Donald Trump Destroyed Meritocracy.

The Trump Cabinet Proves MAGA Never Valued Merit.

Jan 14, 2025

I don’t think America has every truly embodied the essence of a meritocracy.

If we had, long ago it would’ve been the slaves working endless days and nights gaining wealth instead of those who’s only value came from the ownership of said slaves.

Or now, it would be the plumber or construction worker putting in 70+ hours a week making the cream of the crop. Not the man who invested millions into the stock of their company and gets to watch their wealth grow abundantly faster.

Through this alone, it always confused me when blue-collar, working-class voters would buy the MAGA branding of meritocracy. As they so clearly embody this exact divide in that those with money inevitably can profit more off your merit than you can.

Trump however, successfully turned this from an argument of those who work the hardest not getting their fair shake, to directing this rage towards immigrants and minority groups through targeting programs like “DEI” or “Affirmative Action.”

Despite these being programs or systems that have existed since the 1960s, and data still showing these groups to be underrepresented with them in place. Trump has successfully convinced his base that their merit is being taken by unqualified people of color or women.

Definitely not the billionaire CEO’s taking home record profits while their employee pay has remained stagnant.

Meritocracy has always been a left-leaning argument, hinged on the fact workers create most of the profits for a company and need to be paid the true merits of their labor. Donald Trump, as someone who doesn’t want this to end, has succeeded in destroying the push for this by re-framing it to “qualifications".”

The Most Egregious Picks.

Okay, we’re going to discuss the picks that are the most egregious, unbelievable, and completely unqualified that Donald Trump has made. Picks that couldn’t possibly line up with the idea that merit should be considered over all else.

Now, we’re going to leave off the Matt Gaetz pick that was rescinded after the report of all his potential criminality, and we’re leaving the failed DEA pick off also.

With that said, below are the worst of the worst.

Billy Long
IRS Commissioner Nominee

As the party who clamored about qualifications of “DEI hires” as they called them, from the Baltimore mayor to Kamala Harris herself, the natural first question to a pick by Donald Trump would be pertaining to their resume.

So, is Billy Long a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)? No. Is he an accountant of any kind? Not even sort of. Does he have any college degrees in accounting? Again, no. Not bookkeeping, finance, not even business management. In fact, he did not even finish college.

He has never even managed a large organization of any kind, in any field. Keep in mind, the IRS has almost 85,000 employees and a $12 billion dollar budget.

He is however, a straight white man, who has tried to pass legislation to defund and abolish the IRS before. Something I’m sure Trump and his rich donors love, as well as fitting in with Trumps prior attempts to use the IRS to pressure his political opponents.

Oh, and he’s still offering 40% off your taxes in his X bio, despite being Trump’s nominee to head the IRS.

Matthew Whitaker
US Ambassador To NATO Nominee

So, yes, qualifications. The clear place to start again as obviously Donald Trump and MAGA value them so greatly. Has our new ambassador ever worked as an ambassador? No, he has not. In fact, he has no experience in foreign policy or national security, both of which weigh heavily into our NATO involvement.

It is a military alliance however, so maybe a military background could suffice as experience with maybe a different perspective being brought to the table. Unfortunately, Matt Whitaker has also never served in the military. He did play tight end in college though.

Oh, and he was acting Attorney General for a brief period in Trump’s first term. Where it came to light he sat on the board of a company that scammed its customers out of millions of dollars. His involvement went as far as an email sent pressuring a customer who was threatening to report them to the Better Business Bureau with criminal or civil action.

There was also some shady financial dealings with nonprofits who would not disclose their donors, a possible politically targeted prosecution of a same-sex individual in the Democratic party who was swiftly found innocent, and the hilarious moment Donald Trump pretended he didn’t know who Whitaker was despite just appointing him Attorney General.

Pam Bondi
US Attorney General Nominee

The best way to describe the Pam Bondi nomination is as if Donald Trump looked at the chaos surrounding the Matt Gaetz nomination and subsequent withdrawal and said “I can beat that.”

Now, as a former Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi is the first name on this list with on-paper qualifications. The issue here more so comes in the lack of judgement, and clear conflict of interest or corruption it may speak to. With nothing better showing this than what is known as “the donation.”

Now what is this donation you might ask? Well how about a $25,000 check personally signed by Trump that arrived on the desk of Pam Bondi just days after Florida announced it could be joining a multi-state investigation into Trump University.

Donald J. Trump Foundation Check To Florida Attorney General.

Trump University was a bait-and-switch scam ran by Donald Trump where he eventually had to pay out to the tune of $25 million dollars toward those he scammed.

There were 3 lawsuits in which multiple states joined, Florida announced it was considering joining, then Bondi receives this check and within days decides Florida would not be joining the investigation.

On top of this, Bondi was willing to undermine the exact judicial system she will now head as one of the main proponents of claiming voter fraud in 2020.

Even after over 60 court cases determined there was no merit to the claim. After investigations and indictments came down against Trump for his fake electors plot. Which greatly calls into question her character and judgment to fill the position.

RFK Jr.
Director Of Human And Health Services Nominee

Another absolutely bamboozling pick if were speaking on qualifications. He has no experience in the medical field, no medical degree, and a litany of medical experts have warned of the danger of his takes regarding medicine. Specifically, around vaccines.

He has shared a long list of empirically disproven and frankly anti-scientific claims. Like linking autism to vaccines, something data has long disproven. His “anti-vax” agenda being spread during a visit in America Samoa is attributed to causing a deadly outbreak to get much worse.

Despite these dangerous beliefs, problematic history caused by these beliefs, and stunning lack of qualifications, Donald Trump still found him fit to lead a department of over 80,000 employees. The question then becomes, why?

Well fortunately it’s pretty clearly documented. Trump wanted RFK Jr to drop out and endorse him so he could bank his votes as the needed boost to surpass Harris. Essentially selling off the position for this department in exchange for political gain, rather than any focus on qualifications.

What was that thing about merit and Republicans before?

Linda McMahon
Secretary of Education Nominee

Scandals and sexual assault allegations aside, Stephanie McMahon is another perplexingly unqualified nominee from the “party of meritocracy.”

Not only does Linda McMahon lack an education degree, any experience as an educator, or in the public school system at all, but she has even previously lied about having a degree to attempt to sit on a board of educators.

As a long-time proponent of defunding public schools in favor of private school vouchers, despite evidence showing little benefit if any with a high likelihood for harm with these programs, this pick seems another handout to Trump’s rich donors.

As another billionaire, long-time donor to Trump herself, it seems she too got this position off her pocketbook not her qualifications.

The Other Guys.

While those round out the most in-your-face unqualified picks, it doesn’t downplay the incompetence found throughout the rest of the Trump cabinet. Including 3 family members nominated to roles they absolutely don’t have the qualifications for, not even combined.

There is the unprecedented amount of Fox News hosts that have been appointed, totaling in at 18 with their experience and qualifications for their positions ranging from maybe a little to absolutely none at all. Including the host who claimed Native Americans are addicted to government help, or the host most known for his drinking problem.

Pete Hegseth, Trump Nominee For Secretary to Department of Defense.

Or the possible new Director of National Intelligence Security, Tulsi Gabbard, who Russian-funded media called Putin’s favorite agent. They also released a “highlight reel” of sorts to celebrate her nomination once it was announced.

We could look at his chief of staff, who while qualified enough, has some odd ties to Chinese lobbying and foreign interests that make her questionable at best.

What we find throughout trumps cabinet is a few common themes: incompetence, fraud, wealth, and undying loyalty. Which should be a scary combination for anyone to see taking power around our president.

But more importantly, is hardly a cabinet that speaks to the image of “Meritocracy” they so proudly pretended to represent. It instead gives the game away about their view of merit, as it is one of the historically least diverse cabinets of all time. Where it again becomes obvious that to MAGA, being a straight white man is all the merit you need.