There appears to be an ever-expanding list of former Trump allies and aides including former Cabinet officials who have turned against Trump with varying degrees of intensity.
This opposition, for lack of a better term, has presented itself in a variety of forms ranging from some mildly critical remarks and refusals to endorse Trump to full-throated condemnations of Trump and endorsements of his rival for the office of the American presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Some of the more prominent names on this lengthy list of former Trump Administration officials who now oppose him include Trump’s longest-serving White House Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly.
There’s also his first Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis and his second Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
There’s his first national security advisor, Tom Bossert, and his second national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, and even his third national security advisor, John Bolton.
It’s worth noting that even his first vice president, Mike Pence, no longer supports him.
Of course, who can really blame Pence for his estrangement from Trump. I can imagine it must be difficult to reconcile with someone who, well, expressed support for your hanging.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, however.
In fact, according to a recent Washington Post article, close to half of Trump’s former Cabinet members no longer support him which is apparently an exceedingly rare situation for a president to be in.
Here in El Paso, we have the dubious distinction of having our very own former Trump Cabinet official to wonder about. It’s Heather Wilson who, prior to assuming the presidency of the University of Texas at El Paso in 2019, was loyally serving in a cabinet-level position in the Trump Administration.
Which brings me to the lingering question of whether Wilson continues to support Trump.
It certainly wouldn’t be out of line or outside the realm of accepted journalistic norms and protocols for some intrepid local journalist to conduct an inquiry into this timely and very relevant question given Wilson’s extended political career and her previous position in the Trump Administration.
After all, it’s not like Wilson has completely refrained from engaging in partisan political activities while serving as president of UTEP. In late May, for example, she attended an event held at UTEP for Mike Pence and his ultra-conservative non-profit organization Advancing American Freedom, a political advocacy group dedicated to building on the “success” of the Trump Administration.
Incidentally, in case there were any doubts about the conservative bona fides of Pence’s new organization, please note that the current president of AAF, Tim Chapman, was the co-founder of Heritage Action – the advocacy arm of The Heritage Foundation, the ultra-conservative think tank that spawned Project 2025.
In fact, this particular event was so egregiously partisan that it prompted the El Paso County Democrat Party along with the UTEP College Democrats to finally issue a statement calling on Wilson to resign.
This proposed inquiry into whether Wilson continues to support Trump could be handled firmly but diplomatically, of course.
Former MSNBC reporter, Mehdi Hassan, for example, once found himself interviewing Trump’s former press secretary, Sarah Matthews.
While expressing his gratitude that Matthews had finally come to her senses and disavowed Trump, Hassan proceeded to specifically ask her why she was even willing, in the first place, to work for a man who, among other things, had “called Mexicans rapists.”
Matthews offered a somewhat canned and off-point response to this question, but it didn’t even really matter. Hassan had already deftly made his point.
In any case, this is the exact line of questioning that should be pursued with Wilson. Her latest stunt with Pence and AAF at UTEP actually seems to invite this type of scrutiny.
In addition to knowing whether she continues to support Trump, we should insist upon knowing why Trump’s many well publicized attacks on Mexico, Mexicans, and Mexican Americans weren’t enough to prevent her from serving in a cabinet-level position in his administration.
Unfortunately, Wilson has steadfastly refused to discuss her association with Trump, and there do not appear to be any local reporters with the integrity to press her about the service she rendered to the Trump administration and other related questions.
And, perhaps not surprisingly, she’s apparently not about to respond to any questions from a lowly member of the general public. I sent her an email a few weeks ago asking her whether she continued to support Trump, or whether her position on Trump had evolved like so many other former Trump Cabinet officials. I’m definitely not holding my breath, but, to date, I still haven’t received a response.
About the Author
The Perimeter is a column written by Aldo Mena, an El Paso News opinion columnist and founding writer at Fronterizo.news.
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