Trump Cabinet Elliot and Reyanna

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Ben Carson

1. Ben Carson has no experience on the area that he has been nominated for. He is a neurosurgeon, therefore his nomination is questionable in terms of his experience in the category. Neurosurgery is obviously far from managing housing and urban development in terms of the skillset it takes to handle these two occupations. Ben Carson has even stated himself that he is very skeptical of his own abilities to run the position that he was given, and that he is reluctant to take it. However, he is a very esteemed neurosurgeon and is considered by Trump to be a strong leader and an innovative thinker, so we will see how that turns out.
2. I think that given the congressional makeup Carson has a decent chance of making it to the head of the department, but not a definitive or even highly probable chance. Because the congress is a republican majority, Trump’s cabinet picks will be thought of as more than that of a democrat’s cabinet picks. However, most of these people are not stupid, and they have some sort of common sense. The fact that Carson’s history is so lacking could very well make the majority of congress reject Trump’s nomination. Still, even taking this into mind, no congressmen have actively spoken out against this nomination or have hinted that they will not approve, even though many have questioned his qualifications.
3. Ben Carson has absolutely no vision for his position, or at least not one that he has articulated. As said above, he is very reluctant to accept this nomination because he conceded that he has minimal to no political background whatsoever, except for his presidential campaign. Moreover, he is not well versed in this issue, and this will detriment his ability to form decisions based on prior knowledge and experience in the field. Thus, I do not know of any plans he has come up with, and I do not expect to see solid plans coming from him anytime soon.

Secretary of Education

Betsy DeVos

1. DeVos has no personal experience in the field of education. She has business experience, serving as chairwoman of the Windquest Group, and has been active in the Michigan Republican Party. DeVos is a strong proponent of school choice and school vouchers and served as chairwoman of the board of Alliance for School Choice. She heads the All Children Matter PAC which she and her husband founded in 2003 to promote school vouchers, tax credits to businesses that give private school scholarships, and candidates who support these causes. Her other activities on behalf of public-school reform have included membership on the boards of directors of the Advocates for School Choice, the American Education Reform Council, and the Education Freedom Fund. She has chaired the boards of Choices for Children, and Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). Though this is an impressive resume, it does not relieve the fact that she has never actually served as an educator or administrator in the education system.
2. DeVos has a fairly good chance of making it through the confirmation process, especially given that Republicans have a strong congressional majority. Her announcement was praised by conservative school choice advocates, and Jeb Bush called her an "outstanding pick." In addition, American education labor leader Randi Weingarten called her "the most ideological, anti-public education nominee" since the position became a cabinet position and The Washington Post noted that "Trump's embrace of DeVos shows a willingness to look outside his circle of loyalists".
3. DeVos’ policies will be detrimental to the public education system. She has been a strong advocate for steering taxpayer money for public education to private, charter schools. There is no doubt that under her leadership, funding for public schools will suffer.

Secretary of Commerce

Wilbur Ross

1. Ross is an American investor, and former banker, known for restructuring failed companies in industries such as steel, coal, telecommunications, foreign investment and textiles. He specializes in leveraged buyouts and distressed businesses. As of August 2014, Forbes magazine lists Ross as one of the world's billionaires with a net worth of $2.9 billion. Given his experience in business and trade, he is one of Trump’s more qualified picks. However, he has no direct government experience and his long ties to Wall Street leave many to wonder if he will have America’s best interests at heart.
2. It is very likely that Ross will be confirmed. He was formerly a Democrat, and just recently became a registered Republican in November 2016, giving him bipartisan appeal.
3. Ross has said that his first priority as Secretary of Commerce will be to renegotiate trade deals, such as NAFTA. It is hard to say if this will or will not be beneficial to U.S. business dealings- we’ll see in the next four years.

New York Times Article: “He is building an administration that looks a whole lot like himself,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington

She is definitely right. All three of the nominees we have analyzed are like Trump, either billionaires (DeVos and Ross) or multimillionaires (Carson). We are skeptical that people in such positions of privelege will have the interests of all Americans at heart.