To survive nuclear fallout is akin to lasting more than a few months as a senior official for the Trump administration. To prove that you can withstand even the harshest conditions for the human body, as well as remain in the good graces of President Donald Trump means that you’re either the luckiest person alive, or you know something that the other 35 officials that led their posts didn’t know. John Kelly, President Trump’s Chief of Staff, has managed to stick around, but a recent report in New York magazine suggests that Kelly’s only lasted this long because the president can’t find a sufficient replacement. According to several sources, President Trump has attempted to fire Kelly but hasn’t gone through with it because he typically lets Kelly handle the dirty work of firing cabinet members and senior officials.
Last December, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman was asked to leave her position, and White House chief of staff, John Kelly, was recorded as he told her that her time had come:
“I think it’s important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure, we can all be, you know, you can look at your time here in the White House as a year of service to the nation. And then you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.”
–John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff
Though Kelly and the Trump administration received negative comments from Ms. Manigault following her firing, this was just one of many scenarios where President Trump let Kelly deal the blow, and Trump’s hands remained clean. As reliable as Kelly may be to the president, over the course of the last month, he has been involved in a conflict with members of the National Security Council as well as the office of the first lady, according to seven sources close the situation. An anonymous source told NBC that there have been multiple instances where “the East Wing staff were not treated as equals to the male-dominated decision makers in Chief Kelly’s office. Promotions were denied then finally granted after months of requests.”
As we witnessed with the release of former Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel, when you mess with Melania, you get the Trump. To be fair, while on the job, Ricardel regularly shouted at subordinates, “plotted against White House officials she disked,” and bullied aides both above and below her, according to CNN. Given that Chief Kelly and Melania have clashed recently, sources believe President Trump will make good on his promise to fire his Chief of Staff. In anticipation of this event, the media is playing another rousing game of “Guess Who “New Cabinet Member” Edition.
At the top of the media’s speculation list for the new Chief of Staff is Nick Ayers, the current chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence. Ayers, a Southern man with a face like a frat boy, and the hidden motives of Frank Underwood, has been waiting in the East/West Wings for his day in the sun. Those who’ve worked closely with Ayers, 36, believe that given “every job he’s ever had he’s been one of the youngest people to have it,” and this is treating to some, says Alex Conant, a colleague of Ayers back when they worked on former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential campaign.
“He’s shown that he can swim in the shallow end. The question is whether he can play in the deep end. They run their own agenda over at the VP’s office; they go where they want, to do what they want, they avoid what they want. You don’t have that luxury with this President.”
–Unnamed former White House official to CNN
Many believe that Ayers has been biding his time, waiting for the right time to strike, and as President Trump ruminates over firing Chief Kelly, this may present the opportunity Ayers has been waiting for. For now, Kelly remains unfired, but as we have seen with this administration, situations can change at the drop of a cabinet official.
