SECRETARY OF STATE: Anthony Blinken
CONFIRMED Obama s deputy national security advisor then deputy secretary of state with long history as a Democratic staffer including for then senator-Biden. Fluent in French having been brought up partly in Paris, he is stepson of a Holocaust survivor.
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Janet Yellen
CONFIRMED First woman to chair the Federal Reserve becomes first woman to run the Treasury. Harvard then Berkeley academic who chaired Bill Clinton s council of economic advisers before holding series of Federal Reserve roles, and whose research is in labor markets.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Lloyd Austin
CONFIRMED Retired four-star general who led CENTCOM, the military command which covers the Middle East before retiring in 2016. Led troops in combat in Iraq and is now the first black Pentagon chief. Had to get waiver to join cabinet because military are supposed to wait seven years.
At his inauguration, Donald Trump promised to ’fix’ dysfunctional America, but his legacy is likely to be Americans more politically and culturally estranged from each other than they were when he took office.
Closing out his presidency exactly four years later, Trump leaves behind an even more polarized America, where thousands are dying daily from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy is badly damaged and political violence has surged.