Trump Regime

Reports: Trump to Replace John Kelly, Wilbur Ross

Written by SK Ashby

We have more detail about the former than the latter, but I have my own suspicions.

First, NBC News reported this morning that Trump's chief of staff John Kelly may be on his way out because he agitated Melania Trump by refusing to approve all of her spending requests.

Kelly has also gotten on the wrong side of first lady Melania Trump over staffing issues and travel requests. Some of the disputes with the East Wing have escalated to the president, the seven people familiar with the clashes said. [...]

Melania Trump raised concerns with her husband earlier this year, amid the height of the controversy over his alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels, that Kelly had repeatedly denied her requests to promote some of her aides, two White House officials told NBC News.

According to NBC, Mike Pence's chief of staff Nick Ayers is first in line to replace John Kelly.

I don't know much about Nick Ayers, but I necessarily presume that anyone willing to work for Mike Pence is almost certainly a piece of shit in their own right.

CNBC also reports that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross could soon be replaced by Linda McMahon.

President Donald Trump is telling people he wants to replace Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross by the end of the year, according to three people familiar with the matter who are close to the president.

Trump favors Linda McMahon to replace Ross in the role, said these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He is also considering Ray Washburne, whom Trump appointed as president and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation last year, according to one source.

We know much less about Trump's displeasure with Wilbur Ross, but the results of last week's elections could tell us a lot.

Republicans got curb-stomped through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin; three states that narrowly handed Trump the White House in 2016. Republicans also suffered heavy losses and survived a few very close calls in Iowa.

Wilbur Ross has repeatedly said no one would even notice Trump's trade war, but that does not appear to be the case. We can't say with any certainty that Trump's trade war fueled Democratic victories in these states, but it didn't help Republicans.

Trump's trade war and his bailout farmers are evidently not enough to make up for the absence of Russian active measures and interference. Trump may no longer be able to rely on the latter because of the special prosecutor's investigation and the former is not producing the outcome Trump's advisers told him it would.

This is another topic for another day, but I believe the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections tells us Hillary Clinton would have won in 2016 if the Russians were not involved.