Devastating column outlines why Trump’s coronavirus response was ‘doomed to fail’

President Donald Trump appointed a new chief of personnel for the White House that had no experience in the White House or personnel. It infuriated the head of the Office of Personnel Management so much she quit.

Johnny McEntee, the new director of the Office of Presidential Personnel reports directly to the president. But according to the Washington Post, the youngster's inexperience is now causing problems for a White House desperate for experience.

"So, it’s not hard to imagine the gravity of a situation in which either of them, or any of their other dedicated colleagues, would be replaced if, for instance, they fall out of favor with Trump," the report said. "But that’s a real risk: In a moment when the White House might need to quickly vet and appoint critically needed personnel, the Presidential Personnel Office, the department designed to perform exactly that function — which I ran during the last year of the Obama administration — has been gutted and turned into a vehicle for enforcing loyalty and carrying out vendettas."

Over the past several years Trump has been in office, the top priority for hiring staff has been loyalty, not experience and political agenda over American interest. The result has been a lack of experts in key federal agencies during the most significant health crisis in a generation.

"Before the covid-19 crisis, the widespread number of vacancies across the executive branch were well known. Trump has tried to place the blame on Senate Democrats, but the reality is that he hasn’t bothered to put forward nominations for close to 150 key federal positions," the report revealed. "He has said he doesn’t want to fill all the vacant positions and has admitted to preferring temporary, 'acting' officials in senior roles, who aren’t subject to Senate confirmation, and therefore not vetted for the benefit of the public and less accountable to Congress."

The turnover means that many people, including the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, is new to the job.

"This neglect is consistent with Trump’s governing approach, which sidelines and substitutes experts’ judgment for his own, and demands more subservience from executive branch agencies than is the norm," the Post explained. "Indeed, he has demonstrated downright hostility toward expertise, whether it comes from senior diplomats, scientists, military commanders, meteorologists or statisticians. And contra the president’s assertions that he can fill positions quickly if needed, the executive branch is not well-positioned to make this happen."

With McEntee at the helm, Trump's revenge on people has been enacted. He asked for lists of people believed to be anti-Trump to fire. Metaphorical heads began to roll.

The office is now not about appointing the best person for the job but ensuring Never Trumpers are purged and loyalists rewarded, said former Intelligence Inspector General Michael Atkinson. He was recently fired after he agreed with whistleblower reports that Trump violated the law.

But more, the inept, inexperienced or void in leadership means there is no continuity of operations across the entire government. If an agency head gets sick with coronavirus or dies, there should be a succession plan with qualified candidates to move into take over. Experts, however, don't exist.

Another concern is that the Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) is going to face a lot of questions as a new 9/11-style commission will begin investigating all of the mistakes made during the coronavirus crisis.

Trump once proclaimed, "I alone can fix it."

"But the president’s apparent belief that the way to do this is by haphazardly reducing head count is unsupported and a threat to the health and safety of Americans," the piece closed. "Discussions about vacancies are no longer academic. To help stem the spread of this virus, and future ones, the approach to personnel policy needs to change so government agencies and their experts can focus on their jobs, and not on whether they remain in the president’s good graces."

Read the full report at the Washington Post.