CNN Anchor Says Trump’s ‘Ideologically Diverse’ Cabinet United By One Thing: ‘Loyalty To Trump’

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt noted that President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet is “ideologically diverse” — but is “united by” the common thread of “loyalty to Donald Trump.”

Trump made news last week with cabinet picks that drew shock and outrage — and one bombshell withdrawal in the form of former Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be Trump’s attorney general. The nomination of RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the picks of former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) as his nominee for the director of national intelligence all face serious challenges.

This weekend, Trump finished making his cabinet picks in a flurry of nominations that have pundits like Mike Allen of Axios gushing that “this might be the most ideologically diverse cabinet of modern times.”

On Monday’s edition of CNN This Morning, Hunt cited Allen’s report on the list of names, but noted there’s one area in which they don’t diverge:

KASIE HUNT: Donald Trump’s vision for his second term cabinet, we now understand it in full. The once and future president’s personnel choices revealing a stark contrast with his first administration.

So among Trump’s picks, this time an independent with the last name Kennedy, who supports abortion rights, more than one former Democratic presidential contender, a centrist Republican who is favored by the Teamsters Union, a man who fundraised for Al Gore and advised George Soros.

And then, of course, there are quite a few MAGA loyalists and Fox News favorites.

It all adds up to a cabinet that is united not by dogma, but by loyalty to Trump and his vision.

Over the weekend, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei writing this in Axios quote, “Lost in the noise of Trump’s most controversial picks is the simple, undebatable fact that this might be the most ideologically diverse cabinet of modern times. The team represents the Trump worldview. Traditional conservatism is dead, and its biggest lifelong advocates neutered to the point of irrelevance.

A Trump transition source told us that most of the picks are a version of Trump in their thinking and approach. They’re fearless disrupters who can walk into these buildings and know they have a mandate for reform and change.”.

A mandate for reform. If, of course, they can land the job. Trump has suffered at least one defeat on that front so far. Matt Gaetz withdrawing his name from consideration for attorney general just eight days after it had been announced.

And of course, getting Trump’s other controversial picks. Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. approved by the Senate, could pose the first great test for just how far a Congress dominated by Republicans will let Trump go.

SEN. ERIC SCHMITT: And I think ultimately this is a decision that President Trump made to bring in another disruptor. And I think if you look at this election, it was disruptor versus establishment. He ran on this.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR: In the end, it is the Republicans that are going to have to make a decision if these people are qualified for these jobs. They have the votes.

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN: The president has done this job before. He knows exactly what he needs. He knows who he wants to put in those positions.

SEN. BILL HAGERTY: He wants us to have these hearings done quickly and expeditiously. I’ve said I’m more than happy to work through the weekends as long as it takes to get this done.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH: From what I’m hearing from our Republican colleagues on everything from defense secretary to other post, it sounds like they are ready to roll over for Mr. Trump.

KASIE HUNT: …We’ve focused so much on you know, obviously there are personal issues for a number of Donald Trump’s nominees. Matt Gaetz, of course, withdrew in no small part over them.

But some of these the ideological diversity on display, not something that a lot of the Republicans in the Senate are going to be used to voting for. I mean, the abortion rights question with Kennedy, the union questions for the labor secretary pick there, he’s asking for a lot.

MATT GORMAN: You know, as you’re reading the Axios snippet, I thought about the fact that, look, this was an ideologically diverse coalition that enabled Trump to win.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.