The question of who is the worst member of President Trump’s administration could keep a dinner party entertained for hours. Is it Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the multimillionaire who felt impelled to lie about being a billionaire? Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and schnorrer extraordinaire Scott Pruitt? Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who, when he was a U.S. attorney, let billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein off with a mere slap on the wrist? Or could it be acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who has gone from turning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into a joke to attempting to end the Affordable Care Act?
All worthy contenders, to be sure. But my nod goes to Education SecretaryBetsy DeVos. It’s not simply that she combines manifest incompetence with the cluelessness of the wealthy — that can be said about many a member of Trump’s Cabinet. It’s that there’s something extra-special distasteful about a uninformed billionaire heir with no need for government help routinely sticking it to those who do, especially those who are frantically seeking to get ahead.