Death Match

It would be difficult to find a major news outlet that hasn't run a piece this week about how Donald Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly's days are numbered and also about the search underway for a replacement. Vanity Fair had a good example (link here) with the title "A Death Match: As Kelly Twists, a Chaotic Search for a New Chief of Staff Engulfs the West Wing."

The Chief of Staff is a critically important position for any President. He or she must both be an effective lobbyist on Capitol Hill and also an efficient manager of the entire White House staff.

Trump probably will soon hire a third Chief of Staff after only thirteen months in office. That level of turnover is unprecedented and reflects what a chaotic mess this presidency is as well as how Trump is a totally incompetent manager and chief executive.

Remember when he ran and bragged about how much better he'd be in the White House, how the nation badly needed a successful CEO like himself? Trouble is, he was never a particularly good businessman nor a particularly successful CEO.

Both Trump's first Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, and Kelly had the resumes to be at least decent in the job. But they were repeatedly sabotaged by the emotionally fragile narcissist above them.

Add to that mix a West Wing continually crippled by a high turnover, rampant infighting, and sheer incompetence -- many there have no policy experience whatsoever. On top of this is the fact that two Trump family members have some of the most important White House jobs, for which they are utterly unqualified, and both regularly worsen nearly every major problem plaguing this administration.

Trump isn't going to change, so the next Chief of Staff is bound to fail, too. He or she will be handcuffed to an incompetent, corrupt buffoon and his scheming, petty, mendacious family.

It's not like people weren't warned, however. Trump's campaign was a chaotic mess, which perfectly foreshadowed how he'd be a horrendously bad President.

If either the House or the Senate is flipped to Democratic control after this year's midterms, Trump's West Wing will become a whole lot worse. The only thing keeping the Trump administration afloat now is a complicit Congress manipulating a weak President.

Now add the possibility that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will have a fresh batch of indictments before too long, and it's impossible to imagine how the Washington Mess could get any better.

Stormy days ahead. Stay tuned.