Chaos and cruelty
Inside the court of King Donald
A chaotic week in Donald Trump’s White House culminated in the firing of both his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and his controversial new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, a mere ten days after his appointment. During an exceptionally turbulent few days, Trump was criticised by Republicans for repeatedly lashing out at his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions; and by the Pentagon, for announcing a ban on all transgender service personnel on Twitter. He also saw his campaign pledge to repeal Obamacare voted down in the Senate ( see page 8), and delivered a jarringly partisan speech to the Boy Scouts of America’s Jamboree, railing against the “cesspool” of US politics.
Last week the newly hired Scaramucci told The New Yorker that chief of staff Reince Priebus was a “fucking paranoid schizophrenic” and would soon be asked to resign. Priebus was sacked on Friday, and replaced by homeland secretary John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general. However, Scaramucci himself also resigned soon afterwards. On Twitter, the president declared it “a great day at the White House!”.
What the editorials said
Any lingering hopes that President Trump “might grow into his role as commander-in-chief evaporated this week”, said the FT – “a chaotic and self-destructive one even by the dismal standards of this presidency”. Trump is “testing the constitutional system to destruction”. The president was elected to tear up the Washington rule book, said The Times, “and he is entitled to try”. But he has not managed to advance his agenda, because he hasn’t convinced Republicans to back it. Without discipline this administration will “fail on the legislative front and may also fail the most basic test of all – that of survival”.
It seems it was Kelly who ordered Scaramucci’s dismissal, said The Wall Street Journal. Assuming that’s true, the new chief of staff has demonstrated at a stroke that he “is already in charge and has the president’s support”, and that “no one should trash their colleagues in public… Not a bad first day.” It may be that Kelly is one of the rare people “whom Mr Trump will heed” outside his immediate family. In the past, the president has shown “that he can listen to advice for a few hours, sometimes even a few days”. But the omens are not promising: he has always broken free eventually, “with a Twitter barrage or interview tirade”.