"It Got Back to Trump That Kelly Was Bad-Mouthing Him"

[CatWoman]

“It Got Back to Trump That Kelly Was Bad-Mouthing Him”: After Firing John Kelly on Impulse, Trump Learned He Had No Plan B

On Friday night, members of Donald Trump’s West Wing gathered for drinks at the Trump International Hotel following a holiday dinner at the White House. As they mingled in the lobby, Bill Shine, Stephen Miller, Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and others grappled with the latest West Wing upheaval: Trump had changed the plan and fired Chief of Staff John Kelly earlier that afternoon. “It got back to Trump that Kelly was bad-mouthing him and Trump had decided he’d had enough. His attitude was, ‘fuck him,’” an attendee told me.

Kelly’s defenestration surprised few people—Trump had wanted to fire him for months—but the lingering problem had been finding a replacement whom Trump felt comfortable with (and who wanted the job). “The president really wanted someone he knows. He didn’t want to gamble,” a former West Wing official said. After weeks of lobbying by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump had been convinced that Mike Pence’s 36-year-old chief of staff, Nick Ayers, was the best candidate. On Friday afternoon, Trump met with Ayers, Pence, and Kelly and finalized the transition, a source briefed on the meeting said. A press release announcing Ayers’s hiring was reportedly drafted and ready to go for when Trump planned to announce Kelly’s departure on Monday.

But Trump’s frustration with Kelly boiled over after Kelly pressed him to name his deputy Zachary Fuentes interim chief of staff. “Trump didn’t like how Kelly was trying to dictate the terms of his departure,” a Republican briefed on the discussions told me. Trump blew up the carefully orchestrated announcement and told reporters on Saturday as he walked to Marine One that Kelly would be leaving by the end of the year. “John wanted to announce his own departure. This was a humiliation,” a former West Wing official said.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/12/after-firing-john-kelly-trump-has-no-plan-b?mbid=nl_th_5c0eff99e2641b48c86501eb&CNDID=37279594&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=vyf_hive_news_20181211%20(1)&bxid=MTMzMTgyOTk5ODY5S0&hasha=234b900c2bbb166051b14a73f2831387&hashb=4ab5949013a6a01361c57ee9da73c567c73c032d&spMailingID=14769757&spUserID=MTMzMTgyOTk5ODY5S0&spJobID=1540861804&spReportId=MTU0MDg2MTgwNAS2

[Iliyah]

1. t-rump is that stupid not to know that most in the WH

and elsewhere do not like him.

[Cha]

2. There's always Leakers

in that mob.

[Girard442]

3. Just have a lottery. The loser gets drafted into the job.

Odds are, would be a better COS than whatever toady Trump ends up picking.

[hatrack]

4. "Lottery in June, indictments be heavy soon."

[MaryMagdaline]

6. Funny!

[MaryMagdaline]

5. So Ayers didn't want to answer questions concerning his income

[peggysue2]

11. That's what I read, too

That $12-14 million that he made through the PACs and election committees must have a funky smell, hard to explain. All these people hate the idea of an audit. That and Ayers might be banking on Pence moving into the WH in the near future. So, why put up with the Mad King and the stink following him?

[MaryMagdaline]

15. Good points

[exboyfil]

7. I don't know what the problem is

Ayers wanted it to be short term. Hopefully it will be short term.

I also wonder if his job with the 2020 PAC is safe now. Trump doesn't take rejection lightly. Until Trump's head is on a spike (figuratively), it seems trying to operate a PAC could become difficult.

[watoos]

8. Yeah it would be difficult,

converting those rubles to dollars.

[getagrip_already]

9. I prefer a musolini ending for the family.....

figuratively of course, it is much better imagery to see them all hanging in a row from a gas station canopy. Figuratively, of course.

[Blue_true]

12. Sounds like someone don't want the Secret Service knocking on their door.

Actually, the whole family, except Tiffany and Baron, should be in a Three Stuges movie (never saw them in real time, but the oldies are great to watch). They act like clowns (which they are) and give each other knots on the head, but no one really gets bleeding hurt.

[struggle4progress]

10. "What I really want in a chief of staff is blond hair and big headlights!"

[Totally Tunsie]

13. Ask and you shall receive!

Jim Gaffigan


Oh, not what you meant?

[FrankBooth]

14. More palace intrigue

It's all so boring now. This is all Trump has left.