Tuesday, December 3, 2024

What did Donald Trump do today?

He appointed a billionaire to a major government post for the fourth consecutive day.

Trump reportedly offered Stephen Feinberg the number two position in the Defense Department today. Feinberg is a billionaire investor with no military experience, but he does have investments in companies that would stand to benefit from his influence over massive defense contracts.

This is at least the fourth consecutive day on which Trump has offered a major role in the government of the United States to one of its 800 wealthiest people. Since Feinberg is at least the ninth billionaire overall that Trump has chosen for this term so far, that means that more than 1% of all American billionaires are directly plugged into Trump's government. Taking the size of a typical presidential administration at about 400 people in major roles, the equivalent figure for non-billionaires would be something like 0.00015%.

Why does this matter?

  • Putting government exclusively in the hands of the very rich is a bad idea.
  • Government employees should not have billion-dollar conflicts of interest.

Monday, December 2, 2024

What did Donald Trump do today?

He appointed at least his eighth billionaire so far to a major government position.

Today, Trump said that he would appoint investment banker Warren Stephens as the United States' ambassador to the United Kingdom. 

In some respects, Stephens is an unusual choice for a prominent position in the Trump administration. He has never been publicly accused of rape or sexual assault, nor has he been caught covering up the sexual abuse of children at his businesses. He has never been accused or convicted of federal crimes, meaning he has never had to beg Trump for a pardon. He is not related by blood or marriage to Trump. He did not get the job by being someone Trump saw on TV. And while major ambassadorships often require extensive diplomatic experience, the posting to the Court of St. James has traditionally been a ceremonial one, with professional State Department staff carrying most of the load, so Stephens' complete lack of relevant experience is less of an issue.

There is one way that Stephens fits the Trump mold, though—he's one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth of $3.4 billion dollars. That is roughly 42,178 years' worth of the median annual household income in the United States.

Stephens (inherited money; family investment banking firm) joins other Trump (inherited money and evaded taxes; family real estate company) appointees with billions of dollars in wealth, including
  • Charles Kushner, ambassador to France ($1.5B, inherited money; family real estate company)
  • Linda McMahon, secretary of education ($3B; wealth from husband's entertainment company)
  • Steve Witkoff, envoy to the Middle East ($1B, real estate)
  • Massad Boulos, senior advisor ($10B, inherited money; family business conglomerate)
  • Scott Bessent, secretary of the treasury ($1B, hedge funds and investment banking)
  • Vivek Ramaswamy, honorary advisory board on "governmental efficiency" ($1.1B, inherited money; hedge funds and venture capital)
  • Elon Musk, honorary advisory board on "governmental efficiency" (~$330B, inherited money; credit card processing, auto manufacturing, and government contracts)

Why does this matter?

  • Having money, especially inherited money, is not the same thing as being qualified.
  • It's bad if you need an unbelievable amount of money to have influence in the United States government.

Sunday, December 1, 2024

What did Donald Trump do today?

He gave his son-in-law's father a government job for the second day in a row.

Trump said today that he would be appointing Massad Boulos, the father of his daughter Tiffany's husband, as his senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. This came less than a day after he announced that his other daughter's father-in-law would be appointed Ambassador to France.

Trump's announcement did not mention the family relationship.

Unlike Charles Kushner, Boulos is not a convicted felon, nor did he ever send a sex tape of his brother-in-law to his own sister. He is, however, a billionaire with private business interests in the Middle East—or, as Trump put it, a "dealmaker" whose deals will now be influenced by his formal role in government. 

Boulos has no diplomatic, military, or national security background, such as would be typical for presidential advisors. He does have some past political affiliations with Hezbollah but, as Middle East expert Aron Lund puts it, he is "more readily understood in light of the personalities orbiting Mar-a-Lago than …in terms of U.S. national interest."

Why does this matter?

  • Nepotism is bad because it makes government worse.
  • The president is supposed to serve the American people, not make his family richer and more powerful.
  • The best person for the job isn't just the richest one you know.