John McEntee
McEntee served as Donald Trump's personal aide until 2018, when John Kelly, then chief of staff and a frequent adversary of the president's loyalists, removed him over what the White House called a security clearance issue. Press accounts citing unnamed officials tied it to gambling, and he was never charged with anything. Trump rehired him, and in 2020 McEntee ran the Presidential Personnel Office, where he removed officials he considered disloyal and placed appointees who favored immigration restriction, economic nationalism and an end to foreign wars, drawing opposition from the party's hawkish wing. In November 2020 he drafted an order to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Somalia, which senior Pentagon officials persuaded Trump to rescind. He later served as a senior adviser to the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, leading its work on staffing a second administration, a program Trump disavowed during the 2024 campaign. Since 2025 he has been a registered lobbyist for Tencent, a company the Pentagon lists as linked to the Chinese military, according to his own federal filings.
McEntee has never held elected office. This grade rests on his record as a White House aide, including his year as director of presidential personnel, his work as a senior adviser to Project 2025, and his public statements and business activity since leaving government. He has no record on working families or on building, so those criteria are not graded.
This grade is preliminary and based on the public record to date.
The grades
- SovereigntyDid they put American interests first and keep decisions in American hands?C+
- HemisphereDid they guard the Americas against rival powers and threats?B-
- No entangling warsDid they keep the country out of wars that weakened it and served no American interest?A-
- StatecraftDid they use diplomacy, force and alliances skillfully, on American terms?C+
- Industry and tradeDid they protect and build American industry?B-
- Working AmericansDid ordinary working families do better because of them?N/R
- BuildingDid they build things that lasted and push the frontier forward?N/R
- NationDid they strengthen a shared American identity and the Union?B-
- CompetenceWere they capable and effective in office?C+
- IntegrityDid they govern honestly, free of corruption and of capture by donors or foreign interests, and do what they said?C
On the axes
Dark dot: John McEntee. Red mark: the Monroe Society. Ideological closeness to the Society: 84%.