Dem
47
GOP
53
Another day, another Fox personality tapped for the Trump Cabinet. The latest person to be plucked from that pool of "talent" is Sean Duffy, who is nominated for Secretary of Transportation.
Duffy is currently the co-host of The Bottom Line on Fox Business Channel, and also starred on a season of MTV's The Real World. He's also been a prosecutor and was a member of the House of Representatives for 4 terms, from 2011-19. All of this said, Duffy was not chosen because of his political experience, or even because of his loyalty to Trump (since Duffy actually hasn't been unfailingly loyal, having criticized the President-elect on several occasions). Duffy was undoubtedly chosen because the current SoT, Pete Buttigieg, is a high-profile Biden administration surrogate who is very good on TV. Trump wants the same for himself.
Assuming Duffy is confirmed, and there's no reason to believe he won't be, he'll inherit some headaches from Buttigieg, such as, oh, America's crumbling infrastructure. He'll also play a big role in deciding how the billions in funding passed during the Biden years will be doled out. Interestingly, perhaps, he is an outspoken critic of electric vehicles. That may make things a bit awkward with Trump's #1 Toady of the moment, Elon Musk.
Among the real crown-jewel positions in the Cabinet, meanwhile, the crown-jeweliest among those that remain unfilled is Secretary of the Treasury. Reportedly, that's a two-man race, at least at the moment. Howard Lutnick is the head of New York investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, and is a key member of Trump's transition team. Scott Bessent has been a key economic adviser to Trump through the campaign, heads his own hedge fund called Key Square Group, and has won over certain key Trump insiders, including Steve Bannon.
What it boils down to is that Lutnick is a bit more of a Trump insider and a loyalist, while Bessent is better-connected on Wall Street. However, we suspect the deciding factor will actually be this: Bessent's mentor was... George Soros. Given how hated Soros is on the right, that feels like it will ultimately be a bridge too far. Bessent has a meeting with Trump on Friday, so we could know then. On the other hand, Trump could also go off the board and pick someone like Larry Kudlow, or Trump's former U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. The only thing you can be reasonably sure of is that it won't be Steven Mnuchin returning for a second go-round. (Z)