Republicans like to critique the Left for abandoning merit for the sake of diversity. They should be just as watchful their new president-elect does not abandon merit for the sake of personal loyalty.
President-elect Donald Trump has named several choices for top jobs in his next administration, but he ruled out two people who contributed to the successes of his first term.
“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump posted on Truth Social Nov. 9.
Haley and Pompeo were both vital players in the first Trump administration, helping shape and implement the foreign policy of Trump’s first term.
In that term, America defeated ISIS, eliminating a major terrorist organization and liberating parts of Iraq and Syria from terrorist rule. America did not engage in any new wars or create any new failed states around the world. U.S. actions created peace in Israel, and it was the only administration in 30 years under which Russia did not invade another territory.
In the 2024 election, the vast majority of Americans listed foreign policy concerns like the border crisis and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine among their top priorities, according to pre-election polling from Gallup. America elected Trump to help address these issues and restore the foreign policy of his first term.
However, with Trump’s announcement that he would not bring back Haley and Pompeo, who filled two of the highest cabinet positions dealing with foreign policy, Americans might not get what they voted for.
If his first administration’s foreign policy was as successful as Trump claims it was, why shift away from the people who made that happen? The answer is simple. They did not bow at the altar of Trump, so he discarded them.
Donald Trump has the nasty habit of firing or bad mouthing anyone who disagrees with him in any way, even if they are on his team.
Haley served in Trump’s first cabinet as his U.N. ambassador, and Trump had nothing but glowing praises for her, saying in a 2018 interview Haley was “very special,” and “an incredible person who has done an incredible job.”
However, Haley committed the grave sins of condemning Trump’s rhetoric surrounding Jan. 6, 2021 and opposing him in the 2024 Republican primary.
Since then, Trump nicknamed her “bird-brain Nikki Haley” and announced she would not be welcome back.
Pompeo similarly served faithfully in Trump’s first cabinet as CIA director and then secretary of state, but he likewise condemned Trump for his conduct on Jan. 6 and for his mishandling of classified documents. Pompeo’s public statements were enough for his former boss to label him disloyal and bar him from his next administration.
While both Haley and Pompeo endorsed Trump at the Republican National Convention, the damage had been done. They had burned that bridge.
Trump has shown he is willing to fill his second cabinet with newly converted Democrats like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, so long as they pledge their loyalty to him. But lifelong Republicans who have the skills, experience, and records to prove they can shape an extremely successful and popular foreign policy are barred because they were not “loyal” enough.
Trump has based his recent nominations on this kind of loyalty. For example, Trump loyalist Marco Rubio has been nominated for secretary of state in spite of his massive foreign policy disagreements with Trump in the 2016 primary. Either Rubio flipped on his principles, or he has sucked up to Trump in spite of their contradictory visions for American foreign policy. Rubio was rewarded for getting on board.
The type of loyalty Trump wants from his cabinet is not good for the country. It is the kind of loyalty that means holding back criticism even when warranted. It means pledging support to a person over principle.
Republicans cannot allow themselves to fall into the same trap the Left does by evaluating people on metrics other than merit. Now is the time to take a lesson from Democrats’ DEI project, which failed when it abandoned merit for diversity. If Trump continues to prioritize officials’ personal loyalty over effectiveness at advancing the conservative agenda, his administration may very well fail at fulfilling the promises that got him reelected.
The lesson young conservatives are learning from this is pledging their loyalty to the right person will get them further than standing up for conservative principles.
Luke Miller is a sophomore studying political economy.
