Trump’s Cabinet is still full of scandals

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a historian and postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University and author of the forthcoming book, "The President's Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution."

One week ago, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was accused of swindling business associates out of $120 million. A few days later, news broke that Betsy DeVos’s personal yacht is registered as a foreign vessel to avoid a state tax evaluation.

Neither scandal should be that surprising, given that during President Trump’s 18 months in office, eight Cabinet secretaries have resigned because of scandal or personal conflict with the administration. Prominent congressmen and interest groups have called for the resignation of least four others over serious ethical concerns, not including Ross.

No other president in the nation’s history has experienced such turnover or frequent accusations of wrongdoing. The president, perhaps because of his ideas about loyalty and his own scandals, has been slow to respond, unwilling to hold his secretaries accountable. But he should. These incidents are costly distractions from governing, but they could also have a devastating impact on the reputation of his administration — as the first Cabinet scandal demonstrated.

Read entire article at The Washington Post