SAUNDERS: With initial nominations, Trump shows loyalty is everything

Loyalty. That’s the number one requirement on the Donald Trump list of must-haves for his Cabinet and top staff.

The president-elect punctuated that point Sunday when he tweeted the names of two former members of his team who will not be on board in 2025.

“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country.”

This is not Trump 1.0. The announcement was gracious, did not include gratuitous insults, and yet sent an unmistakable message about the loyalty Trump demands.

It didn’t matter that Haley endorsed Trump after her 2024 presidential effort fizzled. Trump had picked her to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and for that, in his mind, she owed him a lifetime of fealty.

Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state, didn’t throw his hat into the ring — but he thought about it.

Now he is paying the price.

Trump also wants people who can deliver for the team. Also Sunday, Trump announced that his former ICE chief, Tom Homan, will be his border czar, and, pending confirmation, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The two picks honor two big campaign promises: that Trump will enforce the border and be a champion for Israel in a body that sees Israel as an “unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

A former cop and Border Patrol agent, Homan worked his way up through the ranks. When Homan talks about the job, he dispenses with the hand-wringing that often serves as the background noise when agents do their jobs.

You may have seen Homan recently on “60 Minutes.” CBS News’ Cecilia Vega asked Homan, “Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?”

“Of course there is,” Homan responded. “Families can be deported together.”

In case the anti-border crowd did not get the message, Trump also named first-term veteran Stephen Miller to be deputy White House chief of staff for policy. The left hates Miller, because, like Homan, Miller believes in enforcing federal law.

In 2018, Miller so riled Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., that Pocan introduced legislation to abolish ICE.

“Unfortunately, President Trump and his team of white nationalists, including Stephen Miller, have so misused ICE that the agency can no longer accomplish its goals effectively,” Pocan said in a statement announcing his long-shot bill, which failed. “I’m introducing legislation that would abolish ICE and crack down on the agency’s blanket directive to target and round up individuals and families.”

Stefanik won conservative hearts last year during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, when she grilled three presidents of once-elite universities about antisemitism on campus.

Stefanik’s withering interrogation left the big-name administrators tongue-tied and was followed by the resignations of Harvard University’s Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. The best part: the academic heavyweights never saw it coming.

In a statement announcing the Stefanik pick, Trump noted, “She was the first Member of Congress to endorse me, and has always been a staunch advocate.” So check the loyalty box.

In August, Politico reported on a going-away party for Joe Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn that was not all farewell hugs and tears. Dunn stunned those in the room when she pulled out a list of quotes from “The Godfather.”

“What I told the staff was you don’t need to go get revenge right away,” Dunn later told Politico. “You can pick your times and just wait for your moments.”

Masters of the game can wait years.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.