Topline
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to appoint another batch of loyalists to federal advisory boards and commissions as he moves to reward his allies in the final stages of his presidency.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 25: Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi stands on stage in an empty ... [+]
Key Facts
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was part of Trump’s legal team during his impeachment trial, will become a member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, while White House aide and Trump confidante Hope Hicks will be a member of the Fulbright Scholarship Board.
The president has also given seats on the Kennedy Center board to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and fashion designer Pamella DeVos, sister-in-law of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Such board seats, while unpaid beyond travel expenses and largely inconsequential to government policymaking, can serve as resume-boosters for appointees and have been used as a form of patronage for Trump in the latter stages of his presidency.
Bombastic former acting director of National Intelligence and Trump campaign surrogate Richard Grenell will join White House aide Andrew Giuliani – son of top Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani – on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
Stephanie Grisham, who has served as press secretary to both the president and First Lady Melania Trump, will become a member of the National Board for Education Sciences alongside “torture memos” author and pro-Trump legal pundit John Yoo.
Crucial Quote
“These positions are all highly sought after. It’s the reason why the outgoing president uses it as a chit or a recognition because they know they are doing a consequential favor for somebody,” Max Stier, president of CEO of non-profit group Partnership for Public Service, told Bloomberg, adding that some of Trump’s appointments are “not standard practice.”
Tangent
While most of the boards are largely ceremonial or marginal in power, Trump has used them to send powerful symbolic messages. Amid a purge of defense, national security and intelligence officials after the election, Trump cleared out various Pentagon advisory boards and stacked them with allies like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former campaign aides Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie – despite the latter two having scant experience in defense policy.
Chief Critic
Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University and an expert in government bureaucracy, told Bloomberg that Trump makes “no effort whatsoever to match names with interest,” and that the appointments are about “prestige” and “favors owed.” Light told the Associated Press that the appointments are “unseemly” compared to those of past presidents – who have similarly appointed loyalists to boards, but nowhere near the same magnitude as Trump – and that, “Nobody does these things with more politicization than Trump.”
Surprising Fact
Trump has come under fire for giving positions to former aides with alleged ties to white supremacists. He appointed former speechwriter Darren Beattie, who was fired in 2018 after reports emerged about him attending a conference with white nationalists, to a board focused on preserving Holocaust-related sites, which the Anti-Defamation League called “absolutely outrageous.” He also appointed former aide Sebastian Gorka, who reportedly has links to a Hungarian group with Nazi ties – which he denies – to a board that oversees scholarships and programs pertaining to national security.
What To Watch For
Some of Trump’s recent appointees can be removed by the Biden administration when they take office, while others will be secure in their positions. Bossie and Lewandowski, for example, do not have fixed terms and thus can be dislodged come January. By contrast, appointees to the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees have a fixed 6-year term.
