Meet the 24-year-old Trump campaign worker appointed to help lead the government's drug policy offic

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Meet the 24-year-old Trump campaign worker appointed to help lead the government’s drug policy office

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. January 13 at 8:22 PM

In May 2016, Taylor Weyeneth was an undergraduate at St. John’s University in New York, a legal studies student and fraternity member who organized a golf tournament and other events to raise money for veterans and their families.

Less than a year later, at 23, Weyeneth, was a political appointee and rising star at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the White House office responsible for coordinating the federal government’s multibillion dollar anti-drug initiatives and supporting President Trump’s efforts to curb the opioid epidemic. Weyeneth would soon become deputy chief of staff.

His brief biography offers few clues that he would so quickly assume a leading role in the drug policy office, a job recently occupied by a lawyer and a veteran government official. Weyeneth’s only professional experience after college and before becoming an appointee was working on Trump’s presidential campaign.

Weyeneth’s ascent from a low-level post to deputy chief of staff is the result, in large part, of staff turnover and vacancies. The story of his appointment and remarkable rise provides insight into the Trump administration’s political appointments and the troubled state of the drug policy office.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/meet-the-24-year-old-trump-campaign-worker-appointed-to-help-lead-the-governments-drug-policy-office/2018/01/13/abdada34-f64e-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html

[Arkansas Granny]

1. It's like they look for the least qualified person available.

Either that or the least qualified people are the only ones that are willing to work with this administration.

[Scarsdale]

2. I thought "smart kid"

Jarrod had this drug thing under control? Since he has solved the Israel/Palestine conflict and lots of other problems, why is he handing off authority to this young person?

[BaileyBill]

3. Reminds me of

the bunch W sent to "rebuild" Iraq. True believers without any experience or knowledge.

[jaxind]

4. Hey...

Hey...like tRUMP said, "We're only going to hire the best people!"

[alfredo]

5. This reminds me of the Iraq reconstruction.

You got the job based on your loyalty, not expertise. “Imperial Life in the Emerald City”

[Botany]

6. Just like Trump's degree from Wharton where he was top of his class ... his M.S. is all B.S.

Fordham University spokesman Bob Howe told The Post that “a student named Taylor Weyeneth is enrolled in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham, in a Master’s program for electoral and campaign management. He has not completed his degree yet.”

In the first résumé, Weyeneth said he volunteered for more than 275 hours at the monastery between 2012 and 2016. The second résumé he submitted to the government said it was more than 150 hours. The résumé provided by the White House does not mention volunteer work at the monastery.

Two monastery rectors, one current and one former, contacted by The Post did not dispute that Weyeneth volunteered there but said they had no memory of him and no paperwork related to his volunteer work.

The administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity acknowledged that the first résumé contained errors. He said in later résumés Weyeneth included dates referring to a master’s degree as projections of when he expected to receive it.

from W. Post

[JHB]

7. All Hail the Trump Drug Czar!

If he's going to be the effective head of the same office once headed by Bill Bennett, he should get the nickname, too.

[TheOther95Percent]

8. Affirmative Actionn for Unqualified White Males in Action

If he was a person of color, the other party of racist misfits and terminally stupid would howl about how affirmative action is so "unfair." This is affirmative action for conservative white males.