Why You Can’t Serve in a Second Trump Presidency

Last week, David Dempsey was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his actions on January 6, 2021, protesting the certification of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the winners of the 2020 presidential election over Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

According to prosecutors, Dempsey climbed over fellow rioters “like human scaffolding” and used “his hands, feet, flag poles, crutches, pepper spray, broken pieces of furniture, and anything else he could get his hands on” as weapons against police officers.

The Ronald Reagan-appointed judge who imposed the sentence noted “that Jan. 6 could have been even worse — ‘a bloodbath’ — had rioters succeeded in their goal of getting to members of Congress who were certifying the presidential election results.” Dempsey, a Californian construction and fast-food worker, was one of the most violent demonstrators that day but he was hardly alone in paying a legal consequence for his actions. Over 1,400 people have been arrested and over a thousand have been convicted. The vast majority of them undoubtedly believed that they were trying to stop a stolen election, because that’s what Trump told them.

Seen in the most sympathetic terms, it was a populist army of the gullible and deluded that believed it was doing its patriotic duty to “fight like hell” for the Constitution.

It’s somewhat tragic that they have paid the price while the demagogue who set them in motion remains free. And that’s really the lens through which anyone thinking about working in a hypothetical second Trump presidency should view things. For example, Joe Sullivan worked for the Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’s presidency and claims his motive was “to make America a better place through good economic policy.” He objects to the idea that any economist agreeing to serve in a second Trump presidency would discredit themselves.

On the merits, he should consider the many people who agreed to serve in the clearly unprepared Donald Trump’s cabinet or inner circle for patriotic reasons but lived to regret it and suffered permanent reputational and/or career damage as a result. I’m thinking of people like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretaries of Defense Jim Mattis and Mark Esper,  Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Homeland Security and chief of staff John Kelly and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Even Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and William Barr regretted their time in Trump’s employ, though I wouldn’t give them much credit for patriotic motives. The worst of the bunch had to be pardoned to avoid prison: Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and Paul Manafort.

Serving Trump often comes with severe legal and financial consequences, which is nowhere better exemplified than in the example of Rudy Giuliani. So, if Mr. Sullivan were to consider the topic a well-meaning warning rather than some holier-then-thou preaching, he might concede the point. But there’s another angle to consider.

Even if we have a maniacal and criminal president, the country still needs to be kept on the rails to whatever degree possible, right? Why not agree to serve in an effort to keep our foreign relations intact or protect us from military attack or work to avoid catastrophic economic policies?

And I have two things on that. First, we have a career civil service and professional military that can take on that roll as far as possible while still obeying orders. It’s no accident that it’s precisely these institutions that come under direct attack by the Project 2025 crowd because they can limit the ambitions of the MAGA movement. But, second, when you join a gullible and deluded populist movement, you actually join it. You work for them. Your success is their success, and if you get in the way, you will be run over. This would be obvious if you stated your goal in becoming an accountant for the Gambino family was to prevent them from committing economic crimes. It should be obvious in the Trump family’s case, too.

If Trump wins, the responsible thing will be to remove him from power through impeachment and conviction. This is because the man is a walking high crime and misdemeanor who uses his power to avoid responsibility for his crimes. And his power is built on an army capable of violence against our own government and Constitution. This was amply demonstrated once, so there is no excuse for not knowing it.

So, the choice is simple. If Trump is elected in November, you can join his army or you can fight it. Only one choice is credible.