Porter held the dull-sounding but critically important job of Staff Secretary, a key Oval Office position reporting directly to the President and responsible for all document flow in the White House. He was appointed to and kept the job notwithstanding he could not pass the necessary security clearance because of past domestic abuse violence he allegedly committed on his two ex-wives.
Yesterday, U.S. News & World Report published an excellent editorial (link here) on how badly Trump's White House fumbled and mismanaged the expanding scandal as it explodeded in the press this week. The piece is titled "The Best People" and subtitled "The White House bungled the Rob Porter abuse scandal from start to finish and beyond."
The editorial steps through how Trump's White House doubled down on supporting Porter while heaping praise on him as more and more allegations emerged about his history of battering his wives, including when photographs of one woman's bruised and battered face were published as well as copies of past restraining orders issued by a court against him. To make matters worse, key West Wing figures were urging Porter not to quit as the public case against him became more and more damning.
The final insult came when word leaked that Porter's history of abuse allegations was widely known for months within the highest West Wing levels. The abuse accusations were not news in the Oval Office, as the media initially was told by White House spokespersons, but actually long known. So they were all willing to look the other way and apparently hoped they'd never be exposed. They hoped wrong.
Trump bragged during the campaign, as a self-proclaimed successful businessman, he could attract and hire a far higher caliber of professionals to work in his White House than had ever previously served. The reality is the exact opposite, with a West Wing mired in incompetence, confusion, backbiting, and mismanagement.
The editorial closes with a powerful indictment of the President. "Of course the bottom line in all of this is at the top. All of these problems stem from Trump: from his inept personnel decisions to the yawning blind spots he has in regard to women and accusations of domestic abuse, harassment and assault."
Trump promised during the campaign to be the absolute best as President. As has been the case throughout his career, his actual product is the absolute worst, and this latest debacle is more of the same.
It really is astonishing how they kept heaping praise on Porter up until the minute he resigned. It's bad enough that they knew all along but hired him anyway; now, they just look like the smacked asses they truly are. If they'd just kept their mouths shut in the lead up to the resignation, they would have seemed somewhat more competent. But, hey, look at who we're talking about, right?
ReplyDelete-Scott
LOL!
ReplyDeleteAgain, the White House is showing how amateurs were named by «Trumpty Dumpty» and his close friends.
Worst is that he had the guts to go to a «prayer» rally and said so «Christian» words that he looked like a real preacher. But the truth is that he is such a hypocrite like those religious priests who are hiding behind the Holy Bible and keep on raping young men and women.
Enough of those Christians who are beating their wives or spouses and look like saints out front.
When USA's own president said he was «grabbing women by their pussy» and was supporting pedophile Roy Moore in the Alabama election you should be worried about how USA is judge by many other countries in the world.
How LOW will it has to go to STOP this catastrophic presidency.