Trump's new coalition puts female nominees at forefront

Women are set to play a key role in President-elect Trump’s administration, as he nominates and appoints a number of them to high-level posts. 

Trump has so far named eight women to Cabinet-level positions — double the four initially named for his first term. His appointment of Susie Wiles to be his chief of staff makes her the first woman to hold that position in U.S. history. And he has chosen other women for high-level posts, such as press secretary and surgeon general.

The president-elect’s allies say the appointments are emblematic of Trump’s push to elevate women amid criticism about his past comments and alleged treatment of women in the past. And they come on the heels of a historic election where female voters were a key bloc behind his victory.  

“You're not seeing an administration that’s sort of an old boys club,” said one former Trump administration official.  

The president-elect's picks have yet to be confirmed, but his appointment of more women to his administration’s inner circle appears as part of a “quest” to build a new coalition, said Micki McElya, a history professor at the University of Connecticut.  

“He's certainly promoting more women to top jobs than he did the first time,” McElya said. 

Trump has so far nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, while Linda McMahon, who served in Trump’s Small Business Administrator in his first administration, has been nominated to serve as his Education secretary. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R)  is Trump’s nominee for Homeland Security Secretary, and Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) is his nominee to be Labor Secretary.

Attorney and policy adviser Brooke Rollins is his Agriculture secretary nominee. Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) has been picked to lead Trump’s Small Business Administration. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi became his nominee for attorney general after his first choice, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), withdrew.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, would make history as the first woman of Pacific heritage to hold the role.  

“This is still the best country and the most diverse country in the world, and you see that in his Cabinet picks, but it’s happening organically,” said Roma Daravi, former deputy director of strategic communications in Trump’s White House.  

"All of these people, extremely diverse around him, you get that when you stop looking for color and gender,” she added.  

But besides Gabbard, and Chavez-DeRemer, who is a Latina, Trump’s high-level female picks are largely white women — representing a critical demographic that helped boost him to victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.  

His picks appear as “a part of a continued appeal to the white women voters who have been so important and really powerful to Trump's new coalition,” said McElya. 

“I think coming right out of the gate with the first woman to be in a position of chief of staff, as we are coming off of what would have been a historic first in terms of the presidency ... I think there was something very ... pointed about coming right off of that victory and saying, ‘I am promoting this woman to this position of leadership.’” 

Samantha Dravis, a former official in the first Trump administration, contended Trump is surrounding himself with smart picks.  

“He’s got women around him who provide him with sound and good counsel and who get things done,” she said.  

“All of these women have on their own merits the education, the expertise, the experience to be in these particular roles,” she said. “So, I wouldn’t say this is a president who is selecting women simply because they’re women.” 

A total of seven women served in Trump’s first Cabinet at different points from 2017 to the beginning of 2021. Additionally, Trump had a number of prominent women representing his administration in front of the press including his former press secretaries Sarah Sanders, Kayleigh McEnany, and Stephanie Grisham, who also served as White House communications director for a period. Mercedes Schlapp worked as the White House director of strategic communications, and Kellyanne Conway, who ran Trump’s 2016 campaign, worked as a senior counselor.

“Trump had many women in the past administration as well,” said Republican strategist Ashley Davis, who served in the George W. Bush administration. “He supports strong women and rewards their hard work.  It actually doesn’t surprise me.” 

By contrast, President Biden has appointed 13 women to Cabinet or Cabinet-level positions during his tenure, according to data compiled by the Center for American Women and Politics, the most of any administration in U.S. history. 

Daravi, who worked for McMahon in Trump’s Small Business Administration, noted that many of the women Trump appointed during his first administration are still in his orbit.  

“All of these people still are surrounding him,” Daravi said. “Some are taking roles in the administration. Some are taking roles in their own public positions,” she said, noting Sanders’ election as governor of Arkansas.  

This time around, Trump has tapped Karoline Leavitt for White House press secretary. At 27 years old, Leavitt will make history as the youngest person to hold the position. 

Experts say that the picks for the second administration have a few characteristics in common.  

A number of Trump’s chosen names “are seemingly younger than is often the case with these particular nominations,” noted Lilly Goren, political science professor at Carroll University. 

“I think most of the commonality is disruptors, good on camera, good on controversy. And large donors, like McMahon,” McElya said.  

Goren argued that the picks appear more as a sign of with whom Trump’s comfortable — who's worked with him before, or whom he’s assured is loyal — than a strategic play to get more women in his circle. 

Another factor complicating any analysis of Trump’s appointees is the churn that’s all but expected of a Trump administration, Goren added. In his first term, Cabinet turnover broke records — and a handful of Trump’s second-term nominees have already withdrawn. 

“He went through so many different people in different roles in his first administration,” Goren said. “I am not necessarily sure how long each of these people will be in their position if they are confirmed by the Senate,” she said of his second-term choices. 

Trump’s critics say the president-elect has a poor track record with women, pointing to sexual misconduct allegations against him as well as his past comments about his female critics and political opponents.  

That’s evidenced in some of his male picks for his top administration roles, McElya said.  

Several of Trump’s Cabinet picks — including Gaetz — face allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump himself was found liable last year for sexual abuse. 

But Republicans and Trump allies argue that the president-elect is not getting enough credit for his effort to appoint and nominate more women to the administration.  

“One thing that’s been frustrating to me is that you just don’t see President Trump getting credit for that,” said the former Trump administration official.  

“Republican women seem to just constantly get attacked or maligned by the media instead of being praised for the fact that we are putting women in so many important and consequential roles,” the official added.  

Davis noted that women, regardless of party, are held to a higher standard.  

“I always say we work harder and prepare longer and harder because we are always watched differently than our male colleagues.  I don’t think it is different with R’s and D’s or who you work for,” Davis said.