More Than 70% of Trump’s Top Advisors Have Denounced Him
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Al Drago/Getty Images
By Brian Dougherty
It is often said that a leader’s true nature is best judged by their top lieutenants. It stands to reason that those lieutenants with the most critical responsibilities—and thus the most access—would provide the clearest window into a President’s character, competence, and credibility.
The 14 White House, Cabinet, and bureau positions listed below are arguably the most critical, as they direct the messaging, policies, and actions that most impact our democracy, safety, and Constitution. These top confidants advise the President on matters of law, order, and national security, including crime, border control, and counterterrorism.
Vice President Mike Pence, 4 years of service (2017)
“The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution. I believe anyone who puts themself over the US constitution should never be President. I can not in good conscience endorse him”
White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly, 18 months of service (2017)
“The depth of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life”
White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, 15 months of service (2019)
“I quit because he failed to meet my expectations as a boss. It was a time when we needed the President to be the President, and he wasn’t.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 22 months of service (2018)
“We can't become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics—those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, 14 months of service (2017)
“A man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details…but rather just impulsively kind of says, ‘This is what I believe.”
Secretary of Defense General James Mattis, 23 months of service (2017)
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership”
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, 13 months of service (2019)
“I think he’s unfit for the Presidency. I look for a candidate who puts the country first, has character and integrity, who can unify the country and someone who can lead. Trump doesn’t check any of those boxes”
Attorney General William Barr, 22 months of service (2019)
“Trump is unfit for the Presidency…he does not have the discipline. He does not have the ability for strategic thinking or linear thinking or setting priorities or how to get things done in the system. It’s a horror show when he’s left to his own devices. You may want his policies but he will not deliver those policies. He will deliver chaos.”
United States Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, 23 months of service (2017)
“It’s disgusting…we can’t have someone who sits there and mocks men and women who try to protect America. It’s a pattern, a pattern of chaos, of irresponsibility.”
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, 29 months of service (2017)
“It was a shock to me. I mean, you’re the President of the United States, not some new congressman or someone on media.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, 16 months of service (2018)
“It became clear that saying no (to illegal directives) and refusing to do it myself was not going to be enough.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, duration not specified (2019)
On Trump’s lack of leadership on January 6, “I was very disappointed the President didn't speak out sooner. I think he had a role to do that.”
National Security Advisor Josh Bolton, 17 months of service (2019)
“Decisions are made in a scattershot fashion, especially in the potentially mortal field of national security. This is a danger for the republic”
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, 14 months of service (2017)
“Trump encouraged an attack on the first branch of government, an attack on the peaceful transition of power, that was an abandonment of his responsibilities to the Constitution.”
White House Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert, 14 months of service (2017)
“Trump is on the verge of leaving behind a federal government, and perhaps a large number of major industries, compromised by the Russian government”
Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, 4 months of service (2019)
“It is my belief you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country . . . you are using the military to create fear in the minds of the American people—and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people."
White House Communications Director Stephanie Grisham, 10 months of service (2019)
“(Trump) has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth.”
CIA Director Gina Haspel, 32 months of service (2018)
“We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing (referring to January 6th) is insanity. (Trump) is acting out like a 6-year-old with a tantrum.”
FBI Director James Comey, 16 months of service (2013)
“Trump is morally unfit to be President”
While fallings-out among top officials are nothing new, what is disturbingly unprecedented is the sheer number of people serving the longest in these top positions who have not only refrained from endorsing former President Trump but have also outright denounced him. Of the 25 officials who served at least 10 months in these positions under Mr. Trump, 19 have rebuked him—not based on his policies but on his character and leadership. That’s 76%, a stunning percentage even for a nonconformist president. What do they know about this man that we don’t?
According to presidential historians, nothing like this has happened before in U.S. politics—not in the last 100 years at least. Not even Nixon faced this level of dissension in the ranks. This should give any voter, especially the independent-minded, serious pause.