When he was campaigning for President in 2016 Donald Trump said repeatedly that he would hire “the best people” for his Administration. Take a look at this video.
Please ignore Stephanie Ruhle’s and Ali Velshi’s criticism of the people he’s hired in the above video. He would call them Fake News. Their opinions aren't important for this discussion. Let's look at what really matters. Let’s see what Trump has said about the people he hired.
1) Trump On Rex Tillerson: “didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock . . . He was lazy as hell.”
Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
2) Trump on former White House communications aide, Manigault Newman: Wacky. . . vicious, but not smart.”
Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2018
3) Trump on Wilber Ross: "past his prime"
Trump himself has lashed out at Ross in Oval Office meetings, telling the man who once helped bail him out in Atlantic City that he’s “past his prime” and “no longer a killer” and trying to bench him from making trade deals, according to three people familiar with the comments.
4) Trump on Anthony Scaramucchi: a highly unstable “nut job” who . . . unfortunately wheedled his way into my campaign. I barely knew him until his 11 days of gross incompetence-made a fool of himself, bad on TV. Abused staff
Anthony Scaramucci is a highly unstable “nut job” who was with other candidates in the primary who got shellacked, & then unfortunately wheedled his way into my campaign. I barely knew him until his 11 days of gross incompetence-made a fool of himself, bad on TV. Abused staff,...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2019
Jeff Sessions was a disaster as attorney general. Should have never been attorney general, was not qualified. He's not mentally qualified to be attorney general.
6) Trump on James Mattis: "the world’s most overrated general"
Of course, these are only the people who have been hired by Trump who Trump now says are overrated, not mentally qualified, wacky, dumb as a rock, or nut jobs. They don’t count those who have left in disgrace because of corruption or who are still in his Administration but are as corrupt as hell like Tom Price, Betsy DeVos, or Scott Pruitt. And objectively, General Mattis was actually a very good hire, but we are looking at the quality of Trump's hires based on his own criteria.
And based on Trump’s own criteria, Trump either lied when he said he’d hire the best people or he is a terrible judge of character who is totally incompetent in his ability to hire the best. I hope Joe Biden asks Trump which it is.
7) Trump on his former National Security Advisor, John Bolton: Wacko. . fool . . . dope
Wacko John Bolton’s “exceedingly tedious”(New York Times) book is made up of lies & fake stories. Said all good about me, in print, until the day I fired him. A disgruntled boring fool who only wanted to go to war. Never had a clue, was ostracized & happily dumped. What a dope!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020
While I agree with Trump's assessment of Bolton--he is indeed a wacko warmonger, as I discussed here, the time to weed out the wackos is before you employ them, not after they have left your employ.
Update 6/18/2020: I just added Trump's comments about John Bolton.
