In Defying the Odds, we discuss the people surrounding Trump. (The update -- just published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.)
The choice of servants is of no little importance to a prince, and they are good or not according to the discrimination of the prince. And the first opinion which one forms of a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing the men he has around him; and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise, because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him, for the prime error which he made was in choosing them.
-- Machiavelli
JAKE TAPPER, CNN: Do you -- do you think North Korea remains a nuclear threat?
SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO: Yes.
TAPPER: But the president said he doesn't.
POMPEO: That's not what he said.
I mean, I know -- I know precisely...
TAPPER: He tweeted: "There's no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea."
POMPEO: Right. What -- what he said is that the -- what he said was that the efforts that had been made in Singapore, this commitment that Chairman Kim, may have substantially taken down the risk to the American people.
It's the mission of the secretary of state and the president of the United States to keep the American people secure. We're aiming to achieve that.
TAPPER: OK. I mean, that's just a direct quote, but I want to move on.
