The media has it all wrong about Trump’s picks for his administration. The conventional view is they’re “Trump loyalists” whom Trump “recruited”.
Rubbish.
First, they’re not loyalists; they’re subservient hacks.
There’s a crucial difference.
All politicians want their underlings to be loyal, but Trump wants them to be more loyal to him than to the nation, and he demands total subservience without regard to right or wrong.
For the FBI, Trump has picked Kash Patel, who has pledged to prosecute Trump’s political opponents and “come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election”.
Trump’s selection for attorney general, Pam Bondi, has said that when Trump returns to power, “the prosecutors will be prosecuted”.
Moreover, Trump didn’t recruit these people or anybody else. They recruited him.
Every one of his nominees campaigned for these jobs by engaging in conspicuous displays of submission and flattery directed toward Trump.
Elise Stefanik, whom Trump has nominated to be US ambassador to the United Nations, repeatedly boasted that she was the first lawmaker to endorse Trump’s re-election bid.
Before Trump tapped Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security, she sent him a 4ft replica of Mount Rushmore with Trump’s face next to those of Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln.
Mike Waltz, whom Trump has picked for national security adviser, supported a move in Congress to rename Washington Dulles international airport the “Donald J Trump international airport”.
Lee Zeldin, whom Trump has picked for EPA administrator, said publicly that the criminal prosecutions of Trump were akin to Putin’s persecution of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Stephen Miller, who will be a Trump White House adviser, said during a Fox News interview that Trump is the “most stylish president” in our lifetimes. “Donald Trump is a style icon!”
Ten of Trump’s picks so far were Fox News hosts or contributors who repeatedly mouthed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen, about January 6 being a “peaceful protest” and about Biden being the force behind Trump’s prosecutions.
Some of Trump’s picks showed up at his criminal trial in Manhattan, where they verbally attacked members of the presiding judge’s family on behalf of Trump, who was under a rule of silence.
Some picks appeared at his campaign rallies, expanding on Trump’s lies and lavishing him with praise.
Many made large donations to Trump’s campaign. Five of his picks so far are billionaires.
All knew that Trump wanted people who would do whatever he asked of them. So they prostrated themselves to show their deference to him.
All knew that Trump liked to be fawned over. So they debased themselves by giving him gushing compliments.
They knew that Trump wanted people lacking an independent moral compass. So they went out of their way to demonstrate they have no integrity by retelling Trump’s lies in public with even more verve and intensity than he displayed when telling them.
Time and again they have performed acts of cringeworthy subservience toward Trump, proving themselves reliable conduits for his scheming vindictiveness.
This is a rare bunch. How many Americans would eagerly repeat to national audiences baldfaced lies spouted by an authoritarian – lies that undermine our democracy? How many Americans would publicly grovel before Trump, making it clear they’ll do whatever he asks of them regardless of consequence?
To be a member of this unique group, one needs to be both colossally ambitious and profoundly insecure, willing to demean oneself to gain Trump’s favor.
Trump didn’t find these people; these people found Trump. And to get in his good graces, they saw to it that he noticed their servile deference, fawning adulation and total submission.
But these people will also bring about Trump’s downfall, and possibly the downfall of America.
That’s because one of the most important things a president needs is accurate and useful feedback. These are in short supply even in the best of administrations.
People who work for a president are often reluctant to be bearers of bad news. Presidents are typically surrounded by yes-men and -women afraid to say anything that will ruffle powerful feathers.
As a result, presidents can make huge mistakes – invading Iraq and Afghanistan, deregulating Wall Street and then bailing it out when its gambling gets out of hand, pardoning Richard Nixon, waging war in Vietnam.
Trump’s toadies are even less likely to cross him. To the contrary, they’ll egg him on.
The years ahead would be dangerous enough if Trump sought out unprincipled enablers.
The coming years will be even more perilous because unprincipled enablers have sought out Trump.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
