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Trump’s Puppeteer Theater

Campaign officials have warned two “America First” think tanks, both attempting to help staff a putative Trump administration, that their gabbing to the media has become an “unwelcomed distraction.” But as always in Trump world, the wrist-slap follows a loyalty test.

Donald Trump speaks at the New York Young Republican Club Gala at Cipriani Wall Street on December 09, 2023 in New York City.
Even Trump’s closest allies have acknowledged that perhaps the central failure of his administration was his inability to overcome the resistance of bureaucrats who second-guessed his policies, threw up legal roadblocks, or slow-rolled his agenda. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Tina Nguyen
December 14, 2023

Last week, top officials in Donald Trump’s campaign issued a terse, surprisingly blunt rejoinder to two Washington think tanks that had been publicly promoting their spec work to both blueprint and staff a second Trump administration. “Let us be very specific here: Unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,” Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement on Friday. “Let us be even more specific, and blunt: People publicly discussing potential administration jobs for themselves or their friends are, in fact, hurting President Trump … and themselves. These are an unwelcomed distraction.”