Rex Tillerson

SECRETARY of State

THREATS : Climate injustice / Pro-Russian bias / Corporate power over people power

President and Chief Executive of Exxon Mobil. Ties with Russian Vladimir V. Putin.

James Mattis

SECRETARY OF Defense

THREATS : Military control of Defense ministry / ISLAMOPHOBIA

Mattis, known to some by the nickname of "Mad Dog," has shown a callous disregard for human life, particularly civilians, as evidenced by his behavior leading marines in Iraq, comments he made about enjoying fighting in Afghanistan because "it's fun to shoot some people. You know, it's a hell of a hoot," and myriad other problems.

Jeff Sessions 

Attorney General

threats : Racism / Segregation / Anti-immigrant violence / Unchecked police brutality

Sessions will oversee elections, voting rights and civil right. He has publicly suggested that civil rights advocacy groups were "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Sessions has been a consistent defender of Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Wilbur Ross

SECRETARY OF Commerce

THREATS : Tax cuts for big business / Bankruptcy & corruption

Ross will oversee Commerce which is charged with protecting consumers from rapacious actions of investors. His own estimated $2.9 billion fortune was made by being a corporate fixer: buying companies, imposing significant layoffs and budget cuts, and ensuring a windfall profit for shareholders. When Ross purchased Sago Mine in West Virginia, an explosion there killed 12 miners.

Andrew Puzder (withdrew)

SECRETARY OF Labor

THREATS : Cuts to minimum wage, overtime / Corporate food lobby

Trump has selected the chief executive of CKE Restaurants – and a donor to his campaign, as Secretary of Labor. He is a critic of minimum wage increases, workers protection, and supports repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Tom Price 

SECRETARY OF Health and Human services

threats : Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security / Women’s rights

Price is intent on dramatically cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He has ignored ways to bring new revenue into the Social Security system. Instead, he wants to set up means-testing, private accounts and raising the age of retirement. As the current head of the House Budget Committee, he has already acted to implement his plan. Price has sponsored legislation that shields doctors from malpractice lawsuits. He is a strong opponent of Planned Parenthood and abortion, and once claimed he did not know of a single woman who could not afford birth control.

Ben Carson

SECRETARY OF Housing and urban development

THREATS : Cuts to public housing / Inadequate preparation 

Trump has selected the former neurosurgeon and presidential candidate to be his nominee to lead HUD. Carson had previously said he did not want to work in government.

Elaine Chao

SECRETARY OF Transportation

THREATS : Undermining unions / Exploitative labor laws / Profit over environment

Trump has selected Chao, the Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush. Chao is married to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and has been a fixture of the Republican establishment in Washington. 

Rick Perry

SECRETARY OF Energy

THREATS : Demolishment of Dept of Energy / Corruption in favor of oil/gas companies

Trump has selected the former Texas governor, who in 2011 proposed scrapping the Energy Department while he was seeking the Republican nomination for president.

Betsy DeVos 

SECRETARY OF Education

THREATS : Destruction of public education

Devos will oversee public education. She is a majory funder of the movement to elevate private, for-profit schools over public schools.

John Kelly 

first SECRETARY OF Homeland Security, now White House chief of staff

THREATS : Illegal detention / Prejudice against women in combat

Trump has named the retired four-star Marine general, whose son was killed in combat in Afghanistan. 

Ryan Zinke

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

THREATS : Sale and exploitation of public land

A congressman from Montana, Zinke is “all over the map” on environmental and public land issues integral to his appointed position, the L.A. Times reports. He’s once voted for a bill that turned over federal land to states, then resigned as a delegate to the RNC because the platform included a similar land transfer. He’s broken party lines to vote for many conservation efforts, and once signed a letter warning of the threat of global warming. Now, he says, he views climate science to be “unsettled.”

Scott Pruitt

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

THREATS : Destruction of the EPA / Climate change denialism / Abandonment of Paris Climate Accords

The Oklahoma attorney general has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry, and formed a secret alliance between the industry and other AGs to fight Obama’s climate proposals. He is seen as a hero among conservatives who believe the EPA oversteps its federal authority. A billionaire oil magnate headed his 2013 re-election. He is a climate change skeptic, has repeatedly sued to prevent EPA regulations, and has vowed to “cancel” the Paris accord, a United Nations agreement to curb CO2 emissions starting in 2020.

Mike Pompeo 

Director of the Central Intelligence Administration

THREATS : Illegal surveillance and detention / War with Iran / Torture / Ties to Koch Industries

Trump has selected Pompeo, representative of Kansas and a former Army officer, as his nominee. Pompeo is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and was a sharp critic of Hillary Clinton during the congressional investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Michael Flynn (resigned)

National Security Advisor

THREATS : Paranoia and conspiracy / Islamophobia / Pro-Russian bias

Flynn will oversee National Security. He as made incendiary and Islamaphobic comments. He is paranoid and a follower of "fake news." During the presidential campaign, Flynn tweeted that the New York police and prosecutors "had found evidence linking Mrs. Clinton and much of her senior staff to pedophilia, money laundering, perjury and other felonies."

Nikki Haley 

Ambassador to the United Nations

Trump has selected Haley, the Governor of South Carolina, as his nominee. The daughter of immigrants from India, she was a prominent and frequent critic of Trump early in his run. 

Linda McMahon

Administrator of the Small Business Administration

Trump has selected the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment to lead the agency. McMahon, a failed Senate candidate from Connecticut, was with her husband, Vince, one of Trump's biggest donors.