Uh oh. The “grown-up in the room” might not be in the White House for long—Donald Trump is reportedly Very Annoyed with his chief of staff, John Kelly, and considering a replacement. Can you say “inevitable”? Inevitable both because of the major churn among Trump’s top staff and because Kelly hadn’t been obeying rule No. 1: always, always say that Trump is better and smarter than you and knows all the things.
Trump’s dissatisfaction is juiced up by the media:
Trump has increasingly been chafing at the media narrative that he needs Kelly to instill discipline on his freewheeling management style. “The more Kelly plays up that he’s being the adult in the room—that it’s basically combat duty and he’s serving the country—that kind of thing drives Trump nuts,” a Republican close to the White House said. In recent days, Trump has fumed to friends that Kelly acts like he’s running the government while Trump tweets and watches television. “I’ve got another nut job here who thinks he’s running things,” Trump told one friend, according to a Republican briefed on the call. A second source confirmed that Trump has vented about Kelly, mentioning one call in which Trump said, “This guy thinks he’s running the show.” (A White House official said “it’s categorically false that Trump is unhappy with Kelly. “He’s only ever referred to him as the general, tough, can be rough, and commands respect.)
Ha ha ha, yeah, how crazy to suggest that someone else is running things while Trump tweets and watches television? But that’s part of being on Team Trump—letting the guy tweeting obsessively about Fox & Friends take credit for anything that goes right, and being prepared to be fired at any moment.
And what would a candidate search for a top White House job be without Ivanka somehow involved?
Vanity Fair reports that the first daughter most likely to be cited by her father as someone he’d like to date is “playing a central role in the search, quietly field-testing ideas with people.” And while Vanity Fair also reports that a source says Kelly “wants to stay longer than Reince,” a quick count on your fingers will reveal that he could soon hit that goal, if Trump doesn’t explode within the next week or two.
”Adult in the room” or not, Kelly is viciously anti-immigrant and a liar and blames the Civil War on “the lack of an ability to compromise,” with no mention of slavery. Unfortunately, as we’ve learned, Trump can also go lower.