Since his election win over a month ago, President-elect Donald J. Trump has announced his nominations for the presidential cabinet. There has been much dispute surrounding a majority of these nominations due to a few of their backgrounds as well as many Democrats not approving of the Republican’s political ideals. These people have set their sights high, aiming to reconstruct different institutions in the American government, such as the FDA, Department of Justice, and transform the economy in new ways that will start benefiting the American people.
Pam Bondi:
Serving as the replacement for the controversial politician Matt Gaetz, Pam Bondi will now be serving as Trump’s attorney general; she is the first woman to fill this position. In 2010, Bondi made history as Florida’s first female attorney general and before that, she spent 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. This makes her much more qualified for the position than formerly nominated Gaetz, who had barely worked in law before going into politics.
As for her plans as the attorney general, Bondi wants to align the DOJ (Department of Justice) more closely with the President’s plans to more deeply pursue civil rights movements and ideas in institutions and universities. This aims to lessen the racism and discrimination that has been happening in universities and workplaces where they have been trying to implement “equity” and “diversity.” Workplaces will also no longer have to go along with DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies, which will inevitably lead to less diversity hires (minorities who are hired simply for the sake of bringing diversity into a workplace.) I believe that this will make applying for jobs and scholarships a more honest process that focuses more on merit than ethnicity. Despite the fact that she shares a majority of his beliefs, Bondi shows promise of not bringing about as much of the negative push back that would have followed Gaetz, where he had scandals and other negative controversy surrounding him, she has little to none. Because of this she will have the ability to make the necessary changes Trump is pushing for.
Scott Bessent:
As secretary of treasury, former Yale Economic History professor Scott Bessent’s nomination may have come as a surprise to many. The ex-Democrat worked alongside the very liberal George Soros for many years and will be the first openly gay secretary of treasury.
Bessent shows a great deal of potential both in his policies and plans. Having become a millionaire himself, he has wisely invested in stocks, currencies, interest rates (banks, companies with large cash balances, healthcare stocks), and more. In short, he is very well versed in economics and understands what will need to happen in America’s future for Americans to have lower taxes, less inflation, and less debt. It is clear that he will positively reshape the American economic system in a way that will push forward our country and benefit us.
Throughout his career, Bessent has shown a deep knowledge and understanding of economics time and time again. He wisely invested his money in people such as Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and former president Barack Obama, meaning he made the correct assumption that they would become well-known or popular, thus making him more money. He specializes in macro-investing and analyzing geopolitical situations, along with using economic data to inform market decisions.
Bessent believes that now is the time for the U.S. economy to undergo serious changes, wanting to make good on Trump’s goals of cutting taxes through enacting tariffs, lowering spending, and digging America out of debt. All this leads to his biggest goal: economic growth. The specific policy he is pushing in the hopes of achieving that goal is the 3-3-3 policy. This describes cutting the budget deficit to 3% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by spurring GDP growth by 3% deregulating and producing 3 million more barrels of oil every single day. This policy will greatly decrease inflation, especially in regards to gas and energy prices.
Like Trump, Bessent sees tariffs as a negotiating tool and something that could be used to lower taxes. As a middle class teenager in this modern world, I absolutely see the benefit in these plans. I, like many others, am sick of having to pay upwards of fifty dollars for gas as well as seeing my parents paying double the price for half the groceries every week. Should these plans succeed, I believe that these issues could be greatly helped.
Martin Makary:
As the new head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), surgeon Martin Makary aims to renew America’s trust in their food and medicine. Makary, former professor at John Hopkins University, often expressed suspicion about the creation of the COVID-19 vaccine and its questionably quick invention, having only taken over a year to create and test where most vaccines often spend five to ten years in testing before being deemed safe for the public.
Being a working surgeon, he was also critical of some of the health measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the FDA falls into the department of Health and Human Services, Makary will be working closely with the controversial Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Under Makary and Kennedy Jr., the FDA will now be attempting to remove chemicals from food, and wishes to better regulate the drugs and biologics available to children. He is a large critic of the way the FDA has been run in the past; especially in regards to the slow speed in which new medicines are released and the large amount of chemicals that have been allowed into our food. Being as it has been proven that the FDA allows over 10,000 chemicals into our food that they have not reviewed for safety in years, I find it to be incredibly important that I am able to trust my food, as opposed to feeling the need to inspect the nutrition label, or do research to make sure it’s safe.
Makary wants to focus on making sure new FDA treatments are able to get into the system faster. Although he does often butt heads with Kennedy Jr., Makary has publicly aligned himself with him, strongly supporting his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which fights chronic diseases. Under the direction of both Makary and Kennedy Jr., it is safe to say that we will be seeing some serious, positive changes in the FDA in the near future.
