As Donald Trump’s administration begins to take shape, — the president-elect announced Tuesday his picks to lead the Health and Human Services and Transportation departments — analysts say his decisions for the rest of his choices are still unpredictable.
While Trump is still mulling his choice for Secretary of State, reports said Tuesday that former Goldman-Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin is his choice for Treasury Secretary, and businessman Wilbur Ross is expected to lead the Commerce Department.
Trump has also picked former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to lead the Transportation Department, Georgia Congressman Tom Price to serve as the Health and Human Services Secretary and healthcare consultant Seema Verma to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
University of Maryland government and politics professor Eric Uslaner said most of Trump’s appointments so far “are very conservative Republicans.”
“Together with the Congressional leadership, they seem ready to make a full assault on the Obama agenda, from Obamacare to relations with Cuba, to privatizing Medicare and Medicaid, and to promoting school choice,” Uslaner said.
Uslaner added this is the most conservative cabinet any Republican has assembled since 1922, which “points to partisan warfare with the Democrats.”
U.S. Congressman and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Price’s lack of experience “raises red flags,” in a statement posted to his Twitter account Tuesday.
“To put in charge of the nation’s health care system and a trillion dollar budget someone who has never overseen anything larger than a Congressional committee ought to raise eyebrows when this position has historically been reserved for an individual with significant administrative experience,” the statement read.
Trump announced Gen. Mike Flynn as his pick for national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general on Nov. 18.
“It is an honor to nominate U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as Attorney General of the United States,” said President-elect Trump in a Nov. 18 news release. “Jeff has been a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate for 20 years. He is a world-class legal mind and considered a truly great Attorney General and U.S. Attorney in the state of Alabama.”
In response to Sessions’ appointment, Hoyer wrote in a statement posted on Twitter that “there can be no justification for confirming any nominee, for any position, who has made disparaging remarks about minorities and immigrants.”
Some analysts argue that although a few cabinet members aren’t experienced politicians, Trump’s cabinet is an example of “walking back” some of the promises he made during his presidential bid.
“He said he was going to come to Washington to drain the swamp,” said Stella Rouse, director of the University of Maryland’s Center for American Politics and Citizenship. “He’s filling all of his cabinet posts with establishment Washington people.”
Trump has been holding meetings over the past few weeks with both former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former CIA Director and retired Gen. David Petraeus, two candidates he is considering for the Secretary of State slot.
He met with Romney for a second time Tuesday night.
Trump is taking his own lack of political experience into consideration when choosing a Secretary of State, Rouse said.
“One consistent thing seems to be with the people interviewing for the job is that they have a lot of experience abroad and contacts abroad, so they bring a lot of experience to the table,” she said.
As Secretary of State, Trump’s choice will advise him on matters of foreign policy and participate in negotiations with other countries.
Trump nominated Betsy DeVos as education secretary and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. on Nov. 23.
In 2010, DeVos donated $22.5 million to support the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, which is now run by this university.
Trump will have more than 4,000 White House positions to fill, including the remainder of his cabinet that will advise him on policy issues.