For president-elect Trump, a lot of the post-election celebrations are now starting to die down and big decisions about his cabinet are starting to be made. That’s because the job of governing will welcome the Trump cabinet when it takes office in late January 2025.
A lot of news has already been made on Trump’s cabinet picks as he’s been busy putting together nominations for key positions.
Here are five big personalities that could be part of Trump’s incoming administration as well as the businesses and careers they’ve had.
#1 Elon Musk
The world’s richest man on paper, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), doesn’t really need a formal introduction given his high public profile.
Elon Musk has been picked by Trump to head up the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the acronym being a tacit nod to Musk’s affinity for the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. As part of the DOGE, Musk says he is aiming to cut up to US$2 trillion from federal spending while also abolishing red tape and bureaucracy in the federal government.
Musk’s immense wealth today has come from building a formidable business in Tesla, the leading electric vehicle (EV) brand in the world. Beyond that, Musk is also CEO of SpaceX, a company that has recently been valued at around US$255 billion, and he has stakes in social media platform X (formerly Twitter), artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI, underground tunnelling firm, The Boring Company and neurotechnology company Neuralink. Musk himself is worth over US$310 billion.
He initially found success and wealth by founding an online financial services company called X.com that was later merged with another company, that eventually launched the PayPal service. While Musk was CEO at PayPal, he left in 2000.
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#2 Robert F Kennedy Jr
One of the most well-known names in US politics is the Kennedy last name. Robert F Kennedy Jr, also known by his initials RFK, is one of the most prominent current political member. RFK’s uncle, John F Kennedy (JFK), was assassinated as sitting US president in 1963.
His father was Robert F Kennedy, the US Attorney General in the early 1960s, and was assassinated by a political activist in 1968 while running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
As a result, RFK has always had politics in his family’s DNA.
He has been picked by president-elect Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Surprisingly, his earlier career has been built on being a leading environmentalist and climate change activist.
RFK actually put himself forward as the Democratic nomination to run for President in the 2024 election and was later considered for the Libertarian Party’s nomination for President but later dropped out of the race altogether and endorsed Trump.
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#3 Linda McMahon
If any of us have been watching the Netflix documentary Mr McMahon – named after Vince McMahon, the founder of wrestling company WWE – then we will most likely have seen Linda McMahon featured.
Wife of Vince McMahon, Linda is also a relatively big name in the business world herself. Linda McMahon has been picked by Trump to be the Education Secretary for his incoming administration.
Linda McMahon actually became President and CEO of Titan Sports (WWE) in the early 1990s and was a pivotal figure in building out the business’s lucrative merchandising deals. On the political side of things, she ran for the US Senate twice in Connecticut, in 2010 and 2012, but lost on both occasions to Democratic candidates.
Following that, she has been a regular donor to Republican candidates and also fundraises for them. McMahon served in president-elect Trump’s first administration from 2016-2020 as the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA).
As part of that role, she was also instrumental and drumming up support for former President Trump’s landmark act from his first term, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
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#4 Howard Lutnick
Howard Lutnick is a Wall Street veteran given his time running Cantor Fitzgerald, a large investment firm in the US. He has been picked by Trump to lead the Commerce Department, which has “additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative”.
Lutnick is a billionaire and his wealth is estimated at around US$2.2 billion. He’s currently CEO and Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and initially joined the firm in 1983. He developed a close relationship with the firm’s founder and eventually took over the CEO role in 1991.
He rebuilt the firm after the devastating 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, with 658 of 960 Cantor employees perishing that morning after the Twin Towers were hit. The deceased also included his brother, Gary Lutnick.
#5 Scott Bessent
Scott Bessent is a billionaire hedge fund manager and has been picked by president-elect Trump to head up the US Treasury.
Bessent is best known for his time at the Soros Fund Management, working for legendary financier George Soros. He also became known as one of the few men who “broke the Bank of England” given he was part of the team that shorted the British pound in the early 1990s, pocketing US$1.5 billion in the process.
He served as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) in the Soros Fund and is widely regarded by global money managers for his decorated track record and decades-long career in finance. While at Soros Fund Management, Bessent also bet against the Japanese Yen, generating almost US$1 billion over a three-month period.
Bessent has also worked for famous short-seller Jim Chanos but eventually ended up founding his own hedge fund named Key Square Group, which was founded in 2015. The firm makes use of geopolitics and economics to make big bets on macro investments.
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