Go big and build the wall or go home, Mr. President:
At the urging of longtime friends and outside advisers, most of whom he consults after dark, President Trump is considering a “huge reboot” that could take out everyone from Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon, to counsel Don McGahn and press secretary Sean Spicer, White House sources tell me.
Trump is also irritated with several Cabinet members, the sources said.
“He’s frustrated, and angry at everyone,” said one of the confidants.
The conversations intensified this week as the aftermath of the Comey firing pushed the White House from chaos into crisis. Trump’s friends are telling him that many of his top aides don’t know how to work with him, and point out that his approval ratings aren’t rising, but the leaks are.
“The advice he’s getting is to go big — that he has nothing to lose,” the confidant said. “The question now is how big and how bold. I’m not sure he knows the answer to that yet.”
I’m a little skeptical that there will be any major shakeup while there are still reasonable prospects for a war with North Korea. I’m also skeptical that the God-Emperor is going to get rid of Bannon or Sessions; he’s never going to be able to drain the swamp or accomplish much with Establishment or pro-establishment types and I expect he is smart enough to realize that. And Spicer definitely has to go, as he’s simply not quick-witted enough or tough enough to serve effectively as the Mouth of the God-Emperor.
What I believe is that the President has learned that taking the advice of the moderates is no recipe for success, but rather, one for slowdown and failure. I could be wrong, of course, if there is a big shakeup, the nature of it will tell us a lot about the Trump presidency and its prospects for success. The report from Infowars is considerably more encouraging in that regard:
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus could also be on the chopping block as President Trump begins a purge of moderate advisers whom he feels have performed poorly when it comes to investigating the source of leaks that have proved embarrassing for the administration. Having been guided by moderate advisers for the last 6 weeks, Trump tried working with the Washington establishment but has come to the realization that they do not want to compromise on any issue, don’t care about the country, and are merely concerned with blocking his policy agenda.
On the one hand, the God-Emperor can hardly be surprised that listening to establishment moderates has preventing him from making much headway while still putting him in the line of fire anyhow. It’s a little disappointing that he needed to discover that for himself, but then, he now has an excellent justification for continuing to disregard the moderates moving forward. And you may recall that I predicted there would be considerably more turnover in the Trump administration than in the average presidential administration. The God-Emperor has never been prone to tolerating failure and this is not the time to begin doing so.
Never forget that no matter how powerful a man may be, he, too, is subject to the great waves of history and social mood. And his success will largely be dependent upon whether he rides them or fights them.