Working at the White House used to be considered a plum assignment, frequently the pinnacle of a career. In the Trump administration it’s not only musical chairs, it’s a Chinese fire drill as the characters stay the same but their roles change. Donald Trump just hired Bill Shine, formally at Fox News, as Communications Director, although that title may change soon as John Kelly fades from prominence. Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair:
The shake-up in the press office is likely to presage more staff churn. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported Trump’s long-suffering chief of staff may finally be leaving. The Journal reported the leading candidates to replace him are Office of Management and Budget chief Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers. According to a source, Hannity has been pushing for Shine, eventually, to be chief of staff (it’s perhaps why Shine got the deputy chief title, rather than simply communications director).
Another dark-horse candidate is Hope Hicks. Two sources say Hicks’s name is being discussed inside the White House. According to a source close to Hicks, she has told people she is open to the job if Trump asked, but is not pursuing it. When I reached out, she declined to comment.
Shine won’t be as pyrotechnic as Anthony Scaramucci, nobody could be. But don’t expect things to be dull considering who and what he is.
Shine comes to the job with virtually no experience personally dealing with the press. In his role at Fox, he rarely granted interviews, having imbibed Ailes’s worldview that reporters were the enemy. While I was researching my Ailes biography in 2012, Ailes directed Shine to rally Fox personalities to tweet negative things about me (In a tweet, Hannity called me a “PHONEY [SIC] JOURNALIST.” Two sources told me Shine was also aware of Ailes’s use of private investigators to harass and intimidate journalists. “This guy is up to eyeballs in shit,” a Republican close to the White House said. In a normal West Wing, Shine’s baggage would be disqualifying.
A communications director who hates the people whose job it is to communicate and has a history of harassing them. Okey doke.
Meanwhile, Jarvanka will be happy to see John Kelly go.
Trump’s son-in-law had been sidelined by Kelly this past winter when he lost his security clearance. Now, Kushner openly flaunts his status in front of Kelly, having had his clearance restored. According to a Republican in frequent contact with the White House, Kushner recently stood up and walked out of a meeting that Kelly was leading. Kushner has told people that Kelly will be gone by the end of summer, according to a person who’s spoken with him recently. “Jared is strutting around with his balls out,” said the Republican.
Jarvanka toppled Bannon and now they’re working on Kelly. So much for Kelly playing the Alexander Haig role and brokering a resignation for Trump. It’s anybody’s guess, but maybe in that eventuality, the role would fall to Jarvanka? Bear in mind that Trump originally wanted Jared to be his Chief of Staff. If the Trump administration has taught us anything it is that there’s no limit to how insane staffing and appointments can get. Jeannine Pirro’s name has been mentioned as a Supreme Court nominee and not on the front page of The Onion.
