On Wednesday night, President-elect Donald Trump took to Truth Social to share a list of individuals who will be excluded from consideration for roles in his second administration. Highlighting that his team has already hired more than 1,000 “outstanding” individuals, he wrote:
In order to save time, money, and effort, it would be helpful if you would not send, or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by, Americans for No Prosperity (headed by Charles Koch), “Dumb as a Rock” John Bolton, “Birdbrain” Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, disloyal Warmongers Dick Cheney, and his Psycho daughter, Liz, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, General(?) Mark Milley, James Mattis, Mark Yesper, or any of the other people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, more commonly known as TDS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Predictably, this post did not sit well with our friends on the Left side of the aisle. One man attached Trump’s comments to a post on X with the caption, “Trump makes clear that he is discriminating against candidates for administration jobs if they have links to his political opponents or critics.”
Discrimination? I call it discernment.
It’s not only understandable that Trump would avoid hiring individuals associated with those who actively undermined or opposed his first-term agenda—and, in many cases, continued that opposition over the following four years, it’s essential. Naturally, he wants to surround himself with loyal staffers who share his vision and will steadfastly support his goals. Every president does.
Personnel decisions can often shape the course of a presidency. For example, President Lincoln replaced five commanding generals during the Civil War before finally selecting Ulysses S. Grant, who ultimately led the Union to victory.
Poor hiring decisions significantly hampered Trump’s first term, a point he has openly acknowledged. For instance, Trump should have replaced FBI Director James Comey upon taking office, rather than allowing him to remain in the role. Other blunders included appointing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, and the outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray.
At a Fox News town hall in September, Trump was asked, “What could you share that you’ve learned from your first time being in the Oval Office for those who are hesitant to vote for you now?”
Trump replied, “The most important thing I found, and you can say this is true in business also, we have to get the right people. I didn’t know much about Washington. I was there 17 times in my whole life. And I wasn’t in D.C. very much.”
He continued, “But I got to know ’em, and I got to know ’em the hard way. And I know the good ones, the bad ones, the weak ones, the smart ones, the dumb ones. I know ’em all now.”
The bottom line was to “get the right people. You put the right person and the right group of people at the heads of these massive agencies, you’re going to have tremendous success. And I now know the people better than anyone would know them,” Trump said.
Trump was spot on. As difficult as it may be to believe that the brash billionaire from New York had little or no idea of the traps that had been set for him by the administrative state (or whatever one chooses to call the permanent group of unelected officials who run the government), it was the truth. His unfamiliarity with how things worked in D.C. left him completely unprepared for the injustices that lay ahead. It’s fair to say he was naive. He took advice from those who wanted him to fail and he trusted the wrong people.
He will return to the White House in three days. His eyes will be wide open. And he will be surrounded by trustworthy individuals who share his goals and his vision for the future.
He’s already begun.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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