Donald Trump, the right wing populist and John Kelly, the military man.
Here’s a fascinating article on how Trump spends his day. In a personalized form it shows the two forces that are at work in the White House:
One is the right wing, proud-to-know-nothing populists. That is Trump being Trump. As the article says, “Other aides bemoan his tenuous grasp of facts, jack-rabbit attention span and propensity for conspiracy theories.” That’s that 32% that still supports him, come hell or high water.
The other force is the military, channeled through Trump’s chief of staff, General John Kelly. According to the article, Kelly tries to keep Trump busy, among other things pushing him to get into his office earlier in order to limit the time he spends watching the TV shows of his own choosing and tweeting out of Kelly’s control. But Kelly does this “respectfully”, as the article says. In other words, it’s like sweet talking a little child. “Monitoring his information consumption — and countering what Mr. Kelly calls “garbage” peddled to him by outsiders — remains a priority “
Kelly also insists on the right to listen in on all telephone calls to Trump in the White House.
We should remember that General Kelly is the one who praised the Confederate generals of the Civil War.
The article comments: “Mr. Trump expected being president would be like — ruling by fiat, exacting tribute and cutting back room deals.” Will he be able to become an outright Bonapartist?
Categories: politics, Trump, United States