An Insider’s Guide to Politics

“How can a president not be an actor?”

Ronald Reagan, a famous actor prior to his political career, understood that the platform of the presidency required daily communication and some deft acting. He was known as “the great communicator” and employed careful stagecraft, words, and inflection to present an image of the president to the American people and the world.

Donald Trump has taken this to the next level. Mastering the art of social media, Trump not only won the presidency but has consistently communicated his MAGA message to a growing movement across the country. A day hardly goes by when Trump doesn’t lead the news cycle. If Trump is the main character, his cabinet is the supporting cast, designed to support the narrative he is pushing while not disrupting the plot. But lately something feels off with the Trump cabinet.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has spent the past week explaining a Caribbean boat strike while also responding to a Pentagon investigation into his role in Signal Gate. FBI director Kash Patel has had to defend himself after a 115-page report of active-duty and retired FBI agents criticized his leadership. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is under scrutiny by congressional Democrats who have called for an investigation into the contracting of a DHS-funded ad campaign and her leadership’s ties to the company.

Are the supporting actors becoming the main characters in their own Washington dramas? And what happens if the Democratic Party changes the channel in 2026 by retaking Congressional power and pushing their own narratives? Most importantly, what can we expect from the lead actor, the president, if the plot goes off script?

To answer these questions, we must understand the past, present, and future.

Past Cabinets: 1789–2024

The president’s cabinet reflects his temperament and the political circumstances of the times. George Washington wanted good counsel and vigorous debate, but he also wanted to avert national political rupture. So he chose Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, two brilliant men who were ideological opponents, for his cabinet, thereby ensuring national unity at a critical early stage.

Abraham Lincoln faced a civil war the minute he took office. Recognizing that he would need to hold together what remained of the Union, he named numerous campaign opponents to his cabinet: William Seward became secretary of state, Salmon Chase became secretary of the treasury, and Edward Bates became attorney general.

Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt did the same thing in the lead-up to World War II by appointing Republicans Henry Stimson and Frank Knox to his war cabinet.

Trump’s “Media-Savvy” Cabinet

After first-term cabinet infighting that didn’t advance his political agenda or his messaging, for his second term, Trump chose term loyalists who were telegenic and could carry the message. Noem, Patel, and Hegseth were not only fiercely loyal, but they were all staples of television prior to their cabinet posts. They reflected Trump’s messaging style and a media environment in which news cycles change by the hour. Hegseth and Noem being the “faces” of the new Department of War and immigrant deportations, respectively, are exactly what Trump wants from his cabinet.

Each cabinet crisis is isolated for now. Trump doesn’t trust the Democratic Party or the media, and these two groups are the leading voices attacking his cabinet. Rather than presenting as distractions from Trump, these cabinet members are likely helping the president by taking some of the incoming political fire. Additionally, both this media-savvy cabinet and Trump can easily change the narrative to a different item on their agenda.

The Future: 2026–2028

If the Democratic Party changes the channel in 2026 by retaking Congress, then its new investigative power would transform these scandals into a months-long media slog that would distract from Trump’s agenda. Ronald Reagan may have had great presidential messaging, but in the second half of his second term, Democrats dominated headlines with the Iran-Contra hearings into Reagan’s cabinet. George W. Bush and Barack Obama both saw lengthy hearings and investigations into their cabinets after the opposition took power in the last two years of their presidencies.

If this starts, cabinet members become distractions and not contributors. In that case, Trump would need cabinet members who can weather a Congressional opposition storm while staying on message. As the midterms get closer, we’ll see which supporting actors receive callbacks and which get written out of the script entirely.  —

Heard on the Street

Trump and His Democratic Friends

“Trump loves others with main-character energy.” This was what one smart Republican operative told me when I asked about the Trump-Mamdani friendship meeting in the White House.

But Mamdani’s not the only Democrat Trump has befriended. A recent Politico story noted how close Michigan Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer has become with the Trump administration. Whitmer is a potential 2028 presidential candidate and equally media savvy.

I think Trump understands and respects other political forces and what that can mean for pushing his agenda. I think these Democrats equally understand that their agendas can be advanced by working with the president.

Fearless Forecast

Blue Is the Color of 2026

A special congressional election in Tennessee that just took place tells us everything we need to know about the midterms. The Republican, although he won, underperformed in this massively Republican district. This is yet another sign that momentum is in the Democratic Party’s hands in November. Congressional Republicans continue to retire, polling on the economy remains bad, and Republicans won’t have Trump on the ballot, thus depressing turnout. This is a recipe for a massive blue wave.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1090)