Being Trump’s DHS Secretary Is ‘More Like an Acid Bath Than a Job’

A panel of experts on CNN’s New Day on Monday was unanimous. They all said that President Donald Trump will have a very hard time finding a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief who will also be able to win confirmation in the Senate.

While discussing the firing of former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni said that Trump has totally unrealistic expectations for his top people, and that is why there are so many unfilled cabinet positions in his administration.

In the areas of immigration and border security, the president has set impossible standards for his Homeland Security people. When they fail to meet these impossible standards he then flies into a rage and berates them publicly and privately.

With respect to Nielsen, for example, Trump expected her to work some type of magic to make asylum seekers disappear.

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“How do you work in this administration?” Bruni asked. “It’s like an acid bath more than it is a job.”

He then added that Trump’s horrible treatment of Nielsen will make other qualified people reluctant to take her job. And anyone who does take it will be paranoid from the very beginning.

“When they watched what happened to Kirstjen Nielsen, all of these people know that at any moment the ax can fall on them,” Bruni said.

CNN’s John Avlon then added that Trump flailing around on immigration policy is “one of the many signs why we should be concerned about the state of this government” under Trump’s leadership.

“There’s no such thing as someone who can be extreme enough to satisfy his demands,” Avlon said. “This is a real sign of dysfunction at the highest levels of American government.”

Trump’s Administration Is a Disaster

Donald Trump has had more turnover than any other president in history. He can’t keep good people because he is irrational and childish in his demands, and doesn’t know what he is doing.

Trump now has interim secretaries at the departments of Defense, Interior and Homeland Security, as well as an acting leader at the Office of Management and Budget. He also has an acting administrator of the Small Business Administration and an acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney,

This proves that Donald Trump is not a real president — he is an “acting” president. And he’s doing a really bad job of it.

It’s time for America to get a president who is competent and will really work to solve the problems and crises faced by our country. It is time for Donald J. Trump to go back to New York and vacate the office of the presidency.

CLICK HERE to watch the New Day discussion on CNN

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.