This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 1 episode of “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”
It’s safe to say a lot is happening in our country right now. We are in the middle of a war. It feels like there’s been a new foodborne illness outbreak nearly every week. Everything, from gas to healthcare to housing, costs more. And we know that amid all of this, the president of the United States is — putting it kindly — a little checked out.
But what about the people around him? What about the people Donald Trump has tasked with helping him run the country?
Let’s start with the guy who’s first in line for the presidency, someone who definitely wants the job in the future, JD Vance. This week the vice president spent his time musing with a 22-year-old evangelical influencer about the end times. “I think that there are things about the world that make me feel, like, not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us,” he told Bryce Crawford. “But again, I try not to focus too much on it.”
Trump has surrounded himself with incompetent people who were hired to tell him only what he wants to hear.
What about Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, the guy in charge of keeping Americans safe, who was brought in to rehab the reputation of the agency responsible for some of the Trump administration’s worst headlines? How’s he doing?
On Monday, when Mullin was asked about the presence of immigration officers at polling locations, the secretary stumbled through an attempt to turn the issue back on the Democrats, telling reporters they “throw out all these fearmongels to try to make ICE and President Trump’s administration look as worse as possible.”
I think he was trying for “fearmongers” and “as bad as possible” there. With a messenger like that, I’m sure Americans feel reassured that things over at DHS are under control.
What about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent? He’s the guy Trump put in charge of our economy at a time when more and more voters are outraged about the way American capitalism has left them behind. Surely he has something to say to ease those voters’ concerns.
Well, not quite. During an interview with Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow, Bessent slammed the millions of people who are skeptical about capitalism, labeling them “overeducated and under-earning,” adding that they were “underachievers who are jealous of those who want to go and work every day.” All he really needed was a top hat and maybe a monocle to come across as more dismissive.
Surely the administration has to have someone with a better approach for easing economic anxieties? What about Kelly Loeffler, the billionaire Trump put in charge of America’s Small Business Administration?
On Monday she revealed their big idea to save small businesses struggling under the weight of Trump’s tariffs: a “Shark Tank” rip-off hosted by some of America’s most MAGA-pilled celebrities, including rapper Nicki Minaj. I’m sure that’s just what America’s tariff-burdened small businesses were hoping for.
Trump has surrounded himself with wholly unserious people whose only job qualification is undying loyalty to him. It would be funny if these people didn’t have important responsibilities running the country.
And one job with some of the most important responsibilities has gone to one of the least qualified and least serious people: Pete Hegseth, who somehow is still the secretary of defense, overseeing the military during a time of war.
Hegseth has generated a lot of controversy over the past few days. On Monday we learned that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has taken the extraordinary step of resigning after repeated clashes with Hegseth, two sources told MS NOW.
His resignation makes him just the latest in a wave of top military officials who have been fired or pushed out or have resigned under Hegseth’s leadership. As The Atlantic notes, “Hegseth’s purge of the military has been so dramatic that … the military’s largest service is left without a top civilian leader, a Senate-confirmed top general, a confirmed Army general in charge of operations, or a confirmed commander of Army troops in Europe.”
And it appears the commander in chief doesn’t seem to be tracking how bad things have become. On Tuesday, Trump decided to try to shore up the dwindling ranks of America’s military leadership by formally nominating his acting secretary of the Navy to fill the role permanently.
The president’s nominee is Hung Cao, a failed Republican Senate candidate who once warned that the town of Monterey, California, was being overtaken by witches.
All of this comes as the war against Iran is once again ramping up. On Tuesday the U.S. launched a new round of strikes in Iran, one of which, according to Iranian officials, struck a wedding party and killed innocent civilians. U.S. Central Command confirmed that it was aware of the report and said, “The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” referring to the Revolutionary Guard. (Nevertheless, while they may not have been targeted, the U.S. has killed hundreds of Iranian civilians, including a strike on a school.)
Iran responded with its own wave of strikes targeting U.S. allies in the Gulf. And the president is once again threatening war crimes against Iran, saying that he could strike the country so hard that “when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!”
Trump continues to escalate this war, while Hegseth is purging its ranks of dissenting voices and openly ignoring anyone who tells him this is all a bad idea.
As The Washington Post reported Sunday, “Several U.S. military leaders have advised Hegseth that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland.” And now that those top leaders have voiced their disagreement with Hegseth’s strategy, how long do you think they’ll keep their jobs?
The president of the United States is supposed to surround himself with competent people who listen to the advice of experts and tell him when he’s steering the country toward catastrophe. But Trump does not run that kind of White House. Instead, he surrounds himself with incompetent people who were hired to tell him only what he wants to hear.
Allison Detzel contributed.
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