Trump names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff, ousting Reince Priebus
Trump names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff, ousting Reince Priebus
President Trump tweeted July 28 that his homeland security secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, is replacing Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff. President Trump tweeted out that his former Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly is replacing Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff on July 28. (Video: Victoria Walker, Peter Stevenson/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
President Trump tweeted July 28 that his homeland security secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, is replacing Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff. (Victoria Walker,Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)
President Trump on Friday ousted his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and named his homeland security secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, to replace him in a major shake-up for a West Wing beset by chaos and infighting.
With his legislative agenda stalled six months into his presidency, Trump became convinced that Priebus was a “weak” leader and had been lobbied intensely by rival advisers to remove Priebus, an establishment-aligned Republican who has long had friction with Trump's inner-circle loyalists, according to White House officials.
“I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff,” Trump tweeted on Friday afternoon. “He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.”
The president added, “I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!”
The announcement comes after deep personal animus between Priebus and Anthony Scaramucci, newly appointed as White House communications director, burst into public view Thursday when Scaramucci accused the chief of staff of leaking damaging information about him to the news media and savaged Priebus in a profanity-laced interview with The New Yorker.
Priebus said in a statement, "It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve this president and our country. I want to thank the president for giving me this very special opportunity. I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the president's agenda and policies. I can't think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God's blessings and great success."
Allies to Priebus said he told them he had resigned on Thursday, concluding that the internal chaos would only escalate. One Priebus friend said the chief of staff had described the situation as "unsustainable," saying he felt demeaned by the president's treatment of him and was frustrated that he could not assert control over basic White House functions, such as policy development, communications and even White House announcements -- which sometimes were made impulsively by the president, such as this week's announcement to ban transgender people from serving in the military.
But some White House officials said the decision for Priebus to depart was made by Trump -- a decision that had been a couple weeks in the making -- and that the president forced him on Friday. These officials noted that Priebus presided over the morning senior staff meeting and accompanied Trump to a law enforcement event in New York.
Regardless, his final departure was a humiliating coda for what had been a largely demeaning tenure during which Priebus endured regular belittling and emasculation from rival advisers -- and even, at times, the president himself.
When Air Force One touched down Friday afternoon at Andrew's Air Force Base, Priebus, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and social media director Dan Scavino all loaded into a Suburban. But moments later, Miller and Scavino hopped out of the vehicle, and as word trickled out about the chief of staff's ouster, reporters inched close to snap photos of Priebus, who sat alone on the rain-soaked tarmac. Priebus' vehicle then pulled out of the presidential motorcade, which proceeded along to the White House without him.
"I think any observer -- including one that did not speak English and knew nothing about politics and came from another planet and solar system -- could, after observing the situation in the White House, realize the White House is failing," said one informal White House adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. "And when the White House is failing, you can't replace the president."
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Now we are going to hear from the Trump loyalists how this is going to set everything right and Trump is back on track.
Know what? Ain't nothin gonna set this mess right.
The problem is not now and never has been a dysfunctional staff. It is a dysfunctional person occupying the Oval Office. This is just re-arranging the deck chairs. A Leon Panetta or a James Baker would not be able to save this White House for the simple reason is that far too many people have unfiltered access to the Oval Office. If General Kelly is to succeed then on day one he has to make it clear to everyone, including Trump, that all access goes through him and no one else. That also included's Ivanka and Jared and especially Scaramucci. Then he needs to tell Trump the one thing he really does not want to hear and that is to stay the hell off from his phone and to funnel all tweets through him. Otherwise he is destined to fail.
It seems that the only person safe from Trump's Apprentice-like leadership style is Trump himself.
((((((((((Sister)))))))))))
Love you! Email on the way.
I love you, too!!!
As long as Trump continues to demand adulation and fealty, his inner circle will continue to be a dystopian clusterfuck. That apparently worked with his reality empire, but the silver lining is that as president, that MO just continues to erode what little political capital he had to start with.
Sessions to homeland security?
"Sessions to homeland security?"
I'd be surprised if that happened. Once you've been eviscerated by a boss, it's unlikely to work for that person again in any capacity. That said, Sessions is a big a sleaze bag as Trump, so you never know.
Sessions to stay as AG because he has the backing of most of the Congress, especially in the Senate, against a guy that most of Congress already hates, Donald Trump. Sessions will stay as AG (as much as I hate him) until Robert Mueller completes his investigation and hands Trump to the House for an impeachment. He had better hope it doesn't happen because there is only one other person in America that the Senate wants to nail their hide to the wall more and that is Ted Cruz. Given the chance they'll send Trump to hell and he'll get to hope that he can make a deal for a pardon in exchange for a resignation.
I had a feeling this was coming. Not an earth-shattering comment, but I just had a feeling he was on his way out. WHAT a mess this administration is!
The circus continues.
This guy claims to only hire the best people, "The Best of The Best" as he put it.
So WTF is he always needing to stiff people on payments (claiming inferior product or work) and now hes firing people he hired left and right in politics.
I think he's full of shit, either he cant pick em to begin with or he cant work with them and he's a crook. Either way his claim to only hire the best of the best is just more trumped up Bull Shit.
Hey Steve, thought I'd join you over here.
Hi Mark Nice to see you. My hope is we lose some of the trolls now.
Occasional trolls, but clearing. Some long time members really are sort of trolls, but we accept them as long as they don't mate and multiply.
If you had put up with some of the trolls of newsvine you'd probably feel differently.
I spent 2 years on NV as Randal Snyder. I was trolled all of the time. I jumped at the chance to follow my old friend Perrie over here. That was close to 10 years ago.
To TRump Reince Priebus was not really Chief of Staff he was just 'Staff'
I agree. In this White House he was much more of a powerless figurehead then a real Chief of Staff and that fault lies with Trump. If he does not give the Chief of Staff the power they need to do their job then this will continue to be a White House on it's way down.
Reince Priebus was not only Chief of Staff, he got the shaft as well.
Well, time will tell if this was a good decision. But damn, Reince Priebus was the head of the RNC during all the rebuilding years leading up to the Republicans controlling everything! He was an amazing success story for the Republican Party! He was DWS's opposite!!
Hard to imagine him being the double agent that they claim he is, but, as I said, time will tell.