NYT columnist Frank Bruni: Working for Trump like an ‘acid bath’

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni speculated early Monday that former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was “paranoid” while working for President Trump, adding that serving in his administration is “an acid bath, not a job.” 

“[Nielsen] will go down more than Rex Tillerson and Jeff Sessions as what it’s like to work for Donald Trump in this administration,” Bruni said during a panel discussion on CNN’s “New Day,” referring to the former secretary of State and former attorney general, respectively. “Your reputation is shredded. You compromise your principles, and at the end of the day, you end up paranoid.”

{mosads}”She was paranoid in recent weeks because she saw signs she was going to be canned even though the president wasn’t telling her,” the staunch Trump critic continued. “How do you work in this administration? It’s an acid bath, not a job.”

“They are at [Trump’s] mercy and whims,” he concluded.

The commentary from Bruni, who also serves as a CNN contributor, comes one day after the president announced Nielsen’s resignation on Twitter while naming Kevin McAleenan acting secretary of Homeland Security.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2019

….I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary for @DHSgov. I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2019

Nielsen wrote in her letter of resignation that she had “determined that it is the right time for me to step aside.”

“I hope that the next secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse,” she wrote.

Nielsen, 46, had held the role since December 2017.