Trump’s in a Bind – A Sea of Self Servants; a Dearth of Public Servants

Donald Trump has a real problem, and he will have to deal with it.  He can do it one of two ways  - stay mum or “you are fired.”

My guess is that he will refocus attention and do nothing. 

Yes, Tom Price, his Health Secretary, totally abused his office and his responsibilities by flying regularly on private and military planes rather than commercial ones while carrying out the people’s business.  It’s also very likely that he has pulled off other scams yet to be discovered since he was confirmed as Health Secretary.

None of Price’s behavior should come as a surprise.  After all, his Republican colleagues ignored his totally unacceptable behavior while a US Representative when he invested in drug companies at the same time as he championed legislation that made those very investments much more valuable.  And, that’s all we know about his time in Congress.  There is every reason to believe he did a whole lot more to serve his own interests while a Representative.

So, if lining his own pockets by supporting specific legislation was not enough to dissuade Donald Trump from making Price Health Secretary, why would he now send him packing over flying around on the people’s business in private planes?

What’s really holding him back from making the right decisions is that it would open a floodgate of demands that he fire many other key members of his government:  think his daughter and son-in-law for using a private server, his Environment Secretary for spending $25,000 on a private telephone booth in his office, his Treasury Secretary for flying around with his new wife in a private jet to watch the eclipse, and so on and so on.  The fact of the matter is that there are probably very few honest public servants in his Administration.

Look for Trump to change the conversation away from his sea of Self Servants and to his very problematic but less immediately troublesome tax proposal.