In Trump's Cabinet, flattery is the job. Governing is secondary

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In Trump’s Cabinet, flattery is the job. Governing is secondary
A New York Times review of hours of meetings found officials spend more time fawning than governing

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published June 2, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump has the title and the great powers of the presidency. But it is not enough for him. His real goal is to be America’s first dictator or king. The presidency is a skin suit that barely conceals this ambition.

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His Cabinet and senior staff consist of extremist ideologues, like White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; businessmen and powerbrokers, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and power-hungry shape-shifters including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

But regardless of category or position, their most important qualification is loyalty to Trump and MAGA rather than to the Constitution, the American people and the nation. For them, there is no contradiction or tension — Trump is the State. This is the logic of political personality cults and authoritarianism.

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Presidents not only symbolize and embody the values of the nation — they reveal them. What Wednesday’s scene at the White House revealed is an America that is not “the world’s greatest democracy,” but a kakistocracy, a system of government administered by a country’s worst and least qualified people where those at the highest level of governance are competing for the leader’s approval rather than governing effectively. This is a profound crisis of leadership and legitimacy. ...........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/06/02/in-trumps-cabinet-flattery-is-the-job-governing-is-secondary/