Current Events > "The worst job in DC: working for Trump."

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-worst-job-in-washington-right-now-working-for-trump/2017/05/17/a3d9ec00-3b17-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html?utm_term=.b6f27190ada5

As Donald Trump has grown increasingly angry and frustrated with his White House staff, the beleaguered targets of his ire have a quietly roiling gripe of their own — their boss, the president himself.

In the nine days since he fired FBI Director James B. Comey, Trump has lurched through a series of crises of his own making — from the explosive report Monday that he had revealed highly classified intelligence to Russian officials to the bombshell Tuesday that he had urged Comey to end the federal investigation into Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser.

And in his wake remain his exhausted aides and deputies, the frequent targets of Trump’s wrath as they struggle to control an uncontrollable chief executive and labor to explain away his stumbles.

Wednesday evening brought yet another challenging development for the White House, as the Justice Department announced a special counsel to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.

Some White House staffers have turned to impeachment gallows humor. Other mid-level aides have started reaching out to consultants, shopping their resumes. And at least one senior staffer has begun privately talking to friends about what a post-White House job would look like, according to two people close the staffer.

Trump, for his part, largely believes his recent string of mishaps are not substantive but simply errors of branding and public relations, according to people close to him and the White House. Indeed, as he faced a wave of criticism following the disclosure he had leaked “code-word” intelligence material to Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting last week, the president took to Twitter to claim he had “the absolute right” to do so.
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But his team is growing increasingly weary. Privately, they say, the problem is not an incompetent communications shop, as the president sometimes gripes, or an ineffectual chief of staff, as friends and outside operatives repeatedly warn, but the man in the Oval Office, whose preferred management style is one of competing factions and organized chaos.

One West Wing official recently stopped defending Trump or trying to explain away his more controversial behavior. Another characterized the operation as “trudging along,” with aides trying to focus their attention on Trump’s upcoming foreign trip and the budget landing next week.

Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary under George W. Bush, said the president has created a situation where his team is increasingly unlikely to succeed.

"It’s torture — torture because of everything that is happening externally, but it’s also torture because of how divided the White House is internally,” Fleischer said of the challenges that Trump’s staff faces now. “It makes it very hard to keep your head up and do your job.”
[I'm glad Ari Fleischer is here to give his thoughts on torture.]

He added: “If you don’t give people something substantive to talk about in Washington, they will be plenty happy to talk about things that are personal, political and scandal-related.”

For many White House staffers, impromptu support groups of friends, confidants and acquaintances have materialized, calling and texting to check in, inquiring about their mental state and urging them to take care of themselves.

One Republican operative in frequent contact with White House officials described them as “going through the stages of grief."

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I was told there would be winning.

Don't worry guys, to Trump, you're all expendable tools. So you can leave soon.
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Antifar posted...

Trump, for his part, largely believes his recent string of mishaps are not substantive but simply errors of branding and public relations, according to people close to him and the White House.

you could not make up even more absurdity
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Antifar posted...

trying to focus their attention on Trump’s upcoming foreign trip

...A thought, what if we impeach Trump while he's overseas? And then blast the news on a radio or something while he's giving a speech. And then not allow him back on Air Force One to get home.

I know it'll never happen, but it would be hilarious.
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This administration has been a fucking disaster, and we are barely into it, JFC.
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