The Chaos and Incoherence of the Trump White House Reflects the Chaos and Incoherence of Trump

First President Trump gave Steve Bannon the heave-ho from the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, then Trump damns Bannon with faint praise (“I like Steve, but. . .”).

Ouch.

Now in the chaotic, drama-filled, and ever-changing Trump White House, it appears Trump is pivoting towards the preppy looking 36 year-old Jared Kushner, the man married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

If you’re a conservative who believes in small government and fiscal responsibility, this latest pivot by Trump isn’t anything to celebrate.

Both Jared and Ivanka Kushner have been called Manhattan liberal Democrats (they’re both registered Democrats), with ties to Wall Street, in favor of such things as creating another expensive entitlement like Ivanka’s proposed maternity leave program.

Some are celebrating Trump’s latest pivot as an example of his ‘pragmatism’ and ‘flexibility’, but I think this is a misread.

To understand why, take an NFL football quarterback, who would never set foot into a stadium without a comprehensive set of plays he has carefully gone over with the coaching staff and practiced endlessly with his team; sure, he has some flexibility to call an audible and scramble out of the pocket, etc, but this flexibility is always under the umbrella of a previously well thought out, endlessly practiced, established game plan.

The notion that Trump is being ‘pragmatic’ and ‘flexible’ is absurd. Rather, what we’re seeing is the chaos and disorganization that is brought about by a lack of knowledge and inexperience in governance, along with more than a fair share of palace intrigue, backstabbing, and fighting over who’s top dog in the pecking order (to mix metaphors).

Remember, most thought (even Trump, at one point in his campaign) Trump wasn’t going to win the election, and apparently Trump forgot or never learned the Boy Scout Motto.

What we’re seeing now is Trump stumbling and fumbling, learning as he goes, and some people around him know they can take advantage of him and play Jedi Mind Tricks on him to get him to adopt their position and point of view on a given matter.

The biggest problem is when the head coach lacks a philosophical North Star with which to serve as a guide to lead and create a coherent game plan and direction for his team. As a result, Trump flits this way one day and that way the next, allowing personnel and/or events to inordinately control him instead of him controlling events.

Trump’s saving grace in his nascent presidency is that he does have some adults in his administration, such as General Mattis as Secretary of Defense, General McMaster as his National Security Adviser, and Nikki Haley as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

Whether a great team can make up for a disordered, chaotic quarterback is yet to be seen.

‘All We’ve Got Is Cotton and Slaves and – ARROGANCE!’

With word of President Trump’s decision to conduct a missile strike against a Syrian airfield in the news (the Tomahawk cruise missile strike occurred on Thursday April 6, 2017), so much of my social media and Twitter feed is filled with uninformed bravado and fist pumping that is reminiscent of the scene in ‘Gone With The Wind‘ where young, hot-headed southern gentlemen learn of and celebrate news of war with the north:

In stark contrast to the impetuous Sons of the South stand Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler, two world-wise and even-keeled men who know something of the negative impacts on society wars cause and the horrors of bloodshed. Wilkes and Butler are a welcome counterbalance to the mansion full of young men with heads full of misconceptions of the glory of battle.

Russians Targeted Donald Trump with Fake News and Conspiracies

There are three legs to the Trump/Russia controversy stool:

1. Russians meddled in our electoral process
2. Trump’s ties to Russia
3. Obama administration’s politicizing/leaking intelligence on Team Trump.