In The Fifth Risk (W. W. Norton & Co., 2028), Michael Lewis discusses the 2016 transition from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration. In some cases Trump’s political appointees and cabinet officials had no idea what their departments did; in some cases their main objective was to destroy the work of their departments. They didn’t meet with career officials, nor did they even look at the briefing books prepared by their predecessors, a practice started in the George W. Bush administration.
Lewis gives examples of the unsung heroes who did their jobs each day, often with little thanks and no recognition. In some cases important functions were able to continue simply because the appointees were so inept, or in a few cases because they turned out to be “the adults in the room.”
The second Trump administration won’t be like that. He’s already said he will convert 50,000 civil service jobs into political appointments, taking us back to the spoils system. He has already turned to supporters for a list of hacks who will follow his dictates. We will yearn for the return of the so-called “deep state.” It will be too late.
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