Loyalty matters: Trump picks allies and supporters to fill out his administration

President-elect Trump is quickly moving to assemble his second administration, and this time around, he does not appear to be searching for many outsiders to his political orbit.

As he aims to turn Washington, D.C., upside down, the former and future president is turning to allies, loyalists and other supporters of his MAGA movement and America First agenda, many of whom are known commodities in the nation’s capital.

Unlike eight years ago, when the first-time politician first took control of the White House, he is not in the market for establishment types or those who served in his first administration, but in his mind, proved disloyal.

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Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night celebration at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Elise is a strong and very smart America First fighter,” Trump said of Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, whom he has chosen as his ambassador to the United Nations. “She was the first Member of Congress to endorse me and has always been a staunch advocate.”

Additionally, Trump called former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, whom he is aiming to install as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, “a true fighter for America First policies.”

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The president-elect is also expected to name South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a conservative firebrand and MAGA-world star who has long been a fierce Trump ally and supporter, as Homeland Security secretary.

Former President Donald Trump listens as North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Noem will work with Stephen Miller, whom the president-elect has picked as his incoming deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller was the architect of much of the first Trump administration’s hard-line policy on immigration and border security.

She will also collaborate with Thomas Homan, who, as acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during the first administration, was often the face of Trump’s controversial immigration policies. The president-elect has named Homan as his incoming “border czar.”

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Fox News also reported that Trump is expected to name Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state.

Rubio was a rival to Trump during the combustible 2016 Republican presidential nomination battle but over the years has become a strong Trump ally in the Senate.

Former President Donald Trump, left, greets Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, during a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Nov. 4, 2024. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly / AFP)

While the senator is known on Capitol Hill as a foreign policy hawk who favors maintaining U.S. alliances overseas, including NATO, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee member has taken similar positions to Trump on a number of top international conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war with Hamas. 

Trump also named Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida as his national security adviser. Waltz, a former Army Green Beret, is a longtime Trump ally,

Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and a prominent Republican donor and bundler who raised big bucks for Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns, noted that Trump is in a very different situation than he was eight years ago, when he first won the White House.

“He’s got a stronger mandate because he won the popular vote, and he won all seven swing states,” Eberhart emphasized. “I also think he knows what he wants, and he knows better how to get what he wants out of Washington. He’s going to have a more cohesive, more MAGA team, that’s hopefully able to accomplish more.”

A leading strategist in Trump’s political  orbit, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News that “one thing that is noticeable this time around is that instead of a team of rivals who are all over the place ideologically, Trump is largely bringing people on who are aligned with his America First agenda.”

Those whom the president-elect feels have not shown their loyalty to him appear to be iced out.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump this past weekend announced in a social media post that he would not ask former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – who served as ambassador to the U.N. in his first administration – and former Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas – who served as CIA director and then Secretary of State in Trump’s first term – to join his incoming cabinet.

Haley ran against Trump in this year’s Republican presidential primaries and ended up as the final challenger to the former president in what turned into a divisive nomination battle. 

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Pompeo seriously mulled making his own 2024 White House run before ultimately deciding not to launch a campaign. 

Both politicians eventually endorsed Trump this year, following the primary season.

A source in Trump’s political orbit who’s involved in the transition told Fox News that the president-elect is “not relying on people from the outside who weren’t really Trump people. The people now who are around him are all Trump people, and they will make sure that those whom they bring into the administration are believers in the president and his agenda and are going to work to advance his agenda.”