Gorka: Trump ‘isolated,’ GOP leaders living ‘fantasy illusion’
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/348412-gorka-trump-isolated-gop-leaders-living-fantasy-illusion
Former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka believes Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's “credibility is lost and unrecoverable,” and that major changes at the White House over the summer have left the president feeling “isolated” in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill.
Gorka said Ryan (R-Wis.) and McConnell (R-Ky.) are living in a “fantasy illusion” and have failed on promises made to the American people, most notably on repealing and replacing ObamaCare.
“I don't think [Ryan and McConnell] are working against [Trump], but they're definitely not working with him,” said Gorka, who left the White House on Friday, one week after the dismissal of his ally, White House strategist Stephen Bannon.
“They still live in this fantasy illusion that Nov. 8 was their victory as much as it was the president's,” Gorka said in the phone interview “And they will pay a penalty for that mistake and belief."
“Given that the president deliberately asked his colleagues on the Hill to bring relief to America from the disaster that is ObamaCare and that after eight years of promises, they failed. I would say Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan's credibility is lost and unrecoverable,” he said.
McConnell’s and Ryan’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Gorka’s remarks.
The 46-year-old Gorka, like Bannon, came to the White House from Breitbart News, a site that has frequently criticized both congressional GOP leaders.
Bannon, referring to McConnell, has talked of how he’ll “light him up” upon his return to Breitbart.
The site has significant power on the right, and could be a troublesome presence for Ryan and McConnell as they seek to corral the votes to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government in September.
Gorka, after leaving the White House, told Breitbart’s Washington editor Matthew Boyle that he would be working with the Breitbart crew. But he told The Hill that wasn’t necessarily the case.
“I never said I was returning to Breitbart,” he said. “I'm in negotiations right now with other entities but will definitely be collaborating with Steve Bannon and the Breitbart team in the future.”
Gorka said Trump feels more isolated at the White House, and suggested he does not like all of the changes instituted by new chief of staff John Kelly, who has restricted access to the president as a means of bringing more discipline to the Oval Office.
“The president currently feels, to a certain extent, isolated,” Gorka said. “Individuals don't have access to him as they did in the past.
“So we know [Chief of Staff] General Kelly wanted to impose a certain regimen on the system,” he said. “But there are aspects of the new regime that the president is not satisfied with, let me leave it at that.”
Gorka said the key to Kelly's success in his new role will ultimately come down to chemistry and a “commitment to the president's vision.”
“He's definitely asserted control as one would expect from a military professional,” says Gorka. “The key unknown is whether his style will comport with the president's expectations and own style.
“Look at White House history. Being an effective chief of staff is never just about efficiency. It's far more about chemistry and commitment to the president's vision.”
Though Gorka insists he resigned, the White House has disputed that characterization in a statement that explicitly said he had not resigned. Many see Kelly as having pushed out Gorka, who worked as a deputy assistant to Trump on national security issues.
Gorka said Bannon’s exit was a reason for his own departure. He insisted the final straw, however, was a speech the president gave on the administration’s new Afghanistan policy that didn't include the words “radical Islam.”
Gorka, in a series of interviews, has said many in the White House are working against Trump and do not believe in his “Make America Great Again” agenda.
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Gorka is a nothing and a nobody. Support for people like him is a fringe minority. This is in some sense the heart of the problem with Trump and his Trumpsters. They believe they are a majority in this country, because their expressions and their circular encouragements exist within the right wing and far right wing media bubble.
Yesterday I seeded the results of a new Pew survey (unfortunately the seed got no play on NT) which shows that the great majority of Americans (2 out of 3) do not agree with Trump on the issues. Only 15 percent of Americans agree with Trump on all or most issues.
Where do Gorka and Bannon and Trump himself get off pretending that they have majority support? This man has never had majority support. There may have been a day or two right after the election where his approval rating briefly crept over 50% out of a national sense of "coming together", but then Trump opened his mouth again and said something completely false or totally stupid and his approval rating dived.
He never had over 50% even in the GOP primaries until the decision was foregone and his main rivals had dropped out.
We cannot continue as a nation pretending this fool has widespread support.