Click here for an article on Substack by Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's labor secretary, entitled "The difference between loyalty and subservience."
Reich says:
All politicians want their underlings to be loyal, but Trump wants them to be more loyal to him than to the nation, and he demands total subservience without regard to right or wrong.
For the FBI, Trump has picked Kash Patel, who has pledged to prosecute Trump’s political opponents and “come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential election.”
Trump’s selection for attorney general, Pam Bondi, has said that when Trump returns to power, “the prosecutors will be prosecuted.”
Moreover, Trump didn’t recruit these people or anybody else. They recruited him.
Every one of his nominees campaigned for these jobs by engaging in conspicuous displays of submission and flattery directed toward Trump.
He singles out some of the flatterers: Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, Elise Stefanik, Kristi Noem, Mike Waltz, Lee Zeldin, and Stephen Miller.
Ten of Trump’s picks so far were Fox News hosts or contributors who repeatedly mouthed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen, about January 6 being a “peaceful protest,” and Biden being the force behind Trump’s prosecutions.
Some of Trump’s picks showed up at his criminal trial in Manhattan, where they verbally attacked members of the presiding judge’s family on behalf of Trump, who was under a rule of silence.
Some picks appeared at his campaign rallies, expanding on Trump’s lies and lavishing him with praise.
Many made large donations to Trump’s campaign. Five of his picks so far are billionaires.
Reich concludes:
People who work for a president are often reluctant to be bearers of bad news. Presidents are typically surrounded by “yes” men and women afraid to say anything that will ruffle powerful feathers.
As a result, presidents can make huge mistakes — invading Iraq and Afghanistan, deregulating Wall Street and then bailing it out when its gambling gets out of hand, pardoning Richard Nixon, waging war in Vietnam.
Trump’s toadies are even less likely to cross him. To the contrary, they’ll egg him on.
The years ahead would be dangerous enough if Trump sought out unprincipled enablers.
The coming years will be even more perilous because unprincipled enablers have sought out Trump.
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