Trump had no realistic choices. Mitch pretty much boxed him in with severe limits on who he would confirm and who he wouldn’t. This was enforced by his refusal to let the Senate go into recess for a single day for the entire four years to prevent his OWN PRESIDENT from making any recess appointments.
Next, the pussyhats and the restaurant terrorists and the universities made life an absolute hell for anyone who thought they might work for the Trump administration. So the “killers” he wanted to bring in vanished. Remember all those members of his business advisory council who quit within weeks? It was because of threats and boycotts.
Trump had almost no ability to appoint who he wanted to.
Realistically, he had about 40% of the normal power a President has and look at all he accomplished. The White House was utterly infested with spies like Vindman.
He was alone, under attack from all points of the compass.
I don’t disagree with any of that. But, even the people he surrounded himself with in the West Wing were just horrible. Horrible. These aren’t staffers who rely on Senate confirmation. Instead, Trump could have picked anyone. Look at his picks for Chief of Staff. They were dreadful up until Meadows and even Meadows was terrific.
I hate to say it, but Trump has a blind-spot when it comes to picking people to help him.
I do think knee-caping Flynn in the first weeks of the administration hurt Trump on two fronts. First, Flynn was really the only person with enough experience to understand the criminality Obama engaged in and may have been able to smother it in its crib. But worse yet, Trump’s failure to to stand tall for Flynn sent a message to other people who might have been thinking about joining the Administration: You do so at your own peril.
BTW and FWIW, Vindman didn’t work in the White House. I don’t even think he worked in the Old Executive Office Building. One thing many people don’t understand is how laughably large the National Security Council and its staff is. It’s freakin’ enormous, a bi-product of the War on Terror. Most presidents never meet most NSC staffers much less pick them. It’s a calcified bureaucracy like everyone else in DC.
He was alone, under attack from all points of the compass
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No one forced his top two advisors on him. That being Jared and Ivanka. To go back to the Godfather, those two were not wartime consiglieres and that’s what Trump needed right out of the gate. Just spitballing here but I’m guessing those four years would have gone a lot different if Trump had picked Colonel Allen West and Candace Owens as his top two advisers instead of Ivanka and Jared.
Wow.. Excellent points!
Trump had no realistic choices. Mitch pretty much boxed him in with severe limits on who he would confirm and who he wouldn’t. This was enforced by his refusal to let the Senate go into recess for a single day for the entire four years to prevent his OWN PRESIDENT from making any recess appointments.
Next, the pussyhats and the restaurant terrorists and the universities made life an absolute hell for anyone who thought they might work for the Trump administration. So the “killers” he wanted to bring in vanished. Remember all those members of his business advisory council who quit within weeks? It was because of threats and boycotts.
Trump had almost no ability to appoint who he wanted to.
Realistically, he had about 40% of the normal power a President has and look at all he accomplished. The White House was utterly infested with spies like Vindman.
He was alone, under attack from all points of the compass.
Excellent post.
I’ve made the same comments, about M!tch, previously.
I’ve often said....he (M!tch) doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if the country is destroyed, as long as his DS secrets are protected.
I even told hubby, just after the stolen election, that I wouldn’t be surprised if M!tch leaves office soon. His mission is accomplished.
I’m bookmarking your post. A great post.