"The fifth risk," in Michael Lewis's new book, describes the portrait of a government led by the indifferent: NPR

The idea that Donald Trump could have been totally prepared to become president in November 2016 is not new to those who have been following the crises and daily dramas of the Trump White House.

But this argument is telling and striking by Michael Lewis in his fascinating new book – and sometimes heartbreaking – The fifth risk.

For example, here is the scene described by Lewis in the early morning of November 9, 2016, right after the Pennsylvania call, giving Trump enough votes to win the election. (Chris Christie, who was at the head of Trump's transition effort, was sitting on a couch):

"Mike Pence went to kiss his wife, Karen, and she turned away from him." You got what you wanted, Mike, she said, now leave me alone. "She would not want to say hello to Trump, who himself was staring at the tube without saying anything, like a two-man whose bluff was called in. His campaign did not even bother to prepare a speech for the first time. It was not hard to understand why Trump did not understand the point of preparing to take power in the federal government: why study for a test that he would never need to pass?

Christie would soon be fired from the transitional effort by Trump's advisor, Steve Bannon; the work that he and his team did was ceremonially thrown into the trash. Trump, writes Lewis, "was going to handle the transition more or less by itself".

And that turned out to be problematic. Nearly two years later, the Trump administration still lacks important components. According to a breakdown by the Partnership for Public Service and the The Washington PostOf some 700 key government positions, just over half have been filled.

Many vacancies have candidates waiting for confirmation by the Senate; however, at the time of writing, 153 of these key positions did not present any candidates. For example, at the State Department, vacant posts include tasks that might seem quite important to the country's diplomatic efforts agency. There is no CFO or Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy, no Threat Reduction Coordinator. In the diplomatic service, there are vacancies in United States embassies in Ireland, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Africa, Pakistan and Turkey. a few.

It's just a department. No one has been appointed to lead the FAA (aviation) or the FHA (highways).

This defense bill of $ 715 billion presented by the president at every rally? At the Pentagon, the office of the senior undersecretary for acquisitions, technology and logistics, apparently playing a major role in determining how all money is spent, is empty.

As Trump did, we can say that there are too many positions in the government. What do we need in the first place of all these under-secretaries and assistant under-secretaries? Trump said, "I'm the only one who matters", but it would seem that there is a reasoned and intelligent approach to reducing these numbers, not just leaving key positions to be filled.

"Getting to know the US government," writes Lewis, "had not been placed at the top of Donald Trump's task list, even after he had learned that he would direct it." Lewis describes the scene that was unfolding in the Commerce Department on the Monday following the elections, where "dozens of officials sat all day waiting to give briefings" to Trump's transition team on the role and the responsibilities of their agencies ", which would never be over.

Some of the people Trump has nominated for key government positions are very troubling to him.

Take Trump's choice to lead NOAA, the trade department agency that, among other things, oversees the national meteorological service. For this critical position, Trump chose Barry Myers, CEO of the AccuWeather Private Forecasting Service. As Lewis points out, AccuWeather repackages the weather service data and sells it to private companies for profit. Myers at one point argued "the government should come out of the forecast business." In other words, do you want to know when it will rain tomorrow? Or how does this hurricane follow? Well, buy our app or subscribe to our forecasts. Myers has yet to be confirmed.

In a previous book, the best-selling Moneyball, Lewis explained how the smart minds of baseball changed the game with the use of data and analysis. In The fifth risk (The risk posed by incompetent heads of government), Lewis focuses on government data collection, including weather information and the census (which, at the approach of the decennial census of 2020, also lacks A permanent director).

Government scientists and intelligent technicians have exploited this data to protect Americans. But Lewis reports (like others) that many government data are disappearing from their websites, including data on climate change at EPA, animal abuse at the Ministry of Agriculture, violent crimes in the Department of Justice. "Every act of data deletion," writes Lewis, "is usually based on a narrow commercial motive: a firearms lobbyist, a coal company, a poultry company."

The government may be too big and the bureaucracy too complex, but Lewis explores his core missions: protecting us from threats, including the proliferation of nuclear weapons, devastating tornadoes, and food-borne illnesses; and effectively distribute services and benefits to those who need them – whether from FEMA or good food

The fifth risk meanders a bit, with some profiles of serious officials who are interesting, but then lead us to another serious government worker. It's still a slight criticism. Lewis tells an important and timely story, a story that all those who pay for, care about and want the government to work to hear.