Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 5
After making it a year without firing anyone, the backlog of cruelty and incompetence proved to be too strong a sewage current for even Donald Trump. Three
homo sapiens horribilis were fired in quick succession:
Firing season is here.
Here is the fundamental problem, and it is one Trump will never solve because it is downstream of who he is: he picks people for loyalty, and loyalty in his world is inversely correlated with competence.
The kind of person who will say “yes, sir” to anything is, almost by definition, not the kind of person who can actually do a cabinet-level job. You cannot prosecute complex federal cases, run a 3-million-person military, manage a 22-agency national security apparatus, or direct the FBI on trolling, Truth Social posts, and asskissinghttps://open.substack.com/pub/therickwilson/p/your...
No. of Recommendations: 0
I dont feel he selects for loyalty.
He wants sycophants.
And people that look photogenic or better.
Loyalty is --- James Baker to HW Bush. Conde to Dubya. Valerie Jarrett to Obama.
Trump has nobody like that -- - nobody.
A spouse is Laura to W. Nancy to Reagan. Dr Jill to Biden. Rosalynn to Carter.
Trump has never, and doesn't have that either.
His 'picks' are as loyal as he is -- NOT at all. When the cash and likes and retweets get scarce (if ever)---then they'll walk out too.
They all belong together.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Do you think that Trump realizes that he can't fire Vance, but if Vance plays his 25th Amendment cards right that he can fire Trump?
No. of Recommendations: 3
After making it a year without firing anyone, the backlog of cruelty and incompetence proved to be too strong a sewage current for even Donald Trump. Three homo sapiens horribilis were fired in quick succession:
Or, maybe he is getting rid of the "DEI hires", as he leans more heavily on his "traditional values" ie racist, religious whack, base. Kegsbreath started getting rid of the "DEI" cadre a year ago, purging women, non-white, and "DEI friendly" flag rank officers.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 2
Do you think that Trump realizes that he can't fire Vance, but if Vance plays his 25th Amendment cards right that he can fire Trump?
Off the top of my head, I can only think of one recent VP that resigned; Agnew. Of course, those felony corruption charges, while Gov of Maryland, played a role. But, I do recall that, in early 73, I happened to be taking a Political Science class. The Prof said, at that time, that Nixon would need to get rid of Agnew. "Mr no contest" didn't quit until several months later.
Blanche can probably cook up a whispering campaign to put enough pressure on Vance to get him to quit. Or Trump can publicly ridicule him enough.
Who would Trump latch on to? TX Lt Gov Dan Patrick? Congressman Jim Jordan? Patrick chairs Trump's Theocracy Commission.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 3
Or, maybe he is getting rid of the "DEI hires", Well, this blows that theory. Straight, white, male, Methodist, rich, donor.
Navy Secretary John Phelan Leaving Trump Administration; Hung Cao Serving as Acting Secretary
“Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately,” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X. “On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy. We wish him well in his future endeavors. Undersecretary Hung Cao will become Acting Secretary of the Navy.”https://news.usni.org/2026/04/22/navy-secretary-jo...His name does appear on a couple passenger manifests for Epstein's plane, but that doesn't seem to bother Trump the moral leader at all.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 2
Hung Cao
Ok, everybody.
It’s a mark of maturity to be able to say that name with a straight face…
No. of Recommendations: 4
"<Phelan's> name does appear on a couple passenger manifests for Epstein's plane, but that doesn't seem to bother Trump the moral leader at all.
Phelan's wife was a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.
Also on the flights with Phelan and Epstein was Melania's Paris modeling agent.
