The Trumpverse: The men and women who will turn MAGA dreams into reality

Donald Trump is now the 47th president of the United States, and America and the world better be ready for Trump 2.0. As he takes his seat at the table of the world’s most powerful leader, he has an idea of America that he wants to implement — a more conservative, more right-wing and a more populist bent on trade and a shift in America’s international role.

He wants to push for Ukraine to settle with Russia, impose tough tariffs more sweeping than last time and crackdown on immigration even more than before. As Steve Bannon, his former political strategist and conservative media host who remains a close outside ally, said: “It’s (Trump’s second term) going to be much more hard-hitting.

But Trump can’t implement his ideas alone. He has put in place a tight-knit group of men and women — one can call it the Trumpverse — who will strive hard to deliver the US president’s most high-profile policies.

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Among them are an eccentric billionaire, a China hawk and a Democratic defector.

Doge chief — Elon Musk

Through his campaigning days and transition period, there’s been one man besides Donald Trump and that’s Elon Musk — the world’s richest man and owner of X and Tesla. This has earned him the title of First Buddy.

Selected to head Trump’s new department — Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) — Musk is looking to implement a $2 trillion cut in government spending by primarily cutting jobs. However, the billionaire has now acknowledged that such a cut may not be possible and has set a new target.

In an interview on January 8, Musk said in an interview, “If we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting one. And if we can drop the budget deficit from $2 trillion to $1 trillion and kind of free up the economy to have additional growth — such that the output of goods and services keeps pace with the increase in the money supply — then there will be no inflation. So that, I think, would be an epic outcome.”

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Will Musk’s Doge actually be able to make any cuts — it remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: With Musk at his side, one can expect more eccentricity.

Border tsar — Tom Homan

Donald Trump has vowed to carry out the world’s largest deportation programme in the world. While he’s been scant on the details, he’s looking towards Tom Homan, the former acting head of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, to ensure his plans see fruition.

Whilst announcing him as his administration’s “border tsar”, Trump had said, “I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.”

But who is Homan? He’s been the public face of Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies during the first term — by being the one who broke the practice of keeping families together during detention and deportation proceedings. As a result, thousands of undocumented migrant children were separated from family members, drawing widespread backlash.

Homeland Security Secretary — Kristi Noem

Another crucial member of Trump’s inner circle is Kristi Noem, who he has chosen to be the next Homeland Security Secretary. The current South Dakota governor will oversee a sprawling federal agency of 260,000 employees that handles everything from border protection to cybersecurity to transportation safety and disaster response.

Like Trump, Noem is no stranger to controversy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she vociferously rejected mask mandates and lockdown measures. In fact, amid the pandemic, she celebrated the Fourth of July with Trump at the Mount Rushmore national memorial.

She also turned heads when she admitted that she shot an “untrainable” pet dog, saying it showed her ability to make tough choices. Moreover, she sent members of her state’s national guard to Texas to help with border enforcement.

Secretary of State — Marco Rubio

US President Donald Trump has tapped one-time critic Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state. Born to Cuban immigrants, Rubio, the Florida senator, is seen by many as a relatively traditional conservative hawk.

The 53-year-old is known for his muscular foreign policy with respect to US geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba. He’s also a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During his Senate hearing, Rubio painted a dark vision of the consequences of America’s “unbalanced relationship” with China. Hse added that without swift and substantive policy shifts, China will remain the “biggest threat” to American prosperity in the 21st Century.

National Security Advisor — Michael Waltz

Trump has also picked Mike Waltz, a Republican representative and a retired Army Green Beret, to be his next national security advisor. The 50-year-old has been a vocal critic of China, criticising the Asian giant for its military activity in the Asia-Pacific and the need for Washington to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.

Waltz has also been critical of the Biden administration when it comes to the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021. He has also criticised US military policies that he says emphasise racial and gender diversity, equity and inclusion over war-fighting capability.

Health Secretary — Robert F Kennedy Jr

With Trump’s return to power, there is a concern about the direction in which America’s healthcare will go. This worry got further amplified when Trump chose leading vaccine sceptic and scion of the famous Democratic political dynasty — Robert F Kennedy Jr — as his health secretary.

A former lawyer and environmentalist, the 70-year-old has no medical background. But that hasn’t stopped him from having very strong, albeit unscientific, views on vaccines, including how they cause autism.

Kennedy is also a conspiracy theorist. But as Trump told his supporters earlier that he would put Kennedy in charge of “ making America healthy again.”

National Intelligence — Tulsi Gabbard

Gabbard, a former Democrat and an officer in the US Army Reserve, has been appointed by Trump to serve as director of national intelligence (DNI), where she would oversee 18 agencies tasked with intelligence gathering.

Gabbard is a star in Trump’s world. She has been vociferously critical of the Democrats, and during her 2020 presidential run criticised then-Senator Kamala Harris’ record as a prosecutor. Two years later, she quit the Democratic Party to become an independent, saying her old party was dominated by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues. She subsequently campaigned for several high-profile Republicans, became a contributor to Fox News and started a podcast.

The 43-year old has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s foreign policy, particularly with regard to its support of Ukraine in the war with Russia.

She has also stirred controversy by endorsing the justifications for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, and controversially meeting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who has now been deposed, in 2017.

It’s ironic that Trump has chosen Gabbard as his DNI chief; she has openly been distrustful of broad government surveillance authorities and has expressed support for those willing to expose some of the intelligence community’s most sensitive secrets. As Jamil Jaffer, a former George W Bush associate told CNN, “Tulsi Gabbard is a highly unusual pick for Director of National Intelligence in an administration that has nominated some very solid people, like Marco Rubio, Elise Stefanik and Mike Waltz, because she’s somebody who clearly thinks that Edward Snowden should get away scot-free from stealing classified information.”

In December 2020, she also introduced legislation that would repeal the Patriot Act and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, two of the most significant surveillance authorities passed by Congress after September 11, 2001. However, it went nowhere.

Commerce Secretary — Howard Lutnick

The co-chair of Trump’s transition effort and the long-time chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick is Trump’s choice to head the Commerce Department. He lost his brother, Gary Lutnick, and 658 of 960 Cantor Fitzgerald employees in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center.

Lutnick has been a vocal proponent of Trump’s economic policies, including wide-ranging tariffs – which the Commerce Department would be tasked with enforcing – as well as deregulation of cryptocurrencies and the elimination of income tax.

With inputs from agencies