Former Trump employees will become some of his harshest critics ahead of the election

This is an adapted excerpt from October 20 episode of Velshie.

Donald Trump he has repeatedly said that he employs only the “best people.” The claim began with a line on the campaign trail during his first term as president.

In June 2015, long before he took power in the Republican Party, Trump told crowds in South Carolina: “I know the best people. I know the best managers. I know the best dealers. I know people who will make us strong. I know guys who are very good.

This was a line that stuck. This was part of the outsider appeal that led him to victory in 2016. Government affairs were either corrupt or stupid he would only replace them with the best.

But once inside the White House, a different story emerged: The idea was that Trump’s office would resemble the boardrooms from his old reality show “Student”. But really, we ended up being more like an episode of “Survivor.”

The Trump White House took notice higher staff turnover — cabinet secretaries and senior advisers — than any president since at least Ronald Reagan, according to the Brookings Instituteion data it dates back to 1980. More government officials left office under Trump than under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden total.

And Trump is not in favor of an amicable breakup. Jeff Sessions was fifirst USA Senator who supported Trump in 2016. In 2017, Sessions, who served as Trump’s first attorney general, withdrew from Justice Department investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Trump seemed to think the attorney general was his personal lawyer, not the country’s lawyer, and never forgave him. After a year of tweeting about his dissatisfaction with Sessions, Trump finally fired him.

When Trump named Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State, – he said in a statement that the former ExxonMobil CEO was “one of the world’s most distinguished business leaders and international transaction decision-makers.” It was December 2016. Two years later after Tillerson was fired via Twitter, Trump said Tillerson, “he did not have the required mental capacity. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell.

We know Trump will take every opportunity to hit someone “shot like a dog”, but it’s not a one-way street. Some of Trump’s most vocal critics today are the same people who once saw him run the country up close.

Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper – also fired by tweet in 2019 AND The year 2020, respectively — both declared Trump unfit to serve.

And of course, Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to obey his order to overturn the 2020 election and whose life was in danger on January 6, is now speaking out cannot in good conscience support his former running mate in 2024.

There were also scammers. Trump’s decision to put Tom Price in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services lasted less than a year in the job after spending nearly $400,000 in government money on charter flights. His Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke he resigned in 2018 following the launch of a federal investigation into the secretary’s travel habits and conflicts of interest. The head of Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruit, he resigned after becoming the subject of 13 different ethics investigations — but not before asking a helper to try it out buy him a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel.

At one point, Trump grew fed up with the lengthy process of appointing new Cabinet officials. To avoid Senate confirmation after every tweet, Trump began appointing “acting secretaries” across the government, which did not require Senate confirmation and already carried with it an aura of fungibility.

In Interview with CBS News from February 2019, Trump defended the system, telling Margaret Brennan that he liked “playing (the roles) because I can move so fast. It gives me more flexibility.”

This is worth noting Project 2025, the incoming Trump administration’s conservative playbook encourages making this tactic an explicit policy.

Trump’s dependence on “acting” secretaries became more apparent after Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election. As Trump looked for ways to deny his loss, he desperately needed supporters at every level of government.

According to the Washington Post. reports that in these final days, Trump has turned to the bigoted John McEntee to get rid of disloyal employees. McEntee was 30 years old at the time, and in 2018 he failed the White House security exam.

McEntee, who had no political experience, could clean house. He reportedly handed out pink slips to officials, fired some, and demanded others not communicate with Biden’s presidential transition team.

McEntee ran the Office of Presidential Personnel in line with Trump’s will and all the suggestions in Project 2025: eliminate disloyalty, remind everyone who they work for and reward obedience. He is now senior advisor for Project 2025, responsible for the president’s personnel database to pre-screen potential hires for the next administration.

So when Trump tells you – and shows you – how he will run the government and who he will hire, believe him for the first time.

Armand Manoukian AND Allison Detzel contributed.