Mick Mulvaney is the acting chief of staff. Peter Gaynor is the acting administrator of FEMA. Russell Vought is the acting director of OMB. Kevin McAleenan is the acting secretary of homeland security. David Bernhardt is the acting secretary of the interior. Patrick Shanahan is the acting secretary of defense. Defense and Homeland Security . . . who needs them, anyhow?
Why is this? Why would a chief executive staff large portions of his administration with conditional appointments? There are only two explanations. Either the president is lazy and disorganized. Or he is trying to exert an extra level of control.
Firing a confirmed secretary of defense, for instance, is a big deal. People would notice. Which gives a confirmed secretary some small bit of leverage in dealing with a president. Not enough leverage to force the president’s hand—but enough to force the president to listen to an opposing view if the SecDef thinks the commander-in-chief is making a mistake.
President Trump does not want his top advisers to have even that level of independence. You could look at this charitably and call it top-down management. The less charitable interpretation is that he values lockstep loyalty over intelligence, judgments, skill, or experience.
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