In our candidate-centric political system, every president is a singular figure in his own way, whose appeal to the public is at least a little distinct from that of his party. But presidents still have a relationship to that party, and their choice of cabinet members and other high-level officials can tell any close observer a good deal about the nature of that relationship.

This is more than the standard observation that personnel is policy; to see who gets what job is to get a better sense of the coalition that put the president into office.

The president who puts a strong rival in a key position, like Abraham Lincoln did for William Seward when he made him secretary of state, might be working to keep a divided party together and a potential critic within the fold of the administration.

The president who taps an ideologue to lead an important agency could be showing his commitment to a set of ideas. That’s what we saw, for example, when Ronald Reagan placed supply-side true believers and conservative evangelicals in key roles in his administration, cementing their influence in the Republican Party and bringing their agendas into positions of power.

So it goes for Donald Trump, as he announces his plans, chooses his subordinates and moves closer to beginning his second term as president.

As a candidate for president, Trump openly distanced himself from the mainstream of the Republican Party. He disavowed the party’s position on abortion, despite appointing the judges who helped overturned Roe v. Wade, and he rejected Project 2025 as unrelated to his campaign. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he said over the summer on Truth Social. “I have no idea who is behind it.”