Trump transition chair pick signals think tank influence

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign announced on Friday his transition team will be co-chaired by two major donors and allies, Linda McMahon, the former head of his Small Business Administration, and Howard Lutnick, the chairman and CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, will serve as honorary chairs, the campaign said in a press release.

The decision to tap McMahon — the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the board chair at America First Policy Institute — signals AFPI, the conservative think tank that was formed by Trump administration officials after he lost the 2020 election could have an influential role in shaping a second term for the former president.

AFPI, often described as a Republican “White House in waiting,” is led by former domestic policy council director Brooke Rollins and is home to several top Trump administration officials. In a statement, Rollins praised McMahon as “a leader who knows how to build and lead large organizations.”

“She knows business. She knows policy. She knows America. She knows what works and how to lay the foundation for a new administration that will put the needs of America First and reclaim our country,” he said.

Lutnick, a billionaire, is a major donor and fundraiser for Trump. The CEO is fresh off of hosting a fundraiser at his Hamptons home for Trump where he raised millions for the GOP presidential nominee.

The Trump Vance 2025 Transition Inc, will be a 501c4 organization separate from the campaign.

“The 2024 GOP Platform to Make America Great Again is a forward-looking agenda that will deliver safety, prosperity and freedom for the American people. My administration will deliver on these bold promises,” Trump said in a statement. “We will restore strength, competence and common sense to the Oval Office. I have absolute confidence the Trump-Vance Administration will be ready to govern effectively on Day One.”

The announcement of Trump’s transition team comes as the Trump campaign has worked to steady itself after President Joe Biden stepped down from the 2024 election. The subsequent creation of a ticket featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has reenergized the Democratic Party and effectively erased the polling lead Trump had enjoyed over Biden.

Trump’s move to name leaders for his transition team comes relatively late in the presidential campaign. Back in 2016, Trump announced Chris Christie as his transition chair in May, though he wound up removing the then-New Jersey governor from the role within days of winning the election.

McMahon and Lutnick will be tasked with overseeing the vetting and hiring of political appointees and of crafting policy proposals and executive orders Trump could implement starting on day one of his administration.

While Trump’s official transition efforts have just been announced, conservative organizations have worked behind the scenes for months to collect resumes and craft policies should the former president return to the White House. Trump has sought to distance himself from some of those efforts, in particular the work at Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The GOP nominee has said he knows “nothing about Project 2025,” and has called some of its policy recommendations “absolutely ridiculous,” even though the efforts involve at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration according to a review by CNN.