“Any experienced manager understands the importance of teamwork. It is very difficult to work effectively alone – and if you are the president, it is impossible at all. Donald Trump, who already led the United States, and until this decade was engaged in big business, clearly understands this. And therefore, most likely, he is already thinking about which team to appoint to his cabinet. The analysis of this issue is complicated by the fact”, — write on: ua.news
Any experienced manager understands the importance of teamwork. It is very difficult to work effectively alone – and if you are the president, it is impossible at all. Donald Trump, who already led the United States, and until this decade was engaged in big business, clearly understands this. And therefore, most likely, he is already thinking about which team to appoint to his cabinet.
The analysis of this issue is complicated by the fact that the newly elected US president almost did not mention specific names in public. However, it is already possible to make certain assumptions about the candidates and assess the probability of their appointment.
Who will Trump choose to lead his administration? What do all potential candidates think about Ukraine and the war with the Russian Federation? Agency UA.News understood the issue.
Who can become the secretary of state
First of all, it should be noted once again: apparently, no one but Trump knows the official candidates yet. When the American media tried to find out, the campaign headquarters of the Republican stated that the politician “has not yet decided.” But from time to time, Donald Trump still mentioned certain personalities in his public speeches – especially in relation to the bloc that deals with foreign policy. This, by the way, is the most important thing specifically for Ukraine.
Here, it is worth mentioning potential secretaries of state. In the American political system, this position is a kind of hybrid between the prime minister and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Experts name the following hypothetical candidates.
“In general, all these candidacies… have in common a shift in focus in international politics and aiming to reduce China’s influence“, – this is how Yaroslav Zheleznyak, People’s Deputy from “Holos” commented on the situation in his Telegram.
Who will become the vice president
There is only one candidate here – this JD Vance. He is a close associate of Trump. In addition, the specificity of the American political system is that the vice president is elected together with the president of the United States. Each candidate for the presidency has a candidate for the vice-presidential position in a kind of “connection”. He always represents the same political party as the president – that is, in this case, it is the Republicans.
This official heads the Senate and has a number of other important functions with significant influence on foreign and domestic politics. In fact, he is the second person in the state administration. If something happens to the president, the vice president takes over and takes over the entire administration of the country.
As for the position of Jay Dee-Vance, it is rather difficult to call it friendly to Ukraine. The politician is known for his rather skeptical attitude towards the national interests of Kyiv in their current format.
For example, in April 2023, Vance, along with 18 other representatives of the Republican Party, signed a letter to US President Joe Biden, in which he stated that “unlimited aid to Ukraine by the United States of America must be stopped.” The signatories of the letter “resolutely oppose all future aid packages unless these aid packages are linked to a transparent diplomatic strategy to bring this war to a quick end.”
Earlier, in December 2023, Vance said the following phrase while commenting on the then-planned visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
“What is most in America’s interest is to accept that Ukraine will give part of its territory to the Russians, and that we need to end this war. When I think of the enormous human tragedy here… Hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans, innocent people, died in this conflict. It’s in our interest and in their interest to stop people dying,” Vance said at the time.
Already after the Ukrainian leader’s visit, Vance called Zelenskyi’s trip to the US a “shameful farce.” He actively criticized the allocation of money to Ukraine and said that such a policy made our country a “permanent client of the United States”, which is unable to pay pensions and perform state functions on its own.
Commenting on another package of aid to Ukraine later, the future vice president said that he did not understand why it was needed.
“Why? So that one of Zelenskyi’s ministers could buy himself another big yacht?” Vance asked then.
And even in April 2022, he stated that the USA is so worried about the territorial integrity of Ukraine for nothing.
“You have to be honest. “I don’t care what happens to Ukraine,” Di-Vance said.
These statements will clearly be unpleasant both to the Ukrainian authorities and to many ordinary Ukrainians. However, it is still worth separating the rhetoric of Vance the politician with the future actions of Vance the vice president. Obviously, the latter should be more balanced and first of all meet the interests of the United States. And it is clearly unprofitable for Washington if Ukraine completely enters the zone of influence of the aggressor country.
Who can lead the Pentagon
Another important post and in Trump’s cabinet – the Minister of Defense, that is, the head of the Pentagon. Experts say there are three main candidates for this position.
Elon Musk and the Government Efficiency Commission
Such a state body does not exist in the USA – yet. But the famous billionaire Elon Musk was one of the biggest donors to the Trump campaign and his ardent public supporter. So the Republican said in September of this year that he wants to create a special commission that will determine the effectiveness of the entire American government and assess the appropriateness of its financial expenditures. And Trump sees Elon Musk in this position.
The businessman himself has already stated that he wants to seriously reduce the number of federal agencies in the United States. These are special government bodies that are partially analogous to the ministries we are used to. According to Musk, most of them are ineffective.
“We have a giant bureaucracy, we have excessive regulation… We need to let America’s builders build,” Musk said in a recent interview.
Musk’s views on Ukraine are also rather ambiguous. For example, it is difficult to overestimate his help with communication: any Ukrainian soldier on the front line would clearly say “thank you” for Starlink technology. On the other hand, the billionaire has repeatedly spoken publicly about the “hopelessness” of the war, about the possibility of losing cities like Odessa, about the need for a ceasefire, etc. These statements caused skepticism in the Ukrainian authorities and many public speakers. Apparently, Musk shares the views of Trump and parts of his team on the need to end the war as soon as possible.
Finally, the whole story clearly causes dissatisfaction among the part of the Ukrainian media and public organizations that are affiliated with the democratic administration and receive funding from grant funds. After all, it is possible that Musk can significantly limit federal grant funds and their expenditures on foreign programs.
Summarizing, we can draw the following conclusion: just as a king is made by his retinue, a competent state manager and the president of the country are made by his cadres. Possible future appointments of Donald Trump focus attention on the need for official Kyiv to build effective communication with the future Republican administration. After all, the main thing is not only to preserve the support of the USA, but also, above all, to preserve the people and the country.
Nikita Trachuk