Summary

Lewis discusses the range of interests overseen by the Commerce Department, including the census, patents, and the NOAA, which takes up the largest portion of the Department’s budget. Quoted commentary from former staffers suggests that most people who come in to work for the Department, including those appointed by presidential administrations, believe that the Department only handles finances and trade. The reality, those staffers say, is much different.

The author then describes how, in the days and weeks after Trump’s inauguration, staffers at the Commerce Department ended up waiting to brief members of the incoming administration in exactly the same ways as those in other Departments. Eventually, one person arrived: Wilbur Ross, named as secretary of the Department by Trump and, according to the author, a man with a long history of lying about his personal wealth. Ross, like the other appointees...