Behind the Curtain: Trump's bad-boys fixation
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President-elect Trump at a SpaceX Starship rocket launch last week in Brownsville, Texas. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
President-elect Trump has unabashedly surrounded himself with men who've said, done or been accused of things that would disqualify them under any other U.S. leader in our lifetimes.
- It begs the question: Why? Why go to the mat to pick and defend people Trump knows will raise questions about his judgment, heart or morality?
In almost every case, there are similarly loyal and tested alternatives. Yet he often goes with the bad boys.
Why it matters: People who know Trump best tell us the answer lies in his view of humanity and power. Trump, they say, values loyalty, toughness, street smarts and self-protection foremost — and believes most people do bad things to get, hold and use power. Business and sexual transgressions don't trouble him like they do other presidents.
Between the lines: Trump, more often than not, likes people who are like Trump:
- He's a billionaire, real-estate titan and former TV star who's been elected president twice and survived assassination attempts. He has thrived and taken down political dynasties — while paying off a porn star, undermining an election he lost and being found liable for sexual abuse.
The big picture: Trump's instincts on power are on full display with his pick of Fox News' Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary and his impulsive (now withdrawn) choice of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general. Both were highly controversial picks for jobs that countless people with more experience would kill to get.
- The confirmation fight for RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services will be epic. But Trump's team sees the hearing as a massive opportunity to air Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. Senators "will ask about vaccines and fluoride, and he'll talk about how messed up the health care system is," a transition source told us.
- Mehmet Oz, aka "Dr. Oz," to head the powerful Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was another "Not The Onion" transition moment.
- During the campaign, Corey Lewandowski, fired as campaign manager by Trump in 2016, briefly returned to Trump's office and plane with his "Let Trump Be Trump" mantra. In 2022, Lewandowski took a plea deal to resolve a charge of misdemeanor battery after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances to a GOP donor at a Las Vegas event.
Here are some of the reasons Trump is so willing to disregard guardrails in associates and nominees, based on our conversations with friends and aides:
- Loyalty litmus test: Trump puts a high premium on intense loyalty under fire. He's willing to overlook a lot if you prove your subservience on TV and in tough moments. The most common strand of DNA in Trumpworld is intense loyalty. He doesn't always return it, in part because he "understands self-preservation. So he balances," a member of his inner circle told us.
- The nature of man: Trump has a very 1950s view of powerful men. In this view, the successful ones are rugged, often handsome, tough and flawed. Polite men, who often dominate politics, are too soft and fake to confront the harsh realities of real life. It takes daring men to do the hard things in fighting crime or illegal immigration, or confronting China, or negotiating with stone-cold killers like Vladimir Putin.
- Rationalization: Trump's own criminal and civil legal fights have made him more tolerant of others who are accused. In this view, it can be a price of fame. It's easy for a guy like Gaetz to convince Trump that allegations are B.S., longtime advisers say. "He is ultra-sensitive to the cultural notion that accusation equals guilt," a Trump insider told us.
- Message to males: We're told Trump's gains in the election fueled his bad-boy instincts. "He knows and intuitively understands that men voted for him in huge numbers in part because they reject the notion that all male behavior is toxic," the insider said. "He wants to drive home the message that he is discarding the old norms and he is setting the new ones."
- Whatever it takes: The end justifies the meanness, in Trump's eyes. He wants to win — whether it's business deals, or TV ratings, or elections, or governance fights. He wants people willing to do the dirty work of gutting parts of government he loathes. Overlooking warts is easy if they pass this test.
- Numb to controversy: After constant scandals, Trump is desensitized to infernos that would petrify anyone else in business or politics. "That's been an adjustment for all of us — what's actually possible by pushing the envelope," a Trump adviser told us.
The bottom line: It takes all types to do this. Trump is content with successful people with strong public reputations, like his incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, or his SecState designee, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), or his pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.).
- But he also believes even those people need some Roy Cohns — in the mold of Trump's mentor and first fixer-lawyer, who was famous, feared and wily — to do the dirty work.
