US reports and analyses identify a shift in how President Donald Trump is running the government during his second term, with loyalty and personal trust playing a growing role in the selection of senior officials and decision-making concentrated around the president. At the same time, cabinet secretaries and agency heads have less room for independence, even on issues falling within their direct areas of responsibility.
A Politico report, based on interviews with dozens of current and former US administration officials, concluded that Trump has surrounded himself with figures who have built close relationships with him over many years.
However, the report argues that personal closeness to the president does not necessarily mean greater influence. Cabinet secretaries may be surprised by decisions concerning their sectors or assigned duties far removed from their original areas of expertise. In a parallel analysis, writer Molly Jong-Fast said in an opinion article published by The New York Times that the environment around Trump had fostered a culture of pleasing the president within his inner circle.
In her view, officials compete to demonstrate their support for him, while efforts to dissuade him from his decisions or offer views contrary to his positions have declined. Jong-Fast argues that the process of selecting members of Trump's Cabinet has not always focused on the most qualified candidates for the positions.
She referred to reports that the president watched compilations of candidates' television appearances, with an interest in who could impress him most. She added that, once appointed, an official in this environment is expected to keep telling the president what he wants to hear, or appear on television in a way that pleases him, rather than offer sound advice serving the country, according to her description of how the administration operates.
Comparing the two terms' approaches to selecting officials
The Politico report compares Trump's first and second terms. At the start of his first term, the president sought to build his administration along corporate lines, with specialists looking for people with the strongest CVs to fill senior positions.
In the second term, the report describes the government as more like a “family business” run by a small circle of trusted figures who believe in the president. They were chosen for their closeness to and loyalty to him more than on the basis of objective qualifications alone. The report cites the selection of Linda McMahon as education secretary.
McMahon received a call from Trump after he won a second term offering her the position, despite her telling him that she had never worked in education. According to the report, the president was not looking for someone with educational qualifications so much as a business leader who could deliver what he considered a “return on investment” within the department.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins studied agricultural development at Texas A&M University, but the report considered her record of loyalty to Trump and his political agenda the factor that made her selection in the second term “almost certain”. It quoted a senior administration official as saying that Rollins “was willing to take risks and put her reputation on the line for Trump”.
Loyalty tests extend to cabinet secretaries' teams
According to the report, Trump's transition team gave priority to candidates who supported the president's decisions and agenda and had a political relationship with him, in an effort to avoid traditional establishment figures who had angered him during his first term. The loyalty test was not limited to candidates for cabinet posts, but also included staff whom secretaries wanted to bring into their teams.
During the selection process, several cabinet secretaries sought to bring in trusted staff, including media advisers and former campaign workers. But the White House Presidential Personnel Office rejected some of the proposed names, deeming them insufficiently loyal to the Trump-linked “MAGA” movement.
The responsibilities of Cabinet members do not always remain confined to the duties defined for their positions. The report quoted Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin as saying: “If a problem is brought to the president, and it is not entirely within your purview, nor does it actually fall within anyone else's purview, then that problem becomes your responsibility.” He added that Trump listens to the official's view before telling them: “All right, go fix it.”
According to the report, many Cabinet members appear willing to surrender part of their institutional authority in exchange for maintaining their proximity to the president. Those who have succeeded in their roles also see themselves as advisers to Trump rather than independent policymakers, and may sometimes wait for his social media posts to learn his position on an issue before taking action.
The most important lesson for a Cabinet member is that you are an employee, not an independent decision-maker
Proximity to the president does not guarantee independent influence
According to the report, this reveals a paradox: current cabinet secretaries enjoy personal proximity to Trump that was unavailable to many of their predecessors and take part more extensively in the government's day-to-day work, yet some wield less influence than former secretaries who complained of being repeatedly kept away from the Oval Office.
In the same context, Jong-Fast said that White House officials and Cabinet members compete to demonstrate their support for the president, in what she described as an “Olympics of flattery”. She added that members of Trump's inner circle use televised Cabinet meetings to praise him and display their support. Her article cited an Axios report saying that those around Trump were no longer trying to persuade him to reverse his decisions.
The report attributed this to the president's unwillingness to listen to opposing views, which, according to the assessment, has affected the way the White House is run and Trump's relationship with his senior aides. The effects of centralised decision-making are visible in the work of cabinet secretaries and agency heads, some of whom have faced decisions in recent months that they had not known about in advance, or found that the president had overruled their positions on matters within their remit.
Other officials have had to move quickly to implement his decisions on some of the most sensitive issues within their areas of work. Politico quoted a former senior Trump administration official as saying that the administration revolves around “a person with very strong centralised authority, and everyone is trying to stay within that person's circle of favour and keep that person personally happy”.
Overlapping channels of access and cabinet secretaries' powers
The official compared Trump to a “powerful king” surrounded by figures he described as “weak”, who need to consult him constantly before taking any step. Cabinet members are not the only people with direct access to Trump. While secretaries have his telephone number and can call him, lawmakers, donors, journalists, old friends and businesspeople can also contact him in an effort to influence his views.
The report argues that this broad access can sometimes reduce the influence of officials legally tasked with implementing policies in their areas of responsibility. The overlap in roles also extends to the portfolios run by cabinet secretaries themselves, as several have assumed responsibilities beyond what was expected when the Senate confirmed their appointments.
The report cites the case of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is combining his post with that of acting national security adviser, in addition to responsibilities linked to the US Agency for International Development and the National Archives.
A senior administration official believes this environment pushes most Cabinet members to accommodate the president because they want to keep their positions. The official said: “Everyone wants to keep their job, and anyone who did not have a prior relationship with the president does not have the ability to tell him the truth.”
