In Trump’s Cabinet, loyalty tops experience; president burned during first term

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem oversees a state government that employs about 12,000 people. If President-elect Donald Trump gets his way, she will soon be in charge of the sprawling Homeland Security Department, with 260,000 employees.

That is one of the more favorable comparisons.

Some of Mr. Trump’s high-profile Cabinet picks have never overseen anything larger than a Senate office or congressional campaign. If the Senate confirms them, they will take on departments with at least 100,000 employees.

It’s a severe detour from Mr. Trump’s approach in 2017 when his picks included the head of Exxon Mobil, two four-star Marine Corps generals, a former Cabinet secretary and several business tycoons.

Mr. Trump felt burned by many of those picks, figuring they were more hindrance than help toward his MAGA makeover. This time, he has chosen people he expects to be loyal as he carries out an unprecedented government housecleaning.

“All they’re doing is going in there to fire people,” a former senior White House aide told The Washington Times.

In addition to Ms. Noem, Mr. Trump has tapped Sen. Marco Rubio to run the State Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Iraq War veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to oversee the Defense Department, and former representatives to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency. A sitting congresswoman, Elise Stefanik, was chosen as ambassador to the United Nations.

Ms. Noem brings the most executive government experience of any of them, followed by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, whom Mr. Trump chose to lead the Interior Department.

Teamwork

Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said four of the president-elect’s Cabinet-level picks were part of his eight-member congressional defense team during his first impeachment trial in the Senate in 2019.

“I think it’s clear that Trump is serious about prioritizing loyalty this time — and, given his stated desire to do battle with the existing bureaucracies, that makes sense,” Mr. Wallach said. “Management experience is less important to him right now than a sense of resolve and a clear sense of team.”

He said the different approach also reflects changing politics.

“A big part of it is that the Trump coalition is different this time, and big business isn’t obviously a central part of it any longer,” he said.

Some of the appointments will cause heartburn for Senate Republicans.

Putting former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican recently investigated but not prosecuted by the Justice Department, in charge of that operation will be a tough sell. The 42-year-old was a lawyer early in his career and became a state representative before going to Washington.

The Justice Department is a 115,000-member operation that oversees the federal prisons, the immigration court system, the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies.

In 2017, Mr. Trump started with Jeff Sessions as attorney general. He was disgusted that the former senator from Alabama did nothing to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Russia hoax. The president fired Mr. Sessions in 2018 and moved on to William Barr, attorney general in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Mr. Barr has been critical of Mr. Trump, which likely informed his choice of Mr. Gaetz, one of the president-elect’s strongest supporters in Congress.

In 2017, Mr. Trump chose Rex Tillerson, head of Exxon Mobil, as secretary of state. He later called him “dumb as a rock.” This time, he has nominated Mr. Rubio, a 2016 presidential contender who has been a Trump supporter ever since.

As for the Marine generals, Mr. Trump began with James Mattis at the Pentagon and John Kelly at Homeland Security. Mr. Kelly moved to White House chief of staff in the summer of 2017. Both became fierce opponents. This time, he is going with serious MAGA allies: Mr. Hegseth and Ms. Noem.

‘I know them all’

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump said he is prepared to do a “much better job” with his team this time because he knows the players in Washington.

“I know the good ones [and] the bad ones,” he said at rallies. “I know the weak ones, the strong ones. I know the stupid ones. I know the smart ones. I know them all.”

George Allen, a former Republican governor and senator from Virginia, said nominees’ lack of executive experience isn’t fatal to the next administration as long as they can “recruit assistants and deputies who are familiar with navigating their agencies to effectuate the reforms, initiatives and changes desired by the Trump administration.”

He said Ms. Noem “may be a surprise nominee” but showed her leadership skills after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“She was an outstanding example of how to properly and respectfully lead free people and free enterprise in South Dakota while other governors with paranoid hypochondriac dictates shamefully locked down schools, businesses and lives,” Mr. Allen said. “If one can govern a state, they’ve evinced an ability to manage a secretariat.”

In an email, Mr. Wallach said the risk of choosing people with scant managerial experience is that they can “get played.”

He said that may not matter much, depending on Mr. Trump’s goals.

“It remains to be seen how much the Trump II administration will be about generating dramatic headlines and how much they will be about following things through to durable policy change (including being able to survive court challenges),” he said.