Minnesota Republicans remain confident and optimistic about President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks despite controversies. 

Trump has been finalizing his 15-member presidential cabinet for the last three weeks since he won the general election. The cabinet members oversee federal departments and are meant to advise the president relating to their departments. 

Trump is expected to face some pushback for some of his cabinet nominations due to sexual assault allegations and inexperience concerns.

Matt Gaetz, Trump’s original pick for attorney general, withdrew following growing scrutiny about his alleged sexual relations with a minor, as reported by ABC News. Instead, Trump nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the position.

Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has been under recent fire for sexual assault allegations during an encounter in 2017. According to the witness’ account, Hegseth was under the influence during the encounter, as reported by USA Today. 

Anti-establishment Republicans vs. old-guard Republicans

President of the Minneapolis Republican Party Shawn Holster said Trump’s pick of Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, which oversees U.S. agencies like the CIA and National Security Agency (NSA), is one of the most promising of the president-elect’s picks. Holster added he is excited about Trump’s pick of Hegseth because of his military background and anti-war stance. 

“It’s her experiences as a veteran and her experience in Washington as well as her anti-war stance that she recognizes that war is an ugly thing and you don’t enter into it lightly,” Holster said. 

Gabbard, who is the former U.S. Representative for Hawaii, has a background serving in the U.S. Army Reserve and was in the Hawaii National Guard in 2003 during the Iraq war. Hegseth is a former Army National Guard officer and has been a political commentator on Fox News since 2014. 

State chairman for the College Republicans of Minnesota and President of the St. Olaf chapter Chris Flemming said the College Republicans are especially excited for Trump’s picks of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services and Tom Homan for Broader Czar as well as Gabbard and Hegseth. 

Flemming said Trump’s pursuit of more “anti-establishment” cabinet picks is exactly what supporters like him want.

“A lot of us were excited at the possibility of the second Trump term being more aggressively anti-establishment,” Flemming said. “I think one of the big mistakes of his first presidency was bringing in a lot of the same old people that were in all the other Republican administrations, and that’s not what the people voted for. They voted for a serious change.”

Kennedy ran for the 2024 presidential election as an independent and has a background as an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate. Homan is a former police officer who served under Obama’s administration in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Trump’s first administration as the ICE director. 

Holster added that Trump’s picks of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for directors of the Department of Government Efficiency are also encouraging because of how innovative they are. Ramaswamy originally ran against Trump in the 2024 presidential election for the Republican Party. 

Flemming said he is a bit skeptical about Trump’s pick of U.S. Senator of Florida Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Florida Rep. Mike Waltz for national security advisor. Flemming added that Rubio and Waltz are more in line with traditional Republicans rather than Trump. 

“Sort of any of these Republican old-guard figures that I don’t think are in line with the movement, but are being sort of forced onto Trump,” Flemming said. 

Recess appointments, cabinet picks and Trump loyalty

While some of Trump’s picks are expected to face significant pushback, Trump said on Truth Social that anyone seeking Republican leadership positions “must agree to Recess Appointments.” Recess appointments could enable a president to temporarily install nominees without a Senate confirmation process. 

“We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. 

Flemming said he would rather see Republicans in the U.S. Senate vote for the positions to get a better idea of who is in support of Trump and who is not. 

“I want them to stand there in front of all the voters that the Republican Party make their decision so we know who’s with us and who’s against us,” Flemming said. 

Overall, Flemming said he is confident in Trump’s current cabinet picks because of their loyalty to the president-elect. 

Trump is a new breed of Republican and has reshaped the party in positive ways, Flemming said, but he is concerned about more traditional Republicans disrupting “the true agenda.” 

“So far, it’s looking much better than it did in 2016,” Flemming said. “I don’t think we’ll have people that are hanging around for a little bit, and then leave and write a book and just trash Trump or constantly whistle-blow or run to get a new job at CNN or something like that. I think for the most part, they’ll be very loyal.”

Correction: A pervious version of this article said Chris Flemming was a political director. He is the state chairman for the College Republicans and president of the St Olaf chapter.