Feeling betrayed, Trump wants a second administration stocked with loyalists
Trump's fixation on loyalty appears to be growing as he contemplates a second term in the White House.
WASHINGTON — Sitting in the Oval Office in the infancy of his presidency in 2017, Donald Trump found himself surrounded by new aides who had worked for other prominent Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, his most bitter rival from the previous year’s primaries.
The “America First” president evidently worried that they wouldn’t now put the American president first.
Trump went around the room, inquisition-style, asking each aide to declare allegiance, according to a person who was present.
“He was quizzing people in the Oval if they were loyal to him or previous bosses,” the source recalled seven years later.
But no matter how much emphasis Trump put on loyalty in his first term, he found himself disappointed and frustrated when people he had hired chose other considerations over his instructions — their own reputations, future ambitions and even the Constitution.
Rating: 5