Former President Trump said Wednesday that it can be difficult to tell whether an individual is going to be loyal after hiring them as he opined on potential staff for a second term and as two former administration officials spoke at the Democratic convention.
Trump was asked on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show about whom he might hire in national security roles if he is reelected in November. The former president did not divulge any names but suggested he was better equipped to staff a second administration having gone through it once before.
“I spent four years. I know people better than anybody in the history of Washington,” Trump said in the interview. “I know the good, the bad, the dumb, the smart. I know the weak, I know the loyal.”
“The loyal is interesting, because loyal, you never really know until certain times, until certain events happen. Loyalty is very interesting,” he continued. “That’s something you never really know, but learn about. And that’s a little bit of a hit and miss, frankly. A little bit of a hit and miss.”
Trump has long put a premium on loyalty, excoriating former staff and Cabinet officials who have spoken out against him since leaving his administration or since the end of his first term.
His remarks to Hewitt come as Democrats put several Republican critics of the former president on stage at the party’s convention in Chicago this week.
Stephanie Grisham, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary and as a senior aide to former first lady Melania Trump, addressed the crowd Tuesday night.
“Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them ‘basement dwellers,’” Grisham said. “He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.”
Other Republicans slated to speak this week include former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.); Olivia Troye, a former homeland security aide to former Vice President Mike Pence; and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.