Trump's Millennial Opioid Czar Quitting Because His Mom Wouldn't Sign His Permission Slip

Anyone who'd appoint this kid to a top job already knows plenty about drugs.

The saga of Taylor Weyeneth, the 24-year-old frat bro and Trump campaign worker who improbably found himself promoted, with no relevant experience, to become deputy chief of staff to the nation's drug czar, is coming to exactly the same kind of end that so many great dreams do in the Trump administration. Wednesday, a White House statement advised a waiting world that "Mr. Weyeneth has decided to depart ONDCP at the end of the month." And no, he wouldn't be available for interviews. On the bright side, no indictment, and not so much as a hint that he's got any connections to Russia, so this is one of the cleaner exits from Team Trump.

The ONDCP is the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the director of that office is better known as the Drug Czar, although being a pre-Soviet Russian ruler is not a formal qualification. There isn't an actual director in that job just yet, and despite its occasional nods toward saying the opioid crisis is a crisis, Trump hasn't bothered staffing up that office, either. Seven of the people Trump did appoint ended up quitting before Trump was even in office a full year, so by January, young Taylor Weyeneth, who only completed his bachelor's degree in May of 2016, found himself one of the few people still working at ONDCP. He was put in charge of the administration's efforts to bring the opioid epidemic under control, but as best we can tell, that largely involved having the title and an office. We don't think he even visited schools with a bullhorn to shout "WINNERS DON'T DO DRUGS, MAGA!"

A January 14  Washington Post  story on Weyeneth's strange ascent to a level of incompetence most folks only dream of said the whole sorry episode

provides insight into the Trump administration’s political appointments and the troubled state of the drug policy office.

That's a very kind way of putting it. Among the Trump appointees who bailed on ONDCP were the agency's general counsel and chief of staff. Some of their duties fell to Weyeneth, although he's not so much a lawyer as a guy who got a BS in "legal studies." Also, he lied on his résumé about having a Master's degree, and as WaPo reported last week, one of the law offices where he was supposed to have worked as a legal assistant actually fired him because he "just didn't show." For work. After they'd put a fair bit of time and effort into training him. He was at the firm at most nine or ten months before getting shitcanned in August 2015. So of course he said on his résumé that he'd worked there until April 2016. Oops.

Some aspiring law students want to be Atticus Finch (at least the pre-sequel version), Perry Mason, or at least one of the good guys from "Law & Order ." But some, apparently, really look up to Lionel Hutz.

Now, the ONDCP is out one of its top men. Clearly, the administration needs to learn from its mistakes and not promote a complete rookie to such a responsible position. People are dying, and the public needs to know the Trump administration is serious about its fight against opioids. Winning back the public's trust will not be easy. They'd better specify in the job announcement that applicants must be at least 26, have a driver's license, and be willing to work some nights and weekends.

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[ WaPo / Wapo / WaPo ]