Trump’s to-do list

With President-elect Trump heading back to the White House in two weeks, we’ll discuss what tops his to-do list and look at where his controversial cabinet nominations stand.

Air Date: January 2, 2025 12:00 pm

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President-elect Donald Trump returns to Washington, D.C. in two weeks for a second presidency. How much will this new term resemble the last? Trump’s cabinet nomination rollout has been messy with many controversial and unvetted picks. Matt Gaetz, his DOJ choice, was already forced to withdraw after an embarrassing House ethics report was made public. But Trump’s other nominations – Pete Hegseth for DoD, Tulsi Gabbard for CIA, Kash Patel for FBI, and RFK for HHS – are still in the game despite some Senate resistance. At the same time, Trump’s billionaire advisor Elon Musk recently caused havoc when he, and then Trump, weighed into congressional spending negotiations, which almost led to a government shutdown. Musk and his Doge co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy are also feuding with the MAGA base over immigration policies. This hour, we’ll dig into all of this and look at what tops Trump’s to-do list as he re-enters the White House. What will he take on first – the border, taxes, tariffs, TikTok? How are you feeling about his cabinet picks? Wall Street Journal politics correspondent Molly Ball joins us.

Guests:

Molly Ball – senior political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal

Sahil Kapur – senior national reporter for NBC News

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.