, as he would go on to claim victory against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In 2018, Wiles helped Trump’s then-ally, Ron DeSantis, win his Florida gubernatorial race. She was shown the door by DeSantis and later told a reporter that working for him was the ‘biggest mistake’ she ever made in her career and she wanted him to feel the pain for throwing her away. He did – after being absolutely trounced by Trump in the 2024 Republican primary.
Tom Homan, then-Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement shakes hands with Border Patrol agents after a press conference at Border Field State Park on May 7, 2018 in San Ysidro, California
The former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been brought in by Trump to orchestrate the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in history.
‘I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders,’ the president-elect said of Homan.
It comes after Homan said that Trump will use the US Army to round up and deport ‘the worst of the worst’ illegal migrants in an unparalleled crackdown.
Homan said all of the estimated 20 million people residing in the US illegally would be targeted by the first-of-its-kind campaign.
‘Bottom line: if you come to the country illegally, you’re not off the table,’ he added.
Elise Stefanik – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) reacts at a press conference at the RNC after a meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., June 13, 2024
Stefanik, a senior House Republican and a top Trump ally, is set to take over the role held by Nikki Haley during the first Trump administration.
The New York lawmaker has been at the forefront of launching investigations into federal government and prosecutorial overreach to go after Trump.
‘I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,’ Trump said in announcing his choice.
In recent years Stefanik, who is the highest ranking Republican woman in the House, has been one of his closest allies.
Earlier this year she filed a misconduct complaint against Judge Juan Merchan, who was overseeing Trump’s hush-money trial, and called for a probe into his selection, which she claimed ‘was not random at all’.
In April, she demanded an ethics probe into special counsel Jack Smith for ‘abusing the resources of the federal government to unlawfully interfere with the 2024 presidential election.’
She has also been a leading voice against college campus anti-Semitism after Israel went after Hamas in Gaza over the Oct. 7 attacks.
Lee Zeldin – U.S. EPA administrator
Then-Republican candidate for New York Governor, Rep. Lee Zeldin, seen speaking at his election night party on Nov. 9, 2022, is Trump’s pick to head the EPA
President-elect Donald Trump has selected former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to be his next Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
Zeldin confirmed the news on X.com, promising to ‘restore American energy dominance’ and ‘slash the red tape holding back American workers from upward economic mobility.’
‘We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.’
Trump has promised to provide ‘crystal clean’ water and ‘the cleanest’ air as part of his environmental priorities but widely views the EPA as a hindrance to economic growth.
A Republican congressman, Zeldin narrowly lost his 2022 attempt to unseat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in the heavily Democratic state.
Like Trump, he was the target of a madman who tried to attack him while campaigning.
Zeldin was in the midst of a speech about bail reform at a VFW location in Rochester as part of his ‘United to Fire Hochul’ campaign when he was confronted by the man, who was armed with a knife.
In a tweet, Zeldin said: ‘Someone tried to stab me on stage during this evening’s rally, but fortunately, I was able to grab his wrist and stop him for a few moments until others tackled him.’
Stephen Miller – Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
Stephen Miller, former White House senior advisor for policy, during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 23, 2024
Miller is the architect of the mass deportation plan and has served as a top immigration adviser since the first Trump administration.
He was the face of the strict immigration and border crackdown that begun in the White House eight years ago and is set to continue his work over the next four years.
Miller has warned that deportations would increase ten-fold under in a Trump presidency.
In a September post on X responding to Mark Cuban, Miller floated some of the immigration policies that Trump’s team wants to implement starting in January.
‘Deploying Title 42/Safe 3rds/Remain in Mexico/Asylum Bars to achieve a one hundred percent perfect deportation rate at the border, finishing the wall, significantly enhancing criminal penalties for human smuggling and trafficking, and launching a DOD embargo of drug vessels from South America,’ Miller wrote.
In Trump I, Miller helped craft speeches for the Republican president and also had a hand in several different policies, including many immigration related initiatives.
The 39-year-old helped craft Trump’s travel ban policies in January 2017 and later influenced policies regarding migrants at the U.S.-Mexico borer, including the controversial decision to separate family units.
Elon Musk – Government Efficiency chief
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during a rally for Donald Trump, at the site of the July assassination attempt against the former president, in Butler, Pennsylvania, Oct. 5, 2024
Musk spent hours at Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s historic defeat of Kamala Harris.
He has been acting as the president-elect’s counsel and is widely tipped for a role in the administration.
At Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in October, he said he would cut $2 trillion in spending from the federal budget to save taxpayer funds.
He told the roughly 20,000 attendees of Trump’s MSG rally: ‘Your money is being wasted. We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocket book.’
Howard Lutnick – chairman and CEO of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald, who also helms the Trump 2024 Transition Team – introduced the X owner to the stage at the conclusion of his speech.
Lutnick said Musk would soon become the head of a newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, an agency whose initials spell out DOGE, the cryptocurrency Musk once promoted.
Musk’s cuts would shrink the budget by nearly a third and would be more than this year’s deficit spending.
In maybe the clearest sign of Musk’s sway with Trump, when the president elect spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his win, he handed the phone to the tech billionaire, according to the New York Times.
As the owner of SpaceX, which oversees the space-based internet provider Starlink that has been widely credited with helping Ukraine in its war against Russia, Musk has worked closely with Zelensky.
Rep. Mike Waltz – National Security Advisor
Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., speaks outside the hush money criminal case of former president Donald Trump in New York, May 16, 2024
Donald Trump has asked Florida Rep. Mike Waltz to be his White House National Security Advisor, sources familiar with the decision tell DailyMail.com.
Waltz, a former Army Green Beret, has established himself as one of the foremost China hawks in the House and was selected following Trump’s busy day of firming up his Cabinet.
Among the various China-related bills Waltz has co-sponsored are measures designed to lessen U.S. reliance on critical minerals mined in China. He’s also known as a NATO skeptic amid its work during the war in Ukraine.
Waltz, the first Green Beret to serve in Congress, had been considered a candidate for Secretary of Defense, as well.
Waltz, like other advisors to the White House, would not require Senate confirmation as heads of departments do. Trump has already signaled he will bypass the Senate through recess appointments.
Trump had varying luck with four National Security Advisors during his first term in office. Michael Flynn, H.R. McMaster, Robert O’Brien and John Bolton all served in the position.
Sen. Marco Rubio – Secretary of State
Donald Trump watches as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks during a campaign rally at the J.S. Dorton Arena on November 04, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina
The Florida senator has gone from being denigrated by Trump as ‘Little Marco,’ a heated campaign rival, to perhaps the most coveted of all Cabinet posts after coming around on Trump and campaigning fervently for the MAGA Republican even after being passed over for vice president on the ticket.
Rubio, who was elected to the Senate in 2010, is considered a foreign policy hawk who has taken hard lines on China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, and will lead Trump’s prowess on the world stage as his Secretary of State.
He currently serves as the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was considered to be on Trump’s shortlist for vice president earlier this year.
As Secretary of State, Rubio would be a key Trump envoy to press Ukraine to find a way towards a settlement with Russia in their years-long conflict.
In 2019, Rubio pushed Trump to adopt the harsh sanctions he ultimately deployed against Venezuela to try to unseat its authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., praised Trump’s selection of Rubio.
‘Congratulations to our very own SECRETARY OF STATE — who will be the highest serving Hispanic in American History!’ he wrote on X.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, who was considered to be on the short list for the position, congratulated Rubio Monday evening.
‘Congratulations to my friend on being nominated for Secretary of State! I have no doubt that he is ready to implement President Trump’s America First, peace-through-strength agenda around the world.’
Rubio will follow Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Gov. Kristi Noem– Secretary of Homeland Security
Donald Trump speaks with moderator and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem during a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds in Pennsylvania, on October 14, 2024
South Dakota Gov. Kristin Noem has been selected to serve as Donald Trump’s head of Homeland Security.
In the top Cabinet role, the staunch Trump loyalist – whose vice presidential hopes were dashed when she admitted to shooting her puppy – will implement Trump’s promises to clean up the mess at the southern border and deport millions of illegal migrants.
She joins Trump loyalists Stephen Miller, who was appointed as deputy chief of staff, and Tom Homan, who will serve as ‘border czar.’ The Department of Homeland Security has a $60 billion budget.
In addition to the puppy controversy, Noem also generated negative headlines over a dubious claim in her memoir that she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Still, Trump dismissed the controversies over that claim and her anecdote about putting down the puppy as her having ‘a bad week.’
‘I think she’s terrific,’ Trump said in May. ‘A couple of rough stories, there’s not question about it. And when explained – the dog story – people hear that and people from different parts of the country probably feel a bit differently, but that’s a tough story.’
‘She had a bad week. We all have bad weeks,’ the ex-president added.
Robert Lighthizer – U.S. trade representative
Trump trade representative Robert Lighthizer speaks at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on U.S. trade on Capitol Hill, on June 17, 2020
Lighthizer is set to reprise his role from the first administration as Trump relaunches his trade war with China, according to the Financial Times.
Trump has vowed to impose 10-percent tariffs on imported goods, particularly those from China, to raise tax revenue and help boost American manufacturing.
Reuters cast doubt on the FT report that Lightizer is coming back as Trump’s trade chief, with sources saying he had not been asked for a return.
But Lighthizer was one of the leading figures during Trump I in imposing hefty tariffs on Chinese imports as well as the renegotiation of NAFTA with Mexico and Canada.
DailyMail.com reported on Monday that Waltz was spotted at Mar-a-Lago.
He is in the running to be a Defense Secretary, or take a top foreign policy role in the administration.
Who is OUT of the running to be in Trump’s cabinet
Trump announced on Saturday that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley would not be in his cabinet.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has also ruled himself out and is eyeing a senior role in the new Senate majority.
Missouri GOP Senator Eric Schmidt, a former state attorney general, is also believed to have pulled himself out of the running for attorney general.
Take a look at some of the other contenders HERE.
