"President Trump has decided to remove Anthony Scaramucci from his position as communications director, three people close to the decision said Monday, relieving him just days after Mr. Scaramucci unloaded a crude verbal tirade against other senior members of the president’s senior staff,"
the NYT reports.
The decision to remove Mr. Scaramucci, who had boasted about reporting directly to the president not the chief of staff, John F. Kelly, came at Mr. Kelly’s request, the people said. Mr. Kelly made clear to members of the White House staff at a meeting Monday morning that he is in charge.
ADDED: Let's see if Ryan Lizza has anything to say. Oh, yeah,
he does:
The sacking of Scaramucci signals that Kelly, a retired marine general, may actually be empowered to be a true chief of staff. There was no bigger test for Kelly than the fate of Scaramucci, who, in his Wednesday phone call, demanded that I reveal my sources for a trivial tweet about who the President had dinner with that night, threatened to fire his entire staff if I didn’t, alleged that he had called the F.B.I. to investigate his White House rivals, attacked Reince Priebus as a “paranoid schizophrenic,” and described Steve Bannon as engaging in auto-fellatio.
After the interview was published, several people asked me if I believed Scaramucci would be fired. My understanding at the time was that Scaramucci was already on thin ice with the President after a series of high-profile appearances.... But Kelly, apparently, as his first move as chief of staff, told Trump that he wanted Scaramucci out of the White House....
Read the whole thing. It also reveals that it seems that Kelly, before taking the new job, convinced Trump that it is unnecessary to build an actual physical wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and that Kelly may believe he "might be able to tame Trump and get him to back off some of his most cartoonish policy ideas, even the ones that were core campaign promises."
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257 comments:
1 – 200 of 257 Newer› Newest»Two thumbs up for Mr. Kelly!
The coup is complete. Trump is surrounded by 3 Marine generals and now can't take a dump without permission.
Easy call for Trump.
Scaramucci will have a gig on MSNBC within a month.
Why it seems like only yesterday that people here were singing his praises.
You got to admit. The Times gets the scoops. Even Donald blaps to them.
"Scaramucci will have a gig on MSNBC within a month."
I am betting it will be Fox.
Be good for Trump to be called on deck by a Marine or two. Get the education he should have gotten back in 68
Is Mooch going to get his money back? Will his status as a Hollywood star help him with his next gig? Does he know how to dance?
I for one am very disappointed.
I guess we now know that he CAN'T do the fandango.
This will feed the "Trump in chaos" narrative.
LOLOL
The poor Mooch. I wonder if his wife will take him back now.
Kelly means business. Good sign.
David Begley said...
This will feed the "Trump in chaos" narrative.
More than a narrative at this point.
I got your chaos right.... oops, I left it in my other pants.
I will miss mooch. i liked him.
"Does he know how to dance?" Nice one.
"This will feed the 'Trump in chaos' narrative." Ya think?
Although I suppose it could be "Trump, with Kelly's help, takes steps to end the chaos."
A guy can hope.
Mooch was awesome but the General no likee
Bannon smiles.
Scaramucci was my favorite character on the show. I am going to miss him.
Just wondering how this fits into the "Trump playing nine dimensional chess" theory?
Kelly no likey moocho.
Me, meh.
Why was Mooch so stupid as to talk to Cillizza? Why? How could he expect some good to come out of that? To say something like "I'm not there to suck my own cock" to a known hostile reporter?
New Yorkers just seem to like to talk, & boy does this crew of New Yorkers talk waaay too much.
Mooch Should hire Shine and Hannity for a new Fox News. OReilly would come too. He has the money.
I wonder which clown will get out of the miniature car now?
Second chief of staff, third communications director.... This is starting to look like The Donald's marital life.
Just wondering how this fits into the "Trump playing nine dimensional chess" theory?
The nice thing about the nine dimensional chess theory is that everything fits, as long as you are willing to accept that you are not able to comprehend what is really going on.
It was Ryan Lizza, not Chris Cillizza. While very amusing, it was not very political. It did get rid of Priebus, though.
I know an old president who hired the Kelly,
He hired the Kelly to fire the Mooch,
He hired the Mooch to fire PrieBannon, . . .
Chaos!
This is the exactly the Mooch that Game Don wanted. Expendable. One-time usable Trojan. Mooch thought he was the Trojan horse. Turns out that Game Don had him aced - one-time Trojan prophylactic. Blown wide open through the tip.
One shot howitzer splash. Then, “Clear!” Mattis doesn't mess around.
The NYT got it wrong few days back. The Generals will save us. That’s the good news. For now.
Game Don is trying to replicate Putin’s large numbers scale. Putin watched, “The Apprentice.” Fired 755!
Now comes feel-my-Tiny-Tweets, "China isn't helping! China isn't helping! China isn't helping"
China can't help. Laughing too hard.
Game Don doesn’t like to be upstaged. Even hitting singles, since Mooch is single now, Game Don batting away in hopes of moving any runners along.
No scores yet. A lot of substitutions.
"And, if Providence ever drops in my lap another chance like that ... I may have radio malfunction again." ~ Brigadier General Frank Savage
While he may not have been doing that other thing to himself, it sure looks like Mooch successfully kicked his own ass.
I suspect Mooch had a simple choice to make, understand that Gen. Kelley was the Chief of Staff, and by extension Chief of "the Mooch", or not.
Yuge ego chose "not".
As a former Marine, I fully expect that the General told him he could let himself out.
With apologies to Pulp Fiction's Winston Wolfe....
"Let's not start sucking our dicks just yet, Mooch"
We need a re-set button at the Trump House sending them all to Fox news and starting over in 2018.
"...like a fine-tuned machine..."
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000004938337/trump-defends-agenda-in-news-conference.html
I like how it is always a brilliant move, for Trump to do anything. Hiring Spicer was brilliant, and Spicer's combativeness was brilliant. Then it was brilliant to fire Spicer. Bringing in Scaramucci was brilliant; and putting in Kelly to replace Priebus was brilliant. And now it is brilliant for Kelly to effectively fire Scaramucci.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that if Trump could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue, and not lose any of his most fanatical supporters.
Just reinforces the obvious, President Trump is a man of decisiveness and action, intent on making America great again. Winning!
Scaramucci will work well elsewhere in the administration, or as a covert agent for the administration while employed elsewhere.
DJT needs Kelly and Mattis and every other Marine General he can get hold of .He is in the hiring mode and not firing mode on Marine Generals. They are the action oriented tough men like DJT. Politicians are smoke and mirror oriented.
For 8 years Russia, China, North Korea, ISIS, Venezuela, and Iran got whatever they wanted from the USA's Traitor-in-Chief. In return they bided their time and watched the US Military wither.
Now the game is on again, and the USA will have to fight or face down every damn one of them.
Lesson number one: You can't spout off that you report directly to El Presidente instead of the Chief of Staff. And a Chief of Staff worth his salt won't let you. The CoS has always been the gatekeeper. We'll see how long Kelly hold up. SF,SG.
They are the action oriented tough men like DJT. Politicians are smoke and mirror oriented.
So true, tradguy! Can you imagine a smokier mirror than, say, Priebus?
You'd be forgiven for thinking that if Trump could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue, and not lose any of his most fanatical supporters.
Hard to find a fanatical supporter. Most arguing "for Trump" do so in order to defend themselves from scurrilous attacks by twisters.
Fanatical detractors are a dime a dozen, and common.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that if Trump could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue, and not lose any of his most fanatical supporters.
Only if it were you, Chuck! ;-)
Blogger AMDG said...
"Just wondering how this fits into the "Trump playing nine dimensional chess" theory?"
Rancid Penis and some other leakers are gone. Kelley is in place. Uniparty out general in..
I am also looking at Bannon who is still there. I am thinking that the "Bannon is next" "leaks" were just wishcasting by the uniparty. The biggest loser in the last week is the uniparty and it looks like trump is going after them.
Damn! I was hoping that The Mooch was gonna convince me to love The Donald like Junior, Ivanka and Jared love The Donald! Oh yeah, and how the Mooch and the Alt-House crowd loves,The Donald! Dilbert, too!
Maybe DJT, saw the Rasmussen poll below 40%! That is the one he believes, right?
Chuck said...
"You'd be forgiven for thinking that if Trump could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue, and not lose any of his most fanatical supporters"
Right on cue the uniparty spokesman vents his anger.
You guys are going to pay for not repealing Obamacare.
Robert said...
Be good for Trump to be called on deck by a Marine or two. Get the education he should have gotten back in 68"
Too bad the same wasn't done to BJ Clinton and Obama.
As for the Mooch, I for one will miss him. I enjoyed him ripping the various jerks.
“We need a re-set button at the Trump House sending them all to Fox news and starting over in 2018.
Pray Fox hires. Bloomberg way to damn smart to hire Trump leftovers - except Bloomberg recon in dark ops, the few, the chosen, that Bloomberg will cherry.
Send the leftovers to re-gin “Trump University.” Reinstall Trump there as Prez. Fitting.
Like the small, crude, monument to gold-glittered Coronado, lost in the Arizona desert, very near the Whenever Wailing Wall.
2018 - only votes that count are Mexican General Elections. Trump promised US that the Mexicans would build the wall. 2018 Mexican General Elections are Trump’s Big - Fat - Chance. Needs a little work on his Mex polls. His turn to need wise Latinas. And God how he needs 'em.
2020 Bloomberg. Doesn’t need to win. Just channel his inner Perot. Won’t take much. Less and less everyday.
Ha. The NYT relies on leaks from the White House to announce the defenestration of the Mooch. Quite fitting, in fact.
Lesson number one: You can't vote for an obvious fraud without looking like idiots.
LOL - Arm.
At least Trump knifed him in the front.
The real question is what this tells us about Bannon's self-cock-sucking efforts.
Got rid of Reince and Spicer, the leakers?
And then got Kelly to take a firm grip of the reins?
And Mooch is gone and can take the blame?
Nope.
Trump is in chaos.
That must be it.
Unknown - we voted for the lesser fraud.
At least, for now - leftwing anti-free speech efforts have slowed.
Why, it is like there is a chain of command.
At least we aren't talking Russia Russia Russia for a few moments.
I wonder what Sacarmucci's language was like when he found out he was canned? I bet it was epic.
The Marines have arrived.
Scaramucci left to spend more time with his family.
sad he didn't see his kid's birth because of this.
Regardless of the DNC/Media (and the occasional LLR) running around peeing themselves screaming CHAOS..ELEVENTY!!!!, I see this as a positive development.
As sterling a reputation as that of Gen. Kelly doesn't just happen. I have to believe that during the conversations he was having with the president before accepting the job, the number one condition was that he was in charge of ALL the staff. So, when Mooch challenged that, he was out on his ass..thereby keeping his word to Kelly. A very good thing.
I expect hair on fire CHAOS chanting for the next few news cycles, but I also expect a level of discipline not seen in a very long time from this point forward.
Unknown said...Lesson number one: You can't vote for an obvious fraud without looking like idiots.
Heh. But, Unknown, at least be nominally true to your name. We need the inobvious frauds.
Sorry dude, had to take a swipe! My quota.
The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand. There will be some serious ass chewing in the WH over the next few days. Scaramucci, who was clearly a loose cannon, thrown quickly over the side. Love it!
A loose cannon like Scaramucci would have been a benefit to Trump in keeping the media off balance.
Kelly is going to go along with the media fictions, no longer undermining them as is necessary to do.
"The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men." —Alexander Hamilton (1787)
"Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears."
Damn, hard audience!
Ain't my face I'm wipin'!
Got my T-Rump toilet paper.
His face is everywhere. Putting T-Rump’s face in my very dark place.
Tears! Of joy.
Report that Mooch was escorted off WH grounds so I guess he's not getting a different WH position.
Also being reported that Kelly was angered by Comey firing and almost quit in solidarity. When that gets back to POTUS . . . .
I won't miss the Mooch, but I'll miss the name "The Mooch". Maybe they could hire someone else with that nickname (but perhaps lacking the -- acrobatic? -- skills?).
I don't see how the Chief-of-Staff-General firing a cause-of-chaos like the Mooch can be said to be a sign of growing chaos. I suppose it would be too much to hope that it's a sign of bringing order to the chaos?
I wonder what Sacarmucci's language was like when he found out he was canned? I bet it was epic.
Ryan Lizza will have it for us in the morning.
And to think Spicer resigned as Press Secretary effective next month in protest to Mooch hiring effective August 15.
Totally unrelated:
In The Thick of It: Best Swearing
[This show was the inspiration for HBO's "Veep."]
Lesson number one: You can't vote for an obvious fraud without looking like idiots.
Describes everyone who voted for Hillary. Or is soul-searingly corrupt different from "fraud"?
Unrelated:
Deadwood - Swearing
He's a fine clown, as clowns go.
The dude was a mistake; glad the situation has been corrected. The whole business is beginning to read like French history. Military expansion is coming to regain the Glory that Once Was America.
"You're Fired" brought in The Mooch to fire Spicer and Preibus. Then he recruited the Marine to fire The Mooch! He's been whining like a bitch for a month hoping that Beleaguered Jeff will fire himself. Beginning to question how tough Second Only To Lincoln really is!
Scaramucci: Died of a self inflicted wound.
Kelly: Clearly in charge of the WH staff.
Trump: Let the chips transparently fall where they may.
On second thought ..
FullMoon said... "The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men." —Alexander Hamilton (1787) .
Yes. Thanks for that. Better too (this isn’t sarcasm) that the Presidency itself manifests lame awhile, better to show the need for the other Two in our “representative constitution.” And “hope remains where the fellowship is true,” and we have a system of fellowship hard to beat. Was a time when we believed in Providence. Not believed in “I’m-the-only-One.” Not that we don’t need atheists too, like Kurt V., who knew more than a thing or two. Too many bones scattered across the sands of time made the hollow-crown claim - “I’m the only One.”
Only divine-right/left-miracle is that we existed in the first place. And for so long.
Messy work left here to do, in media res. ...
Out ..
"And, if Providence ever drops in my lap another chance like that ... I may have radio malfunction again." ~ Brigadier General Frank Savage
Mooch gone, pour encourager les autres.
I'm thinking this is going to be really frightening to the media. I think some of the main leakers are getting ousted, along with their leaking staff. And I think Kelly isn't going to blab. Nor will he put up with blabbing.
Soon the media will be in full frenzy mode over the lack of leakers in the white house.
I can't wait.
Mooch ouster was leaked.
SNL must be disappointed.
Soon the media will be in full frenzy mode over the lack of leakers in the white house.
They will decry it as a Lack of Transparency
All's for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
YoungHegelion (2:15pm):
"Why was Mooch so stupid as to talk to Cillizza? Why? How could he expect some good to come out of that? To say something like "I'm not there to suck my own cock" to a known hostile reporter?"
It's not too hard to guess how it happened. We know (a) that a lot of D.C. insiders (Rahm Emmanuel, for one) are every bit as foul-mouthed as Scaramucci, if not more so, (b) that their foul languages is sometimes alluded to, but never quoted in the press, and (c) that Scaramucci was until recently a Democrat or a liberal Republican (I forget which and when) with very unconservative opinions on (e.g.) gay marriage. Put it all together, and I'm thinking he'd talked that way to Cilizza for years, considered him a personal friend, and didn't realize that taking a job with Trump would make Cilizza feel perfectly entitled to reveal the phoniness of his friendship by fucking him over spectacularly, just to get at Trump.
I've seen numerous reports that Cilizza has the exchange on tape, but none seemed to be interested in telling us whether he told Scaramucci he was taping him, or whether taping him without his knowledge might or might not be a felony. (I believe that would depend on what state(s)/district they were in at the time of the conversatino.)
So is he not getting divorced now?
OTOH, this 'chaos' will steer the MSM conveniently away from the DNC story. :-(
I still find it odd that his bad language was considered a firing offense by the media, while they were praising Democrats for their foul language just a few months ago when they noticed the trend.
My opinion? Glad he's gone; I thought it was dumb to hire him in the first place.
How do you not know who your boss is?
Looks like he found out.
Kelly napalmed him.
"Escorted off the White House grounds..."
I think they meant, "escorted off the White House grounds like a fine-tuned machine."
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-ousts-scaramucci-2017-7
I'm quite pleased to see a Marine in charge. Hopefully Kelly will find the (many) venomous snakes still in the swamp and eliminate them.
While messy, this is what we hired Trump to do: Shake up a corrupt, fraudulent and self serving Washington establishment. He will make mistakes, and every mistake will be gleefully broadcast to the world. I take solace in the transparency of the process.
The Big Beach Book gets another chapter. I am imagining Scaramucci strolling in and telling General Kelly of the Marines that The Mooch does what The Mooch pleases and no one tells The Mooch - anything. Kelly's eyes narrow. The Mooch swaggers about some more, spouting NYC trash talk. "Soldier" "Sir!" "Remove him" "Sir." Carries him out. "He's not coming back." "Sir!" "Are there a lot like that here?" "Sir, yes, sir!" "Be ready, there'll be a lot leaving like that." "YES!" Kelly's eyes narrow. "Yes, SIR!"
Blogger mockturtle said...
OTOH, this 'chaos' will steer the MSM conveniently away from the DNC story. :-(
Mockturtle, do you really think the MSM would have covered the "Warsherman-Schultz" scandal? They won't get serious until the FBI hauls Debbie away in handcuffs.
General Patton often asked his officers (as he was about to fire them) how long it takes, if you drop a bowling ball on your foot, before the pain reaches your brain. The answer is: instantaneous.
When wetwork is done effectively, you don’t feel a thing. Wetwork - since Donny answered with misdirection to O'Reilly asking about Putin’s killings - “you think our country’s innocent?”
Bigger problem isn’t pain-reflex arcs. It’s signal-to-brain found by Libet - where the motor-arc act is already done, finished, and riding high, before cognitive justifications, including morals-for-hire, reach our large brain. Act first. Justify later.
It’s the motor-arc - not the cognitive arc – that casino owners play for the count.
Drinks on the house.
This can be overcome ...
Harriet Tubman did it.
"And, if Providence ever drops in my lap another chance like that ... I may have radio malfunction again." ~ Brigadier General Frank Savage
I feel sorry for the Resistance.
Trump's chances for success have risen dramatically with General Kelly running the WH.
Now that they have their act together, all kinds of good things may happen.
I wonder when Sessions recommends indictment for DWT, HRC, James Comey and who knows.
Just keep Maxine Waters out of it. She's entertaining, sort of like Inga.
I like Spicer. SNL trashed him only because they are leftwing a-hos.
"Lesson number one: You can't vote for an obvious fraud without looking like idiots."
No. Lesson Number one is: Don't run a vile, corrupt bitch on your ticket lest you end up losing to someone like Trump.
More fun . COuld the V have been this entertaining? No way.
Hey, is she president yet?
What happened
Mooch was escorted from the White House grounds too...and I bet Marines guard the doors now.
Don't some coups end up with the military in control? As scary as a military coup is in a modern country, President Kelly sounds better than President Trump. Has a the coup already happened and we are first now being notified in a very round about way? Did someone tell Trump he has to behave himself and take orders if he wants to finish his term? Will Trump go quiet and never ever go off message in public again?
Just a bit of conjecture.
"I wonder how long it will take before Trump rebels and fires Kelly or Kelly resigns."
Been wondering the same. I doubt Kelly will last to Thanksgiving.
I find all these lefty remarks about the Military being in positions of authority and command within their departments interesting.
Do they forget that Trump attended a military school from age 13 through graduation from high school.
New York Military Academy. Trump excelled in academics and sports while at NYMA. He earned many academic honors, was a member of the varsity football team in 1962, the varsity soccer team in 1963, and the varsity baseball team from 1962-1964. He was also the Cadet Captin-S4 (Cadet Battalion Logistics Officer) and lead his school in the Memorial Day parade down Fifth Avenue in 1964.
The military way of operating is something that would be familiar to Trump.
They won't get serious until the FBI hauls Debbie away in handcuffs.
And even then, Trump will get blamed.
Also being reported that Kelly was angered by Comey firing and almost quit in solidarity. When that gets back to POTUS . . . .
Typical. What's not being reported is how Kelly thinks about Comey now that he knows Comey leaked government docs to the press.
I doubt that went over well with the General, but will be irrelevant to the story being spun.
BREAKING NEWS: General Kelly called Comey after Comey was fired to express his anger and disgust at how Comey was fired. He even said he was thinking of resigning.
Another interesting tidbit, Sarah Huckabee Sanders now says Trump was only kidding about roughing up prisoners when they're arrested. Oh funny!
I still find it odd that his bad language was considered a firing offense by the media
He certainly wasn't fired for bad language. He was fired for insubordination.
President Kelly sounds better than President Trump.
You have no idea how the country works do you? Oh wait, is this Inga?
We've reached this point in US history: Lefties pining for a military coup.
Figured Mooch was history when Kelly was announced. The jerk dug his own grave. There's a gatekeeper of some substance now and consequently there will be no more "I report directly to the president" crap from people like Scaramucci (did I hear the family had an intervention??). Gen. Kelly isn't exactly new at this chief of staff game.
So, now we'll see how this goes. I hope it goes well because now that he's gone, I'm hearing about what a great job Kelly was doing at DHS. It will be a terrible waste if his new position doesn't work out.
BREAKING NEWS: General Kelly called Comey after Comey was fired to express his anger and disgust at how Comey was fired. He even said he was thinking of resigning.
BREAKING NEWS: Comey still leaking to try to get his reputation back.
Kelly should have run for president if he wanted that position.
I assume Trump will fire him.
Kelly will do everything to solidify the power of people like himself.
The loose cannons aren't solidifying power. That's why you want them.
Trump needs a director of wordplay. It ought to be a cabinet position.
Orro, master of wordplay.
lol. More leaks for Ryan Lizza:
According to several sources who attended a private briefing that included some of the nation’s most senior current and former national-security officials, Kelly sought to ease their minds about one of the most controversial and famous Trump proposals: the border wall with Mexico. Many of the current and former officials were deeply skeptical of Trump, and surprised that Kelly, a respected Marine Corps general, would even take a job working for him.
I expect a whole lot of the EverTrumpers will doubt the anonymous sources supplying information to a writer for The New Yorker.
Of course, all of this started with Lizza's sources correctly informing Lizza that Fox News exec Bill Shine, Trump Monkey-Butler Sean Hannity, and Gavin Newsome ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle were all dining with the Trumps at the White House. Lizza is batting close to 1.000 these days. Which is pretty great in August after the trade deadline.
Kelly will do everything to solidify the power of people like himself.
Agreed. I like him, but if he thinks his job is to run the government rather than implement Trump's policies, he will not be long for that job.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs does not make military policy, just as the President's Chief of Staff does not make civilian policy. If Kelly remembers that, he'll be fine.
"We've reached this point in US history: Lefties pining for a military coup."
Maybe the coup already happened and the end result is that General Kelly will be the acting President, and we will be none the wiser. Trump will just go quiet and be a good boy. Who knows what the "deep state" has on him.
Just conjecture.
I find all these lefty remarks about the Military being in positions of authority and command within their departments interesting.
Do they forget that Trump attended a military school from age 13 through graduation from high school.
Trump was so great at "military." Right up to the time he had to register for the draft.
Mooch was escorted from the White House grounds too...and I bet Marines guard the doors now.
I believe all fired WH personnel are escorted from the grounds. Security also stands by while the former employee empties his desk. Seems prudent to me.
While messy, this is what we hired Trump to do: Shake up a corrupt, fraudulent and self serving Washington establishment.
I rather hope Kelly will shake up a corrupt, fraudulent and self-serving Donald Trump.
According to several sources who attended a private briefing that included some of the nation’s most senior current and former national-security officials, Kelly sought to ease their minds about one of the most controversial and famous Trump proposals: the border wall with Mexico. Many of the current and former officials were deeply skeptical of Trump, and surprised that Kelly, a respected Marine Corps general, would even take a job working for him.
So Chuck thinks "the swamp hates Trump" is a "leak"? There is nothing new or surprising in the entirety of what you posted.
BREAKING NEWS: Trump was elected BECAUSE some of the nation's most senior current and former national-security officials hated him and would have a difficult, if not impossible, time working for him.
Breaking news to Chuck anyway.
Unknown,
Don't some coups end up with the military in control?
I attended Carnival in Panama a time, or two, or three. As a tourist. Plain clothes. So many holidays and other days-of-the-dead there. Few years before ‘89. Way too much carnival shit - everywhere really - to observe, metricize, analyze, report, advise, go back out, rattle more cages, and repeat.
I’m no general. So I don’t know. My impression - as just a tourist passing through - is that Generals know that Generals know that Generals are always looking and sniffing around at other Generals.
Like four-star - four-star – four-star Gen. Arthur Lichte.
God, how I hate Licht-ery.
My feeling - only a feeling - is that good Generals don’t want the job. Mattis is a monk - I really think he’s a monk - and he likes his quiet time. Patton told the truth when he said he had no political ambitions. MacArthur should be resurrected from the dead - so we might elect him.
Did someone tell Trump he has to behave himself and take orders if he wants to finish his term?
You need to speak more loudly, Unknown, I can’t hear you.
President Kelly sounds better than President Trump.
Kelly loves his men and women too much to abandon them for the hole of Office. He knows better.
Has a the coup already happened and we are first now being notified in a very round about way?
Haven’t heard this so far from the Justice of the Peace. “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” Misery can give a man a whole military-industrial complex.
Will Trump go quiet and never ever go off message in public again?
Unknown, I love you. But sometimes you’re in a little need of repair from the Chilton’s Guide on How to Rebuild Your Unknown. I know you meant the question as sarcasm – just think and have mercy on all those followers who love the casino. Gambling is a health-care right! :). Let the kids enjoy the slots.
Mercy!
"And, if Providence ever drops in my lap another chance like that ... I may have radio malfunction again." ~ Brigadier General Frank Savage
UnknownInga82 is now cheering the coup she imagines in her head?
And bristles when anybody calls her unAmerican?
Can somebody please square that circle for me?
Talking about roughing up arrested people: bad.
Talking about a military coup: not bad.
Circle gets the square.
What's with all this silly conjecture about military coups and de facto presidents? Kelly was brought in to exact some discipline on a White House that badly needs it. This is a good thing. We do not have to be in a state of perpetual chaos. Let's get on with the business that needs to be done.
The military way of operating is something that would be familiar to Trump.
Oh, that's what this White House has been about.
Christ. You gotta feel a bit sorry for the guy. Self-inflicted or not, he is losing a lot at the same time.
Maybe the coup already happened and the end result is that General Kelly will be the acting President, and we will be none the wiser. Trump will just go quiet and be a good boy. Who knows what the "deep state" has on him.
Just conjecture.
Confirmation received: IT IS INDEED INGA!
There are only so many people who openly pine for a military dictatorship these days. But hey, you be you.
"I won't miss the Mooch, but I'll miss the name"
I think that's what really did him in; "Mooch."
And the more Trump heard it, the less likely Mooch would be hanging around.
If we aren't getting an actual physical wall then remind me again why we're marching through this particular hell?
Gosh. The Prez coulda just put him up in the Lincoln bedroom for a few days. Charged him rent and at least made a few bucks on the deal.
Blogger Brookzene said...
I rather hope Kelly will shake up a corrupt, fraudulent and self-serving Donald Trump.
Presidents come and go. The swamp has become a permanent feature of Washington and needs to be destroyed.
Joe says that Kelly will be gone by Thanksgiving. I say he'll be WH C of S on New Year's Day. Various people say Kelly will be de facto president. I say he won't. If I knew how bitcoins worked, I'd put money on it.
Anybody have the over/under on the date of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's perp walk?
What's the likelihood that Ryan Lizza was looking, in part, to goad Trump into firing Kelly? Trump hates to be upstaged, and hates even more to be portrayed as a dummy. Lizza's piece, especially the part about Kelly's trying to talk Trump out of supposedly delusional policy positions, fits with that agenda, even as it also works as 'normal' journalism (if such a thing still exists).
Just a thought.
Presidents come and go. The swamp has become a permanent feature of Washington and needs to be destroyed.
Given the Wall Street MegaBarons and billionaires brought into the WH, I don't really know what Trump means by "drain the swamp". Sure doesn't look like anything's happening. Apparently we're a little less regulatory, and that's okay, but it doesn't seem like we're draining any swamp.
Lizza sure sticks a lot of I into a news story
Communications failure. A guy on the 40m band saying that he'll send email rather than discuss unions in morse code: too long and complicated for morse code, he sent.
He's sending about 22 words per minute so it's probably true.
Perp walks are always wished and never received, sadly.
Leviathan must be disrupted. The 1.3 trillion dollars a year in additional debt the Obama Administration caused and handed to Trump cannot be sustained. Inflation is the only answer when that much debt is on hand.
When the D.C. suburbs are the richest places in America, it is obvious the skim is too large.
We need economic growth and reduced (actual year over year dollar decreases) spending. Entitlements won't be, before long. Too many people believe they are entitled to OPM.
Kelly undoubted sized up The Mooch as a tough talking guy rather than a real tough guy. Tough talking guys never know when to shut up. He also understands the need for decorum, something this White House needs more of. It's not a matter of wholesale changes but some toning down. Dirty locker room talk in public as a representative of the President, I'm sure, is deeply offensive to that Marine.
It also reveals that it seems that Kelly, before taking the new job, convinced Trump that it is unnecessary to build an actual physical wall between the U.S. and Mexico,
I've always thought that the idea of one big long continuous wall along the border was a pretty dumb idea.
There are places where a physical wall is proper, needed, and to show that we are serious. Other places, geographically don't need a physical wall because Mother Nature has already set up barriers.
Other places need more monitoring either by drones, cameras, electronic sensors and of course armed Border Patrol and guard dogs.
Nothing can take the place of actual Border Patrol officers who are allowed to do their jobs, backed by a strong, sane, enforced!!!! immigration policy.
All of the above are needed. The Wall will be partly practical and a lot for show.
BREAKING NEWS: The Pentagon wants to arm Ukraine!
Has there truly been a secret military coup?? Strange to see the military showing strength and going against Trump's stated policies. First the push back of Trump's tweet regarding banning transgender people from the military, now this push to arm Ukraine, very strange. Putin will be very unhappy. Trump will go quiet.
Trump doesn't get his Wall and his plans for the US to become Russia's ally has been thwarted by the Congress. How the worm turns.
Would Kelly be Gen. Dreedle or Gen. Peckem in Catch 22.
The wordsmith loose cannon role would be Pfc. Wintergreen
Communications failure. A guy on the 40m band saying that he'll send email rather than discuss unions in morse code: too long and complicated for morse code, he sent. He's sending about 22 words per minute so it's probably true.
Hahaha. Can’t type. Crying too much.
See. Here’s the art of the deal. Affectionately - the gaseous fart of the deal - it’s all white noise baby.
White noise is where the real money-signals are hidden. Which means, res ipsa, the more white noise - the more Intelligent Design is proven!
Proof by synthesis: I once found a watch. On the floor of a casino. Engraved, “DT - we love you! Chinese Steel!” Efficient Morse.
Beats the fuck out of me what it meant. Even in Morse. Gave up the bio-doctrine of signatures long time ago.
But watches like that - amidst all the gas - must some have doctrinal signature of Intelligent Design.
Dixit!
Gambling is a health-care right!
"Don't some coups end up with the military in control? As scary as a military coup is in a modern country, President Kelly sounds better than President Trump. Has a the coup already happened ....."
You really are an idiot.
"Kelly undoubted sized up The Mooch as a tough talking guy rather than a real tough guy. Tough talking guys never know when to shut up. He also understands the need for decorum, something this White House needs more of. It's not a matter of wholesale changes but some toning down. Dirty locker room talk in public as a representative of the President, I'm sure, is deeply offensive to that Marine."
It's deeply offensive to everyone.
What a clusterfuck! Who'da thunk it? (Aside from, you know, pretty much any rational person!)
Feste ("the clown"), are you a psychologist? There is a "free association of ideas" flavor to your posts. Being a STEM guy, I struggle to understand you.
"It's deeply offensive to everyone."
Trump loved it, until someone got to him to convince him he was wrong.
UnknownInga82 cheers the US Congress passing laws that upset every European country.
"They won't get serious until the FBI hauls Debbie away in handcuffs."
THIS FBI? Never happen.
Pretty pathetic that it takes a General to teach the POTUS how to be Presidential.
I'll take that instead of Saul Alinsky.
Since Mooch will probably host the next new episode of SNL, no need for a caricature.
I would be curious to see how soon it takes for Ivanka, her husband Jared, and the Trump boys to bypass the new chief of staff on matters. I don't think the General will take to kindly having his head stepped on by The Donald's inner circle of family. I hope with an adult in charge at the White House, maybe the loose cannon that we have for a C-in-C will be focused and do the job he was elected to do.
BTW, Mooch sounds like he was a member of Delta Tau Chi fraternity at Faber College, what with that nickname and the way he acted...
"Kelly explained that he had spent a great deal of time talking through the issue with Trump, and he believed he had convinced the President that he didn’t actually need to build a physical wall along the entire nineteen-hundred-mile-long border between the United States and Mexico. Instead, the use of sophisticated monitoring technology, air surveillance, and fencing could secure the border with what Trump could start calling a “barrier.”"
The problem with that is that President Elizabeth Warren simply turns the electrronic monitoring off.
Turning deplorable opioid addicts into contortionists one day at a time. The Althousian proletariat and their recent Pavlovian slobber:
Mooch in Spicer out: Trump genius, never liked Spicer
Mooch slaggs Prebus and Bannon: Trump genius, Mooch is "real man", Prebus/Bannon must go
Mooch fires Prebus: Trump genius, Mooch "Patton", never liked Prebus
Mrs Mooch Fires Mooch: Trump genius, Mrs Mooch ugly golddigger, love Mooch even more
Kelly fires Mooch: Trump genius, never liked Mooch, Spicer and Prebus "good guys"
LLR blathered: "Trump was so great at "military." Right up to the time he had to register for the draft."
Let me clue you in LLR, I would rather have Trump as Commander-in-Chief than war hero John McCain (R-Media) any day.
nstead, the use of sophisticated monitoring technology, air surveillance, and fencing could secure the border with what Trump could start calling a “barrier.”
The problem with that is that President Elizabeth Warren simply turns the electrronic monitoring off.
Claymores. She can't turn off lots of claymores. Besides, I thought we were going to make the wall one big solar panel. How will the greens react when we fail to build every mile possible?
They'll chant that lack of a wall is killing the earth.
Scaramucci needs his own reality show- Stat!
I do admire Gen. Kelly and like him for this position, but realistically, it's a liberal pipe dream to believe that he can exert any authority over Trump. There's a stark difference between influence and authority. And I'm sure Kelly is well aware of that.
Scaramucci needs his own reality show- Stat!
Just replace someone on The Five with him and let them all go at each other over the day's headlines.
In the matter of whether we need a physical border wall, we have already seen that a "virtual" wall has been built in the manifestation of the Trump Effect.
Hopefully, Trump can now move Sessions over to DHS, and appoint a trump loyalist in his place.
Blogger Tommy Duncan said...
Feste ("the clown"), are you a psychologist?
No. Fair question. And peace. Some training, yes. Low level certifications only. Not of much use.
Little bio.
Feste refers festively to the festivities of Shakespeare’s Christmas present to me - “What You Will/Twelfth Night.” Where everyone is in a disguise that will kill them - including military hostilities - unless the Festive Fool exorcizes demons of disguise. That’s my next vocational calling. I’m not good at it. Only an aspiration.
Caution advises me that some of Shakespeare’s court fools died at the end of a rope.
Because of their effectiveness.
I don't think I'd like the taste of electrical leads.
There is a "free association of ideas" flavor to your posts.
Too much probably. Thanks for the heads up.
Being a STEM guy, I struggle to understand you.
Straight prose.
STEM has produced - and will produce - some of the future’s leading game mathematicians, biology backgrounds (double majors), some disciplined in the military, some not, some with a law degree too (not so useful), often working in plain clothes, but so much better and beyond the military, STEM should make more like Kurt V, and where he went after military service.
In my case, loving-questions to hard-interrogatories, a little “enhanced” (more on enhanced interrogation later - do not read-in here), are my missions summary. I love Colombo. But am too dumb to act as dumb as he. Always more learning.
Prose.
You’re free to read between the lines.
Truth.
The greatest university from which to graduate - and I mean this seriously - is the university that graduated Melville.
None.
Melville attended the same university as Harriet Tubman.
None.
That’s my story.
Sticking with it.
Easy.
NB - Tommy, thanks for the peer review check. Needed it. Thanks.
Peace
I'm unhappy. Scaramucci is an amusing fellow, and just the thing for his job, a clown for the media circus, which is exactly what that lot deserve. They should be given that sort of material, and only that, which they can do nothing but ruin themselves further. If they are treated with gleeful contempt, entertaining contempt, they will lose their remaining power.
I'm afraid Gen. Kelly lacks the imagination to see this. Generals are rarely showmen. Those odd cases who truly are, like Patton and MacArthur, are rarely appreciated by their colleagues.
Sample of enhanced interrogation coming ...
Post firing interview--
Mooch, I hate you, but some advice: You will end up starting every sentence with "look" or “hang on a second,” or “but look,” or “no, but look." You can't really go wrong starting a sentence with "no.” Once past the opening sentence, talk about weeds and mud, moving on, and support. Well, I don't need to tell you how to push back, I guess.
I look forward to watching and reading it.
- Reince Priebus
Wonder why Israel built an actual wall - or why the East Germany bothered with a wall. Or why Zuckerprick is building a wall around his Hawaian estate and pissing off his neighbors.
It seems walls work.
Damn, he gave up a marriage for 11 days?
The only problem is that it provides cover for "Debbie does data"
"Damn, he gave up a marriage for 11 days?"
Well, it wasn't a one-night stand, so there's that.
Heya Mr Trump, my cousin Anthony's really good at this kind of thing.
PR stuff.
Really f**kin' good, ya know?
Scar sold his business to get the job, then fucked it up in a second with his big mouth. Sad!
Kevin said...
Scaramucci needs his own reality show- Stat!
Just replace someone on The Five with him and let them all go at each other over the day's headlines.
7/31/17, 5:33 PM
No Kevin, Mooch needs a show of his own. Don't you wanna see Mooch strutting down the sidewalks of Hell's Kitchen with a Saturday Night Fever soundtrack? I wanna see this guy in his element, pitching pennies with the goombahs on the corner, buying cannolis, catcalling broads who pass by, slugging impertinent waitstaff... This guy is money!
Harvard accidentally lists Scaramucci as dead in alumni directory....lulz
and he sold his business.
"Scar sold his business to get the job, then fucked it up in a second with his big mouth. Sad!"
Sounds like a country western song: "I lost my job, I lost my wife, the dog's all I got ..."
The Mooch doesn't look like he's much for country western though.
This is kind of sad, really. It's like Game of Thrones introducing an intriguing new character and then killing him off in the next episode. The Mooch showed a lot of promise to be quite entertaining... And now he's exited the stage.
In re. Tommy:
True story. No poetry. No free ass. Then, I'm done!
Enhanced interrogation sample.
In a room.
Military motherfucker. Crooked as fuck. Lies bobbing and weaving. More lies than Margaret Somer’s complicated matrices of narratives could imagine, no less map. More lies than Kaiser Sose reading shit off the wall could cram into Jove’s skull.
Military trained motherfucker. Slick. Lie-ready.
In this room, had done my homework.
Might as well make this current news. Despite the fact it happened years ago.
Knew he had outstanding warrant from Maricopa County, Arizona. Blew his alias. Drug running motherfucker.
Picked him up violently, up against the wall, “Look motherfucker. I’m gonna shake your ass all the way back to Maricopa County (states away), where Sheriff Joe’s got pink underwear, and fresh boys with hard toys, waiting for you.”
Took a chance. Totally chance. No. I didn't know Sheriff Joe. Not skill. Don’t confuse chance with skill. That confusion will kill. STEM or no!
This isn't STEM stuff. It's Melville. Tubman.
He crumbled.
True story. Safe for now. He won’t be out for another 20 years.
It’s hard looking at the world this way.
I want flowers.
Where have all the flowers gone?
End.
Where's Laslo?
I have the need for speed to read Laslo.
"Scar sold his business to get the job, then fucked it up in a second with his big mouth. Sad!"
Doesn't he get to keep the proceeds tax free? Maybe this was the plan all along ...
Humperdink: "Sounds like a country western song: "I lost my job, I lost my wife, the dog's all I got ..."
You forgot the part where he still has $80M to $100M in the bank. So, you know, that helps cushion the blow a bit.....
heyboom:"I do admire Gen. Kelly and like him for this position, but realistically, it's a liberal pipe dream to believe that he can exert any authority over Trump. There's a stark difference between influence and authority. And I'm sure Kelly is well aware of that"
Indeed.
If there is one thing that every single Marine Officer is well versed in its the establishment and running of Staff Operations. The roles within the staff are laid out in crystal clear fashion and it is up to the COS to ensure that it all runs in alignment with the vision of the leader.
Kelly might very well disagree with Trump on any number of issues, that's all fine and well. Completely expected and hardly out of the ordinary and if the relationship is a solid one those discussions can be very helpful. Behind closed doors.
From the outside we will see a much smoother, coherent and coordinated staff operations in support of the policies and directives from the President. Particularly since Kelly is so sure-handed in the ways of DC.
So Mooch returns to being the Trump Fan Dago.
General Kelly did his P. T. Barnum act and persuaded a loud mouthed Brooklyn rube to go through the door marked "egress". Now if the Mooch hadn't wanted to see the egress, I'm willing to bet that Kelly would have put the Mooch in an ejection seat and pulled the handle for him.
Only room for one rooster in the henhouse.
Tommy Duncan asserts rightly: Presidents come and go. The swamp has become a permanent feature of Washington and needs to be destroyed.
Amen!!!
"I'll take that instead of Saul Alinsky."
Oh, for Pete's sake! Alinsky is long dead and no one is thinking about him except a small cohort of right-wing paranoics who obsess about him.
"Turning deplorable opioid addicts into contortionists one day at a time. The Althousian proletariat and their recent Pavlovian slobber:
Mooch in Spicer out: Trump genius, never liked Spicer
Mooch slaggs Prebus and Bannon: Trump genius, Mooch is 'real man,' Prebus/Bannon must go
Mooch fires Prebus: Trump genius, Mooch 'Patton,' never liked Prebus
Mrs Mooch Fires Mooch: Trump genius, Mrs Mooch ugly golddigger, love Mooch even more
Kelly fires Mooch: Trump genius, never liked Mooch, Spicer and Prebus 'good guys'"
Howard! Brilliant!
Scaramucci should just be damned glad he wasn't working for the Clintons.
"In 1969, Hillary Rodham wrote a 92-page senior thesis for Wellesley College about community organizer Saul Alinsky entitled "There Is Only the Fight . . . : An Analysis of the Alinsky Model.""
There is a lot of talk about military coups. Followed a link this morning from Instapundit that was the first of two installments describing such a hypothetical military coup. The big problem is the same as with trying to disarm the American public - the people whom you would need for a successful coup more likely than not voted for Trump. Which is to say that the odds would be higher for success if Crooked Hillary had won the election. Don't think that the active military hasn't noticed the stepped up support they have been getting from POTUS now that Trump has replaced Obama. Another part of this is that our military is too small, any more, to effectively pull off a military coup. I read somewhere today that we have only about 45 brigade combat teams (fewer than the number of states), and NYC alone would take maybe 10% of the total. Big difference from WW II, when we had more than that in Divisions. National Guard is out, since they are, essentially, commanded at the state level, until activated. The story this morning had units being tasked in such a way that the lower ranks didn't know what was going on. But how long would that last? How long until the bulk of the military caught on that they were engaged in an illegal, traitorous, coup? And started either refusing, in mass, to carry out illegal orders, or just shooting their traitorous commanders? And, it wouldn't be easy to convince that many that Posse Comitatus wasn't legally preventing them from operating in CONUS.
My theory is that all the talk about coups is desperation. The Dems weaponized the federal govt, never expecting the Republicans to beat them at their own game, and take over control of the now weaponized federal govt.
In an ideal world, we wouldn't know the name of the WH communications director. In a more ideal world, we wouldn't even know such a position exists.
Mooch was selling to Ghina. Now that he lost all his juice, I'm sure the price will be renegotiated downward.
If you play it backward, you get your wife back, your house back and your dog back.
The big problem is the same as with trying to disarm the American public - the people whom you would need for a successful coup more likely than not voted for Trump.
Yes, Bruce, but here's a horrible thought: What if the military is all about wresting the government away from Trump for the Uniparty Establishment? Can we really trust today's military? They are much too cozy with the Saudis to suit me. I do trust the military more than the politicos [or, heaven knows, the media!] but I'm not sure how deep the Deep State is.
I just caught a few minutes of The Fox News Specialists. Coulter is apparently off the blacklist – possibly because she’s become critical of Trump. She was an effective Trump supporter but seems to see her role now is to keep Trump true to her version of Trumpism.
She backed Hillary over McCain in 2008.
A familiar meme I picked up from the panel was that one of the things that some of the panelists expect from Kelly is for Kelly to stop Trump from tweeting and to keep Trump “on message.” I also viewed the Special Report panel and Krauthammer echoed the Kelly/Trump/Tweet expectation.
As I’ve said before – I think it unlikely that Trump hired Kelly to “discipline” Trump. Subordinates do not “discipline” their superiors; not in the Marine Corps or in the Oval office. Advice and recommendations, respectfully offered from a base of expertise and experience, are always in order.
I like Kelly as Chief of Staff. He’s an expert in warfare who also knows the price of war, having lost his son in war. Hopefully he’ll use his influence to keep military adventures to a minimum and ensure that whatever military actions become necessary will also be militarily sound.
All we know at this point is that Kelly is in and Mooch is out. It occurs to me that Mooch’s profane phone chat that caused the furor could itself be construed as a leak. I’m reminded of the French Revolution and Robespierre, the executioner who himself ended up under the guillotine’s blade.
The Times article attributes its unnamed sources to … two people familiar with his[Trump’s] thinking. That could be anyone. It sure smells like fake news to me. Until Kelly or Trump themselves comment we know cannot know the details or motives – and maybe not even then. And Mooch? No version offered by him should be considered as reliable.
On the “chaos” meme: I give the MSM a pass on it. The MSM and those who pay attention to it cannot be expected to transition from 8 years of a buttoned-up, button-down, constipated personality who was known for dithering for months over obvious decisions to a decisive personality such as Trump.
The Althousian proletariat and their recent Pavlovian slobber.
You might think you can shame dopey commenters into self-recognition and introspection, but brain research says true believers are happiest when performing dramatic mental contortions to preserve their beliefs.
Didn't Clinton write a senior seminar paper (thesis?) about Saul Alinsky?
"Didn't Clinton write a senior seminar paper (thesis?) about Saul Alinsky?"
Doesn't Birkel read the other comments?
"Yes, Bruce, but here's a horrible thought: What if the military is all about wresting the government away from Trump for the Uniparty Establishment? Can we really trust today's military?"
Yes, think about it. After all the talk of the military supposedly being on Trump's side, what if they're not?
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