Althouse: "'Work this out,' Mr. Trump said, according to two people briefed on the exchange."

April 8, 2017

"'Work this out,' Mr. Trump said, according to two people briefed on the exchange."

"The admonition was aimed at Stephen K. Bannon, the tempestuous chief strategist, and Reince Priebus, the mild-mannered chief of staff, over a series of dust-ups with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and the top economic adviser, Gary D. Cohn. But they may not be able to...."

45 comments:

Freeman Hunt said...: "But they may not be able to."

LOL I especially like how this statement is set apart in its own paragraph.; 4/8/17, 11:43 AM
tcrosse said...: Take it outside, gentlemen.; 4/8/17, 11:47 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Two people briefed on the exchange?; 4/8/17, 11:48 AM
Gahrie said...: Personally I want to see conflicting opinions,strategy, and advice on the president's staff.; 4/8/17, 11:57 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: The two Gentlemen need to simply go out together for some beers, then return to a DC Hotel and tag-team a Hooker.

Tag-teaming a Hooker helps form a bond: one guy saw the other guy's cock getting sucked, and the other guy saw the first guy's cock banging the Hooker from behind. Now there is common ground.

And if they take turns smothering the Hooker with a pillow that bond will only get stronger.

Guys who smother the same hooker need to stick together. Obvious. They can't afford to turn on each other now.

Note that they BOTH must take turns smothering the Hooker. If only one guy smothers the Hooker, and the other only watches, there is now an Imbalance in Power, and we're back to where we started.

If you're going to smother a Hooker at least let it accomplish something good.

I am Laslo.; 4/8/17, 12:00 PM
Drago said...: Left Bank of the Charles: "Two people briefed on the exchange?"

It would hardly be shocking if each faction were putting their spin out there. I love the "hey, work it out" with its implied 'I hope we don't have to have this conversation again'.

Pretty common directive by stronger leaders in dealing with senior staff dust ups which might be degrading operational effectiveness.; 4/8/17, 12:01 PM
Gahrie said...: There are times I fear for the poor graduate assistants 100 years in the future reading all of this as research for their professor's next book.; 4/8/17, 12:03 PM
readering said...: Scorpions in a bottle. Most presidents had a wife to provide a special role. Kennedy and Eisenhower had a brother. Trump has an in-law. Interesting that the two Bushes did not really rely on one another.; 4/8/17, 12:03 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Personally I want to see conflicting opinions,strategy, and advice on the president's staff.

Lol. Is that your euphemism?

Trump's incompetence brings this stuff to a whole new level of dysfunction. They get worse and worse each time. Here's what was said about their 2008 guy:

"Bush is no diplomat," said a Democratic staffer, "but he's Cardinal freaking Richelieu compared to McCain. McCain couldn't negotiate an agreement on dinner among a family of four without making a big drama with himself at the heroic center of it. And then they'd all just leave to make themselves a sandwich."; 4/8/17, 12:03 PM
Charlie Bixby said...: The swamp always wins.
The Trumps have always been big government New York Democrats. Don't love Bannon but Trump would be a fool to think that moving to the center would gain him anything just because the Kushners want to be more popular at DC cocktail parties. Watch for lots of positive MSM stories for Jared in the next few weeks to help him push out Bannon. If Trump chooses to staff his WH w/ liberal Democrat Manhattan bankers, he'll be a one term president.; 4/8/17, 12:06 PM
Mary Beth said...: They got along before the election but don't now? I have a hard time believing that people can get to that level and not be able to work out, or work around, differences with others.; 4/8/17, 12:06 PM
MayBee said...: I could not be less interested in anything than the ins and outs of the White House relationships.; 4/8/17, 12:07 PM
readering said...: Hmm. Perhaps Steve and Reince shared a pillow. Doubt Ivanka lets hubby have that much autonomy.; 4/8/17, 12:07 PM
gspencer said...: Ivanka and Jared?

Who elected them to anything?

They're Democrats and they're very close to the President.

Not good.; 4/8/17, 12:14 PM
mockturtle said...: I agree, gspencer. Their undue influence makes me very nervous.; 4/8/17, 12:18 PM
Bill Peschel said...: I lost track, is it "incompetence" this week and "chaotic" next week, or the other way around? I lost my email from JournList.; 4/8/17, 12:38 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: If you were less incompetent, Bill P, you'd stop losing stuff and know.

How incompetent and chaotic suddenly became mutually exclusive is anybody's guess. They sort of go together, smarty pants.; 4/8/17, 12:51 PM
Birches said...: This palace intrigue stuff sure keeps all the journalists busy, huh?; 4/8/17, 1:09 PM
Anonymous said...: The White House would be well served to rid itself of Bannon and Co. if Trump wants to be President to all of America he needs to rid himself of the Alt Right element who steered him wrongly for so long. While Kuschner has no experience i government, he's at a least sane and seems to have better instincts than Bannon and Trump. Trump needs to continue listening to the saner voices.; 4/8/17, 2:18 PM
madAsHell said...: I just can't believe any of this fly-on-the-wall reporting. It's also telling that we never heard of any discord in the Obama White House.; 4/8/17, 2:20 PM
David Begley said...: Agree with madAsHell. Way too many palace intrigue stories.; 4/8/17, 3:18 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Okay, left me say something as someone who has seen these sorts of WH political appointees up close on the job.

This isn't just about politics. It isn't just about personalities clashing. It's about people who aren't used to political life at the top finding out that they're in a pressure cooker situation rivaled only by combat for stress.

They work 60-70 hour weeks. They get called at all times of the day or night by calls they can't refuse. They don't get to see their families, who often stay wherever the hometown is, sometimes for weeks at a time. Lives or the good of the country often depend on their next decision, decisions that often don't have clear wrong or right answers from the information then available.

It tears these people apart. They age right in front of you. Some of them, actually more than you know, quickly arrange to be replaced, or, they quit "in chair", i.e. stepping back & letting a presidentially chosen subordinate do everything until a graceful exit can be arranged.

When you hear about Bannon, Kushner, Preibus, et al. going at it, just remember: do tempers sometimes flair among officers in war time? Because, that's what you've got here. Priebus probably knew what he was in for, but never lived it. The other two had no idea of what was about to hit them.; 4/8/17, 3:18 PM
buwaya said...: Fake news. Rumors from the palace are the most ancient variant.
If you want the straight stuff that may not be entirely true - a little joke there -

The Memoirs of Saint Simon is on Project Gutenberg.
15 volumes of gossip about the French Court, and some fact.

Worth looking at to get a taste of this.; 4/8/17, 3:24 PM
Michael K said...: "Kennedy and Eisenhower had a brother. Trump has an in-law. Interesting that the two Bushes did not really rely on one another."

Good observation, readering.

Ritmo has nothing interesting to say.

Inga stops at DNC talking points.; 4/8/17, 3:25 PM
rhhardin said...: Derb with Bannon's position, probably, sticking to a Trump campaign line:

(audio clip of Trump) Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children.

It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.

Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. (end audio)

End quote. So apparently the driving motive here was the President's feelings, wo wo wo feelings. We thought we'd elected a practical, deal-making, hard-headed National Conservative to the presidency. It seems that we actually elected a 14-year-old girl.

Hence probably the disagreement. Trump apparently settled it.; 4/8/17, 4:17 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: "Wow. We just smothered a Hooker."

"Yeah. It seems like just a moment ago she was sucking my cock, and now she is dead."

"Maybe smothering her wasn't such a good idea."

"Don't get soft on me now. What's done is done."

"You're right. We're in this together."

"I feel strangely invulnerable. All the Palace Intrigue seems like small potatoes, now."

"Funny -- I feel the same way. You and I: if we treat our problems like we treated that Hooker, we can get anything done."

"Damn straight. I know a few reporters I'd like to smother...."

"Oh yeah! Can you picture it? Rachel Maddow under the pillow, her tiny little fists pounding on your chest until they fall, limp and lifeless?"

"Would we have sex with her, first?"

"She's a lesbian: I don't think she'd consent..."

"Does consent really matter if we're going to smother her, anyway?"

"I don't know. I don't picture myself as a Rapist."

"You're right. You gotta draw a line somewhere."

"Agreed. But what do we do now?"

"We just leave."

"We just leave? We check into a room, smother a hooker, then just leave the body?"

"It's OK: I checked us in using the name Anderson Cooper. I have Credit Cards in his name and everything. We're clear."

"You think people are going to believe Anderson slept with a FEMALE Hooker and strangled her? Everyone knows he's Gay."

"Gay men smother female Hookers all the time. It's a Gay Thing. Mommy Issues, probably. I bet Anderson has smothered Hookers all over this city."

"I guess..."

"You know, I'd fuck Anderson Cooper before I smothered HIM, though. I bet he would consent."

"No way, man: I ain't Gay."

"I don't think a man sucking your cock makes you Gay if you smother him right afterward."

"Interesting viewpoint. But I think it's best we just to keep it to the occasional Hooker."

"Agreed. You know, we work pretty well together, when we put our minds to it..."

"You know, in her own small way, that dead Hooker there just helped Make America Great Again..."

I am Laslo.; 4/8/17, 4:35 PM
Drago said...: Inga: " if Trump wants to be President to all of America he needs to rid himself of the Alt Right element who steered him wrongly for so long."

LOL; 4/8/17, 5:36 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Ritmo has nothing interesting to say.

How much do you get paid for YOUR opinions and observations, DOUCHEBAG?

Methinks your nursemaid instilled in you a heavily inflated sense of your own importance. Probably while changing your diaper.

For the record, just in case in isn't clear to anyone else, I would gladly pay to have Douchebag Michael Nursemaid Kennedy never read - let alone, comment on - anything I write. Ever. I have no interest in his godawful retarded opinions, I think they're perennially stupid, uptight and boring, and his curmudgeonly hostility and hair-trigger paranoia make him worth avoiding in any event. Let it be known that I would NEVER comment with a view in mind to his reading what I write, and I don't give a rat's ass what he "thinks" about it, anyway. Neither should anyone.

It's one thing to be irrational. K is irrational AND he thinks the world revolves around his opinions.

The world would be better off with less people like him in it.; 4/8/17, 6:10 PM
Michael K said...: Inga: " if Trump wants to be President to all of America he needs to rid himself of the Alt Right element who steered him wrongly for so long."

Inga, you are showing us the Democrat suicide mission in living color.

The "alt Right" is a figment of your and many Democrats' imagination.

It is as fictional as that same description of Marine Le Pen who has a mostly Socialist domestic agenda.; 4/8/17, 6:14 PM
JC said...: madAsHell said...
I just can't believe any of this fly-on-the-wall reporting. It's also telling that we never heard of any discord in the Obama White House.

That's probably because Obama surrounded himself with yes/men and women. "Discord in the White House" could actually be a good thing for discussing all options and/or strategies.; 4/8/17, 6:33 PM
khesanh0802 said...: This deserves Ann's BS tag. Take it back a bit and think what it must have been like planning any amphibious assault during WWII. You think there wasn't some disagreement on beaches, landing forces, support forces, time tables etc. Strong personalities with their own concerns. Coordinating them must have been a nightmare. Go back a little further to Gettysburg where Longstreet was insubordinate to Lee because he believed commitment to Pickett's charge was absolutely wrong. Lee wished forever he had listened to Longstreet.

I am with those who feel some disagreement among Trump's advisors is a good thing. Right now the WH is on a shakedown cruise. If in 6 months people aren't focusing on their responsibilities in favor of internal vendettas you can bet there will be a house cleaning.; 4/8/17, 7:33 PM
Michael K said...: It's interesting that Ann seems to be editing comments.

She has deleted Ritmo's obscene response to another commenter and my comment on his obscene reply.

She has also deleted the other commenter's entire comment. We are seeing an edited blog.

Hmmm.; 4/8/17, 7:53 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: It's interesting that Ann seems to be editing comments.

Yeah, fascinating.

Someday you should try editing your own.; 4/8/17, 8:02 PM
buwaya said...: Khesanh,

Right, based on their memoirs and etc., these fellows did not do much suffering in silence, at the time and not in retirement either.

"Generals, like poets, are an angry race"

I think this was Field Marshal Slim, paraphrase of Richard Burton, riffing off, I think, Pope.

On a given day Ritmo is an angry race all of his own.; 4/8/17, 8:04 PM
Michael K said...: "On a given day Ritmo is an angry race all of his own."

Yes, Ann seems to be quite tolerant of his antics.

Too bad as this is mostly a nice community.; 4/8/17, 8:23 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Too bad as this is mostly a nice community.

Soma, for the happily absent!; 4/8/17, 8:31 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Everything I know about avoiding complacent conformity I learned from Gordon Ramsey.; 4/8/17, 8:35 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Michael K said...
It's interesting that Ann seems to be editing comments.

From yesterday's thread re: Islamic terror attacks. Ann wrote:

"Get back to the substance and say what you have to say ON THE SUBJECT without taking personal shots at other people.

I'm going to be more aggressive nipping this kind of crap in the bud. It ruins conversations."; 4/8/17, 8:41 PM
buwaya said...: Anger comes from stress, which, as noted above, comes from worry, danger and overwork. Those white house fellows really need their golf time. If one golfeth not, then there are alternatives.

The post below on California flowers is a pointer to an antidote. The weather cleared up magnificently and we went to Tilden park to have a lookabout con camera, and a bit of merienda at an Indian place in Berkeley. I have a nasty habit of taking backlit narrow DOF flower shots with an f 1.4 lens, I know its just a mania because this sort of thing is done to death, but anyway I feel I have to.; 4/8/17, 8:51 PM
Michael K said...: "I'm going to be more aggressive nipping this kind of crap in the bud. It ruins conversations."

Maybe that's it.

Life is too short for Ritmo threads.; 4/8/17, 10:17 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: But not too short for you to obsess over me.

Die more quickly, already.; 4/8/17, 10:52 PM
Achilles said...: I don't believe anything coming out of the times. This conversation starts in a better place ignoring them.

Trump just bombed an airfield. He also has no ideology. At all. I think that we will have a very difficult time predicting his domestic actions with Cohn and kushner in the room.; 4/9/17, 1:30 AM
grackle said...: … he'll be a one term president.

Dreams … fantasies … the delicious feeling of Dopamine flooding the bloodstream just THINKING of Trump’s fall …

This palace intrigue stuff sure keeps all the journalists busy, huh?

Bingo! I’m not usually so extravagant but I’m compelled to award this comment the coveted and legendary KitchenAid KL26M1XSL Professional 6-Qt. Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer.

What we have in the Whitehouse is a bunch of alphas supervised by an alpha. The surprise would be if there was NO conflict or jockeying for influence. It happens in corporate boardrooms all across America.

But all this alpha-ness being so publicly exhibited has all the betas feeling faint and chattering nervously amongst themselves:

“O where has our passive-aggressive hero gone? Who is this alpha beast who threatens us with heart-rending decisiveness? Who does things with such worrisome timeliness? What is his plan … end game … message … policy … O woe is us. Please give us a PLAN!!! We DEMAND a plan!!! We can deal with a plan … but all this … scary assertiveness … is nerve-wracking.; 4/9/17, 1:21 PM
grackle said...: He also has no ideology.

Trump doesn’t get caught in ideological traps. He sets the traps himself and waits for NeverTrumpers and other opponents to step into them. Ideology should be a guide – not a straightjacket.; 4/9/17, 1:34 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Something like this, grackle?

Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.; 4/9/17, 8:45 PM