Donald Trump’s unique mix of indifference toward many parts of the presidency and his susceptibility to manipulation make him an easy mark for power-hungry individuals from Elon Musk to Vladimir Putin.
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Just a few weeks into Joe Biden’s presidency, Republicans started asking who was really pulling the strings in the White House. Over the years, as he deteriorated physically and mentally, those questions grew louder and, seeing how Biden was forced to drop out of the 2024 race because of that decline, they were probably justified.
Now, just a few weeks into Donald Trump’s second term, it’s time to ask the same question again.
To be clear, this isn’t (just) about Elon Musk, who bought and wormed his way into the White House and seems to be making a lot of the decisions related to dismantling the US government.
It’s also not about Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, the architect of Project 2025, who was downright giddy this week when commenting on the 10,000 staff members of the Department of Health and Human Services who would be let go.
The question is not about who the brains behind the operation is, but rather about who is making key decisions and whether Trump is even capable (and willing) to steer the country.
The chat at the heart of “Signalgate,” the national security scandal that has engulfed the administration this week, offers a couple of clues as to how involved the president is.
As senior administration officials were discussing an attack on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Vice President JD Vance wrote that he is “not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.”
That is noteworthy for two reasons. First of all, Vance never breaks with Trump publicly, so it is interesting that he did so here in a chat group including members of the top echelons of the Trump administration.
More importantly, however, the vice president’s statement seems to indicate that his boss cannot grasp (or is unaware of) a very simple concept, i.e., that attacking the Houthis and protecting the shipping lanes near the Suez Canal primarily benefits Europe and Asia, and would therefore contradict Trump’s message that the US should no longer provide Europe’s security.
Then, when the various “experts,” including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz discuss whether to strike the Houthis now or wait, somebody with the initials “SM,” presumably top White House aide Stephen Miller, weighed in and effectively ended the debate.
“As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return,” he wrote.
“As I heard it”??? What does that mean?
When a president is sending American troops into harm’s way, you’d expect a more affirmative statement than, “To the best of my knowledge, Old Man Trump is OK with it, so let’s just kill some rebels and a bunch of civilians.”
You know, something more like, “After careful consideration, POTUS said the mission is a go. Repeat: POTUS said we are green to go.”
Of course, Trump may very well be incapable of careful consideration.
That’s not just because the 78-year-old is getting a bit senile… although he apparently is. For example, earlier this week he couldn’t remember the name of Usha Vance, the wife of his vice president, and on Friday he couldn’t think of the word “criminals” and instead called them “people of crime.”
More importantly, in contrast to Biden, Trump’s main issue is that he just does not care (well, that and his malignant narcissism, compulsive lying, and obsessive need for revenge).
He wants to be president for the fun parts and those that make him feel powerful — but not the rest.
That means all of the stuff you see on TV — the meetings with world leaders, signing documents, setting tariffs willy-nilly, and bands playing “Hail to the Chief.”
Of course, he also likes to use his powers to go after his enemies, but that’s about the extent of his interest in the job.
An event like a deadly natural disaster would get normal presidents to interrupt their golf games so that they could oversee the federal response.
What he does not like is studying issues or caring for Americans, especially if that interferes with his leisurely life.
A couple of weeks ago, for example, Trump was out playing golf and then boasted about winning his club championship while dozens of people died in severe storms in the Midwest and some southern states.
An event like a deadly natural disaster would get normal presidents to interrupt their golf games so that they could oversee the federal response.
Not Trump.
And earlier this week, the president said he had not been briefed on the four soldiers who had gone missing hours earlier during a training exercise in Lithuania and are presumed dead.
Why didn’t his staff tell him? Was it because they know he doesn’t care about a handful of American troops, so why bother the old man?
However, if he is so indifferent about so many things, then who makes all of the decisions?
It seems as though the American people deserve to know who is making decisions about pardons and (perhaps) about greenlighting military strikes.
That is especially true because Trump is so easy to manipulate through flattery or bribery. In that sense, anybody with access to the president (or with a few million dollars in the bank) could be “pulling the strings.”
Musk clearly has a major say in all things related to destroying the government and seems to have a carte blanche in that regard. And, apparently, Vladimir Putin is a major foreign policy influence.
But there must be many others who are whispering in Trump’s ear and getting him to do things, like Miller, whose white nationalist views and reprehensible character would preclude him from holding most offices himself (apart from getting elected to some GOP strongholds in the South and probably as senator of Alabama).
On Friday, Trump was asked why he pardoned Trevor Milton, a tech CEO who was sentenced to four years in prison for securities and wire fraud but had donated nearly $1 million to his presidential campaign.
The president said this action was “highly recommended by many people,” who had told him that “the thing that [Milton] did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president.”
So, who are these “many people?” A pardon is supposed to right a serious wrong, so you’d think a president would be involved in the deliberations beyond putting pen to paper, but Trump appeared to be barely familiar with the case.
It seems as though the American people deserve to know who is making decisions about pardons and (perhaps) about greenlighting military strikes.
That is especially true because Trump is so easy to manipulate through flattery or bribery. In that sense, anybody with access to the president (or with a few million dollars in the bank) could be “pulling the strings.”
For example, in the case of the pardon, it might have been Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose brother was one of Milton’s attorneys.
Though a “person close to the situation” said the attorney in question was not involved in the pardon, all that really needed to happen was for him to go to his sister and ask her to make this happen.
And then she just had to talk to Trump, something along the lines of:
Mr. President, you look great today. Your skin tone is so natural. It must be from being outside so much. Speaking of, I heard you won your golf tournament again. That’s very impressive. You are just a winner, sir, and it’s so unfair what the Democrats did to you. A true witch hunt. They treated you so unfairly. Just like they treated Trevor Milton poorly also. He was just as innocent as you were. Did you know that he gave $1 million to your campaign? A real mensch. Too bad he probably won’t be writing any more big checks from jail now that he has been convicted. If only somebody could pardon him… What, you could, sir? That’s a great idea. Let me call my brother.
It’s really not difficult to imagine a version of that conversation happening dozens of times a day… while Trump is in the White House, holding court at Mar-A-Lago, talking to his favorite Fox News personalities, or with foreign authoritarians willing to cut a deal.
And, in light of the company that Trump keeps, that might be even scarier than him relying on his own smarts.
