At least four people from Donald Trump’s first term who were deemed too extreme or politically toxic to win Senate confirmation – or even keep their jobs – are now back in the fold and in some cases with more power than before.
One attacked women’s right to vote. Another spoke at a conference with White nationalists. A third said President Barack Obama was a “terrorist leader” and said his former CIA director should face a “firing squad,” commit suicide, or become a “prison b*tch.”
A fourth called Hillary Clinton “a terrorist with amnesia” and accused Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife of plotting to combine the governments of the US, Canada and Mexico.
All of them were in some way demoted or removed from their jobs in Trump’s first term but have now been reappointed or renominated – part of a pattern in Trump’s second term to bring back figures once rejected for promoting conspiracy theories or inflaming racial and gender tensions.
In 2025, they’re no longer fringe – they’re in charge.
Their return is further evidence of the Trump administration’s willingness to sideline more moderate voices, reshape federal policy along ideological lines and view loyalty as the most important qualification.
In Trump’s first term, many of these figures were derailed precisely because they were seen as too unprofessional or conspiratorial – even by a Republican-controlled Senate. Now, in his second term, they’re not only being welcomed back but are now elevated into positions of real influence with less oversight, fewer checks and, in some cases, greater reach.
With few exceptions, Trump has gotten nearly all his nominees through this term – thanks to a Republican Party that has largely fallen in line behind even his most controversial appointees and nominees.
Among them is John Gibbs, a top policy official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The powerful policy job gives Gibbs a top leadership spot at HUD overseeing research and data that plays a central role in shaping federal housing strategy. It doesn’t require Senate confirmation.