When President Donald Trump began building a Cabinet for his second term in the White House, he made clear what was and wasn’t important to him.
Loyalty was at the top of his list. He wanted Cabinet officers who understood their first duty was to him, not the nation itself.
Competence wasn’t important. That’s why he peopled his Cabinet with nonentities — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — to lead vast and essential sections of the federal government even though they had little experience running anything much larger than their own mouths.
Trump’s desire for loyalty wasn’t unheard of. Most presidents want the people who work for them to support the missions and priorities of their administrations.
Some even are strident about it. President Lyndon Johnson famously said that he wanted to staff his White House with people who were so loyal to him that they would kiss a certain part of his anatomy in Macy’s window. (I’ll leave which part to your imaginations.)
But even LBJ wouldn’t say that competence didn’t matter. He wanted people around him who would challenge his thinking and help improve his policies.
Trump is different.
As is his wont, he takes the stances common among previous presidents and escalates them to unprecedented levels, all the while asking us to pretend that this is perfectly normal.
Part of the reason is his genuine contempt for people who are part of the intelligentsia and establishment — people who have knowledge and expertise. Because he believes he was born with all the answers, he feels he never has to ask questions — and he views with suspicion all who feel the need to study and deliberate before they make decisions.
Another piece is his insecurity. He cannot stand to be surrounded by underlings who might show him up or steal the spotlight. His need for attention and constant affirmation is a bottomless void.
This weakens him in predictable ways.
It is no accident that America’s three greatest presidents — Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt — surrounded themselves with heavyweights and rivals. They were secure enough in themselves to believe, correctly, that they could bend even other strong wills and intellects to their leadership.
Because Trump lacks that fundamental self-confidence, he cuts himself off from both creative thought and the sort of internal safeguards that would prevent him from making many unforced errors.
The results have been predictable.
Even though he was elected primarily to bring prices down, he barred anyone who would counsel him about the inflationary results of imposing widespread and largely untargeted tariffs. Now, more than 14 months into this second Trump term, inflation continues to wreak havoc on Americans’ budgets while job growth has slowed to a trickle when it hasn’t stopped altogether.
Under the enthusiastic but incredibly ill-informed leadership of HHS Secretary RFK Jr. diseases once considered conquered — smallpox, etc. — are roaring back to deadly life.
And then there’s Hegseth.
A former Fox talk show host, Hegseth fed into Trump’s notion that soldiery really was all about chest-thumping. He posed shirtless and called together America’s commanding officers to lecture them on the question of toughness.
What neither Hegseth nor Trump seemed to realize is that experienced soldiers — or, for that matter, truly grown men — don’t have to proclaim how tough and brave they are. If push comes to shove, those who confront them will have ample opportunity to figure out just how tough and brave they are.
Furthermore, these seasoned warriors don’t fight to demonstrate how tough they are.
They fight to win.
That means they don’t see planning for contingencies and possible reversals of fortune as a sign of weakness. They see such forethought as being necessary to increase the chances of victory.
Because, again, they fight to win, not to make a statement.
There were people around who could have advised Trump and Hegseth to be ready for Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz when they started their war with Iran. They would have warned Trump about the damage such a move would do to America’s and the world’s economy.
But Trump didn’t want to hear such voices.
He wanted his team to pass LBJ’s Macy’s window test with flying colors.
And an intelligence or even competence test?
Not a concern.