How Donald Trump keeps any staff members at this point is anyone’s guess. While he has chosen mouthpieces and strategists and chiefs of staff to serve as his emissaries and deliver his messages, he often then contradicts those messages and goes off on his own rants once he sees how those messages play out in the press.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly spoke to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Wednesday amidst threats of a government shutdown over immigration reforms such as extending protections to Dreamers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and funding an unnecessary and idiotic border wall that more sane people have known would never work since Trump “first conceived of it.”
‘White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told a caucus of Hispanic lawmakers on Wednesday that he has persuaded President Trump that building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is unnecessary, signaling a possible reversal on the key campaign promise.
‘Kelly, who was secretary of Homeland Security before taking over as chief of staff in July, said that candidate Trump had not been “fully informed” about the border situation when he pledged repeatedly on the campaign trail to build the 2,200-mile wall and get Mexico to pay for it.’
Kelly later appeared on Fox News for an interview to repeat those claims and clarify that he did, in fact, say that the president was not “fully informed” while on the campaign trail.
‘There’s been an evolutionary process that this president has gone through… and I pointed out to all the members that were in the room that they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed.’
Kelly also insulted the president’s “like, very smart” brain by telling Fox News:
‘Campaign to governing are two different things. And this president has been very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realm of the possible.’
In other words, Trump lied to his supporters not just for a political advantage, but because he’s too dumb to know what is actually possible in terms of immigration and border security. This cannot be playing out well in the White House on Thursday morning.
Trump’s Twitter tantrum is a sure indication that he is extremely frustrated with Kelly and with the message he’s delivered to the world. Instead of simply coordinating with Kelly on a statement about his ill-conceived border wall idea, he saw him on Fox News and threw a fit in front of the world on Twitter.
Now, there will be a “see through” wall. That’s called a fence, which the U.S. already has.
Twitter was quick to react to this eye-opening public feud between the president and his second chief of staff (so far). See some of their best reactions below:
Featured image via Getty/Bloomberg
