After demoting senior adviser Steve Bannon from a seat on the National Security Council earlier this week, it now appears that Donald Trump may be on the verge of shaking up his staff yet again.
A senior aide to the pretend president told Axios that Bannon may be purged completely from the staff and that Chief of Staff Reince Preibus is also on the chopping block. And there’s even a short list of those who might replace Priebus:
- House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who developed a close relationshi with Trump who was one of the first congressional leaders to support him. McCarthy is also said to be a confidant to Trump.
- Wayne Berman of Blackstone Group. Berman Assistant Secretary of Commerce under President George H.W. Bush, and has served as an adviser on eight presidential campaigns.
- David Urban of the Washington advisory firm American Continental Group. Trump reportedly has Urban on his speed dial cell phone list.
- Gary Cohn, Trump’s economic adviser and the former #2 at Goldman Sachs.
The other source of conflict inside the Trump administration appears to be between Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been handed an increasingly large portfolio of both domestic and international issues. Breitbart, which Bannon once ran, has been brutally attacking Kushner this week since the demotion of Bannon. Those tensions might make Bannon’s remaining on staff an impossibility. It seems unlikely that Trump would choose the unstable Bannon over his daughter’s husband if it comes to a showdown.
As for Priebus, many are now placing blame for the healthcare debacle squarely upon the Chief of Staff. Whether it’s fair to make Priebus the scapegoat, someone may have to be sacrificed, and there’s absolutely no chance that Trump himself will take any of the blame for the failure of Trumpcare being implemented as the so-called head of state repeatedly promised during the campaign.
With investigations continuing into Russian interference into the 2016 campaign, Bannon and Preibus may only be the first of several senior staffers who are forced to fall on their swords for the lying megalomaniac who hired them in the first place.
Featured Image Via Yahoo News
