Donald Trump lost a LOT of fans during his 35-day government shutdown, which incidentally, was the longest shutdown in history. We’re sure that Trump is probably proud of breaking that record, as negative as it is — anything to bring him more attention, right?
Sadly, though, because of his ignorance and utterly childish ways of dealing with his responsibilities, his staff hates his guts and as a result, they are jumping ship one after the other at breakneck speed. And who could blame them after being treated like garbage for months and even years at a time?
Somehow, though, Trump has been able to blame everyone but himself for the disasters he creates, and he finds ways to move on as if those unfortunate situations never happened — all the while deflecting by ranting on Twitter about the Russia investigation, or “witch hunt” as he calls it. For some reason, he seems perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that his staff (other than trusted family, of course) have been steadily running for the hills for MONTHS, and (especially since that travesty of a State of the Union address) according to Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman, more departures will be coming any day now.
Sherman writes:
‘But while the State of the Union adjusted the president’s mood, it wasn’t enough to re-align the underlying dysfunction of the West Wing. Morale inside the White House, never high to begin with, has turned particularly bleak, according to interviews with 10 former West Wing officials and Republicans close to the president. The issue is that many see Trump himself as the problem. “Trump is hated by everyone inside the White House,” a former West Wing official told me. His shambolic management style, paranoia, and pattern of blaming staff for problems of his own making have left senior White House officials burned out and resentful, sources said. “It’s total misery. People feel trapped,” a former official said. “Trump always needs someone to blame,” a second former official said. Sources said the leak of Trump’s private schedules to Axios—which revealed how little work Trump actually does—was a signal of how disaffected his staff has become.’
Sherman adds:
‘What’s driving a lot of the frustration is that Trump, now more than ever, runs the West Wing as a family business. Four sources said the only White House advisers he truly consults are daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. “This is a family affair, and if you’re not in the family, you’ve got problems,” a former official said. The special privileges and access afforded to Kushner and Ivanka have been alienating Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. “Mick is not entirely thrilled with the family,” a Republican close to Mulvaney told me. Multiple sources said Mulvaney is looking for a way out of the West Wing. He’s said to be interested in a Cabinet position, either at the Commerce Department or Treasury, and he’s reportedly been pursuing the University of South Carolina presidency. A senior White House official recently lobbied a friend of Mulvaney’s to convince Mulvaney to stay.’
While Trump seems forever distracted by whatever mess he’s trying to hide, Mulvaney is busy trying to avoid the next political crisis while dealing with the possibility of another inevitable government shutdown over this ridiculous border wall. One source told Vanity Fair that Mulvaney is “advising Trump to accept less than his demand of $5 billion and make up the difference by shuffling money around the existing budget,” stating: “Mick wants to re-program existing funds.”
As you might expect, the White House has declined to comment on this, but don’t be at all surprised if Mulvaney is the next to go taking multiple staff members with him.
Featured image via YouTube
