A few days back, after Trump removed an Inspector General for the State Department, it became public knowledge that (1) the Secretary of State had been giving a 23 year old aide personal tasks -- i.e. had him walking his dog and arranging dinner reservations (2) the inspector general had been looking at this, and (3) that august official, Mike Pompeo, told the President that he should fire the IG.
It is of course temping to connect these dots....President Trump has not even bothered to discourage the connection. He has said that he would rather have the S of S working to resolve outstanding issues between the two Koreas rather than walking his dog.
In how many ways is that wrong?
I'll try to keep this short. First, I have no confidence that anybody involved in this administration has been or is likely to do any good with regard to Korea. I think it more likely that any time the S of S devotes to that purpose does harm than good. So, yes, I'd rather have him walking his dog.
Second, though, if the 23 year old aide is receiving US Treasury checks than he is not there to work for Mike Pompeo. He is there to work for the United States. If he can not be kept busy with some tasks that have some plausible connection to the common weal: send him home and eliminate the post.
Maybe he could be kept busy researching, oh, the history of Korea. He could preparing a nice big briefing book that could be presented at the White House for use as a doorstop.
Just a thought.
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