Thread by @donmoyn

New from me: Come gather round children and hear the tale of Johnny McEntee: a simple college quarterback-turned-body-man-turned-political-enforcer. His story offers an insight into Trumpist politicization of government
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donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trumps-loyal…

All Presidents try to balance some mix of competence and loyalty in choosing their political appointees. After his first impeachment Trump saw disloyalty everywhere. To root it out, he appointed his 29 year old body man (body man = the job of Tony Hale's character in Veep).

There have been millions of pieces about Trump, but to understand Trumpism as a governing philosophy you need to understand people like McEntee. With no real qualifications and despite a failed background check he was given control of one of the key offices in government.

McEntee used his power to hire even more inexperienced loyalists.
Side note: A former Trump staffer said McEntee picked “the most beautiful 21-year-old girls you could find, and guys who would be absolutely no threat to Johnny in going after those girls."
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trumps-loyal…

So what did McEntee actually do: For one thing, amidst a surging pandemic, he sat down political appointees across government to assess if they were loyal enough.

The appointees McEntee put in place in science and health agencies during the pandemic - including a HHS White House liaison who was a college senior - attacked career officials, spread misinformation and sought to interfere with scientific reports.
They made things worse.

McEntee's hires give you a sense of the type of people who will populate any second Trump administration.