{"id":280,"date":"2026-06-02T22:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2026-06-02T22:11:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:11:00","slug":"trumps-least-qualified-appointee-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s least qualified appointee yet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><em>This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=278\">Why the US doesn\u2019t want American Ebola patients to return home<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Welcome to The Logoff:<\/strong> Donald Trump is putting an unqualified loyalist in charge of US spy agencies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s happening?<\/strong> On Tuesday, Trump announced in a social media post that he was appointing Bill Pulte, who is already director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director of national intelligence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Pulte will replace former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in the role after Gabbard announced her resignation last month, citing her husband\u2019s cancer diagnosis. (Gabbard has a few weeks left on the job, though: Her resignation will take effect June 30.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>What does the DNI do?<\/strong> As acting director of national intelligence, Pulte\u2019s job \u2014 ostensibly \u2014 is to oversee and coordinate the 18 agencies that make up the US intelligence community, including the CIA, the FBI, and the National Security Agency. It\u2019s a powerful role, though one that has been sidelined for much of the second Trump administration because of Gabbard\u2019s conflicts with the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=276\">Here\u2019s why Republicans just stood up to Trump<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the context?<\/strong> As my colleague Andrew Prokop reported last year, Pulte has spent his time in government to date freelancing as Trump\u2019s attack dog, including digging up flimsy accusations of mortgage fraud against Fed governor Lisa Cook, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and New York Attorney General Letitia James (only one of which resulted in an indictment, which has since been dismissed). He also pushed Trump to fire former Fed chair Jay Powell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Why does this matter?<\/strong> Gabbard\u2019s tenure as DNI was by turns bizarre, alarming, and ineffectual \u2014 but it could well pale in comparison to what Pulte might do with the role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Pulte has no background in national security or intelligence, so his sole qualification for the DNI job is seemingly his relentless, bottomless loyalty to Trump. As FHFA director, that looked like trumped-up schemes to indict Trump\u2019s enemies; at the head of the intelligence community, with power over domestic and foreign intelligence collection, it could be a far more serious threat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>And with that, it\u2019s time to log off\u2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Hi readers! Here\u2019s a story from The Atlantic making the case for inviting people over on a spontaneous, low-stakes basis. It\u2019s great advice \u2014 we\u2019ve echoed it in the pages of this newsletter before! \u2014 and spending time with friends is a guaranteed way to feel better about the state of the world. You can read it with a gift link here. Have a great evening, and we\u2019ll see you tomorrow!<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=274\">Alabama\u2019s new congressional maps do the one thing the Supreme Court still forbids<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><span>See More<!-- -->:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Donald Trump<\/li>\n<li>Politics<\/li>\n<li>The Logoff<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump\u2019s mortgage fraud czar is about to be overseeing America\u2019s spy agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s least qualified appointee yet - 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