Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are the problem -- a staff shake-up won't fix anything

[DonViejo]

Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are the problem — a staff shake-up won't fix anything

It’s not Steve Bannon’s fault the GOP’s policy agenda is incoherent.

Updated by Matthew Yglesias@[e-mail] Apr 11, 2017, 8:10am EDT

The Trump administration knows it hasn’t gotten off to a very impressive start, with Shane Goldmacher reporting that officials are increasingly panicked about a likely impending wave of stories about a first 100 days devoid of major achievements and Maggie Haberman reporting that “Link to tweet
" target="_blank">some form of overall review” is in the works that could be used to generate a shake-up.

Meanwhile, tensions between chief strategist Steve Bannon and the rising star of chief son-in-law Jared Kushner have been openly aired in multiple media outlets. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, too, has been on thin ice since the beginning of the administration and appears to be taking blame, in particular, for the dismal fate of Trump’s health care efforts where his relationships on Capitol Hill were supposed to be crucial.

Kushner is a political neophyte, but he previously orchestrated the ousters of Corey Lewandowksi, Paul Manafort, and Chris Christie from their places near the top of the Trumpworld pyramid. He also appears to have been instrumental in bringing people with subject matter knowledge but no personal ties to Trump into the fold. Still, the fundamental issue with any new staff shake-up will remain exactly the same as with previous staff shake-ups — Trump is the real problem, and he isn’t going to fire himself in favor of someone well-suited to being president.

What’s more, beyond Trump’s personal failings, there’s genuinely little reason to believe that the GOP’s current legislative struggles have anything to do with the White House. Long before Trump came on the scene, conservative ideologues on Capitol Hill constructed a set of alternative facts about repealing the Affordable Care Act that served as a useful electioneering strategy but simply don’t work as a governing agenda.

The chaos in the Trump White House is a symptom of Trump’s presence in the Oval Office, not bad staffing. And his ability to secure the GOP nomination in the first place is a symptom of the larger rot in the conservative movement. A staff shake-up can’t fix this because it fundamentally can’t be fixed.

more
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/11/15223460/trump-staff-shakeup

[democratisphere]

1. The entire drumpf administration and family are the problem.

Impeachment will fix a lot of it.

[J_William_Ryan]

2. Actually not.

Failed, wrongheaded conservative dogma is the problem, regardless the Republican president.

[Gothmog]

3. Trump is the problem and not the idiots who work for him