Trumpworld’s Least Favorite Cabinet Secretaries
A Trump adviser would not confirm that Bondi’s classification stemmed from his handling of the Epstein files. This advisor declined to answer follow-up questions about Bondi because Epstein was not something they were willing to discuss over text. Instead, they responded with the red face emoji (😳) and shared their list:
“The worst, Bondi,” they begin. “2/ Bondi. 3/ Bondi. 4/ Bondi. 5/ HegsethRFKTulsiNoem.”
The bulk pick for number five elucidated something else I’ve noticed recently: This time, the obvious incompetence of many senior officials actually helps prevent any sustained pressure on a cabinet secretary or agency head. It ends up being in everyone’s best interest if there are multiple dumpster fires at the same time, rather than one big fire.
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary who oversees ICE — or at least plays that role on TV — hasn’t escaped attention either. “The president’s biggest vulnerabilities are Lutnick and Noem, followed by RFK,” a senior administration official told me, without explaining why.
Under Noem’s tenure as head of DHS, Trump’s immigration polling numbers, once one of his strengths, have plummeted, with more than half of respondents saying he has gone too far, according to the latest New York Times/Siena poll.
Then there’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently made an announcement with the president about an unproven link between the active ingredient in Tylenol and autism spectrum disorder. (It’s the one that gave rise to Trump’s iconic quote: “Nothing bad can happen, only good can happen.”)
Another Trump adviser described the cabinet hot seat as “an ever-changing target,” but they were confident in placing Lutnick at number one and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at number two.
Gabbard’s goodwill has fluctuated, a third Trump adviser said. She was on shakier ground in the early months of the administration, they said, but the president is “over the moon with Tulsi” because of how she handled the release of various declassified documents. In several cases, Gabbard released material that was already in the public domain or not previously digitized. Earlier this year, she published tens of thousands of pages on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy Sr. and Martin Luther King Jr. Those publications, however, lacked major revelations, as did her selective declassifications of documents on the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
