Take Darren Beattie, for example. The Associated Press reported:

A senior State Department official who was fired as a speechwriter during President Donald Trump ‘s first term and has a history of incendiary statements has been appointed to lead the embattled U.S. Institute of Peace. The move to install Darren Beattie as the institute’s new acting president is seen as the latest step in the administration’s efforts to dismantle the embattled organization. ... The State Department confirmed the appointment in a statement to the Associated Press on Saturday.

.....Eight years later, however, Donald Trump’s standards have evolved; his tolerance for hiring extremists is worse; and Beattie returned to a position of influence: Just two weeks after the president’s second inaugural, Beattie was hired to serve as the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. NBC News reported in early February:

Beattie has a history of making inflammatory remarks, including a post on X in October that said: ‘Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.’ Beattie’s site promoted a baseless theory that the attack on the Capitol was the handiwork of the FBI, or has he put it, a ‘Fedsurrection.’

Unfortunately, the list doesn’t end there. Beattie also spent part of Jan. 6, 2021, telling various Black people — including Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina — to “learn their place” and “take a knee to MAGA.”....

Common sense might suggest that revelations like these would bring Beattie’s State Department tenure to an abrupt end. Instead, he’s received a promotion.

It’s a reminder, not only of how much worse the second Trump administration is from the first, but also of the White House’s determination to crush the U.S. Institute of Peace, while signaling to the public that the president doesn’t much mind rewarding those on his team with racist records.