How the Trump team is working quietly to ensure a smoother transition than after 2016 win
What a difference eight years makes.President-elect Donald Trump and his team are working behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago to staff the 47th president’s administration, with loyalty the primary job requirement.The low-key nature of the transition is a deliberate choice to avoid the chaotic scenes of eight years ago, when Trump Tower hosted infighting and public jockeying for powerful posts following the Republican’s victory over Hillary Clinton.“There’s a lot more alignment, policy-wise, this time with the transition team than there was in 2016,” a longtime Trump aide told The Post Thursday.A second source noted that this time the president-elect’s campaign and transition teams are led by longtime Republican figures rather than political novices and clashing personalities.“It’ll be more establishment [than in 2016], so in that sense more orderly,” this person said.“I think they’re smart enough to not be too public.”As a private club, Mar-a-Lago is closed to the media and Trump, 78, is working under heavy security after a pair of failed assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign.However, the source close to Trump also said that the real estate mogul seemed to enjoy the very public parade of supplicants who had to come in from the winter cold and walk past throngs of cameras in the Trump Tower lobby ahead of his first term.
“Maybe he does that just on a few big [appointments],” the source said.The transition team is led by Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and former Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon, who said in a statement Wednesday that Trump “will be selecting personnel to serve our nation under his leadership and enact policies that make the life of Americans affordable, safe, and secure.“We are proud to volunteer our time to present President Trump with a wide array of experts from which he can select for his team.”“There is no question they are better prepared, not least because Trump at least knows...