Trump Appoints 22-Year-Old Ex-Gardener and Grocery Store Assistant to Lead U.S. Terror Prevention

[Questerr]

Even if that's true (and I don't concede that it is) he wrote the Virginia Plan and was a Founder of the country.

Positions of troop leadership during the Revolution were "of significant authority."

TWENTY YEARS LATER

Hamilton had no leadership position higher than that of a company commander until years later, and even his company command came after extensive battlefield experience.

 

[RetiredAtLast]

TWENTY YEARS LATER

Nope.

Hamilton had no leadership position higher than that of a company commander

Hamilton distinguished himself before he was 22, and was a Lt. Colonel and Aide to Washington.

According to you guys, the country should have given no attention to either one of them because of their ages, or because they hadn't been "in government" for years in their 20's. They were merely very bright and very dedicated.

 

[BabaVoss]

Anyone can look at this situation and see that he has no relevant experience. It's simply poor judgement - idiotic - to put someone so young and inexperienced into a position like that. It is reckless and stupid. We all know this. You know this.

No, I don't and neither do you.

Yes, I do. You do too. You know this makes no sense. He has no relevant experience. None. ZERO. It's just a bad decision. Reckless and stupid.

People are much more than their age, as were so many of the Founders of the country who were in their 20's. This guy might fail or succeed. I'm content to find out.

Maybe in some other role, where the consequences of failure were not so significant.
And by the way, this isn't the 1700s.
But we are talking about terrorism prevention here. THIS role is not suited for OJT. This is more of a FAFO situation.

To the left, he's just an opportunity to focus on personalities instead of issues.

No, its just another example - of which we have far too many - where Trump has proven himself to be an incompetent president.

 

[Questerr]

Nope.

Hamilton distinguished himself before he was 22, and was a Lt. Colonel and Aide to Washington.

According to you guys, the country should have given no attention to either one of them because of their ages, or because they hadn't been "in government" for years in their 20's. They were merely very bright and very dedicated.

Sorry, ELEVEN years later. Still the point stands.

Is being an aide the same thing as being given control over an entire federal program?

 

[RetiredAtLast]

He has no relevant experience.

What is the necessary "relevant experience" to do a coordination and grant issuance job?

But we are talking about terrorism prevention here.

Nor directly, we're not. The country doesn't prevent terrorism for $18 million a year. It gets emails moved between other groups for that amount of money (less the grants, of course).

Trump has proven himself to be an incompetent president.

LMAO!!

 

[RetiredAtLast]

Sorry, ELEVEN years later.

What? Madison or Hamilton?

Is being an aide the same thing as being given control over an entire federal program?

It's demonstrating to leadership that one has the intelligence and dedication to take on a position. And I wish you'd quit acting like the job is the leadership of a key intelligence organization. It's an appointment by Trump of someone who isn't a lifer at Foggy Bottom; BFD.

 

[Questerr]

What? Madison or Hamilton?

It's demonstrating to leadership that one has the intelligence and dedication to take on a position. And I wish you'd quit acting like the job is the leadership of a key intelligence organization. It's an appointment by Trump of someone who isn't a lifer at Foggy Bottom; BFD.

Madison. He didn’t become the author of the Virginia Plan until he was 36 and had extensive experience in government. Experience he got because his rich planter family was already a political power in Virginia.

It’s leadership of a federal program. This kid has zero experience that should put him in charge of it.

If Washington had made Hamilton a regimental commander on the front lines right at the start too, it might be an appropriate comparison.

 

[BabaVoss]

What is the necessary "relevant experience" to do a coordination and grant issuance job?

The Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) is a division of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Established in 2021 to replace the Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP), CP3 is charged with coordinating with federal, state, and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders to fund, research, and otherwise facilitate the prevention of terrorism, including administering DHS's TVTP Grant Program.[

CP3 saw its staff reduced by approximately three-quarters during the early months of the second presidency of Donald Trump; director William Braniff resigned in protest of the cuts. In June 2025, it was reported by ProPublica that Thomas Fugate, a 22-year old junior staffer at DHS, was appointed to head CP3.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Prevention_Programs_and_Partnerships

He was appointed to head this office.
He's barely ever had a real job of any kind.
He's a kid who was mowing lawns a minute ago.
Only an idiot would defend this.

 

[RetiredAtLast]

he was 36 and had extensive experience in government.

And when did he get that experience?

Look. You know jack-shit about the appointee and, apparently, the same about the job. You're just tickled to have the chance to bitch about something else. So go tell someone who cares.

 

[Questerr]

And when did he get that experience?

Look. You know jack-shit about the appointee and, apparently, the same about the job. You're just tickled to have the chance to bitch about something else. So go tell someone who cares.

As just another member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, not running the government.

What secret information do you have about the appointee that shows his qualifications?

Or are you another mindless cultist who can’t criticize any of Der Fuhrer’s decisions no matter how stupid they are?

 

[Craig234]

The US seems much more vulnerable to attack now that it has been at least in decades, if not since the war of 1812.

 

[Sven Karma]

How exciting that they've finally made the sequel to Ferris Bueller's Day Off

 

[RetiredAtLast]

What secret information do you have about the appointee that shows his qualifications?

None. But your friend, Baba Voss, posted a description of the job and I venture that even you could do it.

Or are you another mindless cultist who can’t criticize any of Der Fuhrer’s decisions no matter how stupid they are?

Or are you another mindless cultist who can’t tolerate any action by Trump no matter how they benefit the country? (Don't bother to answer. We already know.)

 

[RaleBulgarian]

Typical Trump incompetent hire. No surprise here.

Remember his recent pick for Surgeon General, who quit her residency, and has no license to practice medicine in any state?

Or wanting his private pilot to head the FAA, or nominating former demoted retired Captain Ronny Jackson to head the VA?

 

[BabaVoss]

None. But your friend, Baba Voss, posted a description of the job and I venture that even you could do it.

You have no idea what you are talking about. I posted a Wikipedia entry that describes the functions of that office. It was not a job description of the head of that office. Not my any stretch.

The Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) is a division of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Established in 2021 to replace the Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP), CP3 is charged with coordinating with federal, state, and local government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders to fund, research, and otherwise facilitate the prevention of terrorism, including administering DHS's TVTP Grant Program.[

A kid who just graduated college might have a shot at an internship - he's had several - in a normal world.

Trump world is not a normal world.

 

[Sven Karma]

None. But your friend, Baba Voss, posted a description of the job and I venture that even you could do it.

...

If only that confidence could be reciprocated.

 

[AConcernedCitizen]

Remember his recent pick for Surgeon General, who quit her residency, and has no license to practice medicine in any state?

Or wanting his private pilot to head the FAA, or nominating former demoted retired Captain Ronny Jackson to head the VA?

Or his CJCS, our first ever CJCS to have never made four stars.

Or his National Security Advisor who couldn't work out how to add contacts correctly to the consumer app with no OPSEC to speak of that he should have known better than to be using to discuss military operations.

Or his Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, Director of the CIA, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of State who all violated the Federal Records Act.

Or his Secretary of Education who apparently doesn't know how to multiply by 10.

The list goes on.

 

[Bodecea]

Good job MAGA voters

"The inexperienced 22-year-old reportedly tasked by Donald Trump with tackling U.S. extremism was working as a neighborhood gardener just five years ago and in a grocery store as recently as August 2023, the Daily Beast can reveal.

Thomas Fugate, who graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio just 12 months ago, is currently heading up the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the DHS, as first reported by ProPublica Tuesday.

...

But according to the youngster’s LinkedIn page, Fugate has almost no experience in this field—and in 2020 was working as a self-employed ‘Landscape Business Owner.’

...

Fugate set up a political Instagram account last year, where his profile contains the motto, “Men used to do great things. I believe they still can."

This is a joke, right?

 

[Sven Karma]

This is a joke, right?

Mash-up between The West Wing and The Apprentice as scripted by later-period PK Dick.

 

[RaleBulgarian]

Or his CJCS, our first ever CJCS to have never made four stars.

Or his National Security Advisor who couldn't work out how to add contacts correctly to the consumer app with no OPSEC to speak of that he should have known better than to be using to discuss military operations.

Or his Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, Director of the CIA, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of State who all violated the Federal Records Act.

Or his Secretary of Education who apparently doesn't know how to multiply by 10.

The list goes on.

And on …

 

[ElChupacabra]

James Madison was 25 in 1776. Alexander Hamilton was 21. The Marquis deLa Fayette was 18.

That's cool, though I'm not sure how that's relevant to the topic.

 

[SavannahMann]

When you hear stuff like this you expect to find it is from the Onion. Nope. It’s real.

I still say it. The only person who Trump ever hired who was qualified for the job was Stormy Daniels.

I’m still on the first page of replies. I’m expecting a lot of But Bidens from the usual suspects.

 

[bongsaway]

Who does before they do?

Security experts with years of experience, maybe?

 

[Michael Cole]

James Madison was 25 in 1776. Alexander Hamilton was 21. The Marquis deLa Fayette was 18.

I knew that eyebrow would come in handy.

James Madison, folks.

 

[Showtime586]

Remember his recent pick for Surgeon General, who quit her residency, and has no license to practice medicine in any state?

Or wanting his private pilot to head the FAA, or nominating former demoted retired Captain Ronny Jackson to head the VA?

Oh yes, those are Trump classics.
Trump likes surrounding himself with incompetent people. By doing so, Trump believes that it somehow conceals his incompetence.