Jen Psaki: Trump's 'best people' keep proving they're just not up for the job
This is an adapted excerpt from the May 29 episode of 'The Briefing with Jen Psaki.'
For years, Donald Trump has bragged that he only hires the 'best people.' But almost six months into his second term, many members of his administration are proving they just aren't up for the job.
Take former WWE executive Linda McMahon, whom Trump inexplicably put in charge of the Department of Education. On Tuesday, during a Senate hearing, Republican senators did their level best to lob McMahon softball questions to make it look like she knows what she's doing.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma tried to tee up an easy one, asking the secretary, 'What was we ranked nationally in math and reading in 1979?' McMahon responded that the U.S. was 'very, very low on the totem pole.' Mullin then had to inform her that we were actually ranked No. 1 in 1979.
In McMahon's (limited) defense, Mullin's question was garbled nonsense. I mean, setting aside the strange verb conjugation of 'what was we ranked,' he asked how the U.S. ranked 'nationally' when he apparently meant 'globally.' So clearly neither of these people is getting an A in reading comprehension or grammar.
But what about math? After Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said the U.S. spends $1.5 billion a year on federal grants for disadvantaged students, the senator claimed that the numbers added up to be 'over a trillion dollars' over 10 years.
After McMahon failed to correct the senator's estimation, Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island had to jump in to educate the pair, pointing out that $1.5 billion multiplied by 10 is not 'over a trillion dollars' but actually $15 billion.
Republican senators and Trump's education secretary failed spectacularly at a math and reading quiz of their own making, while they complained about America falling behind in math and reading.
Unfortunately, McMahon is not the only one of Trump's 'best people' making embarrassing mistakes. This week, David Richardson, the acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told staff he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, four sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
The Trump administration has said those comments were meant as a joke, but that was definitely not clear to the people in the room. FEMA is now heading into a new hurricane season with a staff that's been gutted by Trump's cuts, and the agency's staff is reportedly worried about Richardson's lack of experience.
Maybe Richardson should have Googled his job first to see what it entails. After all, that's what Trump's equally unqualified Social Security commissioner reportedly did.
Honestly, a little Googling might serve some of them well. Take Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who, last month, released his much-anticipated 'The MAHA Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again.' We soon learned that the report was riddled with errors and cited at least seven studies that do not exist.
Kennedy then updated his report in an effort to fix those mistakes, but, as it turns out, they actually added more errors to that revised version. The secretary has now somehow managed to screw up the same report twice.
So things aren't going great at FEMA, or Social Security, or HHS. But surely the Department of Homeland Security is running like a Swiss watch.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent out a press release that claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested an 'Illegal Alien who Threatened to Assassinate President Donald J. Trump.' It included an image of a threatening handwritten letter that Noem claimed had been sent by an undocumented immigrant in Milwaukee named Ramon Morales Reyes.
But it turns out local law enforcement officials do not think Morales Reyes sent that letter. In fact, they think that he was being set up. As The New York Times reports, 'Not long after the announcement, the government's story began to look shaky. … And as detectives in Wisconsin began looking deeper, they came to believe Reyes had been framed.'
Milwaukee County prosecutors have now filed identity theft and witness intimidation charges against another man, a lifelong Wisconsin resident. They said the man had written several threatening letters that included Reyes' name in the return address. 'Prosecutors said it was an attempt to catch the attention of the Trump administration and weaponize the threat of deportation against Mr. Reyes, who was scheduled to testify against the man at a robbery trial next month,' the Times reports.
So this guy, who is set to go on trial next month, allegedly tried to trick the Trump administration into going after the witness who would testify against him, and the Department of Homeland Security appears to have fallen for it.
Meanwhile, Trump's intelligence chief appears to be struggling with her job as well. As director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard is responsible for making sure that Trump is up to date on the latest intelligence, which includes his presidential daily brief.
But apparently that is proving difficult. Since taking office, Trump has taken his daily intelligence briefing, on average, less than once a week, according to his public schedule, which is far less than previous presidents (including his own first term).
So Gabbard is now reportedly resorting to what I would call creative methods. According to NBC News, one idea that's been discussed is possibly creating a video version of the PDB that looks and feels like a Fox News broadcast. NBC News reports, 'A new PDB could include not only graphics and pictures but also maps with animated representations of exploding bombs, similar to a video game.'
In other words, because Gabbard is bad at her job and the president of the United States doesn't like to read, career intelligence staffers may be forced to put on some kind of Fox News puppet show to get the president to pay attention.
That's the real problem with all of this: We all know that when it comes to people, Trump is not sending his best. There is a whole system of dedicated federal workers who actually make the government function, and who in turn can make even the most incompetent bureaucrat look vaguely competent. But Trump is making it impossible for them to do their jobs.
The Washington Post recently dug into all the ways Trump's efforts to increase government 'efficiency' have, ironically, buried federal workers under red tape. The report cites interviews with more than three dozen federal workers across 19 agencies, as well as records obtained by the outlet. Among the findings were:
At NASA, employees had to write several detailed paragraphs, across multiple rounds of emails, to win approval to buy fastening bolts.
At the Food and Drug Administration, once-routine tests on food, including monitoring for accuracy in labeling, coloring and exposure to heavy metals, have been significantly delayed because the agency began requiring department-level approval for expenses at every step.
At the Federal Aviation Administration, officials at air traffic control towers across two dozen West Coast airports are unable to easily pay to have the windows washed or shades cleaned.
At the Social Security Administration, Trump officials and DOGE have pushed thousands of central office workers to take lower-level positions answering phones in field offices. They also threatened to fire whoever didn't make the jump.
Government officials cannot purchase bolts for rockets, do food-safety testing or wash the windows at air traffic control towers without wading through layers and layers of new Trump-approved red tape.
All of the real people who make our government run are being squeezed, and all we're left with is the bizarre and clueless leadership of Trump's so-called very best people.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
21 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump: Iran strike ‘spectacular success'
Politics Trump: Iran strike 'spectacular success' June 22, 2025 | 2:19 AM GMT In an address to the nation, President Donald Trump, speaking from the White House on June 21, said U.S. warplanes had struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Hill
22 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump warns of more attacks; lauds ‘spectacular military success' on Iran nuclear sites
President Trump on Saturday declared U.S. strikes on Iran's key nuclear facilities were a 'spectacular military success,' but warned in an address to the nation that he could order further action if Tehran does not agree to a satisfactory peace agreement. 'Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror,' Trump said in remarks from the Cross Hall at the White House. 'Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.' The president had announced hours earlier on Truth Social that the U.S. had bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. Trump, who was joined by Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for his remarks, warned that Saturday's strikes could be the first in a wave of actions against Iran, which has been locked in conflict with Israel for nearly two weeks. Trump delivered his address from the doorway of the East Room, with the grand foyer in the background, the same place former President Obama delivered his address to the nation announcing the killing of Osama Bin Laden. 'This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,' Trump said. 'Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.' DEVELOPING
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US Attacks Three Main Nuclear Sites in Iran, Widening Conflict
(Bloomberg) — US President Donald Trump said American bombers struck Iran's three main nuclear sites, pulling the US directly into the country's conflict despite his longtime promises to avoid new wars. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown Trump said a 'payload of BOMBS' was dropped on Fordow, the uranium-enrichment site buried deep under a mountain and seen as vulnerable only to 'bunker buster' munitions that the US possesses. Natanz and Isfahan, two other sites, were also struck. The president called the operation 'very successful,' adding that the aircraft involved had exited Iranian air space. 'NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!' he wrote on Truth Social. Trump addressed the nation at 10 p.m. Washington time at the White House. Israel was notified in advance of the strikes, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the strikes, a senior White House official said. The move marks an extraordinary escalation by the president in the week since Israel began airstrikes across Iran and amounts to the most serious foreign-policy decision of his two terms so far. It goes against the advice of US allies in Europe as well as the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, which has repeatedly warned that nuclear facilities must never be attacked given the potential threat to nuclear safety — not to mention radiation leaks. Sign up for our breaking news alerts, and get the biggest stories from around the world delivered to your inbox as they happen. Iran has said it doesn't want a nuclear bomb, and Trump's own intelligence agencies had assessed recently it still hadn't committed to developing such a weapon. Trump, however, had dismissed those findings and had declined to rule out joining the Israeli strikes, which had also killed several prominent Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists. The US strikes could immediately open American assets in the Middle East to attack since Iran had warned it would retaliate if Trump ordered an attack. Trump's combative language in the last couple of days had also triggered new threats from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and led Iranian officials to call the US Israel's 'partner in crime.' Iran's retaliation could also come in the form of cyber attacks against American or Israeli interests by hackers linked to the regime in Tehran. Earlier Saturday, the State Department said the US had begun evacuating US citizens from Israel. The agency organized two flights to Athens from Tel Aviv with about 70 US citizens, family member and permanent residents, it said. 'I hope that the Iranians are measured in their response but there will be a response — this is an act of war by the United States against a foreign country, which has not attacked us lately,' said Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center. 'Americans are at risk all over the Middle East, all over the world.' Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that authorities in Isfahan confirmed multiple simultaneous explosions in Natanz and Isfahan early Sunday, describing them as 'aggressions' near the two nuclear facilities. Fears of an impending strike had eased after Trump's team said on Thursday he would make a decision within two weeks. On Friday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK had met with Iranian officials Geneva in a bid to prevent a US attack. The continued fighting has evoked fears of a regional conflict that results in massive civilian casualties, and disrupts the flow of energy and other trade through the region. About a fifth of the world's daily oil supply goes through the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia. For days, Trump had faced conflicting advice from his supporters, after he campaigned for president on promises to keep the US out of foreign wars, pointing to American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. MAGA allies including longtime Trump supporter Steve Bannon, have warned against any US intervention, insisting this is Israel's fight to finish. Other Republicans had been urging Trump to join the fight against Iran, arguing that Tehran was more vulnerable after days of air strikes by Israel, and there was an opportunity to deliver on the president's long insistence the regime cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Trump and his advisers had suggested in recent days that any strike would be limited. Trump briefed Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to people familiar with the matter. 'This is not the start of a forever war,' Senator Jim Risch, the Idaho Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on X. 'There will not be American boots on the ground in Iran. This was a precise, limited strike, which was necessary and by all accounts was very successful.' Energy experts have raised concerns that crude flows in the region could be imperiled if Iran and its proxies retaliate in response to a US attack. Fears have focused on the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that is a key transit point for 26% of the world's oil trade. Houthis have previously disrupted Red Sea shipping, with attacks on ships in the Bab el Mandeb strait forcing vessels to reroute around Africa. A broader attack — including potentially planting naval mines — on the Strait of Hormuz could have even wider consequences, since it's such a vital artery for the region's oil and gas output. What If Iran Tries to Close the Strait of Hormuz?: QuickTake US ally Israel had launched a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, saying the imminent threat of the regime in Tehran securing nuclear weapons had to be neutralized. Iran's military infrastructure was seriously damaged and a number of its top generals and atomic scientists were killed. But Israel lacked the heavy bombs and B-2 stealth jets believed to be required to destroy nuclear sites buried deep underground. Tehran had responded to Israel's strikes by firing waves of ballistic missiles and drones, breaching aerial defenses, striking several cities and causing unprecedented damage. But the number of projectiles launched by Iran dropped markedly after the first few days of the conflict, raising questions about the number of missiles left in its arsenal and its ability to launch them. 'Iran is going to be facing a real dilemma, because they've already been dramatically weakened,' said Dennis Ross, who served as President Bill Clinton's Middle East envoy and is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 'They will try to do something to show they didn't just capitulate or submit, but they have their own interest in trying to limit this.' —With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak, Eric Martin, Courtney McBride, Erik Wasson and Steven T. Dennis. (Updates with details of Iranian response, additional background.) Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
