MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Close friends and loyalists considered for the Trump cabinet

Rudy Giuliani for attorney general, Newt Gingrich for secretary of state, retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn for defense secretary or national security adviser

Now that Donald Trump will be moving to the White House next January, speculation about the names being considered for his cabinet have started to emerge. According to sources close to the winning team some of the names included are Rudy Giuliani for attorney general, Newt Gingrich for secretary of state, retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn for defense secretary or national security adviser, Trump finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary, and Republican National Committee finance chair Lew Eisenberg for commerce secretary.

 Appatently Republicans' Chairman Reince Priebus is being eyed as a possible White House chief of staff, with CNN’s Corey Lewandowski in the running to replace Priebus at the Republican National Committee.

Though scandal-plagued New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is ostensibly the head of Trump’s transition efforts, giving him a key role over personnel decisions, an NBC report said that the governor “has drifted from the campaign.”

Instead, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama has reportedly “taken a major role managing the transition effort,” with the far-right Heritage Foundation and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence playing key roles.

None of these names or posts are especially surprising, but the lineup nevertheless tells something important about Team Trump’s thinking.

These possible staffing moves appear to be based less on merit and more on reciprocity: folks like Giuliani, Flynn, and Gingrich have been loyal partisans throughout the campaign, routinely telling Trump what he wants to hear, and therefore they’re positioned to be rewarded.