Trump runs administration 'like a family business' with select few 'insiders': expert

Donald Trump's administration is falling short on foreign policy and domestic issues because he runs it "like a family business".

Politico commentator Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, suggested the shortcomings of the president and his team is because of how internal affairs are handled. Daalder would suggest there's "very little evidence" to indicate Secretary of State Marco Rubio was relying on staffers, and that other department heads had a very stripped-back workforce.

Though Daalder would focus his attention on Rubio and Trump's hand in negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine, he would suggest others in the president's circle were also struggling with how the administration runs.

Daalder wrote, "Trump is hardly the first U.S. leader to rely on a small coterie of aides to discuss critical foreign policy issues. Former President George H.W. Bush ran the Gulf War with seven top officials, while Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden made many national security decisions during his presidential daily intelligence brief, which was attended by just a few top aides."

"What’s different here is that top aides in other administrations relied on an interagency process led by their staff to discuss issues, develop policy options and oversee implementation"

"Trump, meanwhile, runs the U.S. government like he ran his family business — from behind his desk in the Oval Office, where he meets with everyone, calls anyone and then decides policy on a whim. And his aides operate almost entirely on their own."

Daalder then listed those in "the president's circle" who could affect Trump's decision-making, particularly when focusing on the war in Ukraine. The ex-NATO ambassador listed "Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Presidential Peace Envoy Steve Witkoff and, since October, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner," as those insiders.

He added, "Of these key players, only Rubio has a substantial staff at the State Department and National Security Council, but even then, there’s very little evidence to suggest he relies on them in the ways his predecessors did."

"Whatever interagency discussions are happening, their influence on policy development at the highest levels is scant — if it exists at all. And according to foreign interlocutors, including diplomats in Washington, officials in both departments are approachable yet largely in the dark about what is happening."

The suggestion that Trump runs his administration "like a family business" comes as the administration hands a total of $735 million in contracts to 1789 Capital, a company partnered with Donald Trump Jr.