One of the most important decisions President-Elect Donald J. Trump will make in the coming days is who will serve as his Secretary of State. The role of the country’s top diplomat—and critical foreign policy advisor—was previously held by Rex Tillerson from 2017-2018 and Mike Pompeo from 2018-2021, respectively. The candidate who will fill the role this time will likely reflect Trump’s overall strategy for U.S. foreign policy and just how aggressive or non-interventionist the country will be abroad.
Among the leading candidates are President Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell. Another is former Trump White House national security advisor Robert O’Brien. Both men are popular among Trump and MAGA loyalists and are viewed as the most in tune with Trump’s foreign policy views. Additionally, there are two Senate contenders, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), as well as long-shots Vivek Ramaswamy and Tulsi Gabbard.
Trump has already ruled out giving roles to Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo, so here’s a quick overview of the remaining potential nominees.
Secretary of State?
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) November 10, 2024
THE TRUMP LOYALISTS: GRENELL AND O’BRIEN.
Richard Grenell and Robert O’Brien are widely considered two of the leading candidates for Secretary of State. Both men played key roles in the first Trump administration and were close advisors and confidants to Trump regarding foreign policy decisions.
Grenell presents possibly the most high-profile and obvious choice for Secretary of State. The former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Grenell, is a fan favorite among the MAGA movement and among Republicans at large. Over the years, he has been a fixture within the Republican foreign policy community and is respected among his peers.
In addition to serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Grenell also served Trump as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. This role made Grenell the first openly gay American to serve in a cabinet-level position.
With a long history in foreign policy and work in Republican politics, Grenell is a strong choice for Secretary of State. Trump will need a staunch ally at the Department as many of its rank-and-file career government employees are ardent enemies of the America First agenda and sought to undermine it during his first presidential administration.
Like Grenell, Robert O’Brien is another loyal Trump appointee from his first presidential administration. O’Brien served as Trump’s national security advisor from 2019 until 2021. Previously, he served as Trump’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, where he was responsible for the release of several high-priority Americans who had been imprisoned by hostile and friendly regimes abroad.
Additionally, O’Brien is a close ally of Peter Navarro on China and understands the threat posed by the nation to U.S. foreign policy and economic interests.
THE SENATORS: RUBIO & HAGERTY.
Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) name has been floated for the role of Secretary of State and, for all intents and purposes, appears to be campaigning for the role with recent appearances on Fox News. The Florida Republican has long been a fixture on the Senate Intelligence Committee and currently serves as its Ranking Member.
One of the biggest concerns regarding Rubio is that he has long been a fixture in neo-conservative policy circles, and many fear that his more recent turn towards America First policy positions is more out of political survival than ideological evolution. Infamously, Rubio was a ringleader in the “Gang of Eight,” which sought to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, and continues to be one of the more hawkish Senators regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Rubio is championed by Trump mega-donor Miriam Adelson, known for her hawkish, pro-Israel views.
Another member of the upper chamber under consideration is Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN). Prior to joining the Senate, Hagerty served as Trump’s U.S. Ambassador to Japan—helping forge the close friendship between Trump and the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
After the first Trump administration, Hagerty ran for the U.S. Senate in 2020, successfully winning the seat. During the campaign, his links with NeverTrumpers, professional grifters, and even Black Lives Matter, were exposed. Hagerty was an admirer of the late Senator John McCain.
THE OUTSIDERS: RAMASWAMY & GABBARD.
Noted as the dark horse for the role, Ramaswamy’s involvement in foreign affairs may raise some eyebrows given his lack of practical experience in the area. But if Trump is looking for a diplomatic messenger, Ramaswamy proved his capabilities on the campaign trail over the past year. The American Conservative magazine notes:
Those around Ramaswamy know him as an arch-realist with an admiration for George Kennan, the late Cold War thinker and former State Department policy planning director. Kennan was a critic of hawkish Democrats like Harry Truman; Trump’s ideological opposite, George W. Bush, once compared himself to Truman.
In 2023, Ramaswamy proposed freezing the battlelines in Ukraine and conditioning American support for a deal to end the war on Vladimir Putin breaking ranks with China. Here too Ramaswamy is simpatico with Trump. “Look at what these stupid people have done, they’ve allowed Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and others to get together in a group, this is impossible to think,” Trump opined at a rally in Arizona in October.
Gabbard, who served on the Foreign Affairs committee in Congress between 2013-19, has more experience than Ramaswamy, but hasn’t enjoyed as high a profile over the past year. She is highly respected amongst the MAGA base, having made the jump from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party during this election cycle. Her inclusion as an outsider for Secretary of State may well signal a role for her in other areas, should she not be the ultimate pick.
