Ex-Trump official just revealed what his first-term staff really thought of the president
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U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Paris Orly airport, following the G7 Summit, in Orly, France, June 17, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump loves to brag about his “extreme intelligence” and “very good brain,” so he’s not going to like what one official who served during his first term has revealed about what the White House staff thought of the chief executive.
“In the first term, only a handful of folks DIDN’T think Trump was a moron,” posted Miles Taylor, who served in the Department of Homeland Security under Trump, on Thursday. “The rest of the people I worked alongside — from Cabinet members to staff assistants — realized that the president was an idiot. Take it for what you will. But that’s the truth.”
Taylor has previously exposed insider White House secrets before, having penned the anonymous 2018 New York Times op-ed entitled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” which revealed a movement within the president’s ranks to oppose his most radical impulses.
Trump has frequently touted his intelligence over the course of his political career, claiming to have “the best words,” repeatedly bragging about passing cognitive tests that doctors warn are only for diagnosing severe disorders like dementia and boasting about his “mental stability and being, like, really smart.” But regardless of Trump’s assertions, many insiders, experts and allies have raised concerns about his mental fitness and generally poor health. Doctors have warned of “flashing signs” of “immense cognitive decline,” like his tendency to repeat himself, and even those in Trump’s own family have noted his unfitness to serve.
Experts and those in Trump’s orbit aren’t alone in this assessment. Polls show that the majority of Americans doubt his fitness to hold office, with 59 percent saying he doesn’t have the mental sharpness to lead the country. Another 55 percent said he lacks the physical fitness to hold office.
What’s more, Taylor’s first-term revelation comes as the world has learned many of the White House’s second-term secrets via the book Regime Change. The tell-all exposed much that Trump would likely rather remain hidden, especially regarding his fragile, isolated state of mind.
One story, for example, recounts how after donor Elon Musk criticized Trump’s signature Big Beautiful Bill, the president was heard bemoaning, "They always leave me. They always do this. This is why I can't have friends."