Donald Trump was able to win the recent presidential election in no small part because he was able to do better than expected among certain groups of voters, such as young men, Muslims and Arab-Americans, Latinos and white women. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I humbly offer reasons why these groups and others should be thankful for the selections Trump has already made to fill key roles in his administration.

Muslim and Arab Americans such as the mayors of Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck, Michigan, blamed Vice President Kamala Harris for not being sufficiently critical of Israel’s role in the Gaza War and encouraged their supporters to vote for Trump (or in some cases a third-party candidate) notwithstanding his imposition of a Muslim travel ban in his previous administration. As they give thanks for Trump’s victory, they can share their joy with the most extreme right-wing member of Israel’s government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who welcomed Trump’s election with the hope that Trump will help Israel extend its sovereignty over the entire West Bank of the Jordan River, thus killing any attempt at a two-state solution.

White women who moved to Trump can give thanks that only two members of Trump’s proposed cabinet have faced allegations of sexual assault. Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth admitted paying off a woman who accused him of sexual assault to get her to drop the allegation. Upon hearing news of his nomination, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said, “Wow.” Then, after having a chance to collect her thoughts, she added, “I just said wow.”

And then there is Matt Gaetz. In the wake of withering criticism, especially from his Republican colleagues, Gaetz has now withdrawn his name from consideration for attorney general. But his selection was noteworthy in itself for what it says about Trump’s sense of who would be the ideal man to lead the Department of Justice. Who better to stop what Trump calls the “weaponization” of the Justice Department than a man described as an ultra-partisan pit bull and whom fellow Republican Congressman Max Miller of Ohio described as “literally worse than the gum on the bottom of my shoe.”

Gaetz retired from Congress shortly after his nomination to be attorney general in the hopes of preventing the release of a House Ethics Committee report focused on allegations he had sex with an underage female, improperly used campaign funds and showed inappropriate videos on the floor of the House. A lawyer now has come forward to say that two of his clients testified before that committee that Gaetz paid for sex and one said she saw Gaetz have sex with the underage female. Of course, this is nothing new for Gaetz. After Gaetz left the Florida State House, a former Republican lawmaker claimed on X that Gaetz had created a game where he and others would assign points to legislators based on their sleeping with interns and married legislators.

Young men who turned to Trump, some voting for the first time, can give thanks that Trump appointed a man to be secretary of energy who won’t worry the “bros” needlessly about things like global warming and its effects. Fracking company CEO Chris Wright has told us, “There is no climate crisis.” This year he told the House Financial Services Committee, “Global temperature rise is by itself not the concern. In fact, millions of lives have been saved by reducing cold-related deaths.” Apparently, global warming is a good thing. Good to know. In a video posted on LinkedIn, Wright said last year, “We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts or floods despite endless fear-mongering of the media.” Perhaps he’d now like to add fires to his list.

A major reason Latinos and other groups were said to have moved to Trump was because they now pay higher prices for consumer products than they did when he was in office. Although we rarely heard what economic policies of the Trump administration they believe caused prices to be lower, unquestionably that belief did heavily factor into Trump’s victory. What we do know about Trump’s approach now is that he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on imports. Obviously, as businesses pay more for these products, that cost increase will be passed on to the consumer. Economics professor Douglas Nelson predicts this increase will be between $800 and $1500 a year. Perhaps Trump will support lowering taxes on the super wealthy again to balance this out. This brings us to something all Americans care about — their health. With the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, no longer will we have to worry about the federal government encouraging or financing the development of those pesky vaccines to deal with current or future disease outbreaks. Undoubtedly, the people of Samoa are still grateful to Kennedy for attacking the use of the measles vaccine on the island. Kennedy successfully helped create anxiety over the use of the vaccine, after which at least 70 Samoans died of measles. Gratitude can be fleeting.

And Kennedy has an eye for conspiracy. He has said that “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese … We don’t know whether it’s deliberately targeted or not.” The statement was attacked by major Jewish groups as feeding into antisemitic tropes. But we can all be grateful that Kennedy has proven over and over again he is not one to be limited by constraints like scientific evidence.

Most Americans know that when we hire people for important jobs, that person’s lack of experience in the field for which they are being hired matters little, right? Trump has honored this belief in many if not most of his appointments.

So many reasons to be thankful and Trump is not even in office yet. Glory days.

Steven P. Grossman is the Dean Julius Isaacson Professor Emeritus at the University of Baltimore Law School. His email is: sgrossman@ubalt.edu.