Trump’s Narcissistic Revenge Trail: Demands Your Loyalty or Your Destruction

A truism 100%

Current Oval Office Occupant Does Not Seem to Know: 

Loyalty is a Two-Way Street

More dangerous moves from and by Trump regarding loyalty and “house cleaning” (Washington Post and The Daily Mail):

My introduction: Yes, loyalty to the president, any president is critical, but only to his policy for the nation and foreign affairs, but NOT to him politically-speaking or on a personal level, either… a huge difference to what loyalty means in that regard that Trump simply as with most other things, fails to see or comprehend.

Case in point recent his “house cleaning following his impeachment acquittal – getting rid of disloyal and the so-called “DEEP STATE” types (whatever that means) based on this from a Trump February 13 tweet:

“We want bad people out of our government!”

(Note: Trump’s definition of “bad” is NOT the norm)

Ergo: Kicking off a tumultuous stretch of firings, resignations, controversial appointments, and private skirmishes that have since spilled into public view, especially targets are the NSC, State Department, and DOJ and according to two administration officials, there have recently been multiple resignations and reassignments at each of those agencies recently.

Johnny McEntee, Trump’s former personal aide who now leads that effort as director of presidential personnel, has begun combing through various agencies with a mandate from the president to oust or sideline political appointees who have not proved their loyalty. More on McEntee:

McEntee, the 29-year old former campaign aide, spent part of this week asking officials in various Cabinet agencies to provide names of political appointees working in government who are not fully supportive of Trump’s presidency.

Apparently, Trump instructed McEntee to find people in the administration who aren’t aligned with him and to quote: “To get rid of them,” unquote – that according to several people familiar with the president’s directive.

Trump did not provide additional specificity on what exactly he wanted beyond a workforce that more fully reflects his instincts, and it is also unclear what criteria is being used to determine an official’s fealty to the president.

McEntee is planning to prepare a presentation for Trump about what he has found. While Sean Doocey, the former director of presidential personnel, reports to Acting White House CofS, Mick Mulvaney’s deputy, McEntee reports directly to the president jumping all others directly to Trump.

This all comes in the aftermath of an impeachment process in which several members of Trump’s administration provided damning testimony about his behavior with regard to Ukraine. The stream of officials publicly criticizing Trump’s actions frustrated the president and caused him to fixate on cleaning house after his acquittal this month.

Case in point: John Rood, the official in charge of Defense Department policy who had certified that Ukraine had met anti-corruption obligations, was let go this week.

Victoria Coates, the deputy national security adviser who was viewed with suspicion by some White House aides, was removed from her post and was moved to an advisory position in the Energy Department.

What began as a campaign of retribution against officials who participated in the impeachment process has evolved into a full-scale effort to create an administration more fully in sync with Trump’s id and agenda, according to several officials familiar with the plan.

It is unclear whether civil servants will be targeted as well, but it would be harder to dislodge them than removing political appointees. Civil servants, however, could be sidelined in other ways.

Trump has seethed against his own appointees who defied White House lawyers to comply with congressional subpoenas.

Or against those who testified about his conduct during the impeachment process.

The process clarified for Trump and his top advisers that they had not focused enough on personnel in the early part of the presidency, creating a loyalty deficiency the president is moving quickly to correct.

This burgeoning effort was reflected in Trump’s decision this week to appoint Richard Grenell as the new “Acting” DNI, who is fiercely loyal but inexperienced in intelligence work (he has no training, no experience, and no background as such).

Trump selected Grenell, the ambassador to Germany, to lead the intelligence community in place of Joseph Maguire after becoming angry last week when he learned that a U.S. intelligence official had told lawmakers that Russia wants to see him reelected, according to people familiar with the matter.

Now, Grenell has moved quickly to concentrate power within the intelligence agencies. Maguire’s deputy, Andrew P. Hallman, resigned Friday. Grenell hired Kash Patel, a National Security Council aide who has worked in the past to cast doubt on the FBI’s investigation into Russian election interference. Grenell has requested access to information from the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Note: More on Grenell here and here (my two recent posts)

Mulvaney used a speech this week at the Oxford Union in Britain to inveigh against the “deep state,” and he lamented that the administration could not fire more agency employees who do not implement the president’s orders. He referred to some of testimony of the witnesses who participated in Trump’s impeachment inquiry. Further, he said that bureaucrats who want to make policy instead of implementing it “should put their name on the effing ballot and run for office.” (That according to audio of a speech obtained by The Washington Post). 

My note for Mulvaney: So, you think you can just go to foreign country and rip loyal Americans doing the people’s work by saying “They stay in sync with Trump and his id or selfish whims or personal needs and need for daily attention in the spotlight, even if that means doing something illegal just to keep their jobs?” Shame on you.

Also, Trump’s family members have been among the main champions of the effort to force out officials who have not proved their devotion to Trump. 

For example, Jared Kushner has played a central in the push, concentrating more power in the West Wing and working to combat leaks.

Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter that the impeachment investigation was helpful in “unearthing who all needed to be fired.”

Cliff Sims, a former White House adviser who wrote a book titled “Team of Vipers,” about his time in the White House, has said Trump’s presidency has been repeatedly undermined by disloyal underlings, adding: “Loyalist shouldn’t be a dirty word. Loyalty to the duly elected president and his agenda is exactly what we should expect from our unelected appointees.”

My note for Sims: I ask you point blank: “What makes people disloyal or loyal? You do know that loyalty is a two-way and it must be earned and not handed out as a gift card, or a big nice fat political contribution, or such don’t you? Well, apparently you do not know the meaning of the word and it’s for damn sure Trump does not.”

Brendan Buck, a longtime adviser to former House speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), said that while Trump is entitled to have political appointees who support his agenda, and any the purity tests could make it difficult to find qualified people, adding: “If they also insist on hiring only people who’ve never taken issue with something the president has done, it’s going to be slim pickings.” (Note: I totally agree with that part it is true). 

My 2 cents: Some will I am sure call me disloyal for this post – that’s okay, because I know they are wrong since I know what loyalty is and means and they probably do not. Loyalty must both earned and given.

I’ve know that since it was drilled into my head as a young and then older Marine over 60 years ago. I served in the Corps for 20 years active and then full retirement at 30 years, and along the way, I served in several civilian DOD jobs for a total of 44 years of government service to our country before retiring in 2006.

Some things are carried for life: Loyalty is one of those things and it’s something that Donald J. Trump thinks is a one way street for him and only for him.

Not much else to add to all this except to say Trump surely is in a mad state of mind and rush to get his one-man rule firmly in his grip at any or all costs. That must not ever be allowed to happen for him or anyone else serving as our president, period.

Thanks for stopping by.