Pretty much what you said.

Hard to say. He was supposed to be a counter terrorism advisor but it doesn't seem like he got invited to those meetings after McMaster came in. I suspect that he and Bannon were in their own little, private cabinet while the grown-ups met elsewhere.

OK, considering the events of this Friday evening, how about "Hairmageddon"?

Gorka might proved some comic relief in an otherwise somber evening.White House is saying that Gorka did NOT resign, but was involuntarily removed but Gorka is insisting that he resigned. Classic "You Can't Fire Me, I Quit!". And for the first time, I actually believe the White House......

"Game of Throwns."

I'm going back to Kushner. He's the only person present at the meeting where collusion with the Russians began still in the administration. That will make it too hot for Jared once we refocus on Russia.

Except he's family. Unless Ivanka dumps him he's safe.

How about Sarah Huckabee? Not much speculation about her, compared to her predecessor.

She keeps her head down. Doesn't contradict the Donald, and isn't too flamboyant.

She'll leave when she gets tired of the public ridicule, but doesn't seem to be showing any signs of that yet.

Does Kushner even hold an official White House permanent postion?

I actually put Cohn high on the list of people who might just quite because they have had enough of Donald Trump.

Can you please make a prediction that Trump will be next, and then change it?

Million dollar challenge and all that.

My recollection is that Kushner does but Ivanka actually doesn't, because of nepotism laws passed after JFK appointed his brother AG. Not sure about that however.

Jarrod's title is Senior Advisor to the President. He is appointed by Trump, and takes no salary (so far).

Ivanka's title is Advisor to the President. She is appointed by Trump and takes no salary (so far).

Aside from the implication of rank suggested by the use of "Senior" in their titles there is no functional administrative difference between the two. A 1978 statute has been seen by some (Kushner's lawyers among them, not surprisingly) as clearly superseding the 1967 law provoked by Bobby Kennedy's appointment, but even that may not have had any relevance.

Here's some discussion of the question.

Quote:

Ironically, Bill Clinton's appointment of Hillary to spearhead healthcare reform in his administration might prove beneficial to Kushner's case. Two federal judges ruled in favor of Clinton's nomination, reasoning that antinepotism laws do not include "a White House special assistant." Additionally, their ruling emphasized that the antinepotism law would only apply to paid positions. Kushner's lawyer, former Bill Clinton Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, has stressed that he would not be breaking the antinepotism law, according to The Washington Post. Gorelick cited another federal law, passed in 1978, that gave the president permission to hire staffers "without regard" to personnel laws.

The WaPo article they cite is worth a peek, too.

So, no technical difference between Kushner's job and Ivanka's, really. Which one Trump actually thinks of as the "senior" of the two is anybody's guess. In a toe-to-toe disagreement between them I'd put my money on Trump listening to Ivanka first ... if he was to listen to either of them, that is.

Putting my chips on teh Donald.

It's hard to decide who's left because the turnover is so fast I've lost track of who is actually left.

It has to be worth a try

:D

Apparetnly the nepotism law does not apply to unpaid positions.

Yeah, that's more or less what I was trying to say. Kushner is paid staff; Ivanka isn't and can't be.

It's actually a bit worrisome to me that the (relatively speaking) grownups are gaining the upper hand and the loons like Bannon and Gorka are out.

dup

How much is Kushner being paid as Senior Advisor to the President?

This might help;

Quote:

White House releases salary info for Trump's aides

Quote:

Donald Trump's White House is stocked with 25 staffers who hold the title of "assistant to the president," according to a disclosure released Friday, which also revealed that nearly two dozen aides all earn an annual salary of roughly $180,000. ... Only three staffers — first daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and intergovernmental and technology aide Reed Cordish — take home no pay from taxpayers, according to the disclosure.

He's a senior advisor though I don't think he has a formal portfolio.

Cohn might be a good choice too. He is on the outs for his loud dinner conversation complaining about his boss and his comments about The Hair's pro Nazi stance.

He will be pardoned if it looks like any charges are coming.

Game of Clowns.

A bit distant from the top staff in the White House but yet another sacrifice to lubricate the wheels of the bus. Gigicos, Trump's long time event organizer:

http://theweek.com/speedreads/721390...vent-organizer

I don't know how reliable this news source is, but according to the site the size of the crowds in Phoenix didn't match Trump's ego (despite Trump playing up the size of the crowd during the event and chastising the TV news for not showing how huge it was). So someone had to take the blame. RIP Gigicos...

Changing my bet to the frightful Rex T.
https://www.axios.com/scoop-trump-fr...478123564.html

I think Rex will hang on for a while but only because it will be hard to get anyone qualified who wants the job and could survive confirmation hearings.

My bold. What makes you think Tillerson was qualified? Other than by his love of Russia?

Nothing. Kelly will push for an establishment diplomat or former law maker who had a foreign policy portfolio to slow our decline abroad and stop the brain drain from Foggy Bottom. The person who can do that won't work for Trump.

So, Rex just stays in the dog house with Sessions to avoid a long gap in a high profile post.

Rex is doing a bang up job dismantling the State Department so he won't be going anywhere for a while.

It's not easy finding cabinets secretaries who want to destroy their own department. It's a short list and most of them have already been appointed.

So...
Mattis it is?

No, he'll stage a military coup first.

He just told trump to pound sand on the transgender ban.

Haha

Since when has Trump ever worried about whether or not on of his nominees is qualified for the job?

Hell, he doesn't even bother nominating anyone at all most of the time.

He don't need no steenkin' State Department.

There are more than three Republican senators waiting in the tall grass for Trump. He's limited by who he can past confirmation hearings. Three defections and his nominee fails and the VP casting a tie winning vote will still be a defeat.

Not sure what the poor guy did to earn Trump's ire, but reportedly he was angry that the crowd wasn't big enough.

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/a...phoenix-speech

As for who goes next, I sort of think Tillerson will be gone. However, because his replacement would have to go through the Senate confirmation process, firing him right now isn't practical.

That reminds me, yeah. Eventually there could be a price for going after Jeff Flake, et al.

Assuming modern medicine can perfect the art and science of spinal transplants.

I still think Kelly will go soon. I think either he'll give up and quit, or piss off Trump and get fired. I'm less sure of it now than I was, though.

If things keep up, the White House itself will resign and walk out of town.

In a roundabout way, the renovations have kind of done just that.

Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk

Whatever happened to KellyAnne Conway? I haven't heard her BS for what seems like several weeks.

Still around, still talking ****.

Oh. There she is.

Exactly the word I use to describe whatever comes out of her mouth.

My chips are also still on Kelly, if only for not having come up with a better choice.
I had earlier believed that Kelly would soon resign on some principle, seeing that he can't effect change for the better sustainedly.
By now, my hunch is rather that he must be battling with Trump daily over little things and remind Trump to think, and this must piss The Donald off sooner rather than later.

I think Kelly is there trying to keep the wheels on government until Trump leaves or is impeached. I doubt he's there out of any loyalty or respect for The Hair. Same goes for Mattis.

Mattis is there because he won't stage a coup.

I don't mean to be hyper-critical but this feels like a rehash of the "noble warrior" defence. The senior ex-military guys are part of the Trump Administration because they are honourable warriors who are seeking to protect the United States.

I think that these days in the US the military are respected to the point of it becoming almost fetishistic. By default they are assumed to be acting for only the best motives. At this point I think that ship has sailed and I have to assume that the generals are active participants in his right-wing agenda.

I don't think it's exclusive to the military. It's just that it's retired military types are the only ones left in senior levels of the administration motivated by a desire to protect the nation. Mattis and Kelly were the only two at the cabinet round table who managed to escape with their dignity intact. The rest of them are just trying to push private agendas.

There are probably plenty left in the departments and agencies who are doing the same thing, staying to keep the essential functions of government working.

IMO the highlighted assumes facts not in evidence, but is consistent with the popular "noble warrior" stereotype. IMO Mattis and Kelly are behaving exactly as you'd expect rabid right wingers to behave to further their agenda

White House Survivor
 

I would've expected stronger efforts to oust LGBT from military service from truly hardcore conservatives. Maybe women, too. Presumably you didn’t grow up around the same sort of rabid right-wingers I did, south of Kansas.

Anybody have William C Bradford? You win!