Interesting, I had to look it up, but I didn’t know that POTUS could appoint a SP directly. I thought it had to come from the AG - who presumably works for and at the pleasure of POTUS. So I figured POTUS could order the AG to hire person X as SP and it’s the same difference either way. But turns out you’re right POTUS doesn’t need the AG he can just appoint an SP himself.
Grant, Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt, and Harry Truman all appointed their own SPs.
Trump IS the executive branch. The big kahuna. The top AG...the reasons why we have elections.