Elections have consequences, and one of the first is that presidents get to pick their own team to run the government. One of Donald Trump’s first and most repeated promises on entering politics was to hire only “the best and most serious people.”
Historians agree that the best cabinet in these 250 years was Abraham Lincoln’s team of rivals. They had been his competitors for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. He said they were chosen for their intelligence, competence, judgment and integrity.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Team of Rivals, said that in contrast, Trump has chosen personal loyalty over competence and expertise.
There is a consensus among historians and scholars ranking Trump’s team the worst in history, scraping bottom with the scandal-ridden Grant and Harding administrations. Presidents of all parties have had their duds, but Trump’s appointments stand out.
The fault is not Trump’s alone. Blame also belongs to the Republican cowards in the US Senate who shirked their Constitutional duty to advise and consent on each nomination, rubber-stamping every nominee with little vetting or examination.
Many Republicans have privately admitted to journalists that they felt compelled to hold their noses and vote for some nominees to show loyalty to the new administration and out of fear of a president with a well-known penchant for vengeance.
High turnover rate of Trump's cabinet
Trump’s second cabinet already has a high turnover rate; nearly all the departures have been high-profile women. In his first term, 20 of 24 cabinet appointees didn’t make it to the end.
The Fulcrum, a nonpartisan news website, says Trump’s cabinet rates poorly for “lack of qualifications, record-setting high turnover rates, appointments based on loyalty over capability, conflicts of interest, stark public dissatisfaction, and poorly vetted appointees.”
A rare exception was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), whose nomination to be attorney general was quickly yanked because he was under an ethics investigation for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. His replacement, Pam Bondi, didn’t last long, and Trump wants his former criminal attorney, Todd Blanche, to take over. (The client was convicted on 34 felony counts.)
Blanche, now the acting attorney general, seems comfortable continuing to act as Trump’s personal lawyer, not the nation’s, and be the chief investigator and prosecutor of his client’s political enemies. The New York Times editorial board has declared him “unfit for office,” citing his history “disdaining the law and using law enforcement as a partisan weapon.”
Some Republican senators are publicly having heartburn over Trump naming the grossly unqualified and inexperienced Bill Pulte to be the acting director of national intelligence.
He was chosen for the enthusiasm he has shown in investigating and prosecuting Trump’s enemies as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a job he will continue to hold. Like Trump, his background is in the real estate and construction industry, not the highly specialized and even more vital realm of national intelligence.
Trump reportedly expects him to investigate possible foreign interference in US elections to fortify the president’s demands for sweeping voting restrictions.
I can understand why people want to serve in presidential cabinets. The power, prestige, and profits can be milked for a lifetime. Some get rich while in office, though most are patient enough to wait until they leave to cash in.
In one distinct way, Trump’s team is like none other in history: his Cringe Cabinet Meetings, televised show-and-tell performances with participants taking turns reporting how much they’ve done serving his inspired leadership.
Among the most obsequious is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is widely considered the worst ever to hold that post. What he lacks in competence he makes up for in swagger. He has been known to inject his Christian nationalism into his job and in a Pentagon service, confused old movie dialogue with scripture.
Most recently, his order to eliminate the military’s universal flu vaccine mandate is being blamed for an influenza outbreak at a Texas air base that infected hundreds. He has been waging a war on diversity, blocking promotions or firing generals and admirals, disproportionately non-whites and women. He has claimed that white, straight men have been discriminated against in the military.
FBI Director Kash Patel seems more skilled in creating scandals than investigating them. The Secret Service was upset with him for “jumping the gun” by prematurely rushing to tweet about the ongoing investigation of a possible attack on the president’s 80th birthday celebration.
Under the transparent guise of official business, he flew on his government plane to Italy, where he was seen around the world chugging beer in the locker room to celebrate the US Men’s Hockey Team victory.
There have been published reports of his excessive drinking, using his protective detail for personal events, providing FBI security for his girlfriend, and rewarding his inner circle of loyal agents with cash bonuses.
As the administration moves to meet its goal of dismantling the Department of Education, responsibility for special education programs has been transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. This has outraged parents and advocates for students with disabilities in view of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s discredited claims about autism.
It is troubling enough that this vaccine skeptic who has boasted of harvesting meat from roadkill and having snorted cocaine from a toilet seat oversees the nation’s health care.
And don’t forget the man running the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, Dr. Mehmet Oz. He has a long and controversial history of promoting questionable health treatments on television.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is a former professional mixed martial arts fighter, Trump’s favorite spectator sport and centerpiece of his recent birthday celebration.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has his own ties to Trump’s pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein.
Russell Vought, the Office of Management and Budget director, used US AID funds to pay for his personal security, MS NOW reported.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright was ordered by a federal court to restore funding for energy projects in Blue states that government attorneys admitted had been cut as political revenge for having voted against Trump in 2024, the Washington Post noted.
These are all the president’s choices. Others may have recommended them, but the crypto-buck stops at his Resolute desk. As noted, it is his right and responsibility to pick them. Historians already have begun to judge them as the worst cabinet in history. If for nothing else – though there is much more – history will judge his presidency harshly.
It doesn’t take much to figure out that this cabinet is not the best people this nation has to offer, not the best conservatives, not the best Trump supporters, not the best MAGA believers. Because in the end, this isn’t about serving the nation and its people; it’s about Donald Trump and his infantile craving for cult-like devotion.