November 12, 2024

Loyalty Is Common Thread as Trump Fills Foreign Policy, Immigration Jobs

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Journalist: Alexander Ward

President-elect Donald Trump is stocking his cabinet and White House staff with loyalists with deep congressional experience who back his agenda on immigration and foreign policy—mostly shunning establishment Republicans whom he blames for thwarting his first-term goals.

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“Trump looks set on bringing in a team that prizes loyalty, which could instill some message discipline but also risks group think,” said Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security, a centrist Washington think tank.

Trump doesn’t make decisions in an orderly process, often announcing them without consulting advisers or via social media. Staffers during the first term often tried to walk back some of those decisions. Loyalists are more likely to carry out them without providing alternative ideas or debating the pitfalls, analysts said.

Read the full article and more on The Wall Street Journal.

Author

  • Richard Fontaine

    Chief Executive Officer

    Richard Fontaine is the Chief Executive Officer of CNAS. He served as President of CNAS from 2012–19 and as Senior Fellow from 2009–12. Prior to CNAS, he was foreign policy ad...