What do the two Cabinet nominees announced by President-elect Trump have in common? Yes, they are both women. But more importantly, neither was an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley used her response to President Obama’s State of the Union address to implicitly rebuke Trump. She made it explicit in interviews afterward. She endorsed not one but two different Republican presidential candidates — Marco Rubio, then Ted Cruz — before finally offering tepid support to Trump.
Even during her speech to the Federalist Society, an important conservative legal group, in which she described herself as “thrilled” about Trump’s win, Haley suggested his victory wasn’t a ringing endorsement of Republican principles.
Now Haley is set to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump’s pick for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, never endorsed him at all. “I don’t think Donald Trump represents the Republican Party,” she told the Washington Examiner earlier this year.
In her home state of Michigan, the headlines around the time of the Republican National Convention read “Betsy DeVos still looking for a reason to support Donald Trump” and “Betsy DeVos not ready to back Trump.” If confirmed, she will be in Trump’s Cabinet.
Mitt Romney was the highest-profile “Never Trump” Republican. He engaged in a war of words with the man who replaced him as titular head of the GOP, attacking Trump on everything from his refusal to release his tax returns to the vulgar “Access Hollywood” tape that looked likely to put Hillary Clinton in the White House.
Romney also seems to be under serious consideration for secretary of state, the most senior position in the Cabinet and the country’s leading diplomat.
Former BB&T CEO John Allison is on the list for secertary of the treasury. Allison has criticized eminent domain, which Trump has praised. He has also called Trump “logically inconsistent” and predicted he would be a “very destructive,” ineffective leader.
The conventional wisdom about Trump is that he is a man with a tight circle who values loyalty above all else. Indeed, some of his first appointments fit this bill. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and former campaign CEO Stephen Bannon got the top two White House staff jobs. Sen. Jeff Sessions was nominated for attorney general and a Ben Carson nomination could be imminent.
But Haley, DeVos and maybe Romney have a place at the table while Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich are on the outside looking in. Gingrich and Mike Huckabee, an early Trump supporter who is reportedly being considered for ambassador to Israel, have both panned the idea of Romney running the State Department.
President Obama was credited with bringing together a “team of rivals” when he selected Joe Biden as his vice president and Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Both politicians had run against him for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and the campaign against Clinton — who entered the race as the presumed front-runner — was particularly nasty.
But this year’s contest for the Republican nomination made the 2008 Democratic primaries look like a pillow fight. Nevertheless, Trump seems to have adopted a team of rivals approach to building his administration.
“It’s a smart move,” said Republican strategist Liz Mair, “but as with everything, the issue is not making peace with people, but actually picking the best people for the right jobs.”
Haley’s lack of foreign-policy experience, for example, is sure to raise eyebrows as she seeks to be confirmed to such an important diplomatic post. Supporters believe she has the personality to succeed at the United Nations and is a good temperamental fit for the role. That said, she, Romney and Carson are not obvious fits for the jobs to which they have been linked.
Trump’s ability to hire the best people and manage them effectively was one of his major selling points as a presidential candidate, since he doesn’t have any government experience to prepare him for the role. It’s clear that his past as an entertainer and flare for the dramatic have played a role in his appointment process too.
The president-elect has paraded the people he is interviewing for key positions in front of the press. The process is more dignified than a reality TV show, but retains some of the feel of Trump in the boardroom on “The Apprentice.”
This time, instead of saying “You’re fired” the outcome is Trump saying “You’re hired.” The photo-op with Trump and Romney itself is a major PR coup for a man who seemed unlikely to be able to unify the Republican Party.
Trump reportedly believes Romney looks like a top diplomat out of “central casting” and thought the same of Mike Pence as vice president.
Come to think of it, “Trump’s Team of Rivals” has a nice ring to it as a television series about the White House.
