Trump 2.0 will unlikely repeat a star team

My view of the Trump administration being the most effective one that I have witnessed since Regan has never changed. If anything, the current administration affirms it.

Now, I seriously doubt we will have the same luck with Trump 2.0.

I gave a lot of thought about the counterintuitive effectiveness of the Trump administration considering he is mainly a salesperson (to put it mildly). The most intuitive explanation is that he had a star team:

  • Pompeo: the most effective State Secretary.
  • Lighthizer: the best TR.
  • Healy: the best articulate UN ambassador.
  • McMaster, O'Brien, Pottinger: outstanding security advisors.
  • Mattis, Esper, outstanding and principled defense secretary.
  • Pence: a wonderful person with true convictions.
  • Birx: outstanding passionate public servant dealing with a very complicated pandemic in a very difficult environment. 
  • Sanders: incredible lady and spokesperson handling bigotry and vitriol with unbelievable grace and calm.
  • Gen. Kelly: a solid rock in turbulent water. 

Even widely derided Ivanka Trump and Kushner were very impressive to me.

Now, some of these stars have distanced themselves from Trump who is surrounded by:

Gabbard: Carlson-lite grifter. 

RFK Jr: environmental fanatic who has hurt New England tremendously.

Loomer: conspiracy star

Lewandowski: agressive womanizer

Don Jr: Trump's deranged kid, an outlier among his siblings.

...

It is hard to imagine Trump selecting another star team. His role model is Sinophile Putinist Orban, so he most likely will follow Orban by selecting staunch loyalists regardless of their competence.

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