Mabinty Quarshie of the Washington Examiner reports on Donald Trump’s approach to a potential second administration.
Should former President Donald Trump win the 2024 election, he would be more prepared to lead the government than he was before his first victory in 2016, when he was a political novice who upended conventional norms. An outside group aligned with Trump has compiled the resumes of candidates for the thousands of political appointments needed to fill out the government, and strategists see the 2024 campaign as far more disciplined than the team that helped Trump win eight years ago.
But just weeks before Election Day, his campaign has yet to tap into federal resources available for both candidates’ transition teams.
Trump’s campaign says there haven’t been any “formal discussions” about who will be in his Cabinet during a second administration.
However, there are plenty of highly qualified lawmakers jockeying to serve in his administration, including his former Republican presidential rivals.
“President Trump announced a Trump Vance transition leadership group to initiate the process of preparing for what comes after the election,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “But formal discussions of who will serve in a second Trump Administration is premature. President Trump will oversee a smooth transition and choose the best people for his Cabinet to undo all the damage dangerously liberal Kamala Harris has done to our country.”
The high number of Republicans who are willing to join a second Trump Cabinet is a clear contrast from 2016, when the GOP was struggling to accept that Trump’s takeover of the party had occurred, strategists told the Washington Examiner.
Trump would ultimately cast aside the monthslong transition efforts of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just days after the election that year, leaving him unprepared to staff the government.