John McEntee is a case study of how simply being loyal to Donald Trump will result in failing upwards. The young and hungry Republican started as a personal aide to the former President, but was dismissed by then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for a gambling addiction so significant it posed a national security threat. I’m not the type to yuck anyone’s yum (and gambling addiction is a serious problem in the United States), but Kelly’s decision to can McEntee made sense. Donald Trump, well, being Donald Trump, decided to intervene and rehired him as the Director of White House Presidential Personnel. Unsurprisingly, when Trump lost, McEntee went on to help his former boss start an insurrection against the government.
McEntee’s name recently resurfaced on Trump’s shortlist of loyalists to head up the Office of Personnel Management and carry out Trump’s plan to “demolish the deep state.” And what has McEntee been working on that warrants an elevated role in a would-be Trump Administration sequel? Running a dating app for insurrectionists and moonlighting as a TikTok influencer.
John McEntee is known less for time at the White House, but instead for two doings; his dating app for loyal Trump Republicans and his viral TikTok full of inflammatory takes. His invitation-only dating app, the Right Stuff, seeks to bring together like–minded conservatives. Users can introduce themselves by filling out thought-provoking prompts like “January 6th was…” or “a random fact I love about America.” The Peter Thiel-backed app pretty much failed at launch despite promotion from prominent right wing influencers like former White House Press Secretary Keylaigh McEnany’s…younger sister.
And because the Right Stuff is pretty much dead, McEntee turned the app’s TikTok account into an account dedicated to his most viral-worthy ideas, like giving fake money to homeless people.
I get it, Trump will always hire the most devoted sycophant (and McEntee’s ties to the Heritage Foundation as a senior advisor to Project 202, might lend enough ostensible legitimacy to make up for his deeply unserious side gigs in the eye’s of Republicans). But as with the rest of Trump’s plans, McEntee would undoubtedly wreak total havoc at the helm of the federal government’s HR department. As personnel is policy, how likely is it that the guy with the bad dating app and the outlandish TikTok will advance policy that helps the American people? The simple answer is he can’t. Maybe we as a government should swipe left on the man who founded what is Republican Grindr?
If you or a loved one suffer from gambling addiction, or at least believe there is a problem, there are resources at your disposal. Click here for state by state organizations that specialize in recovery for gambling addiction.