In giving a team of his closest advisers the job of filling hundreds of key positions, Trump has turned away from the traditional model of letting Washington insiders pick his team, as he did with disastrous results in 2016, and even led to the firing of his transition chief.

As a result, a key adviser said, Trump had drawn up a “MAGA Dream Team” of Cabinet nominees and staffers far earlier than he did in his first term and fully behind his change agenda.

“We appointed the best and most diverse Cabinet ever, and in record time!” he bragged this week on his Truth Social platform. “We will soon have the most AMERICA FIRST administration in history. The best is yet to come!”

Led by incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Sergio Gor, director of the Trump Presidential Personnel Office, the transition has already filled Cabinet posts with Trump allies and those who succeeded in his first administration. All meet his goal of shaking up Washington.

Take defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth as an example. He’s a longtime Trump supporter who is eager to unravel diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the military that the president-elect hates. Consider Kari Lake, the Arizona TV anchor-turned-political candidate who stands ready to rid Voice of America of political correctness.

Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA founder who helped deliver a sizable youth vote for Trump, praised the selections. 

“It could honestly be called the most MAGA Cabinet ever,” Kirk said. “They are all amazing MAGA picks and show the president is fulfilling his agenda and doing what he was elected to do.”

He added that the personnel team operating out of Trump’s headquarters in Florida is also working overtime to keep the Trojan horse candidates away. “It’s just as important to keep bad people out as it is to get good people in.”

These are ALL of Trump’s cabinet picks

I believe this will be one of the greatest administrations in the history of the United States…

What do you think? pic.twitter.com/xvBB2NJkQH

— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 🇺🇸 (@creation247) November 13, 2024

Donald Trump Jr. said the difference between the 2024 and 2016 transitions is stunning. “We didn’t know anyone from Adam” in 2016, he said. This time, the team knows everybody it wants because Trump was president for four years.

Crediting Gor and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance for working overtime on the staff selections, he added that “you have the opportunity to have a truly transitional government” with such a MAGA-focused team.

Pointing to picks such as Elon Musk, who is to co-chair the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump Jr. said his father has attracted a “who’s who” list of those who want to transform Washington but never thought they’d get a chance.

“These are people who wouldn’t touch government with a 10-foot pole years ago. They all want to be involved because they understand the opportunity this time and with my father at the helm. The possibilities are, candidly, endless,” said Trump Jr., who co-founded Winning Team Publishing with Gor, which has put out three Trump coffee table books and others from MAGA leaders, including Lake and Kirk.

Republican pollster John McLaughlin agreed that four years of experience by Trump has changed the transition equation. “President Trump is picking smart, loyal, and effective leaders who share his vision and focus to make America great again. It’s really simple. President Trump is more experienced and wiser. He was a good president. Now, President Trump will be a great president. He’s picking a team to accomplish that mission,” McLaughlin said.

🚨 NEW: Trump boasts that in “record time,” he has put together “the best and most diverse Cabinet ever”

😂 pic.twitter.com/SaTrUXQQAU

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 11, 2024

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said Trump’s sizable victory over Vice President Kamala Harris is also drawing in new believers.

“President Trump finally has the support, the backing, and basically the muscle power that he deserved,” she told Secrets. “You know that there’s going to be pushback and resistance and people that just don’t want to play ball. But it’s different this time, and it’s different this time because President Trump won with such a mandate,” Greene said.

Doug Hamlin, the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, has high hopes for Trump’s picks, especially former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the U.S. attorney general.

“Pam Bondi at Justice, I mean, she’s super impressive and has tremendous experience in the state of Florida, which is extremely pro-Second Amendment, so we think she’s going to roll some of those policies out across the United States,” Hamlin said.

Reagan biographer Craig Shirley sees those Trump is bringing on should make him a transformational president.

“Administration staffs reflect the personalities of their bosses. JFK was intellectually curious as was Kennedy himself. LBJ staff was thuggish because he was a thug. Nixon’s was a cross between the high-minded and the low-minded because there was the good Nixon and there was the bad Nixon. Reagan himself was of high intellect and morals and was a gifted writer, so his staff was the same. And Donald Trump is an anti-establishment, high energy change agent, and so is his staff,” he said.

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Trump Jr. said he has faith the Trump 2.0 effort will work.

“I’m pretty excited with what’s going on right now. It’s a real opportunity, frankly, much more of an opportunity than if we just rolled over, you know, in 2020 and kept the same people in place. So, I think it really creates the opportunity for the America First movement to have legs even beyond Trump, which is of critical importance to me,” he said.