01: Patronage, Personnel, and Policy (ft. Nick Solheim)

Personnel is policy, but where should the Right find personnel?

As co-founder and CEO of American Moment and a veteran of President Trump’s 2024 presidential personnel office, Nick Solheim has interviewed thousands of young conservatives for jobs in Washington.

In the first episode of The Long March, Breccan sits down with Nick to talk about the battle between 4,500 political appointees and two million career bureaucrats. They discuss the difference between Trump’s first term and his second, why your congressman never actually read that omnibus bills, and why patronage isn’t the dirty word academics make it out to be.

Plus: the one interview question every American Moment applicant will be asked, why you should never quote Aristotle in a job interview.

• Apply for American Moment’s Fellowship for American Statecraft (Summer 2027): https://americanmoment.org/programs/fellowship/
• Follow Nick: https://x.com/NickSolheim
• Follow American Moment: https://x.com/americanmoment

(00:00) Welcome to The Long March

(08:38) Introducing Nick Solheim

(09:49) 2 Million Careers vs. 4,500 Appointees

(12:29) Why Trump 45 Got Stymied

(13:49) Nobody Reads the Bill — Their Staff Does

(18:05) Patronage Isn’t a Dirty Word

(20:50) Worshipping at the Altar of the Process

(23:28) The Talent D.C. Is Leaving on the Table

(25:42) Inside the Fellowship for American Statecraft

(26:38) The Unpaid Internship That Started It All

(28:00) The Lumber Mill NAFTA Killed

(31:51) The Pitch to Would-Be Finance Bros

(33:13) What Zoomers Know They’ve Lost

(39:25) Burn the Ships: What Nick Looks for in a Hire

(43:05) The Tom Cotton–Rand Paul Test

(49:39) The Question Every American Moment Applicant Gets

(51:39) Aligned Across the Board

(52:49) Please Stop Quoting Aristotle in Interviews

(56:30) What’s on Nick’s Nightstand

(59:12) Should Conservatives Use Power at All?

(1:05:32) Trade, Immigration, and Foreign Policy

(1:08:30) What Does Winning Look Like?

 

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