Priebus in the Cross-hairs (Already?)
Via WaPo: Trump friend says Priebus is ‘in way over his head’
One of President Trump’s longtime friends made a striking move on Sunday: After talking privately with the president over drinks late Friday, Christopher Ruddy publicly argued that Trump should replace his White House chief of staff.
“A lot of people have been saying, ‘Look, Donald has some problems,’ and I think he realizes that he’s got to make some changes going forward,” Ruddy said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Ruddy went on to detail his critique of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus: “It’s my view that Reince is the problem. I think on paper Reince looked good as the chief of staff — and Donald trusted him — but it’s pretty clear the guy is in way over his head. He’s not knowledgeable of how federal agencies work, how the communications operations work. He botched this whole immigration rollout. This should’ve been a win for Donald, not two or three weeks of negative publicity.”
Three quick thoughts:
- Really, the above paragraph is quite accurate if one substitutes “Donald Trump” for “Reince Priebus.”
- I am not so sure that Priebus “looked good” on paper for this job, as I was never especially impressed with his work as RNC Chair.
- We are now just beyond three weeks into this administration and a longtime friend of the president is publicly musing about a White House leadership shake-up. Three weeks.
You know that you have a presidential disaster on your hands when the Mango Mussolini makes George W. Bush look pretty good by comparison…it’s like the next four years will be one weekly catastrophe after another…EVERY SINGLE WEEK…
Trump seems to think he can ensure staff loyalty to him by pitting individual staff members against each other.
It’s as if a pack of low-rent Borgias are running things. Or not running them, as the case may be.
Trump has a friend?
There is an up-side and a down-side to a stupid psychopath. A smart psychopath might do more intentional harm but wouldn’t be so plainly incompetent; a stupid psychopath wants to do harm but can’t get his shit together to actually pull it off, but at the same time you run the risks associated with incompetence. God help us if we get an epidemic or a Katrina-level event.
Backstabbing and purges are the norm in autocracies.
I suspect that Trump is going to be a bit like the Fuhrer, who liked to play off his senior staff against each other and make them compete for his affections. Trump is a sociopath, and sociopaths are manipulative by nature. They are obsessed with loyalty, which they equate with obedience.
“We are now just beyond three weeks into this administration and a longtime friend of the president is publicly musing about a White House leadership shake-up. Three weeks.”
Well, what would an episode of The Apprentice President be without Donald saying, “You’re fired!”?
Trump’s Ruddy friend: “It’s my view that Reince is the problem. I think on paper Reince looked good as the chief of staff — and Donald trusted him — but it’s pretty clear the guy is in way over his head. He’s not knowledgeable of how federal agencies work, how the communications operations work. He botched this whole immigration rollout. This should’ve been a win for Donald, not two or three weeks of negative publicity.”
I’m not convinced that it was the communication operations that were the problem. I’m happy that the fingers are being pointed, and hopeful that the entire administration collapses into a bunch of backstabbing little vermin fighting, but the problems are with the EO itself, first a foremost, then the incompetent implementation, then the random reinterpretations from different people, and the lack of anyone in charge.
Was Priebus supposed to be in charge? Who can tell…
Priebus was supposed to be the establishment guy, balancing the RW activists. I had never heard of Christopher Ruddy ’til this post. WIKI says he’s the founder of Newmax ferchrisake. He’s a RW activist. No wonder he wants Priebus to take the fall.
Wait. Trump doesn’t drink. Over glasses of water?
And, really, of that crowd (Miller? Bannon? Trump?), Preibus is the one in over his head? Too many levels of bullshit in this statement to care about.
@michael reynolds:
Raymond Smullyan, the philosopher/mathematician who just passed away, would have been delighted. He challenged his students and numerous fans to understand mathematical theory by solving problems about islands with liars and truth tellers, but whose residents could also be sane or insane. A regular liar always said the opposite of the truth, but an insane one tried to lie but was always wrong. Vice Versa for the truth tellers. You would then be presented with various statements from unknown residents and have to figure out the truth without knowing if they were liars or truth tellers, sane or insane.
If he were with us today he would no doubt be writing a new book set in the White House with its merry band of stupid and smart psychopaths…
@Joe:
Another press account had Trump drinking diet Coke and his buddy having an alcoholic beverage.
I can fully believe Preibus is in over his head, but concor that he should be less so than the others named.
@MarkedMan: Smullyan died? Oh dear, R.I.P. I used his books to study for the GRE.
So, this is probably someone who expects government to be run like a business being shocked, shocked that you can’t run government like a business.
@Anonne:
You’re assuming that Trump knows how to run a business. Let me assure you that anyone who bankrupts four casinos and goes broke peddling vodka does not know how to run a business.