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Loyalty is the key theme of Trump’s management style.
His daughter and son-in-law both ended up as senior advisers in the White House.
His longtime bodyguard and head of security, Keith Schiller, got a key role, too, as deputy assistant to the President and director of Oval Office operations.
And so did his former golf caddy, Dan Scavino, who became social media director during the campaign and is now White House director of social media and assistant to the President.
It’s also how, at the ripe age of 26, Hope Hicks became White House communications director. She’d been with Trump throughout the campaign and, by all accounts, the President trusted her.
He had already blown through more seasoned people in the role. Mike Dubke, the longtime Republican operative, had left quietly after a few months on the job. Anthony Scaramucci left after a few days.
Hicks, already at the President’s side, ultimately got the big job.
Hicks resigned after she admitted to House investigators that she’d told what were described as white lies on behalf of the President and also became embroiled in the controversy around the denied security clearance of Rob Porter, the former Trump staff secretary with whom she was romantically linked and who was accused of spousal abuse by two ex-wives. Porter has denied the allegations.
Hicks’ last day was Thursday. Now CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports the President is being told by some allies he doesn’t even need a communications director. Or a chief of staff. His relationship with chief of staff John Kelly has been up and down, and Liptak reports he has been finding ways around Kelly on some key decisions recently.
Kelly took the job over after the previous chief of staff, Reince Priebus, left. Kelly was not a Trump insider, but first gained the President’s trust as his first Secretary of Homeland Security.
By the way, Trump at first liked surrounding himself with generals, but had to fire the fiercely loyal Michael Flynn for lying to Vice President Mike Pence, eased H.R. McMaster out the door when the two didn’t really get along, and has been said to have soured on Kelly.
Much of Trump’s problem stems from the fact that a lot of the top Republican talent simply does not want to work for him. He came to Washington promising to drain the same swamp that also is the natural habitat of top political talent.
The other thing to remember here is that few ever seem to really completely leave Trump’s orbit once they’ve been caught in his tractor beam.
The Point: All of this is evidence that the President’s circle is very small. And that can be problematic, when running the country is such a very big job.
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