Less than one week after Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris, the president-elect is already making some key hiring decisions that shed light on what will be the top priorities of his second term.
Just days after naming campaign co-manager Susie Wiles his White House chief of staff (and making her the first woman in history to hold the role), Trump announced his picks for ‘border czar,’ U.N. ambassador, and more.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Emily Jashinsky, host of Undercurrents on UnHerd, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon, to discuss the latest personnel picks and what they say about Trump’s plans.
‘Border Czar’
Late Sunday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to announce that he plans to appoint Thomas Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the next “border czar.”
Trump said Homan will be “in charge of our Nation’s Borders,” including the southern border, the northern border, and all maritime and aviation security. He added that he will also “be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Homan said deportations would be a “humane operation” targeting bad actors. “It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE,” he said. “The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it.”
The position, which does not require congressional approval, is a nod to the role Kamala Harris was assigned during the Biden administration when illegal border crossings surged. According to the Department of Homeland Security, there have been more than 10.8 million illegal border patrol encounters since fiscal year 2021, which does not account for the millions of suspected ‘gotaways.’
Border security and illegal immigration were among the top concerns of voters who backed Trump, and Megyn said it is clear the president-elect got the message. “If you voted for Trump, you are getting dividends already,” she said. “The guy is incredible.”
As Jashinsky noted, Homan also served in the Obama administration, which she believes makes him uniquely qualified for the role. “He is a great example of somebody who is able to [go toe-to-toe with detractors] with confidence and boldness because he certainly has worked for the other side… and so he is able to just say, ‘Listen, I don’t give a damn. I’ve seen this. I know exactly what I’m talking about,'” she explained. “And so he is a huge asset for Trump.”
Deputy Chief of Staff
In keeping with the immigration theme, Trump is expected to name Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller was a senior adviser in Trump’s first term and played a key role in crafting his immigration agenda. “He is the guy who came up with a lot of those policies that worked so well under Trump, like ‘Remain in Mexico’ and some of the executive orders that Trump signed requiring us to crack down on these B.S. asylum claims,” Megyn noted. “That is a dream team.”
Miller has, in Jashinsky’s words, been “totally vilified in the press” and yet that doesn’t seem to bother Trump. “Trump isn’t afraid to appoint him to a deputy chief of staff position,” she noted. “There is no hesitation from Donald Trump at all about bringing some of these people no matter how they are in the press.”
While Jashinsky praised the president-elect’s “fearlessness,” Megyn believes Miller deserves credit as well. “Stephen Miller is a genius, and he knows immigration better than almost anyone,” she said. “I am thrilled that he is willing to take the risk with his family… They were calling him terrible names, but that is what is going to happen if you try to clean up the border… It does require nerves of steel to say yes this, and he has got them.”
U.N. Ambassador
Also on the foreign policy and national security front, Trump has nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. During Trump’s first term, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former diplomat Kelly Craft served in the role.
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump said in a statement. “Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.”
Once the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives, Stefanik has been a vocal Trump ally and the fourth most powerful Republican in the House since 2021 as chairman of the House Republican Conference.
Assuming she makes it through the Senate confirmation process, Johnson believes Stefanik, who made a name for herself grilling university presidents in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, will follow in the footsteps of her predecessors. “Trump talked about strong women, and I think she is likely to be in the mold of Nikki Haley… and will be an advocate for America and Israel on the world stage,” she noted.
The Message
There are thousands of appointments for Trump to make in the coming weeks and months, but Johnson believes he is sending a message with the way in which he is going about it. “I think there are a couple interesting things happening here with personnel, and the first is the order with which these picks are being made,” she said. “First, you had Susie Wiles being named chief of staff… and she couldn’t be more different from Reince Priebus, who was Trump’s first chief of staff last time around.”
While Priebus came from the Republican National Committee and wasn’t a known quantity to Trump, Wiles is the opposite. “Reince was running the RNC, and Trump and the RNC weren’t that close when he ran,” Johnson explained. “Susie has been running his operation since 2021 and is somebody he has really gave his trust and has demonstrated an ability to manage both Trump and his operation.”
And then there is the focus on immigration. “The first appointments we are seeing coming from Trump are on immigration, which I think sends a signal to folks that he is going to take the issue seriously,” Johnson noted. “The first appointment coming out wasn’t the secretary of state or the secretary of defense, but it was the immigration czar. And I do think that is intentional and sends a signal… for what he intends to prioritize.
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Jashinsky and Johnson by tuning in to episode 941 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.