Game Theory and the Trump Administration
Since the beginning of the Trump presidency, there has been an unprecedented number of leaks from within the White House. White House staffers and Cabinet members are all officially on the same team. However, the institution is made up of several factions competing for superiority, with each fearful of the other leaking damaging information.
On a small scale, this has lead to a prisoner’s dilemma type game. If Individual A leaks information about B, Individual B should retaliate by leaking information. If Individual A does not leak information, Individual B would benefit by taking out a potential opponent early and vice versa. Because of this, leaking becomes the dominant strategy.
By zooming out, we can also look at how the Trump Administration is unbalanced. Because each node (staffer / admin) cannot trust the other node, there is essentially a negative relationship between all nodes. A purely negative network is unstable and results in sporadic “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” relationships, only to be broken soon after.
The article goes on to discuss the cultural transformation required within the White House to minimize the number of leaks. Staffers and Cabinet members need to feel like they are part of the same team and be rewarded for collaboration. This would result in a balanced network of positive nodes. The positive nodes would have the most to gain from infrequent leaks, leading to cooperation serving as an equilibrium strategy.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-game-theory-explains-the-leaks-in-the-trump-white-house