Donald Trump’s big purge begins
Donald Trump has gotten rid of so many top officials and senior advisers since taking office, many of them amid scandal, it’s been difficult to keep track of them all. Trump has been running the most corrupt and unstable White House in modern history. Now Trump is reportedly in the process of forcing out at least two of his household names, meaning a purge is underway – but how far will this go?
Numerous reports from major media outlets say that Trump is about to oust Chief of Staff John Kelly as a result of Kelly’s recent tussle with Jared Kushner, and that Trump is about to oust National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster as a result of their disagreement about Russian election meddling. These are two of Trump’s most influential advisers, and dumping them both would represent a major purge, as well as a fundamental shift in White House leadership. It’s also worth noting that, while Kelly is retired, and McMaster is serving in a quasi-civilian capacity, these are two of Trump’s top military Generals.
Here’s the thing thing, though. For all the numerous advisers and officials Trump has ousted, there have been just as many instances where Trump leaked to the media that he was about to oust someone and then never went through with it. How many times have we heard that Trump was about to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson? By now Tillerson holds the cards in that relationship, because everyone knows Trump doesn’t have the guts to actually dump him.
Donald Trump often begins these kinds of purges against his own top people, but then ultimately ends up further empowering them by not following through with it. So now that the big purge is underway against John Kelly and H.R. McMaster and whoever else gets nudged toward the chopping block this time, we’ll see if Trump finishes the job or not. At this point he’s running out of scapegoats. Help support Palmer Report
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report