The Bannon-priebus team is a tremendous choice by President elect Trump. Bannon for key strategies,priebus for daily management. great team— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) November 13, 2016
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 13, 2016
Congrats to @realDonaldTrump for outstanding choice of @Reince to be Chief of Staff. This shows me he is serious about governing. (1/2)
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 13, 2016
Agreed that this "smells". One of the things I liked about Trump during the election was who his enemies were (MSM, Neocons, liberals, etc). Now I'm definitely worried he's going for insiders. Even his outsiders are people like Bannon, who may or may not be good but I'm not as confident where "he's at". If Ron Paul were an adviser I'd feel much better.
ReplyDeleteIf Ron Paul were an advisor I'd be dancing in the streets.
DeleteNone of this surprises me, I deduced back in January that Trump is a deal maker and that's exactly what he would (and is now doing) with the Republican Party. Just wait till he starts making deals with the Democrats.
ReplyDeleteAs it turns out Prince Reibus is a very shrewd operator. By sticking with Trump when the rest of the party establishment was bailing on him he vastly increased his power and influence in Republican circles. It was a dicey gamble that paid off for him, but not so much for the American people.
ReplyDeleteThe rank and file voters will need to hold Trumps feet to the fire and keep these insider hacks on a short leash. That will prove a very daunting task indeed.
Still, Ding Dong, the witch is dead!
Having Reince Preibus for Co-Chief of Staff may serve several purposes.
ReplyDelete1. Given that Trump was campaigning like a cross between Alex Jones and Pat Buchanan whenever he was speaking freely without the teleprompter.... he will probably lean more on Steve Bannon for counsel and have Priebus on a short leash to take care of perfunctory secretarial matters. Reince will be reduced to carrying water for the Donald as he goes in directions he has determined beforehand. He will let Priebus enjoy the intoxication of proximity to power, and he may flatter him by occasionally asking his opinion, Trump is a man who has a record dating back three decades of being a nationalist on trade and budget deficits so it would be foolish to think he will change on that.
2. It sends a "perceptible" signal to the establishment elites that he is "open" to their participation so they should mute and defer their objections while he is setting things in order. In short, it could be a head feint to gain time while his blockers are getting in position to pave the way for the running back to advance the ball. This has already caused the detestable Charles Krauthammer and George Will to shut up.
3. The biggie... Trump will get to replace the head of the RNC without the turmoil of wresting power from Reince in a open war that may hobble him. It could be an act that he has defied Roger Stone's public advice in order to posture himself in a way that enables him to navigate more freely when he must deal with the entrenched class. Trump can later fire or demote Reince or he can create an environment that Reince would want to move on to something else of his own accord.
4. Trump could be a sell-out... but the genuine zeal with which he was channeling Jones and Buchanan on the hustings makes this unlikely. He sought out and is listening to Judy Shelton on monetary policy BTW.