A Republican strategist expressed concern about some of the names floated as candidates for top jobs in the next Donald Trump administration.
Elon Musk has suggested himself to oversee a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an allusion to the circa 2013 meme, to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, and Trump has mused about putting vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of public health, and GOP strategist Doug Heye told CNN he was hopeful that the president elect would make better choices.
"I don't expect that Elon Musk go into the administration," said Heye, a former communications official for the Republican National Committee. "Quite often in politics, after there's an election ... quite often we say, the person who doesn't go in, with we look at them and say, that's a smart move. They stay on the outside, where they might have more influence. If they're boxed in, in some role, whether it's the office of personnel management or secretary of this or that, being on the outside gives you more influence, and with Elon Musk, certainly, that's a part of it, and in part because, when you go inside, you limit your income, and that's a very real thing that Elon Musk will have to deal with or others like him."
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"I would tell you, as someone who's always been very skeptical of Donald Trump, I learned a lot on Tuesday, as I think a lot of voters did," Heye added. "I'm tempering my skepticism with also hope, and I'm trying to be optimistic, as much as I can, and so I hear various names being talked about, some of which I think are terrible. Don't hire that person. Other times I hear – I got a call last night. What about Mike Conway, the former intel chair, the former [agriculture committee] chair, being the secretary of agriculture? These are the kind of professionals that we need in government, whether it's a Republican administration or a Democratic administration. These are the kind of professionals who are going to do that good work, and that's where I'm focusing my attention on, who can Donald Trump [nominate] that's going to be a force of good? Mike Conway is a great example, and we think of agriculture as being not one of the really important cabinet posts, unless you eat food, right?"
Kennedy, on the other hand, would not provide that same beneficial leadership, Heye said.
"Every position that this administration is going to bring people on for is very critical for what the American people are facing in their, you know, in their lives," Heye said. "So that's where i think we need focus our efforts on who is going to come in here. Are they going to be a force of good or bad? Robert F. Kennedy Jr., bad – don't go in this administration. Other people, good."
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