Donald Trump is already assembling a shortlist of loyalists for the most powerful jobs in government if he's re-elected to a second term.
The former president is eying Stephen Miller, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Kash Patel and possibly even Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner to build a Cabinet and White House staff committed to stretching the boundaries of both the law and government, sources who speak often with Trump told Axios.
"Trump hasn't settled on specific roles for specific figures, and hates it when his staff and friends speculate otherwise," the website reported. "It's not in his DNA to do detailed personnel planning, and a lot depends on the last few people he's talked to. But in rolling conversations with friends and advisers, he's been clear about the type of men — and they're almost all older, white men — he'd want to serve at his pleasure if he were to win a second term."
The ex-president openly discusses his potential running mate with friends, bandying about Vance, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kari Lake and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, while Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have made clear they'd love the job, but Melania Trump has been pushing for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and would even hit the campaign trail if he was the pick.
Carlson, for his part, recommends Miller, the former senior White House adviser who now heads the America First legal nonprofit, for attorney general, while Donald Trump Jr. has pushed for former Senate Judiciary staffer Mike Davis – who has promised a "three-week reign of terror" if chosen – as interim attorney general.
Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general who Trump pushed for the top slot as he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss, is under consideration for another top DOJ position despite his indictment in Georgia in the election subversion case.
Attorney general is where Trump is "most likely to make a shocking pick," said a source close to the Trump campaign, who said that would send a message: "You want to weaponize DOJ, motherf*cker?'"
Bannon, the former White House chief strategist whom Trump pardoned in a fraud case, has been floated as a possible chief of staff, while Patel – who came to be seen as a Trump mercenary against the intelligence community – would be considered as CIA director or national security adviser.
Kushner has continued speaking to world leaders with Trump's authority since leaving the White House, so he would be considered for secretary of state, but Richard Grenell, his former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, is also on the short list to lead the State Department despite infuriating European diplomats during his time in Berlin.
While many of these loyalists would face difficulty winning confirmation, Trump started installing "acting" Cabinet secretaries, who don't have full authority without Senate approval, in the final days of his first presidency, and he'll likely use that practice to get around constitutional rules on advice and consent.
"I sort of like 'acting,'" Trump said in 2019. "It gives me more flexibility."