One of the things that people outside of Washington, D.C., might not fully appreciate about how the city works is the outsize influence of young adults. From Capitol Hill to federal agencies to the White House, it’s not at all unusual to find people in their 20s landing good jobs in powerful offices. Indeed, it’s been this way for many years, regardless of which party is ascendant.
But in general, these young people tend to be adjacent to power. They take on key responsibilities working for, near and alongside those with more experience and greater qualifications, but they tend not to have decision-making responsibilities.
In Donald Trump’s operation, however, things are a little different. ProPublica published a report this week, for example, on Thomas Fugate, who graduated from college last year.
A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention. … The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.
The ProPublica report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that those familiar with CP3 confirmed that, under normal circumstances, someone as young, inexperienced and unqualified as Fugate wouldn’t even been considered for a junior position. On Team Trump, however, he’s reportedly overseeing the Department of Homeland Security’s main hub for combating violent extremism.
“According to LinkedIn,” the article added, “the bulk of Fugate’s leadership experience comes from having served as secretary general of a Model United Nations club.”
This might seem like an extreme example, but related reports keep popping up. Politico’s E&E News, for example, recently reported that at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, contracts must first go through an approval process led in part by a young man who worked as a Temple University food hall monitor last year.
A few weeks earlier, Politico reported on a different young man, just four years removed from high school, who was appointed to serve as the acting chief AI officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, while on leave from pursuing his undergraduate degree.
The problem is made worse by the other young and inexperienced ideologues brought into the administration as part of the DOGE initiative, who are now also reportedly serving in key roles. When the president and his allies launched a hysterical crusade against what they characterized as the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) scourge, they championed the idea of a meritocracy. There was no need to consider the value of diverse workplaces, Trump and Republicans said, because the only relevant factor is merit. The assertions have never made much sense, not only because of Trump’s own lack of qualifications for his job — he’s the only president in American history to have literally no background in public service of any kind — but also because of his habit of choosing similarly unqualified officials with thin résumés and none of the requisite skills for their positions. But while many of the glaring breakdowns in the meritocracy involve high-profile officials in prominent public roles — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, et al. — Trump’s Team of Amateurs is problematic in more obscure offices, too.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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