Friday, July 28, 2017

Channeling Blofeld

Like most of us who follow the news, I'm scratching my bald pate at the firing of Reince Priebus from his position as Trump's Chief of Staff. Priebus was a representative of the Republican Establishment, having chaired the Republican National Committee for years. He was a wonk's wonk, somebody who went about the party business with little fanfare. It's sort of bizarre to see him ousted so quickly after Scaramouche went on the attack on him, but I'd chalk that up to Trump viewing Scaramucci as a sort of mini-me, a fast-talking Noo Yawk bullshit artist/legitimate business man. I would feel sorry for Reince, but for the fact that he's a scumbag, albeit a calmer one than Trump or Scaramucci, he really shouldn't have expected loyalty from Vulgarmort.

Trump now seems to be in full-on Blofeld mode, being willing to fire a chief of staff of six months' duration seemingly at the behest of a new hireling. I expect to see more of these firings, similar to Blofeld's downsizing of his Japanese Regional Manager:





Given the fact that Trump is surrounded by frickin' idiots, I expect that other firings will follow as his stated agenda, the real agenda being lining his pockets, continues to stall:





If I had to make a prediction, I'd guess that Southern barbecue is next on the menu.

2 comments:

Harry Hamid said...

Poor Priebus (whose name looks like a bad hand at Scrabble). When he was chosen, I was relieved that at least Trump had picked someone who wasn't nuts by Republican standards.

Then yesterday, I saw Wolf Blitzer interviewing him and he was all, "No, this was my idea for the Communications Director to start threatening me publicly right before I quit. It was time for a change of direction and for the Trump Administration to level up. He's a genius!" (paraphrased)

Jeez. I'm not sure the villains in most movies have fan clubs as big as our national villain does.

mikey said...

I don't think that's an accurate reading at all. Scaramucci's attack on Priebus was part of the process, not the proximate cause. Priebus was doomed for at least six weeks - as part of the establishment Republican wing along with Ryan, McConnell and Spicer (among others), Trump and Bannon have clearly decided that their belief in the ability of the Republican party establishment to grease the skids for implementation of their 'agenda' - a belief from the Transition team - was misguided.

The assumption in the White House and West Wing seems to be that if these longtime party leaders couldn't get anywhere with congress in six months, there was no point in putting up with their constant nattering and complaints.

Trumps going full-Trump now - no party, no experience, no rules. Just bare-knuckled madness and anger. While it was easy to see the purge coming, it's much harder to see where this all will lead. If/when they fail to raise the debt ceiling or pass tax cuts for the wealthy, there'll be holy hell to pay...