Tag Archives: Chief of Staff

The Best and Brightest

Chief of Staff hunt1

Do you remember when “only the best and brightest” were going to be working at Donald Trump’s side as President?  I know a lot of us kind of took that as a bad joke at first, but now a days, it’s like an ironic catchphrase we use as the executive branch implodes on itself.  And now with John Kelly very publicly departing as Trump comes under more and more scrutiny, it seems like Trump is having a hard time even presenting the image of having a wealth of qualified candidates chomping at the bit to fill the seat.  What’s worse, his number one pick, and indeed the guy who was offered the job, Nick Ayers (currently Mike Pence’s chief-of-staff) basically said “thanks but no thanks!” and is himself getting ready to depart the White House as the walls come tumbling down.  Whoever Trump ends up choosing, they’re going to have to live under the stigma of knowing full well they weren’t his first choice.  And I imagine that alone might keep a few people from taking the job.  Whoever ends up in that position  will likely have to deal with mounting legal threats and reputational woes that transcend their time in the White House, so I really have to wonder who is desperate enough to actually say yes.

Fire Hazard

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So there is a news story floating around that is really tickling me.  And I have to say upfront that I have no idea how true the crux of it is.  The gist of the story is that John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, has been on Donald Trump’s bad side, but Trump is just not sure how to fire him.  Indeed, the article notes that at one point Trump did “try” to fire him, but for all in intents and purposes, it just didn’t take, with Kelly effectively ignoring Trump.  Which is just hilarious.  Now again, this is one of those stories where I couldn’t tell you how true to life it is.  The story was broke by New York Magazine, and I have generally found them to be fairly reputable, but again, there is always a question of veracity when it comes to uncorroborated, nameless administration officials inside the West Wing.  But the story has a wonderful kind of poetic irony, where the man who is so famous for firing people that he turned it into his catchphrase, can’t seem to fire an actual employee.  Indeed, according to the story, Trump seems to be looking for a surrogate who can effectively give Kelly the boot.  But true story or not, it’s certainly a fun story to think about.