Monumental Sign Trump Is Running Scared: Political Guru
The president made a telling move during his nightmare week, one political analyst says.
President Donald Trump has realized that he messed up by surrounding himself with scandal-mired figures and is now “running scared,” one political analyst says.
Foreign policy expert David Rothkopf said on The Daily Beast Podcast that he sees “a sign” that the 79-year-old president and his chief of staff, “Ice Maiden” Susie Wiles, are panicking as his Cabinet of embattled officials monopolizes attention.
“They were picking the worst people they could to say, ‘Hey, we can pick the worst people we can.’ And now it’s blowing up in their face,” Rothkopf told host Joanna Coles, citing the cascade of controversies that engulfed Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. within the span of a few days last week.
Rothkopf quipped that Trump’s Cabinet has ushered in a “golden age of chaos” that the president and his chief of staff are now trying to rein in: “They’re just saying, ‘God, we just don’t need the headaches.’”
Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
He added, “Trump knows they’ve got to go, and Susie Wiles knows they’ve got to go.”
The author and former Foreign Policy editor-in-chief argued that Trump’s nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director on Thursday signals that the president and Wiles are hoping to turn a page as his other appointments flounder.
“They appointed a head of the CDC who is a woman, who actually is a public health professional, was actually a former... deputy surgeon general, who is respected in the field, and who is a woman of color, who is the least Trumpy nomination they’ve made anywhere, and is a good pick,” Rothkopf said.
Kennedy’s announcement of Schwartz’s appointment was met with disdain by his MAHA base. Schwartz’s track record runs directly counter to the movement’s anti-vaccine fervor; the retired rear admiral has previously supported and helped implement military vaccine mandates.
Department of Health and Human Services
The appointment of Schwartz, a Brown University-educated vaccine supporter, at the helm of the CDC marks a sharp turn away from its MAHA-fication, which saw Kennedy overhaul a critical vaccine advisory committee to install vaccine skeptics like him.
Sign Up for The Swamp Newsletter
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
It also stands out as an appointment rooted in relevant qualifications, unlike several of Trump’s other appointments. Kennedy, the nation’s top health official, has promoted conspiracy theories and has no formal medical training, for example, and Hegseth, who wants to be called “Secretary of War,” was a Fox News host, and faced allegations of excessive drinking prior to taking over the Pentagon.
“Susie Wiles was getting credit as chief of staff for not having the kind of turnover that Trump had in his first term and for sort of keeping a lid on all of this,” Rothkopf said. “But she’s just gotten to the point of no return.”
Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
Rothkopf quipped that these appointments have ushered in a “golden age of chaos” of Trump and Wiles’s making, one that they are now trying to rein in: “They’re just saying, ‘God, we just don’t need the headaches. Let’s get a professional in here and stop having these conversations.”
Wiles, 68, has sought to redirect attention to the Trump administration’s efforts on “affordability” as the November midterms inch closer, but Trump and his Cabinet of embattled figures have derailed that effort by sucking up the oxygen amid multiple controversies.
The FBI director has previously drawn scrutiny after being caught on camera chugging a beer with the men’s hockey team after their Winter Olympics win.
William Turton/X
Patel overtook the news cycle over the weekend when The Atlantic published bombshell allegations that Patel, 46, has been binge-drinking and behaving erratically. He has denied the allegations.
A few days earlier, Vance had sparked uproar by telling the pope to “be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” while Hegseth drew ridicule for citing a prayer largely invented by Quentin Tarantino for the movie Pulp Fiction to praise a rescue mission during the Iran war.
At the same time, a new biography drawing on Kennedy’s own diaries revealed that the health secretary once sliced off the penis of a roadkill raccoon in front of his children and took it home.
On Monday, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer became the third Cabinet secretary to be forced out in the last seven weeks, having come under investigation by her department’s internal watchdog over a laundry list of complaints and allegations of potential misconduct, including that she had an affair with her bodyguard.
Following her resignation, Chavez-DeRemer wrote in a statement on X: “The allegations against me, my family, and my team have been peddled by high-ranked deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media and continue to undermine President Trump’s mission.”
“Susie Wiles was getting credit as chief of staff for not having the kind of turnover that Trump had in his first term and for sort of keeping a lid on all of this,” Rothkopf said. “But she’s just gotten to the point of no return.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House, the Pentagon, the FBI, the HHS, and Vance’s office for comment.
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday on YouTube, and on other podcast platforms the next morning. Follow our new feed on your favorite podcast platform at beast.pub/dailybeastpod and subscribe on YouTube to watch full episodes.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
- Account (completed)
- Payment (completed)
- Confirmation (completed)
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
- 1Account
- 2Payment
- 3Confirmation
Sign in or create an account
Login dialog
Loading comments…