Forget competence, Trump wants loyalty

In February, Trump installed John McEntee, 29, as the new director of the PPO. McEntee has been involved in Trump world since 2015. Before joining the Trump campaign as a volunteer, he had been the starting quarterback for the UConn Huskies—where a video of his trick shots went viral—and he later worked at Fox News. After the 2016 election, McEntee became Trump’s personal assistant—but in 2018 he was fired by then-chief of staff John Kelly and escorted out of the White House after being denied a security clearance reportedly due to problems related to online gambling and his taxes. Within 24 hours, he was rehired to Trump’s reelection campaign as a senior adviser for campaign operations. But with Kelly long gone, McEntee was brought back into government earlier this year. Since taking over the PPO, McEntee hired a college senior, James Bacon, 23, to serve alongside him. Bacon previously worked for McEntee on the president’s reelection campaign.

McEntee has initiated a Never Trump witch hunt. According to Politico, he held a meeting on February 20 “with White House liaisons of Cabinet departments where he asked officials to find Trump appointees who may be anti-Trump, according to an administration official familiar with the meeting.” He also reportedly “told them that PPO was going to take a look at all appointees at some point and re-vet them to see if they’ve been disloyal in any way.” While dramatic changes are “likely to be delayed until after November,” McEntee reportedly warned the agencies “to stop moving around officials who are viewed as anti-Trump to other agencies.”