The Trump A Team

Created
Tue, 05/12/2023 - 07:00
Updated
Tue, 05/12/2023 - 07:00
What a motley crew The Atlantic has published a big series on “if Trump wins” and it’s full of interesting stuff, much of which I’ll discuss here over the next few days. l’ll start out with this one from McKay Coppins, on who Trump plans to put into his top spots. It won’t be like last time when he surrounded himself with people he thought came “right out of Central Casting.” Don’t expect it to happen again. The available supply of serious, qualified people willing to serve in a Trump administration has dwindled since 2017. After all, the so-called adults didn’t fare so well in their respective rooms. Some quit in frustration or disgrace; others were publicly fired by the president. Several have spent their post–White House lives fielding congressional subpoenas and getting indicted. And after seeing one Trump term up close, vanishingly few of them are interested in a sequel: This past summer, NBC News reported that just four of Trump’s 44 Cabinet secretaries had endorsed his current bid. Even if mainstream Republicans did want to work for him again, Trump is unlikely to want them. He’s made little secret of the fact that he felt burned by many in his first Cabinet. This time around, according to people in Trump’s orbit, he would prioritize obedience over credentials. “I think there’s going to be a very concerted, calculated effort to ensure that the people he puts in his next administration—they don’t have to share his worldview exactly, but they have to…