On Sunday, Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to the Republicans jockeying for the top Senate leadership post: “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, marking a return of his era of governance-by-tweet. “We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!”
It was, in effect, a demand that his nominees for Cabinet positions be allowed to be approved outside the regular confirmation process—and, perhaps, an acknowledgment that his appointees will be too extreme to withstand scrutiny even in a Senate set to dominate 53-47.
Indeed, Trump—who named 2024 campaign co-chair Susie Wiles his chief of staff—has already begun putting the pieces in place to move on his radical agenda. On Sunday, he said he offered Elise Stefanik—the number three House Republican and a staunch loyalist—a job as his ambassador to the United Nations. “Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump told the New York Post of his pick, who has been an ardent supporter of Israel in its war on Gaza. The same day, he announced former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan as his “border czar”: He’ll be in charge of “controlling” the United States’ borders, as well as “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin,” Trump posted. Homan—an immigration hardliner—has been a vocal proponent of Trump’s “mass deportation” proposals. Speaking to CBS News last month, he insisted that the crackdown will be “targeted arrests,” not a “mass sweep of neighborhoods” or “building concentration camps.” But at the Republican National Convention over the summer, Homan sounded a more ominous note: “If you’re in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder,” he said at an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, which drafted Trump’s Project 2025 governing blueprint.
Others expected to take on roles in Trump’s second government include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the conspiracy theorist he’ll allow to “go wild on health,” and billionaire Elon Musk, whose investment in Trump’s campaign could pay off in a position in charge of “government efficiency.” Most posts—including the attorney general, who would be tasked with defending Trump’s policies in court and who would likely, as Trump as promised, seek “retribution” against his political enemies, should he decide to make good on it—have yet to be filled. But it’s clear Trump, in hiring, will seek loyalty to him above all else, without the so-called “adults in the room” who tried to check his worst impulses during his first term.
It’s the same loyalty test he’s putting to those running for Mitch McConnell’s job leading Senate Republicans: John Cornyn, John Thune, and Rick Scott. Neither Trump nor Joe Biden have been able to make recess appointments during their presidencies because of how the Senate and House had arranged their schedules. Still, all three contenders for majority leader quickly indicated their support for Trump’s demand. And, speaking of governance-by-tweet, Scott’s response on X, “I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible,” prompted Musk to post, “Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!”
