Would any intelligent American politico of either party hire some of these Trump administration staffers for a full-time political job, paying them with taxpayer money taxed from whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asian-Americans at the local, state or federal level?

Former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie came to this writer’s attention with his appearances on the Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC during the 2016 presidential campaign, opining on various political issues. He did not impress me but apparently he did impress Trump administration recruiters.

ADVERTISEMENT

Higbie served as spokesman for the Trump-supporting Great America PAC. One wonders if they cared his SEAL service was cut short – only nine years — and that he was eventually issued a “general discharge,” lower than an "honorable discharge," by the Department of Defense. His honorable discharge status was later restored.

What was the cause? Higbie says he submitted his book, “Battle on the Home Front: A Navy SEAL’s Mission to Save the American Dream” for review and approval, as required by the Navy, but that he never heard from his superiors. He went ahead and published it in 2012 and his troubles with the Navy began and ended when he left the Navy as a result of publication.

Trump recruiters know loyalty when they see it, blind loyalty, that is. They rewarded the blind loyalty of the PAC’s spokesman with a plum job in the Trump administration. Then, last month, Higbie’s second book was pulled by its publisher and he was forced to resign after CNN “unearthed racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-gay remarks Higbie made as a radio host.”

Here is one of the many memorable comments that was not, at the time, heard by 58 million Hispanics. In a 2013 episode of “Sound of Freedom,” an internet radio show he hosted, Higbie said that Americans should be able to shoot undocumented immigrants attempting to cross into the United States at the border:

“What’s so wrong with wanting to put up a fence and saying, ‘Hey, everybody with a gun, if you want to go shoot people coming across our border illegally, you can do it fo’ free.’” … “You cross my border, I will shoot you in the face. I will go down there. I’ll volunteer to go down there and stand on that border for, I don’t know, a week or so at a time, and that’ll be my civil duty.”

In another episode of his radio show, Higbie plays “guess the color:”

"I told this story the other day on my show. Somebody who lives in my condo association that has five kids, and it's her and her husband with the five kids and the mother, the grandmother of the kids, and they don't have jobs, they're there all the time — I bet you can guess what color they are — and they have no job.”

Following the reports, Higbie took to Twitter last month to apologize to us all; but he needs to apologize profusely to his idol, President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE for embarrassing the president. Higbie is not alone, however.

Reverend Jamie JohnsonJamie JohnsonTrump's White House hiring strategy: Loyalty over quality MORE stepped down from his job in the Department of Homeland Security late last year for the same peccadillos that Higbie was guilty of, on radio, too.

Johnson is a run-of-the-mill minister who received little attention when he was appointed by then-DHS Secretary John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE to lead the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Then Johnson's 2008 radio despicable comments about African Americans emerged, forcing him to resign in November.

Some think that the Trump administration’s first year has been a disaster based on the staff turnover in and out of visible and important jobs; that may be so. If so, who is to blame? The blame for the exodus lies in the White House and its recruiters, not on the appointees. The “buck” stops with President Trump.

How Higbie’s and Johnson’s statements weren’t previously discovered by Trump’s personnel screeners is amazing. One must question Trump’s outlook and process when it comes to hiring and appointing staff. Everyone knows his “you’re fired” history but is his current “you’re hired” talent acceptable?

He demands personal loyalty. That is wrong. Loyalty must be to the Constitution of the United States.

Are there any more Higbies and Johnsons collecting government pay checks in the Trump administration?

Raoul Lowery Contreras is the author of "The Mexican Border: Immigration, War and a Trillion Dollars in Trade" (Floricanto Press 2016) and "The Armenian Lobby & U.S. Foreign Policy" (Berkeley Press 2017). He formerly wrote for the New American News Service of the New York Times.