Trump’s appointments are worse than you think 

Last week, President Trump named Bill Pulte, a 38-year-old real estate heir, the acting Director of National Intelligence. Pulte had spent his tenure at the Federal Housing Finance Agency mining mortgage records to find evidence, however flimsy, to justify prosecution of the president’s political enemies. 

The White House described Pulte, who has no background in national security or intelligence work, as “exactly the outsider leadership needed.” 

Even Republicans could not contain their dismay. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned that “we don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he saw no “evidence of qualifications for that job.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) labeled Pulte an “incendiary attack dog.” And former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) observed: “Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute.”

But Trump has little interest in experience. In 2016, he became the first person elected president with no prior public or military service. What matters to him in subordinates is loyalty, and a willingness to use the power of the U.S. government to punish his critics and reward his friends.

Determined not to repeat the supposed mistake of his first term, when experienced Cabinet officials sometimes derailed his worst impulses, Trump has made many staggeringly unqualified appointments since his reelection in 2024. Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and armed forces veteran whose largest prior command was a 200-person National Guard unit, is by far the least experienced Defense secretary in recent history.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic with no background in public health administration, now........

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