Since Donald Trump won the 2024 election, he has now begun to announce his cabinet members. Many of his cabinet members aren’t surprising to some, but others are very controversial. Trump’s announcement to his cabinet members is very important because they are the people who will be advising him. We want cabinet members who stand for our beliefs and do the best for the American people. He has picked several cabinet members so far, but some of these people are very controversial such as Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and multi-billionaire Elon Musk.
Starting with Pete Hegseth, who was nominated to serve as the secretary of defense. He served in several countries, including Iraq, as an Army National Guard Officer. But many rumors and statements he has said have followed him throughout his political career now. In 2017, a woman part of the California Federation of Republican Women accused Hegseth of drugging and sexually assaulting her. She later went to an emergency room and from there the investigation took off. The case was taken to court and Hegseth admitted to having sexual relations with her but it was all consensual. The case never went anywhere but a civil lawsuit was threatened. Hegseth paid the women. He was never found guilty but who knows what happened. It is not confirmed yet that Hegseth will be the secretary of defense, but still has a large chance to do so. He must overcome the allegations and undergo an FBI background check.
Trump also picked Tulsi Gabbard to be his next director of national intelligence. She is a former U.S. representative for Hawaii’s second congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Gabbard, like Hegseth, also served in the Army National Guard but for two decades. She served in Iraq and Kuwait. But unlike Hegseth, she is a former Democrat. In 2020, she desired to be the Democratic presidential nominee. She later dropped out and endorsed President Joe Biden. In 2022, she left the Democratic party and denounced them. Since then she has endorsed Trump, and in October she announced she was an official Republican.
Many do not support Tulsi Gabbard as Trump’s director of national intelligence though. She has tweeted before being against Ukraine and favored Russia. Tweets such as, “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns.”. This raised many concerns against her from many other politicians. Politicians are concerned because she would be the director of national intelligence and do not trust her in that position. On the other hand, she also had secret meetings with Syria’s President, Bashar Assad, in 2017. Assad has been accused of war crimes and has heavy sanctions placed against Syria by the United States. This is because Syria had Russia join them in 205 against an uprising against Assad. Since then Syria has been used by Iranian and Russian soldiers to attack U.S. soldiers. Many have started asking questions about this, but there has not been a response.
On the other hand, Elon Musk was invited to join Trump’s Cabinet. Musk is a multi-billionaire entrepreneur who runs companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, and X.com, where he takes government contracts. He is currently the richest person in the world. Musk was appointed as the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency. The Department of Government Efficiency will be a new department within our government that will expose wasteful spending. During 2023, the government recorded spending $236 billion improperly. Most of this is the tax money we must give to the government. We want our tax money to go to things that help us like new roads and new parks. People are concerned though because giving the richest man in the world a government position can cause corruption. He owns several of the biggest companies in the U.S. so he could use his position for his benefit. Will he though?
Donald Trump’s 2025 presidency has not started yet, but he is starting strong. He is readying himself for office and picking who will advise him while in the white house. There are many other cabinet members, but these were the three that stood out the most. Trump has already appointed many but many still must go through the Senate to be approved. There are still positions open that he has yet to appoint to anyone. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will find out.
