Politics & Government
MacGuffie calls Trump a managerial president
Former congressional candidate says Hegseth, Gaetz are excellent cabinet choices
By Scott Benjamin
FAIRFIELD – Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution wrote in her 2016 book, “Why Presidents Fail,” that often they spend too much time talking and not enough time governing.
Kamarck, who worked in the Clinton Administration, stated that America needs managerial presidents.
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In an interview with Patch.com, Republican former Fourth District congressional candidate Bob MacGuffie of Fairfield commented that Republican President-elect, former President Donald Trump is in that category.
MacGuffie, who was a leader in organizing the Tea Party in Connecticut 15 years ago, said, “Coming out of big-time business, Trump clearly has managerial capabilities - and the Chief Executive's office does require them, due to its nature, running an entire branch of the U.S. government. He took his father's Brooklyn-based business and entered the Manhattan market, grew it by multiples and made it a resounding success. Managerial effectiveness qualities include the ability to plan, organize, staff, lead, and control. I think Trump's business record speaks to his capacities in each of these areas.”
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“In his first presidential term, objective observers know he worked 24/7 - it is his nature. His outspokenness eclipsed his effective governance in mass media coverage during his tenure. However, he met and dealt with most all significant challenges as they arose - he was not known for deferring and kicking cans down the road,” added MacGuffie of Fairfield, who won the congressional convention nomination in May on the second ballot but lost in an August primary to eye doctor and attorney Michael Goldstein of Greenwich.
Sacred Heart University Government professor Gary Rose, who has written a suitcase full of books on government policy, stated in an e-mail interview with Patch,.com, “I would definitely place Donald Trump in the “managerial” category. One cannot deny that as president, despite his Tweets and caustic behavior, that he accomplished several key goals while in office. These included a historic tax cut, increased border security, tariffs on Chinese imports and promoting more financial commitment from members of NATO related to the defense of Western Europe.”
“Despite two impeachments, and White House personnel issues, his presidency was hardly a failure with respect to the policy side of his presidency; very managerial in that respect,” he wrote.
However, some of Trump’s cabinet nominees have been met with skepticism among members of his own party.
Jacqueline Alemany, Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker of the Washington Post recently wrote, “Unlike 2016 — when the novice president-elect was uncertain of how he wanted to shape government and drew from a well of establishment Republicans for most of his Cabinet picks — Trump has approached this round of appointments determined to reward loyalty and find warriors who will do battle with what he views as his “deep state” government foes.”
MacGuffie said, “In my view, we have been so poorly led during the Obama and Biden years that these 'change agents' represent a MASSIVE improvement. [General Electric Chief Operating Officer] Jack Welch was fond of moving his managers to areas where they had no innate knowledge. There are some risks to it but it worked for GE for many decades. I know - I was in GE Capital in the '90s. A cabinet secretary surrounding themselves with a competent circle of informed advisors can do just fine. As long as the secretary doesn't let his ego get involved in the issues, I believe such choices can work.”
He said that weekend Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth, the nominee to be Secretary of Defense,” is being criticized because he hasn't run a large enterprise. BUT, the challenge in the military right now is MORALE. His appointment instantly reverses that!! Hegseth will turn around the recruitment challenge, vanquish DEI and the rest of the corrosive WOKE policies, and get focused again on defending the nation. He will need help with the systems reviews and procurement policy revisions, and must surround himself with a top caliber team.”
However, in particular, there has been alarm in some quarters about the selection of former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be the next attorney general. Gaetz was a leader of the Freedom Caucus, which helped oust U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last year and has sought government shutdowns over raising the federal debt limit. He also has been the subject of a U.S .House Ethics investigation.
MacGuffie, who admires the Freedom Caucus and its commitment to lowering spending, said of Gaetz: ”A brilliant man, a change agent. And the [Department of Justice] DOJ needs a bolt of lightning and a thorough house cleaning, most importantly the FBI, where I hope Kash Patel [the former chief of staff at the Pentagon] is headed.”
He added, “DOJ needs to enforce the law on behalf of the American people. The targeting of political opponents must stop. The culture in DOJ must change. And those from the Biden Administration who broke the law need to be prosecuted, with all rights and lawyering the accused should be accorded.”
However, Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel differed: “The Justice Department desperately needs adult supervision after years of Russia-collusion hoaxes, double standards, and politicized investigations and prosecutions. This moment is too important to waste. Yet nothing good will happen under a deeply polarizing figure [Gaetz] who will lack the baseline respect or support of Congress and the professionals necessary to get anything done.”
The late Louis Koenig, the New York University presidential scholar, wrote in his book, "The Chief Executive," that presidents are usually either strong, middle ground or literal. He advocated for a strong president who is not hamstrung by Congress.
MacGuffie said that Trump qualifies,
“A major aspect of 'strong' is decisive... The other major aspect is implementing your will,” he said. “Trump was certainly decisive, but although he did implement some good things, he was vehemently opposed by the Dems and the Left - the permanent bureaucracies act in their self-interest. They thwarted Trump and waited him out, as they do with most all Republicans.”
However, it appeared that Republican candidates for Congress and the General Assembly in Connecticut sought to distance themselves from Trump, even though Renata Daou of CT Mirror has reported that 153 of the state’s 169 municipalities showed an increase in Republican votes over the 2020 presidential election.
For example, in September CT Mirror Capitol Bureau Chief Mark Pazniokas wrote of state Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-36) of Greenwich, who faced a very competitive challenge in his successful bid for a third term: “ He campaigns by asking voters what’s on their mind. Rarely, he said, do they press him about Trump. But if you do ask how he voted in the presidential elections of 2016 and 2020, or plans to vote in 2024, Fazio politely declines.”
Said MacGuffie, Connecticut Republican candidates “stay away from Trump because they are playing on a battlefield defined by the American Left.”
“You have to ignore that and stand for something,” he declared, citing state Sen. Rob Sampson R-16) of Wolcott, considered the most conservative members of the upper chamber, as someone that other Republicans should emulate.
MacGuffie noted in a recent column in the Connecticut Centinal that in the last 51 combined U.S. House and U.S. Senate elections in Connecticut – from 2007 onward - the Republicans have failed to score one victory.
“The media hates Trump in this state, so they have the Republicans indoctrinated,” MacGuffie explained. “Trump’s abrasive manner makes him radioactive.”
Resources:
Interview with Bob MacGuffie, Patch.com, on Sunday, November 10, 2024.
E-mail interview with Bob MacGuffie, Patch.cmn, on Tuesday, November 12, 2024.
E-mail interview with Bob MacGuffie, Patch.com, on Thursday, November 14, 2024.
E-mail interview with Gary Rose, Patch.com, on Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
https://ctmirror.org/2024/09/22/ct-ryan-fazio-greenwich-2024-election/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/16/trump-transition-cabinet-controversy/
Elaine Kamarck, “Why Presidents Fail,” 2016, Brookings Institution.
Louis Koenig, The Chief Executive, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975.
