I’m speaking of federal employees working in the Trump administration:
President Donald Trump said Monday that he would prefer for government employees to wash Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s dishes if his wife or son was not there to do so.
While the dish-washing assertion was not among those reportedly investigated by the State Department inspector general fired by Trump last week at Pompeo’s recommendation, the secretary of state faced dual investigations by the department watchdog into whether he had staffers perform personal chores and whether he looked to circumvent Congress in accelerating an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
“Look, he’s a high quality person, Mike. He’s a very high quality, he’s a very brilliant guy,” Trump told reporters at the White House after he was asked whether he was concerned that Pompeo might have requested the watchdog’s ouster to halt the investigations. “And now I have you telling me about dog walking, washing dishes and, you know what, I’d rather have him on the phone with some world leader than have him wash dishes because maybe his wife isn’t there or his kids aren’t there, you know,” Trump said.
There’s so much wrong with that statement I hardly know where to start. First of all, the antediluvian nonsense about Pompeo’s wife not being available to do the dishes is just … whatever. It’s even more ridiculous considering that Susan Pompeo is part of the problem since she is also accused of inappropriately using both CIA and State Department employees for her own projects despite the fact that she doesn’t have any official role.
But beyond all that is the idea that taxpayers are not supposed to pay for the personal servants of elected and appointed officials in the government. It’s true that the alleged billionaire in the White House is bilking the taxpayers for millions. But Pompeo can be expected to pay for his own dog walker and maid out of his own pocket.
This is just one more illustration of Trump’s view that he is a monarch, not an elected leader, and that he thinks all of his henchmen are dukes and earls. Apparently, they all agree with him.