On paper, Matthew Kroenig would be a strong candidate to serve in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The 40-year-old professor of government at Georgetown University is an expert on nuclear proliferation. He has a record of public service at both the CIA and the Pentagon. And he says he supports much of the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
But there’s one hitch. During the 2016 Republican primaries, Kroenig signed a letter criticizing Trump’s candidacy and calling him unfit for the presidency.
Now, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo races to fill key positions in an understaffed institution badly neglected by his predecessor, he’s finding that some of the best-qualified people in Washington remain unacceptable to a president notorious for his thin skin.
In political circles, they’re known as the Never Trumpers, a loose-knit group of several hundred high-profile Republican Party members who denounced Trump in petitions and other public statements at a moment when it seemed his candidacy was a long shot. Two years later, they remain outcasts in their own party.
Some continue to believe Trump poses a danger to America’s “national security and well-being,” as they wrote at the time. Others regret their criticism, including politicos who had hoped to serve in a Republican administration and are now shut out.
But while the petitions offered a moment of moral clarity in a town not exactly known for it, their legacy is largely a failed one. The Never Trumpers did not slow Trump’s momentum — their criticism hardly resonated outside Washington. Instead, it ensured they would remain on the outside, looking in, powerless to curb the president’s worst impulses.
Eric Edelman, who served as a diplomat in the George W. Bush administration and also put his name to the Never Trump petitions, said it’s always a challenge to find good candidates for key government positions. For Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and other top Trump officials, having to take into account Trump’s ongoing fixation with loyalty makes it especially tricky.
“The talent pool for recruitment is [now] very shallow,” Edelman said. “[Pompeo] faces enormous staffing challenges.”
