Illustrating Trump’s Cabinet ｜ Countdown to the inauguration of the US President, who will share the White House with him？
existIn the coming week, the key cabinet members nominated by Trump will face the ultimate "big test"-the Senate committees will hold cabinet confirmation hearings one after another..
According to the U.S. Constitution, the President has the right to nominate cabinet members, but they can only be formally appointed after being examined and approved by the Senate. Positions that must be approved by the Senate include cabinet members, heads of federal administrative departments, ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, federal court judges and chairman of the Federal Reserve. The related affairs committee of the Senate will review the background, qualifications, political inclination and financial status of the nominee, so as to judge the nominee’s qualifications. In American history, most presidential nominations have been approved.Only nine times have senators rejected cabinet nominations..
Trump’s presidential team
As a president with no formal political background, Trump’s personnel appointment is relatively efficient. He is the second president to announce two cabinet candidates in the first week after Nixon was elected president in 1968. In contrast, Obama announced the first cabinet member in the third week after his election in 2008.
Although Trump is methodical in personnel appointment, the cabinet candidates he has announced one after another are still controversial-Republicans, whites, rich people and soldiers appear frequently in the list.
Keyword 1: Businessman
At present, among the 13 cabinet members nominated by Trump, there are five wealthy businessmen.. Trump, who is also a businessman, frequently throws an olive branch to his business colleagues when nominating cabinet members. The five cabinet ministers, including the Secretary of State, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Commerce, the Minister of Labor and the Minister of Education, are all from the business community, among which there are many billionaires. According to Forbes magazine’s estimate, these five people are worth a total of $4.4 billion.
Historically, there have been many precedents for Republicans to choose people from the financial sector to preside over the finance and business departments. Barbara Franklin and Carlos Gutierrez, two commerce ministers during the Bush-son period, were both corporate CEOs, and all three finance ministers came from big consortia such as Goldman Sachs.
So,If Trump’s nomination for the two ministers of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce is reasonable, it is special to nominate Rex W. Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, as Secretary of State.. As the number one figure in the cabinet, the importance of the Secretary of State is self-evident. Similar to Trump, Tillerson is a businessman with no political background. Before him, 68 secretaries of state appointed by successive presidents of the United States had political experience, and Trump’s move was widely regarded as a firm manifestation of his anti-establishment stance. According to Xinhua News Agency, as the "most pro-Putin American" in the cabinet, Tillerson also has close contacts with the Saudi oil minister and the Qatar royal family. Coupled with the business relationship with Trump himself, it is reasonable for Trump to choose him as an important cabinet post.
Keyword 2: Soldiers
In Trump’s nominated cabinet list, james mathis, Secretary of Defense, and John Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, both held important positions in the military. The former was the commander of the US Central Command, commanding the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; The latter is the former commander of the US Southern Command, responsible for the US military missions in Central and South America and the Caribbean. In addition, Trump’s nomination list can be described as "land, sea and air". Interior Minister Ryan Zinke served in the US Navy and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel when he retired; Attorney General Jeff Sessions served in the US Army and reached the rank of captain when he retired; Rick Perry, the energy secretary, was a captain in the US Air Force before he retired.
Is it reasonable for Trump to appoint so many people with military backgrounds? Diao Daming, an assistant researcher at the American Institute of China Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the Trump team seems to have many soldiers, but it has not deviated from the historical track in essence, but has continued some traditions of the Republican Party and even the two parties. Apart from the fact that the Minister of National Defense is the first military defense chief since 1950 and the Minister of Homeland Security is the first military minister in history, other military nominations are not special.
Keyword 3: Minority women
In a list of cabinet-level officials filled with "men" and "whites", two ethnic minority women stand out, namely Zhao Xiaolan, Minister of Transportation of Chinese descent, and Nikki R. Haley, Indian Ambassador to the United Nations.
As an important cabinet member during the Bush-son political period, Zhao Xiaolan’s resume can be described as glamorous. She is the first Chinese to enter the cabinet in American history, the first Chinese "White House scholar" and an outstanding representative of the famous think tank Hudson Institute. In addition, Zhao Xiaolan has a special identity-the wife of Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate. Judging from Trump’s previously announced governance framework, 550 billion US dollars of infrastructure construction is a big core, and a large part will be used for basic transportation construction such as roads and bridges. In the future, both the successful appointment of Zhao Xiaolan and the passage of the 550 billion infrastructure investment bill need to be approved by Congress. With this relationship with McConnell, we can win more support more or less.
Another minority woman, 44-year-old Nikki Haley, is the youngest incumbent governor in the United States and the first female governor in the history of South Carolina. Judging from the sex ratio of successive American ambassadors to the United Nations, men account for the vast majority (Obama appointed three female ambassadors in two consecutive terms, which is an exception). The Wall Street Journal pointed out in a commentary that as a president who came to power with strong support from the white class, the election of an Indian woman to the United Nations will help to make Trump’s cabinet team more diversified.
Who is about to face the Senate "big exam"
In the coming week, at least nine Trump-nominated cabinet members will attend hearings of Senate committees, including:
-On January 10th, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee will consider John Kelly, the nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security.
-On January 10th and 11th, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the nominee for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.
-On January 11th and 12th, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider Secretary of State nominee Rex W. Rex Tillerson.
-On January 11th, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will consider Mike Pompeo, the nominee for CIA Director.
-On January 11th, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will consider Betsy DeVos, the nominee for the Minister of Education.
-On January 11th, the Senate Committee on Trade, Science and Transportation will consider Zhao Xiaolan, the nominee of the Secretary of Transportation.
-On January 12th, the Senate Committee on Trade, Science and Transportation will consider Wilbur Ross, the nominee for Secretary of Commerce.
-On January 12th, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will consider the nomination of Ben Carson as Minister of Housing and Urban Development.
-On January 12th, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will consider Andy Puzder, the nominee of Labor Minister.
In a report on January 9th, The New York Times pointed out that since the FBI has not completed the background check of all the nominees, Democrats hope to postpone the Republican hearing on Tuesday by all means.
However, the majority leader of the US Senate, McConnell, once said that he was unwilling to reschedule any hearing, and warned the Democrats as a minority not to set up any obstacles in the hearing. Not only that, when he participated in the CBS program Facing the Country, he said: "All these trivial and perfunctory complaints are related to the frustration they felt when they lost both the White House and the Senate majority."