Thomas Fugate’s resume doesn’t particularly stand out. Not long ago, the 22-year-old said he was working as a “cross functional team member” at a grocery store, where he fulfilled “key duties contributing to store operations.”
A few years earlier he claimed to be a “landscape business owner,” which, based on the description, seemed like a fancy way of saying he mowed lawns in his neighborhood. He also had a smattering of internships, including some for local politicians in Texas, where he lived, and at the Heritage Foundation, the organization behind Project 2025.
Last summer, Fugate went to the Republican National Convention and was reportedly chosen as an alternate delegate. He posted this photo to Instagram, of him on the convention floor, wearing the same hat as the rest of the Texas delegates.
But Fugate’s big break came when he worked for the Trump campaign last year on their advance team. Someone in that role would usually help with logistics for local campaign events, like organizing transportation or scouting out locations. The job gave him an entry into the Trump universe, and new doors opened for him after Trump won in November.
Within a few months, Fugate was moving to Washington to start his new job as a “special assistant” at the Department of Homeland Security. It was a quick rise for a recent college graduate with a degree in politics who just 18 months earlier had been stocking shelves at a grocery store.
(All of this info, by the way, was public on Fugate’s LinkedIn profile a few weeks ago when Mediaite took screenshots. His profile, along with other social media accounts, has since been taken down.)
Now, Fugate has an even bigger role: he’s running a federal office within DHS — the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (known as “CP3”). The office, which has an $18 million budget, is tasked with helping prevent terror attacks and violence “through programs and partnerships that support public safety, law enforcement, and national security in communities across America.” Fugate has no apparent experience in any security field, let alone the complicated world of anti-terror work.
A senior DHS official told The Daily Beast, “Due to his success, he has been temporarily given additional leadership responsibilities in the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships office... This is a credit to his work ethic and success on the job.”
Fugate isn’t the first Trump official to be given a prominent role in the federal government because of their loyalty to the president. But he’s one of the most shocking. And there is a system in place that is meant to prevent unqualified loyalists from being given power.