generals, but what about this surprise visit the president took to iraq when he visited the troops for the first time? it s been criticized for a trip that politicized the military. what do you think, chris? i m glad he went, it was long overdue. but take one of these trips to visit the troops is about the easiest thing you can do. you go up there, read remarks honoring troops for their service, take some photos and fly out. the fact that they couldn t execute this simple process i think is troubling on so many levels. on a broader issue, this constant politicization of the military, which has continued from day one of this administration, is troubling. the military is there to serve the commander in chief. they re there to serve the american people. they re not there to participate in a campaign rally. they re not there to be part of a speech denigrating democrats on capitol hill. rick, what about you? do you think the criticism is overblown? is the president right to feel like he
he made him into chief of staff. all these people are on probation, essentially. he names them as acting, and they ll have to perform somehow. the problem is, you really can t initiate an agenda. and donald trump has had a systemic problem that s now manifest into really a substandard group of professionals who are trying to supposed to be running this government, and that is, you don t know when he s going to cut your legs out from under you. what you do is, you hire very competent people, knowing that the president has your back, right? and you may make some mistakes and if you make a terrible mistake you ll probably have to pay for it, but in all likelihood, you go out there and the president will have your back. well, the president doesn t. he changes policies on a whim. he contradicts himself. he contradicts the staff members at a high level. and who needs it? that was an interesting point that chris was making, you fear your reputation cab smeared.
but jay, we also have an open cabinet position with no acting secretary. as we know, the interior secretary is leaving at the beginning of the year and there is no one right now lined up to take his place. why do you think that is, jay? i think interior is one of those departments where there s just not a lot of people who potentially want that job. i mean, that s been a real problem for recruitment of them across the board, right? you ve gone through six communications directors in the white house, three chiefs of staff. it s been overall 37% turnover, nine secretaries, which is more than the first four years of any other president in recent history. and we re only, what, two years in now. there s a hesitancy, as chris was saying, for people who might be qualified for those jobs to take those jobs. you leave with your reputation so tarnished, they re not raising their hand, even for acting, to say, hey, i ll take the reins while somebody comes in. earlier we talked about the
passed with so much instability? when you don t have continuity, it s hard to get your policies done as you ve got the chiefs of all of those departments coming and going and coming and going. all of these are senate confirmable positions. to allocate the floor time, it takes a long time to vet and hold hearings for a cabinet level secretary and hold debates on the floor and get them through. the senate isn t busy with a lot of other things anyway these day, frankly, but it will become the vast majority of their schedule looking forward to next year, all these confirmations. it s also about who is taking these roles. chris, the white house was so proud of how many generals they had at the administration but one by one they ve been fired or resigned, flynn, mack macmaster
what about humanizing this issue? do the recent deaths of children at the border make this harder for trump politically? do you think they are behind him this idea of the wall. however, his base is not a majority of this country. when you look at the polling around the idea of a wall, it s a very easy concept, support for the wall has never really risen above 40%, whereas the opposition to the wall has gone as high as 57%. so most of the country doesn t want it. the fact that this is such app easy-to-understand issue i think bodes very ill for the president. this is also a very nuanced issue for democrats, chris. politico and the aclu have sent a letter to democratic leaders saying any resolution that