Trump’s White House just compiled its most chilling “list” yet

President Donald Trump doesn’t ask for much from his employees, beyond a McDonald’s hamburger whenever he asks, unfettered access to Fox and Friends, and unrequited, absolute loyalty – at least, that’s what Foreign Policy has reported.

In April of 2018, Mari Stull was appointed as a senior adviser in Trump’s State Department. Like most of Trump’s cabinet, Stull lacks an incredible amount of experience in both foreign and domestic policy. She was a former businesswoman– a food and beverage lobbyist, to be precise. Eventually, she turned that into a lucrative career as a wine blogger under the moniker “The Vino Vixen.”

She was appointed by Assistant Secretary Kevin Moley in April. According to the report, she tweeted about Moley’s appointment that month, writing that “the global swamp will be drained.” Her tweets have since been hidden from public view.

Ms. “Vino Vixen” has apparently been vetting employees on their loyalty to the president, a process which includes reviewing posts made to social media to determine their political leanings.

According to Foreign Policy, Stull is utilizing the information she compiles into lists of those who are loyal, and those whose loyalty she questions.

“She is actively making lists and gathering intel,” one senior diplomat told the website. “She is gunning for American citizens in the [United Nations] to see if they are toeing the line.”

Toeing… what “line,” exactly? The “line” of daring to question the president? That’s what fascists do, not the leaders of democracies. But Trump showed the entire world this past weekend that he feels far more comfortable in the presence of dictators than democratically-elected leaders.

The Vino Vixen’s alarming vetting process has triggered another common occurrence in the Trump White House – three high-profile departures are expected in opposition to this Hitler-esque use of social media. Three deputy assistant secretaries of state in the bureau, Molly Phee, Erin Barclay and Nerissa Cook, are all planning to “bail” on Stull’s department, as Foreign Policy put it.

Just what research is she conducting which has so concerned long-time employees of the department?

For one, she wanted to know which employees had signed off on Obama administration policies opposed by the Trump administration, even if the staffer did not personally back the policy.

This report confirms a letter penned by Democratic lawmakers which alleged that the White House and State Department were conspiring with conservative loons to purge agency employees seen as disloyal to Trump, or worse, supportive of the Obama administration.

“We have obtained extremely disturbing new documents from a whistleblower indicating that high-level officials at the White House and State Department worked with a network of conservative activists to conduct a “cleaning” of employees [disloyal to Trump],” Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings (MD) and Eliot Engel (NY) warned in March of 2018.

As the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck dictator, talks like a duck dictator, and hangs out with other ducks dictators, it’s probably a dictator.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.