Dem
47
GOP
53
Yesterday, the Cabinet had a meeting with Donald Trump. It was newsworthy for two reasons, we would say.
The first of those reasons is that while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and "Attorney General" Pam Bondi were present, neither of them was given an opportunity to speak. Does this suggest they are on time-out, and the administration is trying to keep them hidden away while the Minneapolis mess is still in the headlines? Could be. It may be instructive that, in contrast to usual practice, Trump refused to take questions after the meeting. It is reasonable to expect that many of the questions would have been about Noem/Bondi, starting with "How come Secretary Noem/AG Bondi were not allowed to speak?"
The second reason the meeting was newsworthy is that it was another one of those vaudeville performances where most of the non-Noem/Bondi department heads went around the table and praised Trump for being the greatest president in history. For example, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick declared that Trump is "fixing everything." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted that 2026 will be the year of the "Trump boom." We find these propositions to be questionable, to say the least (see next item for more).
Perhaps the most amusing bootlicking came from Energy Secretary Chris Wright. He decreed:
[T]his beautiful, clean coal was the MVP of the huge cold snap we're in right now. I can say with some confidence, hundreds of American lives have been saved because of your leaning in and stopping the killing of coal and revitalizing coal.
We will make two observations here. The first is that renewable and/or more-eco-friendly sources of energy can also be used to produce heat; that is not somehow a superpower of coal. The second is that because Wright's title includes the word "Energy," he may think that the American people will believe he's the administration's "coal guy." In fact, Wright may think that Trump himself believes that. What readers of this blog know, especially since we've written it dozens of times, is that the Secretary of Energy is actually the administration's "keeping an eye on the nukes" guy. Coal, and coal policy, are the province of the Department of the Interior.
We would suggest that the need for an emergency a**-kissing session could indicate one, or both, of two things. First, it may be that whatever health issues Trump is having right now are affecting his ability to focus and/or stay awake. He very clearly dozed off during the last Cabinet meeting. However, he stayed awake for this one, because a**-kissing energizes him even more than freebasing a kilo of caffeine. (Note: That's a kilo of caffeine, not a kilo of cocaine. This item is about Trump Sr., not Trump Jr.)
Second, it is probable that Trump is in a very foul mood these days. He's suffering all kinds of setbacks, and his approval rating—which he cares deeply about, even when he's pretending he doesn't—keeps inching toward the Bush line. The newest Pew Poll, conducted partly but not entirely after the killing of Alex Pretti, has him at 37%. That's a mere 5 points above the Bush line. Pew's number is a little lower than most, but not a lot. Most of the aggregators have Trump around 40%, and The Economist's aggregate number is 38%. It's also fair to imagine that he'll take a hit in polls conducted entirely after the Pretti killing. In any event, it's very plausible that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or some other insider passed the word to turn the Cabinet meeting into a pep rally. The department heads should probably be prepared for many more sessions like this one in the near future. (Z)