Trump official slashed salary of newly hired virologist because he was jealous he was making more money

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At a time that Americans needed a smart and stable government, Donald Trump’s COVID-19 Task Force was overwhelmed with petty squabbles.

According to the new book by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, I, Alone Can Fix It, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was preoccupied with the salaries of the people on the task force.

Dr Stephen Hahn, who joined as the FDA commissioner in Dec. 2019, had a morning call with the purpose of “navigating task-force personalities and political land mines.” The last thing anyone wanted was for the typical Trump White House drama to interfere with protecting the country from the impending pandemic. Continue reading.

Want to Know More About: Incompetent Trump Appointees

Michael Lewis: “The Trump Administration Didn’t Bother To Actually Go Through A Transition. The Obama Administration Had A Thousand People Waiting To Brief Across The Government, A Year’s Worth Of Briefing, But Nobody Showed Up To The Briefings.” MICHAEL LEWIS: “The basic idea with this is federal government has this portfolio of risks. The basic role of the government is to keep us safe. At all times it’s managing all kinds of risks that we don’t pay any attention to. The trump administration didn’t bother to actually go through a transition. The Obama administration had a thousand people waiting to brief the across the government., a year’s worth of briefing,  but nobody showed up to the briefings. They start by basically not taking over the government except in a very haphazard way. That’s the beginning of a big management problem. It’s odd. You buy a company but you don’t bother to figure what’s in it or how it works or you don’t staff it.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 10/2/18; VIDEO]

Michael Lewis: “They Never Bothered To Show Up To Learn, For Example, Why The Iran Deal, The Nuclear Deal Made A Lot Of Sense. To Understand That Deal That He’s Walked Away From, You Really Should Be Talking To Physicists Inside The Department Of Energy.” MICHAEL LEWIS: “They never got the briefings. They never bothered to show up to learn, for example, why the Iran deal, the nuclear deal made a lot of sense. To understand that deal that he’s walked away from, you really should be talking to physicists inside the department of energy. They can tell you whether or not the Iranians can build a nuclear weapon or not, whether this deal actually works. They were at the center of the negotiation of that deal. They just got basically ignored. So what’s happening? Six months ago a vial of weapons grade plutonium vanished from the back of a car in San Antonio. No one’s paying attention to this. Can we trust this place is being managed properly by a person who didn’t know what it did before he too over and didn’t seem to care? I don’t think so.” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 10/2/18; VIDEO]