'100 weirdest people' at Heritage Foundation run government — expect consequences: expert

Sarah K. Burris

Feb. 11, 2025, 11:06 p.m.

There's no shortage of conflicts of interest in the new Donald Trump administration, said MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, speaking to former Republican Tim Miller of "The Bulwark."

The Office of Government Ethics has a leader appointed to five-year terms approved by the U.S. Senate, but Trump fired him late last night anyway.

"Add to the growing list of watchdogs and investigators who aren't supposed to be tied to the presidential four-year cycle, who Trump has removed since he took office," said Wallace.

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She mentioned a recent New York Times report reviewing Elon Musk's $3 billion in nearly 100 government contracts he now oversees.

Asking Miller about the politics, Wallace said that Democrats seem "psyched out" by the non-stop "norm busting" from the Trump White House. It leaves them in charge of defending the government institutions while Trump continues to destroy them.

"Just talk about sort of the exposed flanks of the MAGA movement right now," Wallace asked.

Miller prefaced by saying, "There are a lot of them."

He said a lot of government oversight ensures they "aren't acting illegally or improperly." Without that watchdog in place, it means Trump "has created a culture where there is absolutely no oversight."

"They have total carte blanche to do whatever they want," said Miller. "And where you've staffed the government with, like — the 100 weirdest people at the Heritage Foundation. Like they're all going to advance. Like they're going to advance some very unpopular policies, and some of them are probably going to be corrupt because there are good people in every administration that's bipartisan. And they're — some of them — are going to do things illegally. And probably now in this administration — because you don't have any watchdogs, as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) was saying, they're going to be incentivized to do stuff illegally."

He promised "there will be consequences" but that "it's going to take time." But it's critical, he said, for "Democrats to be as aggressive in fighting it and in raising the alarm about it."

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