At least one aspect of politics has improved: the “confidence” statement. In days gone by, any necessity for a president or a press secretary to declare his “confidence” in a subordinate usually meant an office was just about to open up. It might have even been interpreted as a signal to the underling in question to discover reasons to spend more time with one’s family — as just attracting that much attention would be reason enough to dump someone.
These days, though, a statement of confidence appears much more literal. And that has to do with the media environment every bit as much as it has to do with Donald Trump’s ideas on how to effect institutional change. Trump tasked Pete Hegseth to deliver on that agenda at the Pentagon, and yesterday affirmed that media hyperventilation hadn’t impacted his confidence in the Defense Secretary:
A person familiar…
