The Best People: Trump's Cabinet and the Siege on Washington

Description

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump claimed he would only hire "the best people." It hasn't quite turned out that way. From high-flying former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, whose penchant for first-class travel and a highly suspect housing arrangement raised Washington's collective eyebrow, to Education Secretary Betsy Devos, who vowed to protect children from "potential grizzlies," members of the Trump Cabinet have shown a startling penchant for headline-grabbing behavior. Despite Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp," petty corruption abounds. But what's really going on in the executive branch? In The Best People, journalist Alexander Nazaryan takes readers deep inside the Trump government. Nazaryan shows how laughable "scandals" like Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson's attempted purchased of a $31,000 dining set have masked far more important and potentially devastating developments: a coordinated, systematic effort by extreme right-wing Republicans to shred established institutions. Dogged in their conviction that the scope of government (apart from the military) should be reduced, Trump's Cabinet secretaries--many of them smarter than their gaffe-prone personalities might indicate--are dismantling the federal bureaucracy, showing long-term employees the door and gutting regulations. The result is a leaner, dumber government--one that will be far less equipped to protect the interests of regular Americans. The consequences will be felt for decades to come. In the tradition of Fire and Fury and It's Even Worse Than You Think, The Best People will be a riveting, harrowing, and essential read of Trump-era Washington.

Alexander Nazaryan is the Washington National Affairs correspondent for Yahoo. A former Newsweek staff writer, Nazaryan has written on politics, books and culture for the New York Times, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the Village Voice, the New Criterion, Salon, and many other publications.

[The] most authoritative look at the Trump cabinet, period.--AOL Build A fascinating read.--Charlie Sykes, "The Bulwark" podcast Alexander Nazaryan offers a field guide to the black lagoon of Trumpworld. --The Guardian An essential expose of the first two years of the Trump administration.... the first to fully capture just how dysfunctional - and destructive - Trump's executive branch has turned out to be.--The Washington Post Nazaryan shows clearly how Donald Trump, with his 'intentionally nonlinear presidency, ' established a Cabinet consisting of crucially inexperienced individuals in public service, each remarkably unqualified to assume key pivotal decision-making roles in politics ... Nazaryan provides glaring examples of the rampant conflicts of interests and ethical red flags... A fresh spin on a dire situation .... A dizzying, tragicomic crash course in contemporary political incapacities.--Kirkus Reviews