If you thought Donald Trump's White House was already overrun by scoundrels and fools, get ready for the "D” teamers, America. Yes, it's a scary thought—but Trump's already abysmally chaotic, dysfunctional White House stands to only get worse with the exit of people like economic adviser Gary Cohn, and the potential hole left by national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
Whatever one might think of Gary Cohn and the tax cut he helped usher through, at least he had some grasp of world markets and how the U.S. economy interacted with them. So who exactly might replace someone like Cohn? Well, someone with nothing to lose (i.e. losers). Think about it: anyone who's really at the top of their game and has the resumé to prove it would never in a million years take a job in Trump's White House. It's a career killer. In fact, people looking for the exits at this very moment are having a hard time finding open doors on the other side.
So the job would only be of interest to people who absolutely aren't qualified for it or, perhaps, have already placed their bets on Trump. The underqualified would include someone like Larry Kudlow, a CNBC cable news personality who Trump reportedly "likes to watch on TV." His actual experience, however, is pretty much zip. He's type of intellectual heavyweight who, against the wisdom of nearly all sane economists, declared of the GOP tax cut: "this thing is going to pay for itself." When Kudlow was rumored early on to be top candidate to head Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, New York Magazine wrote:
Kudlow is a fanatical adherent of supply-side economics. While many conservative economists believe that, all things being equal, lower tax rates can produce faster growth, Kudlow believes it with a religious intensity. No serious body of economic work could substantiate his beliefs. Indeed, even hard-core conservatives in academia — like Greg Mankiw, a Republican economist with a deep moral disdain for progressive taxation — have nonetheless described the arguments used by Kudlow as those of “charlatans and cranks.”
Speaking of cranks, another Cohn replacement possibility? Current Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former House GOP Freedom Caucus member who's already cast his lot with Trump so, yeah, why not take the economic adviser job?
What's about to happen at Trump's house of brain-drain is akin to his first go-round with building a legal team—no serious Washington attorneys with thriving legal careers would take him on. He was already seen as a nightmare client—just like he's proven to be a nightmare boss. (Not even aides like Hope Hicks, who were viewed as part of the family, could stand to work for him anymore.)
After shuffling through several iterations of his legal team, he ultimately stuck with long-time personal attorney Michael Cohen—who has almost singlehandedly made porn star Stormy Daniels a household name.
And then there's the legal eagles who are trying to steer Trump out of the Russia ditch: Ty Cobb and John Dowd. You might recall them going out to a bustling Washington eatery last year, sitting outside, and jawing openly about how much to cooperate with the Mueller investigation.
Let's put it this way: Anyone who's now willing to take on the legal, political, and professional liability of working in Trump’s White House is either totally desperate, vainglorious to a fault, or perhaps more than several fries short of a happy meal. Perhaps calling them the "D" team is too generous.