Billionaire Nicole Shanahan, who has thrown her support behind GOP nominee Donald Trump after she and her running mate, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. dropped out of the presidential race, spoke with U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) on her podcast, Back to the People.
Massie said: “Where Trump messed up in his first term was he picked some bad help.” The Congressman added with a laugh, “I mean, John Bolton, come on, what were you thinking?”
[Since serving in the Trump administration as National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019, Bolton has called Trump “unfit” for the White House.]
I agree with @RepThomasMassie that President Trump will be best served if he surrounds himself with fewer backstabbers and establishment bureaucrats this time around. Elevate people who will challenge you and keep you aligned with your agenda. FWIW, having some Ron Paul and Rand… pic.twitter.com/yTa4WPawXr
— Nicole Shanahan (@NicoleShanahan) September 5, 2024
Massie said that who Trump hires in his next administration, if re-elected, will be “so critical.”
Massie claimed that he practices what he preaches by saying he doesn’t want “all the same ideology in my office because you need to have arguments inside the office.” He joked about his office being divided by Ron Paul people and Rand Paul people, “and they argue all the time.”
Shanahan joined Massie in laughter and replied, “That’s a funny vision.”
Diversity of opinion and ideological inclusivity — albeit in a limited Paul v. Paul range — may be Massie’s professed preference, but a second Trump term would likely include — as Trump has indicated — fewer diverging voices and more loyalists than his first term.
Though Trump has recently distanced himself publicly from Project 2025 — the controversial, conservative transition schema for Trump 2.0 — many of his most influential supporters, including VP pick J.D. Vance, have deep ties to the plan, which includes a move to abolish government agencies and fire tens of thousands of workers and replace them with loyalists.