Politics is a bloodsport, and that’s not a joke.
Hollywood occasionally shows us the ugly inside of politics, but even they can be made to blush. DC really is built on a house of cards.
Trump’s style lends itself to the rough and tumble of DC. Having dealt with crooked politicians his whole life, Trump was more than prepared. It didn’t hurt that Trump knew how to deal with unions and the Mafia, making him the most qualified president to ever take office.
This is why Trump needs only the toughest and most confident people. Reince Priebus couldn’t handle the task as Chief of Staff. Because deep down, Priebus is a p*ssy. He couldn’t manage Omarosa. A handful for sure, but still manageable. Priebus also couldn’t control leakers, a fatal flaw. Trump expects loyalty and competence.
Finally, President Trump settled on Gen John Kelly.
Word on the street is that General Kelly may not be cutting it. That pressure could have led to the incident reported by the Boston Globe:
WASHINGTON — An argument in February between White House chief of staff John F. Kelly and Corey Lewandowski, an informal adviser to President Trump, turned into a physical altercation that required Secret Service intervention just outside the Oval Office, according to a half-dozen people familiar with the events.
The episode, details of which have not been previously reported, is the latest illustration of the often chaotic atmosphere Trump is willing to tolerate in the White House as well as a reflection of the degree to which Kelly’s temper can be provoked.
The near brawl — during which Kelly grabbed Lewandowski by the collar and tried to have him ejected from the West Wing — came at a time when the chief of staff was facing uncertainty about how long Trump would keep him in his job. A guessing game over his departure has colored his tenure since.
Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, was widely hailed as the lone grown-up who could corral a staff full of bombastic and competing personalities when he was appointed in summer 2017. But Kelly has shown little inclination to curb his own instinct for confrontation, from scuffling with a Chinese official during a visit to Beijing in 2017 to last week’s profanity-laced shouting match with national security adviser John R. Bolton after a meeting with the president.
From the looks of things, Kelly feels the heat. I suspect he will be gone soon.
To want to go to blows with Lewandowski is like choosing to fight your little sister.
As for the Chief of Staff job, Trump isn’t looking for help, even advice. He just wants his Chief of Staff to have his back and reign in problems or issues. So far, it seems that Kelly may create more problems than he solves. That’s never a good formula, when your boss is Donald J. Trump.
