Pierce writes: "The simple fact is that the White House is out of anyone's control because the president* is out of anyone's control."
White House chief of staff John Kelly has stood by his praise for outgoing White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who now stands accused of abusing two ex-wives. (photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
09 February 18
t’s quite clear at this point that the government of the United States is infinitely better off without the services of Rob Porter. It also is quite clear that the government of the United States would be infinitely better off without the services of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who’s had quite a week for himself. First, he ran his gob about immigrants "who were too lazy to get off their asses" and sign up for DACA protections. Then he pretty much gave away the game on the whole memo business, saying that it’s not clear when—or if—the president* might release the memo produced by the Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee.
And, finally, when the story about Porter’s allegedly beating up both his wives broke, Kelly’s first response, according to CNN, was altogether awful.
White House chief of staff John Kelly called Porter "a man of true integrity and honor and I can't say enough good things about him." "He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him," Kelly said in a statement.
Eventually, more rational heads prevailed. (I know, I know. Everything’s relative.) Kelly came up with a second statement about how he thinks knocking your spouse around is very, very bad. But, by then, almost all the damage had been done. It was revealed that the people running Camp Runamuck knew for months about the charges leveled against Porter, because those charges were the reason that Porter couldn’t get a security clearance. Not that it stopped him from sitting in on briefings where classified information was discussed.
So, this guy gets to sit in on top security briefings despite having been denied a clearance from the FBI. This puts him on the same level as Jared Kushner, who sits in on similar briefings without a clearance that has been denied him because of mounting evidence that Kushner has been panhandling the finer dachas for years now. All of this is on Kelly, who was supposed to have established a measure of control. (Vanity Fair has a lovely picture that sums up the entire problem.) He has to go now, too. Today.
The simple fact is that the White House is out of anyone’s control because the president* is out of anyone’s control. (As is his hair, which appears to be preparing for its annual migration to the forests of Guatemala any day now.) The simple fact is that Rob Porter found a job in the White House that he could keep—for a while, anyway—despite what his bosses knew about his history of domestic violence, because his ultimate boss has faced plenty of his own accusations and ended up becoming the damn President* of the United States. The fish is a bully from the head down. The president* certainly had a lot to talk about with the other guests at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning.
And, yes, there was a mysteriously high number of Russians there, too.
It goes on.
