For the past several days I’ve been chuckling at one particular moment in the 2nd Republican Debate. It’s at about the 1:15:02 mark, where Vivek Ramaswamy makes this statement: “I will have the best people, the best and brightest in this country.” Does that sound like anyone else we know? He even used the same hand gesture — you know, with his thumb and fingers making a circle and his index finger extended as a pointer. He looked and sounded exactly like Donald Trump — in fact, Trump said the same thing during his 2016 campaign. He has repeated that claim . . . well, repeatedly! Ramaswamy is Trump Lite, as I like to call him. It was so good it could have been a Saturday Night Live skit — except that it wasn’t. Alas!
I was reminded of that this morning when a good friend of mine texted me the following:
“[W]hen I look for a Chief Executive Officer to run our great Country I look for someone to hire the best people possible to implement the policies I believe in. And according to my astute learned colleague …. the man that has proven he can do that with Straight A type folks is the One and Only!! So let’s Make America Great Again!!!!!!”
Honestly, I’m not sure who he’s referring to as his “astute learned colleague.” Can’t be me. And let’s just overlook the fact that the office of President is not the same as Chief Executive Officer — at least, not as that term is typically used in the business sense. In fact, that proved to be a significant problem for Trump: he tried to operate as if he were CEO of a corporation, and our Constitution and our political system simply do not operate that way. They were not designed or intended to, and trying to make it work that way will only lead to disaster. As we discovered. I’m not sure, but I suspect when Trump said that he thought being President would be easier, this is what he meant. He can’t just snap his fingers and have people do what he wants. A President has to work with people, which is the art of politics. That is not Trump’s strong suit.
But that’s not really what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is all the best people. Specifically, Trump’s claim that he would hire, and did hire, all the best people. Let’s go to the replay tape.
Trump hired Reince Priebus for Chief of Staff. He then fired Priebus and hired John Kelly, then Mick Mulvaney, then finally Mark Meadows for the same position. Which one was the “best person”? Trump hired Michael Flynn to be National Security Advisor. Then he fired Flynn and hired HR McMaster, then John Bolton, then Robert C. O’Brien successively for that position. Which one was the “best person”? He hired KT McFarland to be Deputy National Security Advisor. Then he fired McFarland and hired Dina Powell and Ricky Waddell, followed by Nadia Schadlow, then Mira Ricardel, then Charles Kupperman, then Matthew Pottinger and Victoria Coates. Eight people for the same position. Same question — which one was the “best person”? He hired Katie Walsh to be Deputy Chief of Staff, and then fired her and hired Kirstjen Nielsen, then Zachary Furentes, then Emma Doyle, then John Flemming. Same question. He hired Sean Spicer for communications director. Then he fired Spicer and hired Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then Stephanie Grisham, and then Kayleigh McEnany for the same position. Same question. He hired Michael Dubke for Communciations Director. Then her fired Dubke and hired Anthony Scaramucci, then Hope Hicks, then Bill Shinem, then Stephanie Grisham, and then Alyssa Farah for the same position. Same question.
This is just a representative sample, the tip of the iceberg if you will. The comprehensive list of turnover in the White House is much, much longer. You can find it here from the Brookings Institution. In short, 45% of Trump’s “A” team (his original “best people”) went through serial turnover (turned over twice or more). Trump’s total turnover for White House staff positions during the four years of his administration was 92%. The next closest administration was the Reagan White House, with a 78% turnover (which is about average). But wait — that’s just WH staff. There’s more!
For his cabinet, Trump chose Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State, then fired him. He chose Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General, then fired him and chose Bill Barr, who resigned out of disgust. Trump appointed Jim Mattis to be Secretary of Defense, but Mattis resigned in protest, so Trump appointed Mark Esper. It goes on and on and on . . . Tom Price at Health and Human Services, David Shulkin at Veterans Affairs, Ryan Zinke at Interior, Kirstjen Nielsen at Homeland Security, Alex Acosta at Labor, Rick Perry at Energy, Elaine Chao at Transportation, Betsy DeVos at Education. All were originally appointed by Trump, and then were either fired, or resigned. Trump had 14 cabinet turnovers during his term. The next highest was H.W. Bush, with 8. In other words, Trump’s cabinet turned over twice as much as the next highest presidential administration.
All of which begs the question: which of those people were the “best people” Trump promised he’d surround himself with. Logically there are only two options here: either Trump did not surround himself with the best people as he said he would do, so he kept going through people trying to find someone who could do the job. Or, he did surround himself with the best people, and he either fired those people when they would not go along with him, or they resigned because they could not go along with him. You can’t have it both ways — you can’t say that Trump gets the best people possible, and then ignore the fact that those people either would not work with Trump, or Trump would not work with them, and then vilify them (e.g. Bill Barr) when they speak out against the Dear Leader.
I think my friend is right: Trump did hire “Straight A” type folks. But then he fired them, or they resigned, when they wouldn’t or couldn’t do what he wanted.
Does that say more about Trump, or the people he hired? And what does it say about who he’ll hire (or even be able to hire) if he gets elected again?
