Qilu Evening News Qilu one-point reporter Wang Xiaoying compiled
After US Defense Secretary Esper was dismissed on the 9th, the Pentagon ushered in a wave of resignation. The person who helped Trump "clean up the White House" this time was John McKintie, the head of white house personnel. The 30-year-old was one of the first employees of Trump's team four years ago, briefly served in the White House in 2018, and then left due to gambling involvement. In February this year, he returned as Trump's "loyal minister" to manage the relevant personnel work of the White House and help Trump do the "clean-up work".
McKintie (first from right) with Trump
When I was in college, I was an "internet celebrity"
Before becoming the Head of Personnel at the White House, McKintie was best known as an "internet celebrity." In 2011, when he was also working as a quarterback on the football team in college, he made a fancy shooting video. In the video, he throws the rugby ball into the trash can accurately from afar, and hits the billiard ball into the hole by the inertia of the rugby thrown out... The video, which is less than 5 minutes long, garnered more than 7 million views.
In 2011, McKintie, a student at the University of Connecticut, played in rugby and played well. He also didn't expect that the video would turn him into an "influencer", "We posted it to YouTube (video site) and it was on the Yahoo homepage the next day, and I was about to have a heart attack, it was unbelievable." McKintie said in an interview at the time.
McKintie in an influencer video.
In the video footage of that year, the college student wearing a sweatshirt and smiling green would never have imagined that 9 years later, he would throw senior officials from the US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security like a football ball.
McKintey studied media at university and after graduation sought a position as a production assistant at Fox News, where he was responsible for his channel's social media accounts. After Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2015, McKintie reportedly sent a bunch of emails to the Trump team to introduce himself, but received no response. The U.S. "Politician" website reported that McKintie later sent another email saying that he could help respond to a large number of random emails received by the campaign team, and the letter finally got a response, and in July of that year, he became a volunteer for the Trump campaign and later "regularized" it.
After joining the Trump campaign, McKintie served as a "travel manager", responsible for the team's "business trips" and gatherings across the country, and coordinating the travel plans of relevant personnel. He was young and capable, able to stay up late, seemingly tirelessly, often busy enough to sleep in Trump Tower. Other campaign staff members recalled that McKintie was a "perfect team player" whether it was the low-level work of binding documents or preparing memoranda before the first debate in the Republican primary.
Left because of gambling, returned with loyalty
McKintie bet on the right treasure. In November 2016, Trump was elected President of the United States. As one of the first employees of the campaign, McKintie was given the opportunity to enter the White House and became an assistant to the president, earning $115,000 a year. He appeared on Trump's golf course, in the Oval Office of the West Wing of the White House, on Air Force One to help the president get documents, and was said to be deeply liked by the "first lady" Melania. At the time, the 26-year-old was also named "the 30 most influential Republicans under the age of 30" by Newsmax, a pro-Trump American media outlet. But in the eyes of other media, although McKintie exudes the handsomeness of an athlete and the clothing is good, the reason why he can succeed is only because he is in a team where loyalty is more important than ability. The "Politician" website once described McKintie as follows: "When he reported to Trump's door in 2015, he had no other qualifications except the determination to make his boss happy." Some officials also commented that although McKintie is active and ubiquitous, its political influence is not large.
After Trump entered the White House, McKintie became his personal assistant.
From a small clerk in the news media to a personal assistant to the president, McKintie made a huge leap in his life, but his first White House career lasted only more than a year. In March 2018, he was fired by then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on "inaccurate security issues" and was said to be suspected of "serious economic crimes." Later, the Wall Street Journal reported that McKintie had serious gambling and tax problems and could not pass the background check.
Less than a day after Trump was sacked in early 2018 as he began preparing for re-election, McKintie entered the re-election team, this time as a senior adviser. Not only that, but in February, McKintie suddenly returned to the White House as head of personnel. This is related to Trump's state of mind at the time, he had just gone through the impeachment investigation, and although he successfully passed, he was frustrated by the unfavorable testimony from the mouths of those officials. At this time, Trump believes that his talent is the most reliable.
McKintie's loyalty once again played an important role, "the president considered him a very trustworthy, very loyal man." Trump's close friend Chris Radi said. In February, Trump recalled two young people from the 2016 campaign, a 32-year-old Hope Hicks, who left the White House in February 2018, to return to the White House as a senior adviser, and John McKintie, who helped Trump fight the "conspiracy of disloyal officials." Hicks and McKintie's departures once made the team's veterans deeply angry, and now their return means that Trump is reusing his own people.
Hope Hicks and McKintie returned to the White House at about the same time, and they were both considered loyal to Trump.
Dominance of the post-election madness
Not to disappoint his boss, McKintie moved swiftly to replace employees who had worked for years in the White House personnel office with a group of young men in their 20s, purging a group of officials deemed less loyal. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post that McKintie had said: "I'm here just for the president, and I'm not afraid to fire anybody." ”
McKintie's office also launched an internal interview review process to identify those who were "disloyal," with questions including, "Who's on your team?" Who's bad? Who doesn't do things on the president's agenda? Who brought you into government? What do you think of a particular policy? A government official who had been "tortured" said the interviews were harsh and tricky.
Since the end of the US election, McKintie has further accelerated the pace of work. On climate change, for example, the White House replaced Michael Cooperberg, a scientist who advocated tackling climate change, with David Lee Gates, an academic who claimed that climate change was harmless. The Pentagon hired "Trump loyalist" Michael Ellis as general counsel for the National Security Agency last week, a position that the Washington Post notes gives Ellis the protection of civil service status. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Trump's "fanatical supporter", international trade lawyer Corey Stewart, will serve as the commerce department's chief deputy assistant secretary for export management, an appointment also promoted by the McKintie-led White House Personnel Office.
Are these Trump "iron fans" really suitable for these positions? A senior U.S. government official expressed deep concern: "McKintie is loyal to the president, but he lacks a basic understanding of how departments work and what skills are needed to hold certain cabinet-level positions." Placing unqualified people in senior positions actually hinders the president. ”
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