Trump’s cabinet selections represent an unusual slice of American religious life
December 20, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees in his second term will feature a broader representation of faiths than his first term.
Religion News reports that despite having been long associated with conservative Protestants, Trump has tapped into deeper religious diversity in the nominees he’s selected for his incoming administration.
If Scott Bessent is confirmed as Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, he will be the first active French Huguenot to serve in the cabinet in centuries.
Catholics are strongly represented among Trump’s cabinet choices with Vice President-elect JD Vance, Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, Lori Chavez-DeRemer for labor secretary, Shawn Duffy nominated for secretary of transportation and Linda McMahon to oversee the Dept. of Education.
Howard Lutnick, who was nominated to run the Department of Commerce is Jewish but Religion News reports that Trump has chosen fewer Jews for his incoming administration than he did in 2016.
Protestants also feature prominently among the president-elect’s cabinet nominees with Trump’s Chief-of-Staff nominee Susie Wiles who Politico described as a “soft-spoken Episcopalian” and secretary of Veterans Affairs nominee Douglas Collins who is a Baptist.
Other prominent Protestants include Foursquare Family Church attendee Kristi Noem who is nominated to run the Dept. of Homeland Security, and secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth who attends Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship in Tennessee.
Tulsi Gabbard who has been tapped to be Trump’s director of national intelligence is a practicing Hindu and Dr. Mehmet Oz who could become the administrator of Medicaid and Medicare describes himself as a “secular Muslim.”
While the support of evangelical Christians was a key to Trump’s first term as president, it appears that his second term has provided more places at the table for a broader spectrum of faiths.
Photo: top, Credit: AP Photo/Matt Kelley, File