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Home / World

Country for old men: The men in their 60s and 70s who will form Donald Trump's cabinet

news.com.au
11 Nov, 2016 01:25 AM8 mins to read

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Source: CNN. President-elect Trump has met President Obama at the White House.

It's a United States cabinet for old men with four of Donald Trump's predicted new cabinet, like the President-elect, aged in their seventies, one aged 67 and a handful of deeply conservative supporters aged in their fifties.

If early forecasts for Trump's new cabinet line-up are right, as reported by Washington sites Politico and thehill.com, some of the most important people in the world will be.

Trump, 70, is expected to reward the people who stood by him during what has been described as an ugly campaign.

Here are the likely winners - and some of the losers in the emerging Trump presidency.

Wilbur Ross, 78
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is a candidate for Trump's Commerce Secretary.

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Worth around $2.9b, Ross is skilled in restructuring failed businesses.

He has made his money rescuing steel, coal and telecommunications companies and is seen as valuable in Trump's plan to restore America's manufacturing industry.

Forrest Lucas, 74
Former trucker turned oil millionaire, Forrest Lucas is a top contender for the role of Interior Secretary.

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He is co-founder with his wife Charlotte of Lucas Oil, a major NASCAR and motor racing event sponsor and of Protect the Harvest, an organisation which attacks and opposes the animals rights movement,

Charlotte Lucas, who serves as executive vice president of their oil company, posted on Facebook in 2014 that she was "sick and tired of minorities running our country!".

"As far as I'm concerned, I don't think that atheists (minority), Muslims (minority) nor any other minority group has the right to tell the majority of the people in the United States what they can and cannot do here," she wrote.

"Is everyone so scared that they can't fight back for what is right or wrong with his country?"

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Her post was later deleted and Forrest Lucas published a newspaper ad apologising for his wife's "hurtful ... and disappointing" remarks.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is set to be influential in Donald Trump's new cabinet. Photo / AP
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is set to be influential in Donald Trump's new cabinet. Photo / AP

Newt Gingrich, 73
Career politician and the former House Speaker, Newton Leroy Gingrich is a leading Trump supporter and a candidate for the job of Secretary of State.

An old Washington war horse who has served during the Reagan and Clinton administrations, Gingrich is a member of conservative think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute and Hoover Institution and a regular panel commentator on Fox News.

He was among Trump's final three choices to be his running mate as vice president.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, arrives with Judith Giuliani, as President-elect Donald Trump gives his acceptance speech during his election night rally. Photo / AP
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, arrives with Judith Giuliani, as President-elect Donald Trump gives his acceptance speech during his election night rally. Photo / AP

Rudy Giuliani, 72
Former New York City Mayor, Giuliani was a major defender of Trump's campaign and is the leading candidate for Attorney-General.

As New York's mayor, Giuliani introduced the "zero tolerance" policy which reduced the city's drug crime and led to the transformation of Times Square from a crack ghetto to tourist hub.

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As a lawyer, Giuliani indicted members of New York's mafia and is credited with wiping out the city's "five families" grip on racketeering.

After 9/11, the by then former mayor was credited with uniting citizens and bolstering their confidence shattered by the terrorist attacks.

US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International security, John Bolton, right, with Phil Goff in 2003. Bolton could be Secretary of State in Trump's government. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey
US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International security, John Bolton, right, with Phil Goff in 2003. Bolton could be Secretary of State in Trump's government. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

John Bolton, 68
The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, lawyer John Bolton is a possibility for Secretary of State.

Worryingly, Bolton's blunt style has earned him enemies, notably in Iran's Foreign Ministry.

It is Trump's election promise to pull out of the Obama administration's agreement with Iran not to develop nuclear weapons.

Bolton has reportedly been vocal about Cuba's biological weapons capacity, and played a major role in the US involvement in the Iraq-Kuwait war.

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Sid Miller, 61
Miller is a controversial Texan politician who has suggested the US bomb the Middle East and called Hillary Clinton a "c***" on Twitter.

The current Agriculture Commissioner in his state, he is a candidate for Agriculture Secretary.

Miller posted a cartoon on his Facebook page that suggested the United States should bomb the Middle East. The text read: "Japan has been at peace with the US since August 9, 1945. It's time we made peace with the Muslim world." The background was of a nuclear explosion. Miller received harsh criticism for the post and eventually removed it, but he termed the cartoon "thought provoking" and vowed not to apologise for his action.

In November this year, Miller's Twitter account tweeted a North Carolina poll referring to Hillary Clinton as a "c***" within the tweet.

Texan Governor Greg Abbott condemned the tweet, stating "No true Texas gentleman would ever talk this way".

Miller's staff initially claimed the Tweet had been hacked, but eventually admitting it was a mistake and apologised.

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Mike Flynn, 58
Retired US Army Lieutenant General Flynn is a former director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency who may be a candidate for Defense Secretary.

However because he retired in 2012 and Congress requires a seven year gap between military and civilian service in the Pentagon, he would need special permission from Congress.

A registered Democrat, he was nevertheless Trump's top national security adviser and is tipped to be appointed to a senior role if he misses out on Defense Secretary.

He was deployed in the invasion of Granada and has served in Afghanistan.

Chris Christie - a contender for Attorney General. Photo / AP
Chris Christie - a contender for Attorney General. Photo / AP

Chris Christie, 54
New Jersey Governor Christie is another close Trump supporter who along with Giuliani is a contender for Attorney General.

After Trump's win, Christie 's approval rating dropped to an all time low.

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As governor, he made national headlines when his staff controversially created traffic jams by closing toll lanes.

His political standing was badly damaged by the "Bridgegate" scandal and Bruce Springsteen famously mocked him in a song, to the tune of Born To Run, he played on the Jimmy Fallon show.

Steven Mnuchin, 53
A candidate for Treasury Secretary is a former Goldman Sachs banker, film producer and political fundraiser.

Mnuchin amassed a $40m fortune during 17 years at Goldman Sachs where his father worked.

He is a founder of RatPac-Dune Entertainment which has produced Avatar and the X-Men films, and has worked with Australian tycoon James Packer producing American Sniper and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Sarah Pailn is a runner for the role of Interior Secretary. Photo / AP
Sarah Pailn is a runner for the role of Interior Secretary. Photo / AP

Sarah Palin, 52
The former Governor of Alaska and the 2009 Republican nominee for vice president on the John McCain ticket, Palin is a controversial and outspoken conservative.

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She is a runner for the role of Interior Secretary.

Palin supports creationism as opposed to evolution being taught in schools and is a life member of the National Rifle Association.

She is a climate change sceptic, and supports offshore drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Palin has strong views on military intervention in the Middle East.

Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager for Donald Trump. Photo / AP
Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager for Donald Trump. Photo / AP

Kellyanne Conway, 49
While not a contender for Trump's cabinet, Conway's positive role as his campaign manager speaks for a future in the new president's coterie of advisers.

Conway is credited with keeping Trump on track, especially when he had sunk in the polls over sex scandals and with keeping him away from Twitter in the campaign's last days.

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Following his victory, Ms Conway told CNBC-TV that Trump was "a game player who won" and "a problem solver".

He's a builder," Conway said. "When you are a businessman, you are accountable. You can't run your business with $19 trillion worth of debt like the federal government does somehow."

Conway said Trump will be a "hurry to get things done," and will have a Republican-controlled House and Senate to work with.

"It's quite a mandate," she said.

Paul Ryan, 46
Speaker Paul Ryan refused to share a stage with Donald Trump following the release of the tape on which Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women's genitalia.

Ryan issued a fierce disavowal of Trump's words and actions and cancelled all joint appearances, and his future would seem to be dim.

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However, there may be a rapprochement in the wings.

Trying to regain ground following Trump's victory, Ryan has come out saying "This is the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime".

Thehill.com is reporting that signs are emerging that Ryan will stay on for his full two-year term as Speaker, and that he had talked with Trump in the victory aftermath.

LOSERS

John McCain, 80
Former Republican candidate for the presidency in the year Obama won, political and war veteran McCain refused to say whether he had voted for Trump on election day.

It was revenge for McCain, of whom Trump famously said last year, "he's not a war hero.

He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured".

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McCain is projected to have won his sixth senate term in the election, but is not expected to serve in Trump's inner circle.

Mitch McConnell, 74
Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and has been the Majority Leader of the Senate since 2015.

McConnell has continually dodge d questions about Trump's extreme immigration policies, in particular the proposed US-Mexico border wall.

He has cited Obamacare as a target for repeal, but blotted his copybook when he said mid-campaign that Trump doesn't know a lot about the issues" in the election.

"I object to a whole series of things that he's said, vehemently object to them," McConnell said in June.

"I think all of that needs to stop. Both the shots at people he defeated in the primary and these attacks on various ethnic groups in the country."

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