One of the appeals Trump used to sell himself to the American voter as a Presidential candidate was that he was an outsider. When presidential candidates typically refer to themselves as “outsiders” they mean they are not Senators or Congress Members who are familiar with the ways of D.C. that many Americans consider dubious. Trump was able to take the “outsider” mantra to a whole new level because not only was he not a legislator, he wasn’t even a politician.
In order to reassure voters that his lack of political experience would not hinder him once elected president, Trump promised to hire only the “best and most serious people" to join his administration. Therefore, even if Trump lacked political maneuvering experience, certainly having only the best working for him would allow his administration to accomplish the most for the American people.
As is now evident, Trump’s plan of employing the best people clearly did not go as planned. Not even two years into its first term, the Trump administration has been marked by a series of exits from high-ranking officials for conduct not consistent with anyone's definition of the “best and most serious people."
25 days into the Trump administration, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign after questions about whether he lied to Vice President Pence about the content of a phone call he had with a Russian Ambassador. Following Flynn’s departure from the White House, he has pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia and is currently awaiting sentencing where he could face up to six years in prison.
232 days into the Trump administration, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price was forced to resign over his use of private charter flights on the government dime. Price’s extensive use of private charter flights seemed to conflict with Trump’s message of “draining the swamp.” In addition, Price was unable to secure a signature promise of the President, the repeal of Obamacare, despite the fact that Republicans had control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
504 days into the Trump administration, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was forced to resign in the face of over a dozen federal investigations. Among the allegations facing Pruitt included spending $3 million in taxpayer funds on his security detail; three times larger than his predecessor’s and trying to use his government position to get his wife a job as a Chick-fil-A franchisee.
Regardless of how one feels about the policies pursued by the Trump administration, the “best and most serious people" for jobs at the highest levels of our government don’t lie to the Vice President, spend taxpayer dollars lavishly on themselves and use their government office to get special favors for family members.
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