'Dwindling MAGA talent pool': New appointment exposes Trump weakness

On Monday, May 12, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that President Donald Trump was appointing Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to head the Library of Congress. The announcement came four days after Trump fired Dr. Carla Hayden, the first Black woman to hold that position.

Before he joined the second Trump Administration, Blanche represented Trump as a defense attorney in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money/falsified business records case — which found him being convicted on 34 criminal counts.

In an opinion column published on May 14, MSNBC's Hayes Brown argues that Trump's appointment of Blanche and "unceremonious" firing of Hayden underscore the weaknesses of the "MAGA talent pool."

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"Trump doesn't trust many people, and he prioritizes loyalty over efficiency," Hayes observes. "Thus, we see him appointing the same people to multiple roles. But the practice also speaks to how few people there are inside Trump's orbit and willing to work for his administration…. That lack of Senate-confirmed staffers able to assume acting positions in federal agencies would be a hinderance in most administrations. However, in this case, it provides an opportunity for the Trump Administration to further consolidate power in the hands of a few loyalists."

Brown continues, "Yes, running multiple federal offices would be an incredible challenge for someone who wanted to see them all succeed — but (it’s) not necessarily the case that Trump's appointees want the agencies to which they’ve been assigned to do well."

Trump's decision to fire Hayden and replace her with Blanche, Brown laments, wasn't motivated by a genuine concern for the Library of Congress' wellbeing.

"Trump naming Blanche to take over the Library of Congress makes for a fascinating test case whether the White House can name agency leaders in bad faith in the hopes that they negatively impact its functions," Brown argues. "And the strong pushback from Blanche's would-be staff shows that while whispering might be appropriate in the stacks, when confronted with a power grab, these librarians aren’t afraid to raise their voices."

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Hayes Brown's full article is available at this link.