In the days since former president Donald Trump won the 2024 election, new details have quickly emerged about his second administration. So who has he hired? What could his second term mean for immigrants, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and anyone seeking an abortion? And what else do you need to know? Here’s what’s come out so far about Trump’s next term:
What political appointments has Trump made so far?
On November 7, Trump named Susie Wiles, a manager of his 2024 campaign, as his chief of staff, making her the first woman to hold that position. He also announced on November 10 that Representative Elise Stefanik—a chair of the House Republican Conference, known for questioning university presidents about antisemitism on campuses in 2023—would serve as his ambassador to the United Nations. Other names closely associated with Trump’s first administration have also resurfaced, including former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan as border czar and Stephen Miller—the force behind some of Trump’s most controversial anti-immigration programs—as deputy chief of staff for policy. (Prior administration alumni who won’t be returning include former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.)
Will Elon Musk have an official role in the second Trump administration?
Musk, who has been seen at Mar-a-Lago several times since the 2024 election was called for Trump and joined him during a call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, has been promised a position as head of a Musk-proposed Department of Government Efficiency. However, no official appointment has been made as yet.
What about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
Some Trump allies have suggested that the former presidential candidate could be tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in Trump’s incoming administration—an idea that has raised some eyebrows given Kennedy’s positions on things like vaccine safety and fluoride in drinking water. Again, however, none of this has been made official.
Is Trump’s much-touted plan for mass deportations real?
After Trump’s first administration quickly became associated with migrant children huddled in cages, his second is also likely to target immigrant groups within the US: His team’s plans reportedly include issuing a national emergency declaration at the border on Trump’s first day in office in January of 2025. “Do we have a broken legal immigration system? Yes, we do, but I think the first step is going to be to restore the rule of law to do it in a very pragmatic way,” Trump loyalist and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said in an ABC interview on November 10. He added: “I don’t think most Americans disagree with me to say those who have entered, those who have committed a crime, they should be out of the country. That would be the largest mass deportation.”
What does Trump have planned on LGBTQ+ rights and women’s reproductive autonomy?
A 20-point platform published on Trump’s official website threatens to “cut federal funding for any school pushing…radical gender ideology” and takes aim at trans girls and women’s ability to play sports. And while Trump flip-flopped on his stance on abortion throughout his campaign, his history of anti-choice rhetoric and policy speaks for itself. “Republicans, wary of the public disapproval of abortion bans, have started calling their new abortion restrictions by chillingly imprecise euphemisms, such as ‘standard’ or even ‘protection.’ But the effect of the laws are the same: to outlaw abortions,” Moira Donegan wrote in The Guardian on Tuesday. “This could take the form of a gestational limit, or of the federal recognition of fetal personhood. Trump may well sign such legislation into law, eliminating abortion rights even in Democratic-controlled states and those that have recently passed abortion rights referendums with the stroke of a pen.”
What about the environment?
Trump tapped former New York representative Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, saying in a statement that Zeldin would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards.” (In other words, it’s time to lock in on community-based climate activism, since Zeldin is likely to roll back environmental regulations to at least some degree.)
