Trump picks historically young group of top officials
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Donald Trump is about to become the oldest person ever sworn in as president — but he hopes to have the youngest group of top Cabinet officials and advisers of any president in more than three decades.
Why it matters: Even as he's sought to regain his grip on power, the once and future president has tried to build the next generation of his MAGA movement, as seen in his choice of JD Vance, 40, as his vice president.
Driving the news: The average age of Trump's picks for VP, chief of staff, attorney general and secretaries of State, Treasury and Defense is 54.1 — the youngest since the start of George H.W. Bush's presidency in 1989, an Axios analysis found.
- The elder Bush — who was 64 when he took the oath of office — had a top staff with an average age of 51.5, the youngest in nearly half a century.
- Like Trump, Bush also picked a considerably younger VP: Dan Quayle, then 41.
Between the lines: The Cabinet Trump envisions is an average of five years younger than his Cabinet at the start of his first term in 2017.
- Vance will be the third-youngest VP in U.S. history.
- If confirmed, Pete Hegseth, 44, would be the youngest Defense secretary since Donald Rumsfeld during the Ford administration. Rumsfeld served at 43.
- Outside of the core Cabinet positions, Trump chose Elise Stefanik, 40, and Tulsi Gabbard, 43, for top government roles.
- Vivek Ramaswamy, 39, will also have a strong voice within the next administration as co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency along with Elon Musk, 53.
Zoom in: Trump's chief of staff, Florida politics veteran Susie Wiles, is slightly older than most recent chiefs of staff at 67.
- But Trump has filled other key White House positions with a crop of young advisers.
- Stephen Miller, 39, will be deputy chief of staff for policy.
- Karoline Leavitt, 27, is poised to be the youngest White House press secretary in history.
Zoom out: Age was a central theme of the 2024 campaign, with voters having deep concerns about President Biden's ability to start a four-year term at 82.
- Biden's disastrous debate performance in June led to Vice President Harris, 60, replacing him at the top of the Democratic ticket.
- In the campaign's aftermath, the Democratic Party has grappled with calls for generational change within its top ranks.
The bottom line: Trump has broken the mold with many of his top Cabinet picks, often elevating loyalists who don't have significant relevant experience for their new roles.
- Many of his selections are part of his bid to disrupt the status quo within the agencies and organizations they've been tasked to lead, Axios' Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei have reported.
Go deeper: Trump's Cabinet disruptors soften key views as hearings loom
