Trump Rode To Victory With A Diverse Coalition. His Cabinet Is Less So.

Donald Trump's victory promised an electoral realignment as he made heavy gains among Latinos and peeled off some Black men. His Cabinet, however, ultimately reflects the staying power of white men in Washington.

After a flurry of selections last week, the president-elect winds up with just three people of color in secretary roles, matching his first Cabinet. His selection of former Texas state lawmaker andmotivational speaker Scott Turner, who is Black, for Housing and Urban Development and Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who is Hispanic, for Labor did not break form. Trump also had Black and Latino secretaries in those roles during his first term.

"Those agencies are not viewed as quite as historic. It’s where you typically will put minorities," said Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general who served in George W. Bush’s second term.

Trump has made history by choosing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is likely to be confirmed as the first-ever Hispanic secretary of State. If confirmed, Rubio would replace Gonzales as the highest-ranking Latino in the nation’s history, as State is three slots higher than attorney general in order of presidential succession.

Gonzales said he was pleased to see Trump bring more Hispanics into the "big four" roles — State, Treasury, Justice and Defense.

“I'm of the mind that if you can find those people who can help the president achieve what he campaigned on from different … walks of life, different backgrounds,” Gonzales added, “I think that's a good thing.”

Trump’s lack of emphasis on improving diversity over his first Cabinet is perhaps not surprising from someone who trashed his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, as a "DEI hire" — even as he made overt pitches to Black and Hispanic constituencies during the campaign.

One former Trump transition official pointed out that Susie Wiles, his choice for chief of staff, is historic because the role has never before been held by a woman. And Scott Bessent, Trump’s selection to head Treasury, would make him the highest-ranking openly gay Cabinet official in history.

“I think that’s where the country is at: we want a Cabinet that is diverse based on many different experiences and backgrounds, be it sexual or racial, economic, or cultural," said Alex Stroman, a former South Carolina GOP state party chair. "But the American people don’t want diversity for the sake of diversity.”

Trump has also improved on his numbers of women in top roles. He chose five women for his Cabinet: in addition to Chavez-DeRemer, he named Brooke Rollins at Agriculture; Linda McMahon at Education, Kristi Noem for Homeland Security and Pam Bondi at Justice. Trump's first Cabinet had just two women.

But even these choices come with a wrinkle. Bondi was Trump's second choice for attorney general, after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration. McMahon was up for Commerce but wound up with the Education job, which Trump had a woman in last time. And Noem is a historic pick for a department that has never been led by a woman, which oversees much of immigration enforcement — but that policy is widely considered to be run out of the White House by Trump's close allies Stephen Miller and Tom Homan.

Outgoing President Joe Biden emphasized diversity in his top jobs — with people of color composing more than half of his Cabinet. But that historically diverse Cabinet did not immediately translate into electoral victory for Democrats — many voters of color shifted to the political right,even in major cities.

“What the Democrats were talking about and what mainstream media was talking about was pronouns, gender, transgender identity and an ethnic identity,” said Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas). “They were worried about pronouns, while Hispanics were concerned about prosperity.”

Instead, his allies say, Trump's emphasis is on finding people to help him implement his vision. That's the stated vision of the Trump-aligned "Department of Government Efficiency" co-led by Vivek Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, and billionaire Elon Musk. They penned an op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal previewing how they are “assisting the Trump transition team to identify and hire a lean team of small-government crusaders” to gut $500 billion in funding authorized by Congress.

Trump pulled other people of color into important roles in his administration, including Tulsi Gabbard, the former Congress member-turned-MAGA-star, as his choice for Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard, a former Democrat, was the first American Samoan and Hindu elected to Congress. Trump also named Alex Wong, who is Asian American, as his deputy national security adviser.

Democrats criticized the president-elect for his lack of diversity as recently as last week. Civil rights activist Al Sharpton saidTrump put forth “troubling nominees,” while adding: “it appears that the self-proclaimed ‘best president for Black America since Abraham Lincoln’ has lost interest in us.”

Some close to the president-elect say he is considering candidates of color for undersecretary positions, which they argue do more in carrying out the president’s agenda than the Cabinet heads.

Others suggested there are significant hurdles outside of Trump’s control, in particular in recruiting Black Republicans. “There’s no bench,” said one person granted anonymity to speak to POLITICO about the pool of applicants Trump could nominate to a post.

For longtime Republican strategist Deanna Bass, who worked with Ben Carson at HUD during Trump’s first administration, her message to Democrats complaining about the make up of the administration is to get over it. “Not everything is about race,” she said, saying that this group was chosen for its dedication to Trump's mission.“This group of Cabinet picks have the guts to actually do it.”

More important, Republicans say, Trump is veering away from establishment figures or subject-matter experts who presidents from both parties have long relied on to fill their top jobs. And, never wanting to pass up an opportunity to stick it to liberals, he is bringing in some ideological diversity, his allies say. Both Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are former Democrats.

“They want former Democrats to say: ‘You guys suck so bad, we took some of your team,’" said Republican strategist Rina Shah.