After weeks of backlash against the possibility that Mitt Romney might be appointed his Secretary of State, the fledgling Trump administration is floating some new names as possible choices for the pick. On Friday, Kellyanne Conway announced that former Ford CEO Alan Mulally is now under consideration for the spot. Mulally is also a member of the board of directors of Google, and the former CEO of Boeing, a company that president-elect Trump recently criticized for the cost of a future upgrade to Air Force One.
Trump and Mulally have one major thing in common, they believe in American manufacturing. When the author Bryce Hoffman asked Mulally why he was leaving Boeing, a company Mulally had devoted his life to, to take on the very challenging job at Ford, Mulally told Hoffman “I love Boeing, and as you said, I’ve devoted my whole life to that company, because I believe in the promise of safe and efficient air transportation. But I also believe in America. I believe America should make things. And that’s why I’m here: to fight for the soul of American manufacturing.”
That’s certainly reminiscent of Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
Aside from Mulally, a few other new names have been bouncing around the rumor mill. Here they are in no particular order.
- Rex Tillerson: Tillerson is the CEO of ExxonMobil and, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, a staunch conservative. He’s also a Trustee of the CEnter for Strategic & International Studies. More here.
- Jon Huntsman: The former governor of Utah, former ambassador to China and to Singapore, and former presidential candidate is fairly well known and certainly qualified for the job of Secretary of State, perhaps better qualified than any of the other candidates mentioned so far. Huntsman is the son of the billionaire owner of the Huntsman Chemical Group, Jon Huntsman Sr. More here.
- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Rohrabacher is an outspoken congressman known for defending Russia and being tough on illegal immigration. His positions mirror somewhat those of Donald Trump. Rohrabacher is also inline with Trump’s views on trade with China, despite it being outside the mainstream of Republican thought. More here.
Each of these possibilities seems better than the thought of neocons John Bolton or Rudy Giuliani, who has now withdrawn himself from consideration for the position. We’ll continue to follow the Trump administration’s developments here, so stay tuned.
