I’ve long believed that in addition to being a psychopathic raging narcissist, Donald Trump is an idiot. This, in itself, is nothing remarkable: I think most politicians are idiots. But Trump may be about to lose a bunch of his nominees[1] because he nominated dangerous, incompetent, and unqualified loyalists[2] who are not passing Senate muster.[3]
There’s no doubt that Trump is evil. But it’s much too easy to look at, for example, the ‘wizards’ of Project 2025, and imagine diabolical demons playing 12-dimensional chess with absolutely idiotic (and also malicious) Democrats. That’s not what we have here. It is a constitutional oligarchy that may indeed be transitioning into an aconstitutional ‘broligarchy’[4] but which will be constrained by its own anti-intellectualism.
A kakistocracy[5] is incompatible with neither a constitutional oligarchy (see Christopher Hayes on meritocracy[6] and C. Wright Mills on The Power Elite[7]) or an aconstitutional ‘broligarchy.’ That doesn’t make it any less dangerous but it makes it dangerous for different reasons.
[1] Tara Palmeri, “The Hegseth Sitch & Trump Confirmation Dominoes,” Puck, December 5, 2024, https://puck.news/if-pete-hegseth-withdraws-who-could-be-next/
[2] Qasim Rashid, “Trump Nominees Are Not Just A Joke — They Are Dangerous,” Let’s Address This, November 15, 2024, https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/trump-nominees-are-not-just-a-joke
[3] Tara Palmeri, “The Hegseth Sitch & Trump Confirmation Dominoes,” Puck, December 5, 2024, https://puck.news/if-pete-hegseth-withdraws-who-could-be-next/
[4] Gil Duran, “How the 'Broligarchs' plan to use Trump,” Nerd Reich, November 25, 2024, https://www.thenerdreich.com/how-thebroligarchs-plan-to-use-trump/; Brooke Harrington, “What the Broligarchs Want From Trump,” Atlantic, November 24, 2024, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/broligarchy-elon-musk-trump/680788/; Lynn Parramore, “How to Disguise Racism and Oligarchy: Use Economics,” Evonomics, n.d., https://evonomics.com/how-to-disguise-racism-and-oligarchy-use-the-language-of-economics/
[5] Jacqueline Alemany and Liz Goodwin, “Documents with damaging Gaetz testimony accessed in apparent breach,” Washington Post, November 19, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/19/gaetz-investigation-hack-evidence-senators/; Jacqueline Alemany, Liz Goodwin, and Perry Stein, “Two women testified that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, lawyer says,” Washington Post, November 18, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/18/matt-gaetz-ethics-report-allegations/; Isaac Arnsdorf, Marianne LeVine, and Ashley Parker, “Trump pushes past sting of Gaetz’s exit with flurry of new picks,” Washington Post, November 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/23/trump-gaetz-withdrawal-loss-senate/; C. Ryan Barber, “Special Counsel Drops Federal Prosecutions of Trump,” Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2024, https://apple.news/Ad0kjSFSMS-qEU1UWQKCdOg; Mark Berman, “Trump says he will replace FBI Director Wray with loyalist Kash Patel,” Washington Post, November 30, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/30/trump-kash-patel-fbi-director/; Mark Berman and David Nakamura, “Pam Bondi, Trump’s AG pick, said ‘prosecutors will be prosecuted,’” Washington Post, November 23, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/23/pam-bondi-doj-attorney-general-trump-pick/; Abha Bhattarai, Jeff Stein, and Scott Dance, “Trump selects Howard Lutnick, Wall Street CEO, as commerce secretary,” Washington Post, November 19, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/19/howard-lutnick-trump-commerce-secretary/; Michelle Boorstein, “Huckabee pick as Israeli ambassador reflects long evangelical alliance,” Washington Post, December 2, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/02/evangelicals-israel-trump-huckabee/; Walter Bragman, “Everything You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s (Likely) FDA Pick,” Important Context, November 20, 2024, https://www.importantcontext.news/p/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cce; Desmond Butler, Lauren Weber, and Caitlin Gilbert, “Potential conflicts of interest may haunt Dr. Oz’s confirmation to run Medicare, Medicaid,” Washington Post, December 2, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/12/02/dr-oz-medicare-medicaid-ozempic-conflicts/; Bernd Debusmann, Jr., and Mike Wendling, “How would Trump’s promise of mass deportations of migrants work?” British Broadcasting Corporation, November 18, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9z0lm48ngo; Dan Diamond, “Trump picks Dr. Oz to oversee Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act,” Washington Post, November 19, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/11/19/dr-oz-medicare-medicaid-obamacare-trump/; Dan Diamond, Rachel Roubein, and Frances Vinall, “Changes RFK Jr. could make as HHS secretary, from vaccines to raw milk,” Washington Post, November 15, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/11/15/rfk-jr-department-health-human-services-changes/; Ian Duncan, “Trump picks former congressman Sean Duffy to lead Transportation Dept.,” Washington Post, November 18, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/18/sean-duffy-transportation-secretary-nominee/; Josh Gerstein and Nahal Toosi, “Could Trump sideline government watchdogs? Some are already quitting,” Politico, November 25, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/25/trump-inspectors-general-watchdogs-00191381; Liz Goodwin et al., “Matt Gaetz attorney general confirmation was in doubt ahead of withdrawal,” Washington Post, November 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/11/21/gaetz-withdraws-attorney-general-ethics-investigation/; Stephen Groves, “Senators took down one Trump Cabinet pick. But the fight over their authority is just beginning,” Associated Press, November 25, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-cabinet-senate-republicans-cee5cddaa714b8874db05356c6af2a04; Lauren Kaori Gurley, “Trump picks Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for labor secretary,” Washington Post, November 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/22/lori-chavez-deremer-labor-secretary-trump/; Evan Halper et al., “Trump picks fracking firm CEO Chris Wright to be energy secretary,” Washington Post, November 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/energy-secretary-trump-chris-wright/; Fatima Hussein, “Trump names Massad Boulos, campaign liaison and family relative, as a senior adviser on Middle East,” Associated Press, December 1, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-boulos-mideast-michigan-arab-americans-israel-1c3a1a53c78682daf9011735cb37dbb1; David Klepper, Ellen Knickmeyer, and Edith M. Lederer, “Gabbard’s sympathetic views toward Russia cause alarm as Trump’s pick to lead intelligence services,” Associated Press, November 17, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-putin-intelligence-russia-syria-a798adaf9cd531a5d0c9329f7597f0f6; Hannah Knowles et al., “Hegseth defiant as Trump considers replacing him as defense secretary pick,” Washington Post, December 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/04/pete-hegseth-ron-desantis-defense-secretary-trump-pick/; Michael Kranish, Josh Dawsey, and Jonathan O'Connell, “Defense pick Hegseth paid accuser but denies sexual assault, attorney says,” Washington Post, November 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/pete-hegseth-sexual-assault-accuser-paid/; Marianne LeVine, “Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, is a longtime loyalist,” Washington Post, November 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/21/pam-bondi-trump-attorney-general-florida/; Marianne LeVine, Leigh Ann Caldwell, and Mariana Alfaro, “Republicans take a closer look at Trump’s Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth,” Washington Post, December 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/03/republicans-take-closer-look-trumps-pentagon-pick-pete-hegseth/; Abby Livingston, “DOGE-Ball: Elon vs. The F-35,” Puck, November 30, 2024, https://puck.news/doge-ball-elon-vs-the-f-35/; Abby Livingston, “Hegseth Senate-ology 101,” Puck, December 3, 2024, https://puck.news/will-the-senate-actually-confirm-pete-hegseth/; Justine McDaniel, David Ovalle, and Marianne LeVine, “Trump’s pick to head DEA withdraws after GOP criticism of his covid policies,” December 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/03/trump-dea-florida-covid/; Laura Meckler, “Trump taps transition co-chair Linda McMahon to be education secretary,” Washington Post, November 19, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/11/19/trump-education-secretary-linda-mcmahon/; Allison Neitzel, “How Dr. Oz Hyped Trump’s COVID Snake Oil,” Important Context, November 21, 2024, https://www.importantcontext.news/p/how-dr-oz-hyped-trumps-covid-snake; Caitlin Owens, “Trump taps Johns Hopkins professor Makary as FDA chief,” Axios, November 22, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/11/23/trump-fda-marty-makary; Tara Palmeri, “The Hegseth Sitch & Trump Confirmation Dominoes,” Puck, December 5, 2024, https://puck.news/if-pete-hegseth-withdraws-who-could-be-next/; Danielle Paquette and Jonathan O'Connell, “Police records reveal new details about sexual assault allegation against Pete Hegseth,” Washington Post, November 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/21/pete-hegseth-monterey-police-report/; Martin Pengelly, “Trump’s Gorka pick met with outrage: he’s ‘as dangerous as he is unqualified,’” Guardian, November 27, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/27/trump-national-security-gorka; Amber Philips to 5-Minute Fix list, “Could martial law happen in the U.S.?” Washington Post, December 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-5-minute-fix/; Hafiz Rashid, “Trump Team Is Having a Terrifying Debate on How to Invade Mexico,” New Republic, November 27, 2024, https://apple.news/AW86WkTV4QiKoASBybl8w5A; Qasim Rashid, “Trump Nominees Are Not Just A Joke — They Are Dangerous,” Let’s Address This, November 15, 2024, https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/trump-nominees-are-not-just-a-joke; Beth Reinhard and Abha Bhattarai, “Linda McMahon made a fortune with WWE. Wrestling scandals now shadow her rise,” Washington Post, November 19, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/19/linda-mcmahon-trump-administration-wwe-allegations/; Neal Rothschild, “Trump neuters the watchdogs,” Axios, November 30, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/11/30/trump-staff-investigation-fbi-doj; Melody Schreiber, “‘He is one of us!’: US anti-vaxxers rejoice at nomination of David Weldon for CDC,” Guardian, December 1, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/01/antivaxxers-david-weldon-cdc-nomination; Deepa Shivaram, “Trump nominates Russ Vought for White House budget director once again,” National Public Radio, November 22, 2024, https://www.npr.org/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5193351/trump-russ-vought-omb-budget-director; Ishaan Tharoor, “Trump and the Israeli right resume their embrace,” Washington Post, November 15, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/11/15/trump-israel-right-wing/; Casey Tolan, Scott Glover, and Sara Murray, “Police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump’s defense secretary nominee,” Cable News Network, November 21, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pete-hegseth-police-report-defense-secretary-trump/index.html; Nick Paton Walsh, “Trump’s Ukraine envoy has a plan to end the war that Putin may revel in,” Cable News Network, November 29, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/29/europe/trump-new-ukraine-envoy-analysis-intl/index.html; Michael Wilner and Max Greenwood, “Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s attorney general pick amid sexual misconduct allegations, Sacramento Bee, November 21, 2024, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article295925304.html; Emily Zemler, “Pete Hegseth's Mom Calls Him ‘Abuser of Women’ in Released Email,” Esquire, November 30, 2024, https://apple.news/AuE1xwOjBRCO-owoAJrGyNQ
[6] Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites (New York: Crown, 2012).
[7] C. Wright Mills, Power Elite (1956; repr., New York: Oxford University, 2000).