When President Donald Trump first left office in Jan. 2021, I had just turned 13 and had learned most of what I knew about his presidency from what my parents said at the dinner table and the jokes I saw on late-night television. When I watched the Jan. 6 insurrection on the news, I did so during my seventh grade math class on Zoom. I have grown up during the Trump administration, but when he won reelection on Nov. 6, I do not think I remembered exactly what America was in for. 

I was initially concerned with Trump’s cabinet nominations when I heard of his nomination of then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) to serve as attorney general on Nov. 13. 

Although the report regarding Gaetz’s sex and drug crimes by the House Ethics Committee had not been released at the time, I had heard about his alleged pedophilia and inappropriate behavior on the House floor.

Gaetz’s nomination immediately reminded me of when I was in fifth grade when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in, despite three sexual assault or misconduct allegations. It also reminded me of when Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks accused Trump of sexual assault back in 2016, prior to his first presidency. 

Violence, misogyny, and ignorance in politics have defined my childhood, and in the early days of Trump’s second term, it is abundantly clear that nothing is going to change. It did not matter that Trump was a felon because politics are no longer about decency, only fanaticism. 

While Gaetz later withdrew his nomination on Nov. 21, he is one of numerous questionable candidates to Trump’s cabinet. Like Gaetz, nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also has a contentious past, including a sexual assault allegation with a payout and accusations of regularly going to work intoxicated, and new reports that he abused his second wife. Though it is disturbing that people with such troubled pasts can be candidates for positions of such power, it is not shocking. It is also not shocking how unqualified these candidates are, given that in 2016 Trump himself became the first person to be elected president of the United States without any government or military experience.

While he is a veteran and former member of the National Guard, Hegseth is best known as a political commentator and host of “Fox & Friends” for Fox News, where he worked from 2014 to 2024. During his confirmation hearing on Jan. 14, Hegseth struggled to answer even the most basic questions asked by senators. When Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) questioned him about his foreign policy knowledge, he did not even know what international security agreements he would be responsible for leading and signing as secretary of defense. 

Duckworth, a fellow veteran who lost both legs during combat in Iraq, also probed Hegseth about his stance on women in combat. 

“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” Hegseth said on a podcast called the “Shawn Ryan Show” on Nov. 7. “It hasn’t made us more effective. It hasn’t made us more lethal. It has made fighting more complicated.” 

Hegseth has recently stepped back from this statement before his confirmation hearing, despite saying this only two months earlier and reaffirming such belief in his books and previous media appearances. Whether he has genuinely changed his mind regarding women in the military—which I believe is unlikely—or not, this is a troubling statement for the nearly 229,000 women on active duty.

Hegseth was officially confirmed on Jan. 24 when Vice President JD Vance cast a tiebreaking vote to confirm him after three Republican senators voted against him. This occurred only a day after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) revealed that Hegseth paid a woman $50,000 in 2017 after she accused him of sexual assault.

Another candidate for Trump’s cabinet, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is just as unfit and poses a significantly large threat to the future of this country. As the proposed health and human services secretary, Kennedy would assist the president in making choices regarding the nation’s health and would oversee important agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and nine other federal agencies. Kennedy, who initially ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2023 and later switched to independent, is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit anti-vaccine advocacy group. Additionally, Kennedy is a large proponent of COVID-19 misinformation and a harsh critic of water fluoridation, which is considered by the CDC to be one of the “greatest public health achievements of the last century.”

Growing up, I was told that I could go to college, get a job, and then rise through the ranks of that job based on dedication and qualification. Believing that hard work will pay off and lead to success has been essential in motivating me throughout high school and in my life in general. It is difficult for me to grasp how little this central belief of mine and many Americans matters to Trump and his supporters in this new era of American politics. 

To Trump and his agenda, morals and experience do not matter—only allegiance.

For those who do prove their loyalty, there are immense benefits. According to CNN, eight of Trump’s cabinet picks have donated over $37 million to him combined, not including the more than 30 other people that Trump announced for high-level positions in his administration who donated to his campaign or supporters. This type of loyalty is exactly why TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 only a day after the app was banned and then “saved” by Trump himself only hours later. Never mind the fact that Trump first tried to ban the app in 2020, signing an executive order claiming that the app was a threat to the “national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

It is all too easy for millions of Americans to ignore the glaring red flags that have defined the early days of this second Trump administration, even before entering office, because that is exactly what Trump wants. An expert manipulator, Trump has painted himself as the knight in shining armor coming to save a crumbling America. 

A Pew Research Center study found that out of TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube, TikTok is the only app with more left-leaning news influencers than right-leaning news influencers. While this may seem hard to imagine considering how many TikToks have been made in the past few days thanking Trump and propping him up as a savior and defender of the First Amendment, I understand. 

When I woke up on Jan. 19 to find TikTok up and fully functioning after going dark for a few hours, I texted my family group chat a screenshot from X, which thanked Trump for providing clarity regarding the ban and working towards a long-term solution. I, too, found myself grateful, texting, “Thank you, President Trump.” While I did so ironically, for a split second I forgot about everything. I was genuinely thankful. Since then, I can’t shake the feeling that despite my best efforts, his manipulation tactics have worked on me, too.

While only five cabinet nominations have been confirmed by the Senate so far and many confirmations are still coming, I am not expecting to see the majority Republican Senate vote based on competency. I am expecting them to vote simply based on their devotion to Trump.