Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club has become a honey pot for campaign hotshots hoping for big jobs in the new administration.
According to CNN, those on patio tables closest to Trump’s usual throne behind a velvet rope on Wednesday night included some acolytes hoping for spots in the president-elect’s White House Cabinet.
Seen at the Palm Beach, Florida club on the day after Trump’s election triumph were Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Barrack, and Trump’s transition co-chairs, Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, said the report by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.
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With the 2024 presidential election in the bag, Trump reportedly spent some of Wednesday going through names recommended by Lutnick. But the maneuvering among the MAGA elite suggested all the top jobs were not buttoned down.
Collins wrote that senior GOP figures were working the phones to make alliances with others hoping to snag top positions in Trump 2.0, while others booked flights to Florida in the hope of meeting their would-be boss face-to-face.
With campaign manager Susie Wiles already named as chief-of-staff, the high-stakes game of musical chairs will also have to take into account the opinions of Trump’s “ice maiden.”
But Trump’s decisions will be the ones that count.
“As he shores up his staff, Trump is eager to reward those who stood by him the last two years, and he’s made clear in recent private conversations that he’ll seek to accommodate those who have done so – even if their viewpoints don’t necessarily align with his,” wrote Collins.
Among those expecting major roles will be RFK Jr., who has been promised a job relating to public health despite, or because of, his anti-vaccine views.
Elon Musk has poured his heart and money into the campaign and will look to be rewarded fittingly, perhaps with a much-touted role heading up a new “Department of Government Efficiency” or “DOGE” for short.
Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director who has remained loyal to Trump could get the defense job, while former ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is being tipped for secretary of state, and Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign press secretary, is odds on to become White House press secretary.
The man tasked with heading up Trump’s “mass deportation” of illegal immigrants could be former acting director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan.
For a better idea of who gets what in the days ahead, just check out the tables at Mar-a-Lago.
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