1. Well, Biden didn’t have Cabinet meetings at all for the most part, so I hate to complain. But a public Cabinet meeting is not a real Cabinet meeting. True, Trump proved in the epic confrontation with Zelenskyy that the presence of cameras won’t always inhibit him, but still: a true Cabinet meeting must be private and permit candid and open discussion from all involved.
2. This leads to the second problem: because it is a PR exercise and not a real Cabinet meeting, everyone except Trump comes off as scripted. Worse, they all come off as yes-people and sycophants. However, in front of cameras, Trump’s appointees can’t exactly start arguing with each other or the President. That should be obvious, but I’ve already had one Trump-Deranged colleague get on the phone to say, “See? It’s just like Stalin!” That’s the narrative, and all of the obsequious “Yes, under your leadership, Mr. President, the improvement in this area has been remarkable and America is truly great again!” boot-licking supports it. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Trump should hire me to train his team to be more convincing and less obsequious.
3. Trump is obviously very comfortable in the setting (too comfortable), so he’s indulging his ego, holding court, and rambling like only he can. Someone asked him about why a different portrait of FDR had replaced the one that hung in the White House previously, and that set him off on a long monologue about White House artwork. I can now predict how Trump’s mind works: he started talking about one portrait that had hung in the Lincoln bedroom, and I thought, “I bet he jumps to Clinton accepting campaign contributions in exchange for letting donors sleep there.” And he did! The good part of this performance is that Trump comes across as pleasant and frequently funny, though the Trump Deranged are literally incapable of seeing any humor in anything he does or says.
4. The bad part is that any time Trump gets going, exaggerations and misinformation are sure to follow. Today he got John Adams mixed up with John Quincy Adams at one point. True, most Americans probably don’t know the difference, but the President should.
5. Trump was asked about the controversy over the alleged Epstein client list, which Pam Bondi had once said was on her desk, and now says doesn’t exist. His reaction was to berate the questioner, saying that with everything that had happened in the past week, good and bad, that old news was not worthy of attention. Not a bad deflection, but the fact remains that Trump’s fans had been clamoring for the list since before the election because of rumors that prominent Democrats would be exposed there. Now they are up in arms and wielding conspiracy theories, and AG Bondi’s explanation of her evident reversal (“Oh, I meant the Epstein file was on my desk, not any client list!”) did not inspire confidence. Those so inclined—like almost my entire Facebook friend list–are now certain that key MAGA names are on the list, including Trump’s. The “This is old news” rationalization (#52, The Underwood Maneuver, or “That’s in the past“) won’t do the job.
6. Fox New broadcast the meeting live, while MSNBC and CNN didn’t broadcast it at all. Yeah yeah, the event was a PR stunt, but the public should see the President in action, and one has to believe that the two Axis networks didn’t broadcast it for the same reason Fox News did show it: the event would put Trump in good light.
Ethics Alarms 
If the televised Cabinet theatre is the quid pro quo for all the individual interviews/briefings his Cabinet have been performing damn near every day since the inauguration, I consider it well worth it.
Agree with Mr. Harrison. Clearly, this event was staged for the cameras. Additionally, we have no way of knowing that there wasn’t an earlier session that was closed to press, where stuff actually got hashed out.
Two things occur to me that would appear relevant here. First, although this was clearly staged and despite all the appearances of sycophancy, it’s pretty amazing to contrast the current Cabinet with the one Trump had during his first term. This gang is effective and actually gets shit done (I suspect that Susan Wiles is a big reason for that).
And second, for all the whining the left does about Trump, his transparency and willingness to engage with reporters stands in stark contrast with the cocoon surrounding Joe Biden, who was kept on an extremely short leash on the rare occasions he WAS allowed to talk with reporters. You’d think there would be at least grudging acknowledgement of that, but no.
Does Trump chum the waters, knowing that they’re going to use anything they can to make him look bad? Of course. That’s Julie Principle stuff. It clearly amuses him to do so.
You’d think there would be at least grudging acknowledgement of that, but no.
Thus proving they are all pond scum.
I suspect that Susan Wiles is a big reason for that
His failure to find a similar pro in Term I was a huge failing.
There’s still no excuse for mixing up the Adamses.
<i>His failure to find a similar pro in Term I was a huge failing.</i>
This is true, but then again, I’ve long believed that the person most surprised by Trump’s 2016 victory was Trump himself. He was the dog that actually caught the car, and then had to figure out what the hell to do with it.
We should not forget that the Republican Establishment did everything short of what the DNC and Hillary did to Bernie Sanders to make sure he didn’t win. As in, violate their own party rules. Trump was an insurgent candidate against his own chosen party back then, and then an insurgent candidate against the nation in the General.
He didn’t have much to choose from back then, when it came time to put his team together, and his political naivete meant that some of his early choices were either ridiculous (Amarosa) or easy to destroy (Carter Paige, Mike Flynn). Ultimately, some of the party came around, more out of self-preservation than anything else) and later appointees tended to be patriots (I actually think Bill Barr did a great job, under the circumstances). But in his first term, Trump lived in a house full of vipers.
That he was able to come back speaks volumes. History will certainly not be kind to Trump in the short term, and may not in the long term. But if history speaks of presidential greatness in terms of consequence, for better or worse – and it does – I think Trump will be among the greats. I won’t be around if/when that happens. So good luck proving me wrong.
For the record, I still think he’s well-qualified to be selected as the Biggest Asshole of the Last Two Centuries. Maybe longer.
This is true, but then again, I’ve long believed that the person most surprised by Trump’s 2016 victory was Trump himself. He was the dog that actually caught the car, and then had to figure out what the hell to do with it.
Oh, I’ve never doubted that for a second. He was running as a branding exercise. He didn’t expect to get the nomination, much less win. “Dog that caught the car” is a perfect analogy.
Is public obsequiousness more or less problematic than private obsequiousness.
I prefer the overt over the covert!
If someone on the Left compares Trump to Stalin, is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing? From what I see, there’s a good portion of the Left who still likes Stalin. Not at a Walter Duranty level, but enough to think that he and Mao were good guys.
I’d love to hear Bernie’s take on Joe.