Before you throw a MAGA hat or a Let’s Go Brandon flag at me, let me make one thing perfectly clear. I voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. If he is the nominee in 2024, I’ll vote for him again. But when we consider him in the context of the next election, we must employ the retrospectoscope, as I did months ago. After all, hindsight is 20/20. And, as Santayana said, “He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.”

Donald Trump promised to Drain the Swamp. Instead, he drowned in the Swamp. While he got a lot done, he thought that hiring “experts” and trimming around the edges would be enough. Instead, the ooze flowed in from every direction, stifling every attempt to actually get big things done.

Trump was even sabotaged by those closest to him. 45 was properly upset when VP Pence announced that his role on January 6 was merely ceremonial. Yet he had my analysis of the Constitution passed on to him by Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, which would have had him properly pass the election back to six contested states for their Legislatures to review. This was bolstered by an opinion letter from a past Inspector General of the Department of Defense (who happened to quote my AT piece). Yet Pence stabbed the President in the back without so much as a “by your leave.”

VP Pence was far worse than this single event. Scott Atlas, M.D., repeatedly points out a serious flaw in Pence’s behavior.

As Chair of the COVID response committee within the White House, Pence politely listened to Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci simply declare that some particular action should be taken. Dr. Atlas would then present a stack of studies showing that the proposed plan was exactly the wrong thing to do. The VP would then thank everyone and follow the completely unscientific plans of Fauci and Birx.

Trump railed at this damaging behavior but didn’t call his own hand-picked expert in for a consultation. That would have revealed to him the evil in action, and he would have had a chance to shut it down. Instead, Pence, the consummate politician, allowed two incompetent virologists to hijack America and destroy the MAGA presidency.

It is this urge to call in experts, as he did with the Wollman Skating Rink, that makes Donald Trump a poor selection to Drain the Swamp. The Donald is simply too trusting, and it bit him in the unmentionables. Rather than a competent business manager, we need an assassin in the White House. You simply cannot be polite when the task at hand calls for explosives rather than scalpels.

I’ve stated before that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis should be our candidate, and I am still of that opinion. Florida has its own Swamp (not the Everglades!), and DeSantis has proven himself adept at navigating it. Cato ranks Florida as “#2 overall” in freedom in the US, and hundreds of thousands of refugees from socialism come here every year, turning Florida red.

Image: Donald Trump. Public domain.

Regardless of the candidate, it’s necessary to cut off the head of the snake. Without that, all is lost. In the White House, the first task must be to fire everyone not involved in the logistics of the edifice. Gardeners, cooks, and housekeepers would be safe. Then trusted lieutenants could be brought in to do the minimal amount of work that must be done. Hundreds of staff are not needed. Ron Paul famously suggested that, if elected, he’d fire all but the essential sixteen.

Next, cabinet departments must have “Chainsaw Al Dunlap” type heads. Any failure to ask “How high?” after being told to jump should be grounds for immediate dismissal.

Of course, because Civil Service rules make actual firing difficult, various other methods would be employed. For jobs requiring security clearance, that clearance can be revoked. Clearances are completely discretionary and, without one, the employee can’t do his job and may not even be able to enter the workplace. Top that off with a transfer to the Department of Irrelevancy in International Falls, Minnesota, and you have a nice recipe for a resignation.

To sweeten the pot, the miscreant might be offered a few months of severance pay to resign without all the folderol. Of course, once that employee is gone, there should generally be no need to fill the chair. Government agencies are famously overstaffed already.

We can’t leave this station without noting that many executive branch agencies are positively harmful to our freedom and well-being. Every regulation should be examined for proper adherence to law and the Constitution, with failing grades resulting in rescission. While space does not allow a long discussion here, obvious departments for elimination are the Department of Education and the National Institutes of “Health.” NIH funds over 40% of all medical research, and you don’t get money if your work doesn’t support the orthodoxy of the Swamp. DOE mires millions in debt while universities get rich.

Finally, sunlight is indeed the best disinfectant. FOIA requests are routinely denied, slow-walked, and redacted. FOIAs should be the highest priority for any agency. They should be responded to in full, with zero redactions, within the thirty-day statutory limit. Staff who object should be summarily terminated for insubordination. The public has a right to know. They can’t trust their government if they are kept in the dark.

With the house-cleaning in the civilian agencies underway, every general staff officer above two-star rank should be immediately retired. Those officers are primarily political and, as General Milley demonstrated, their compliance with the lawful orders of the Commander-in-Chief is not reliable. Their security clearances should be immediately suspended, preventing them from sharing inside information with the New York Slimes and other establishment organs of ill repute. Choosing the replacements would be “interesting,” but proper review, including information from the ranks, would allow Below-the-Zone promotions of effective officers.

Donald Trump was right that the people need to be the rulers of this nation again. Unfortunately, he’s not well suited for the task ahead.

Ted Noel MD is a retired Anesthesiologist/Intensivist who podcasts and posts on social media as DoctorTed and @vidzette. His DoctorTed podcasts are available on iHeart, Stitcher, Pandora and other channels.