Poor President Donald Trump can’t get no respect. His staffers are fleeing the White House, and with the exception of outgoing New Jersey governor Chris Christie, no one’s in a hurry to apply for the positions, Raw Story reports.
Trump Is Going Down For The Count
Current Chief of Staff John Kelly doesn’t plan to replace the recently fired Steve Bannon or his minion, Sebastian Gorka, who recently jumped ship.
One White House aide told Politico:
“General Kelly has come in and done a look-see on what everyone’s been working on for the first six or seven months here. Some people were ready, and some people were not.”
And the ones who are left are in argumentative moods.
Like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, for instance. It seems Tillerson, and economic adviser Gary Cohn heaped criticism on Trump’s response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. That angered Trump, but there’s not much he can do about it, according to Politico.
In an interview, Cohn said the administration (hint: Donald Trump) needs to do a better job of denouncing hate groups. Then Tillerson, in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, said that the rest of the government represents American values, but Trump doesn’t necessarily do so.
Then there’s Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who slapped down one of Trump’s tweets that suggested we are done talking with North Korea.
All of these incidences are offenses that, in most cases, can lead to someone being fired, notes Politico’s Rich Lowry:
“In a more normal time, in a more normal administration, any of these would be a firing offense (although, in Mattis’ defense, he more accurately stated U.S. official policy than the president did).”
Tillerson, he said, should have been he was out of a job before he even left the studio.
Then Lowry added:
“The fact that this hasn’t happened is an advertisement of Trump’s precarious standing, broadcast by officials he himself selected for positions of significant power and prestige.”
In a normal situation (and Trump’s situation is anything but normal), a president only loses credibility in a foreign crisis, when a foreign leader defies him, Lowry writes. A president can also lose credibility in a domestic political confrontation when an opponent inflicts a stinging defeat.
And in Tillerson’s case, Trump’s advisers don’t think they can find anyone qualified enough to replace him. They don’t believe U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is ready to replace Tillerson, who’s been fighting with the administration for months and has surrounded himself with a tight cadre of aides.
Axios reports that when Trump returned from his recent 17-day vacation, he found his influence had tanked even further because the Russia investigation continues to damage his administration, and congressional Republicans are openly questioning his ability to lead the country.
One source told Politico that the president’s mindset is “the worst it’s ever been.”
“He feels like this is not what he signed up for, and his accomplishments are being underplayed. He just looks around and says, ‘When is this going to get better?'”
Which brings to mind the moldy-oldie cliché: Be careful what you wish for. Because you just might get it. He wanted to be president, and now he is. Perhaps he’s finding out it’s a job he can’t handle, and that things are possibly only going to “get better?” when he leaves office.
In the video below, an MSNBC panel discusses Tillerson’s controversial views on Trump’s “American values.”
Featured image by MSNBC courtesy of YouTube Video.
