News-wise, it’s been a busy few days. Following Scaramucci’s appointment a couple weeks ago to replace Sean Spicer (as WH Acting Communications Director), now DHS Secretary Kelly is appointed to replace Reince Priebus (as WH Chief of Staff). We also heard that AG Sessions is finally going to crack down on leakers.
Spicer and Priebus both came to President Trump via the Republican National Committee. In other words, though perhaps good human beings, they were traditional Swamp creatures. Rumors have swirled for months that Priebus had Spicer working more on behalf of Priebus’ reputation than Trump’s, and that Priebus was one of “the leakers” who have caused trouble for Trump. Even if that isn’t true, I still can’t say that the Priebus-Spicer team has done a wonderful job of advancing an America First agenda.
Politically, Trump is a “fighting” President and the combination of Scaramucci and Kelly says that he wants to stop playing defense and go on offense. Scaramucci seems more genuinely combative than Spicer and more adept at new media (getting Trump to do his first Periscope live stream, for example). General Kelly seems like an effective manager who really believes in Trump’s agenda in terms of America First, controlling the border, cracking down on gangs (MS13), and so forth.
The rumor mill says that NSA McMaster could be on his way out. He is said to be yet another leaker, who carries forward Obama policies and appointees rather more than he should. He apparently championed a Syria war, and Trump has apparently decided against a Syria war. We shall see.
Our favorite Senator, Lindsey McCain, still hates Trump passionately. Here is video of Lindsey Graham saying that Trump is an enemy of the Rule of Law who “turns democracy upside down”. And video of John McCain pumping fists with Chuck Schumer (D) when the Senate failed to repeal Obamacare on Friday.
Why does John McCain love Obamacare?
UPDATE – Not so much on offense? Scaramucci has just resigned. This is probably not great, if Trump wants a forward communication strategy. And it’s probably something that Kelly wanted.
So, we would have a scenario where Scaramucci is brought in, takes out Priebus (by means of a conflict that I didn’t go into, above), makes room for Kelly to come in, and then Kelly says “I’m the boss – you’re done”?
UPDATE: A report says yes, the above is what Jared and Ivanka wanted. Scaramucci was just their blunt instrument for removing Priebus; Bannon, Kelly and others were never going to stand for having Scaramucci around.
Also, if you believe Jack Posobiec’s sources on Capitol Hill, McCain defeated the latest Obamacare repeal just to screw Trump and Rand Paul. Totally unprincipled.