In Defying the Odds, we discuss the people surrounding Trump. (The update -- recently 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.Unable to satisfy the public about his lenient deal, as a prosecutor, of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Alexander Acosta has quit as Labor Secretary. At WP, Paul Waldman lists other Trump officials who had to quit:
- Michael Flynn, national security adviser (pleaded guilty to crimes)
- Sean Spicer, press secretary (terrible liar, became object of universal ridicule)
- Anthony Scaramucci, communications director (lasted 10 days)
- Steve Bannon, chief strategist (fired in White House shakeup)
- Tom Price, secretary of health and human services (had taste for private jets)
- Rex Tillerson, secretary of state (called Trump a “f---ing moron”)
- Brenda Fitzgerald, CDC director (bought and sold tobacco stocks while leading one of America’s chief health agencies)
- Scott Pruitt, EPA administrator (too many scandals to detail)
- Ryan Zinke, secretary of the interior (multiple mini-scandals)
- Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of homeland security (combination of malice and incompetence)
- Patrick Shanahan, acting secretary of defense (bizarre domestic violence story)
- David Shulkin, secretary of veterans affairs (had government pay for European vacation)
- Rob Porter, White House staff secretary (accused of domestic abuse by both his ex-wives)
- David Sorenson, speechwriter (accused of domestic abuse by ex-wife)
