Subject: APPROVE: Empty Administration Shot/Chaser
From: "Helmstetter, TJ" <[email-masked]>
To: "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>, "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>, "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 May 2016 08:42:45 -0700

SHOT: Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will "hire the best people" as president.

CHASER: Politico reports in a story headlined "Trump's Empty Administration<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-administration-transition-222944>": "Top Republican political leaders aren't the only ones shunning their party's presidential nominee - a vast number of highly skilled managers and policy experts, veterans of recent GOP administrations who would normally be expected to fill key positions for a new White House, are also vowing to sit out a Donald Trump presidency." (Additional excerpts below)
LIME: Today, Trump announced that Chris "26%<http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/poll_christie_has_lowest_job_approval_rating_to_da.html>" Christie will be his Transition Team Chairman. Good luck, Chris! You have your work cut out for you.

EXCERPTS: Trump's empty administration<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-administration-transition-222944>

As presumptive nominee takes first steps on transition, GOP policy veterans say they're not interested.

POLITICO // DARREN SAMUELSOHN and BEN WHITE

"I would never serve in a Trump administration," said James Capretta, a former Office of Management and Budget official under George W. Bush. "The person at the top is unfit for the presidency. He's made that very clear with his behavior."

Added Matt McDonald, another Bush OMB veteran: "I wouldn't vote for Trump, much less work for him. I don't agree with half his ideas, and the other half I don't really believe what he said."

One former Republican official who worked in the Environmental Protection Agency put it this way: "You'd have to worry about your future career and the way you're perceived in these things. You just kind of think of how he deals with people. Would you really want to work for him?"

The lack of interest in serving Trump extends from the energy and financial services sectors to defense and foreign policy. [...]

At Treasury, which plays a lead role on fiscal and tax policy, the only candidate regularly mentioned by Trump is long-time Wall Street activist investor Carl Icahn. But the 80-year-old Icahn has repeatedly said he doesn't want the job. And few who follow these jobs closely think Trump would even try to persuade him. [...]

Trump has also mentioned KKR co-founder and co-CEO Henry Kravis as a possible Treasury secretary. But Kravis, 72, has said he's not interested.

Trump also name-dropped former GE CEO Jack Welch, 80, for Treasury. Welch has also said he does not want the job. [...]

Trump's biggest challenge in attracting talent, however, is Trump himself, according to dozens of Republican policy specialists. [...]

"Not only will I not work for Trump, I'll continue to use my voice to actively oppose him. Trump isn't merely distasteful or wrong on policy - he's a danger to the country," said Tony Fratto, a former White House and Treasury official under George W. Bush. "He is truly monstrous. Anyone who thinks he's going to 'moderate' or become reasonable once he achieves power is insane." [...]

Read the whole story here: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-administration-transition-222944

TJ Helmstetter
Deputy Director of Regional and Specialty Media
Democratic National Committee
202.863.8022 - desk
973.464.9224 - cell
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>