I’m tellin’ ya, it’s feast or famine with the people Donald Trump has chosen to surround him in the inner circles of government’s executive branch.
He picks some turkeys and sprinkles in a few soaring birds just to keep it, um, oh so interesting.
Sadly for the nation — and I don’t include the president in this analysis — he has picked far more turkeys than otherwise.
Betsy DeVos as education secretary? She knows not a damn thing about public education. Michael Flynn as national security adviser? He lasted 24 days before getting fired for lying to the FBI about Russia matters. Sean Spicer as press flack? His first burst out of the box in January 2017 was to chide the media over their reporting of the size of Trump’s inaugural crowd. Tom Price at health and human services? He’s gone over a spending scandal. Scott Pruitt at Environmental Protection? He’s gone too for the same reason as Price. Reince Priebus as chief of staff? He could organize a bake sale, let alone control the info flow at the White House.
Now is Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant whom Trump “fired” already who’s been canned as a White House special assistant. She’s now revealing some dirty secrets (allegedly) about the president. She broke a serious national security protocol by recording a conversation — in the Situation Room — with chief of staff John Kelly; that’s a serious no-no, Omarosa.
To be fair, the president has picked some legitimately fine public servants. I mentioned Kelly. He’s got James “Mad Dog” Mattis as defense secretary. He has Mike Pompeo at State. I also like Elaine Chao at Transportation. I also believe Gina Haspel at CIA will do well.
Dang! That’s all I can think of at the moment!
But you get the picture. Trump has surrounded himself with a cadre of goofballs, liars, sneaks and cheats.
CNN’s Chris Cillizza says the president’s “best people” boast has cratered. Read his essay here.
I am afraid the quality of his inner circle — some of whom have been indicted by the special counsel looking into the “Russia thing” — speaks as much about the man who hired them as the individuals themselves.
That would be you … Mr. President.
So, so weird.