Thread: Trump's team showing signs of decay involving key players

Trump's team showing signs of decay involving key players

By Major Garrett CBS News
April 10, 2017, 7:58 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Trump on the third day of his presidency said, “It’s a team. It’s a great team. It’s a team that gets along,” referring to his advisers. Now, nearly three months in, that team is showing signs of decay.

On Friday, chief of staff Reince Preibus ordered a face-to-face truce between Steve Bannon and the Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner -- both senior advisers to Mr. Trump and leaders of warring White House factions.

“Our battles and our policy differences need to be behind closed doors,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. “We need to focus and ultimately all come out committed to advancing the president’s agenda.”

In addition to leading several White House task forces, Kushner traveled to Iraq last week and laid the groundwork for visits from foreign heads of state, including Mr. Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kushner supported the cruise missile strikes in Syria. Bannon opposed them.

“The president, obviously very pleased with the last week that he’s had and the accomplishments -- especially on the foreign policy front,” Spicer said.

Bannon, who helped craft Mr. Trump’s travel ban executive order, lost ground when it was struck down in federal court. Last week, he was removed from the National Security Council.

“If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken,” Bannon said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.

Bannon, a populist with nationalist views, and his allies disparage Kushner’s alliance as the globalist Democrat wing of the White House.

In an interview with “CBS This Morning,” Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s wife, downplayed infighting among Trump advisers.

“I do think we have a lot of different viewpoints at the table. But they’re not at odds with one another. I think anyone you ask will say that that’s a positive thing,” Trump said.

The fight for power and influence has to a degree given Priebus more room to maneuver because it replaced his own earlier battles with Bannon. The presidentially ordered cease-fire sent a message to Kushner that Bannon -- despite recent setbacks -- will remain a force for the foreseeable future.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-t...ns-infighting/

The fight for power and influence has to a degree given Priebus more room to maneuver because it replaced his own earlier battles with Bannon. The presidentially ordered cease-fire sent a message to Kushner that Bannon -- despite recent setbacks -- will remain a force for the foreseeable future.

I get a kick out of these news pundits and others even some members of Congress and our activists who are so used to Presidential Puppets that they think who Trump surrounds himself with determines policy. Maybe with Past Presidents, you know the ones with smaller travel budgets that some seem to admire, this mattered.

With Trump it doesn't matter. He calls the shots. He makes the decisions. He's had his policies outlined for himself and for all to see and hear for 40 years. Trump is the Agenda. What Trump believes is what the policy will be. Not what someone else thinks, not what someone else believes. Yes, of course, he looks for information, he looks for input, he wants to be sure he's covered all the bases, has all the crucial information for a decision. But when it comes time for a decision, some or all of that input and information may matter, and again none of it may matter at all.

He may do one thing for what appears to be one reason, when it's really just a set-up play for a much bigger score on a much bigger issue.

Take illegal immigration for example. Is Trump against illegal immigration because it's illegal? No. Is Trump against illegal immigration because they're invading our country and taking over our politics? No. Is Trump against illegal immigration because they're from other countries, different ethnicity, languages, races and religions? No.

Trump is against illegal immigration because they steal jobs from Americans, depress wages, run drugs, grow the welfare state, and harm and kill Americans. The same reason he'll be against this massive legal immigration. It's the numbers. It's the math. And it doesn't matter what his staff says or his advisors say or even what members of Congress or the Courts say, he knows the numbers don't work for our country. It's one of the main reasons he ran for President to clean this up, stop the madness, get our population and earnings numbers back in line, and fix this growing welfare state that is hurting our economy and bankrupting our government.

We're blessed with probably the first President since Richard Nixon who is not a Puppet. He didn't need the job, and didn't want it. He wanted someone else to fix our country, but no one would or could. So at the highlight of his life and business, he risks it all to do a job that no other American would do. Trump is not a Puppet, he is Donald J Trump who has been doing it his way or the highway his entire adult life. We may not always understand the way he intends to win this war to save our country, but he's got this, he'll try one thing and if that doesn't work, he'll try another way, but it will always be his way. These advisers aren't the genius behind this administration, Donald Trump is. He he needs people to do things because he can't run the whole government by himself. But they all report to him, and they'll either get the job done that he wants done, or they'll get the "You're Fired" quicker than a New York Minute. And that includes Priebus, Bannon, Kushner or anyone else who doesn't understand that.

Honestly, I think Jeff Sessions had a lot to do with shaping Trump's campaign messages on illegal immigration. Especially when it comes to your reasoning on why he is against illegal immigration.

Trump is against illegal immigration because they steal jobs from Americans, depress wages, run drugs, grow the welfare state, and harm and kill Americans.

Sessions has been fighting that battle long before Trump decided to run for President. I strongly believe Sessions is where that message came from. Trump's belief and trust in Jeff Sessions is why he is our Attorney General today. I believe Sessions gave Trump the message and he picked it up and ran with it. Of course that's not to say Trump wouldn't lose his place at times and spout inconsistencies, but of course that will tend to happen when your using someone else's message. I'm just glad Trump had enough sense to buy what Jeff Sessions was selling. It is no coincidence Jeff Sessions was one of Trump's earliest supporters. I believe he, Sessions, had been feeding him all along.

I know you'll disagree and tell me how smart and great Trump is and that he developed his own message on immigration. Well, before you tell me that, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you in advance that I strongly disagree.

Oh, I almost forgot. And I'm also betting Stephen Miller, Sessions former employee, was writing speeches for Trump before he even left the employment of Sessions to join Trump.

It sounds like you didn't listen to Donald Trump's announcement speech in June of 2015.