I have stated that I think that the Biden White House will be staffed with Right wing actors and the president-elect has started to make my prediction accurate.
The president-elect is in the process of putting together his White House staff….one of the most important positions is that of gate keeper, the Presidential Chief Of Staff and Biden has chosen Ron Klain…..
And the second-hardest job in Washington goes to … Ron Klain. The Washington Post reports that Joe Biden has tapped Klain, a longtime confidant with an impressive resume, to be his White House chief of staff. “Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014,” said Biden. “His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need.” Klain, 59, was a senior aide to Biden when he led the Senate Judiciary Committee in the late 1980s and ran Biden’s office when he became vice president.
Klain has also been a top adviser to Democrats including presidents, vice presidents, and candidates. The New York Times reports that Klain is known for his “steady nerves” and “fierce wit,” especially in criticizing President Trump on Twitter. As former “Ebola czar” under President Obama, Klain took Trump to task for his pandemic policies, and made waves by lecturing Trump about the virus in a popular video. Many considered Klain the obvious chief-of-staff pick, even though he’d fallen out with the Biden camp by supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016. “I am definitely dead to them—but I’m glad to be on Team HRC,” he wrote at the time, per Politico. But Klain worked his way back into Biden’s inner circle and became a key, unpaid adviser on Biden’s 2020 campaign.
Biden is trying to rebuild the Obama White House….he began with the Ron Klain…..is an lobbyist and has been in tight with the Walton family…..Biden is going straight to the wealthy and the influential to begin his White House staff.
CoS Bolton is going around the world drumming yup support for a possible trip to Iran (by trip I mean some sort of military action)…..
Bolton is what Bolton always does….protects Israel over the interests of this country.
Hiss newest con job on the world is about the possibility of an attack by Iran….and he has gone viral with the warmongers….
Here’s the dire warning National Security Advisor John Bolton brought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 6: “We have little doubt that Iran’s leadership is still strategically committed to achieving deliverable nuclear weapons.”
I have found zero evidence to support Bolton’s claim. It is unclear who “we” means, but it certainly does not include the American intelligence community. They have found exactly the opposite.
While it is currently trendy to fact-check Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, allow me to suggest that it matters more — a lot more —when statements made by the national security advisor are untrue. This four-Pinocchio claim is a true whopper and has serious national security implications.
Time for all of us to start looking for that “Tonkin Moment” that will start a war with Iran over some minor incident that can be used to gin up support to the attacks.
It will not be difficult since the US and NATO pretty much have Iran surrounded….just look at the map…..
Even Pentagon officials are fearing the language of Bolton…..
Having spent decades advocating a US attack on Iran, John Bolton’s position as National Security Adviser is allowing him to push the idea hard with President Trump. For those less enamored of that war, including Pentagon leadership, there is mounting concern that Bolton might provoke such a war.
So when Bolton came to the Pentagon asking them for military options for attacking Iran, nominally in retaliation for a Shi’ite Iraqi militia firing mortar shells in Baghdad, they were reticent.
The options they delivered were reportedly very limited. They involved little more than a show of force with limited airstrikes against some random Iranian military site. This was far short of what Bolton wanted, but former Defense Secretary James Mattis argued that even this was a bad idea, and no attack has happened yet.
But the National Security Council are still saying the attack plans are being considered, and Mattis is no longer around to argue against it. This potentially would allow Bolton to push for the symbolic attack and hope it escalates into more, or to push the Mattis-less Pentagon for even bigger plans for more ambitious wars.
(antiwar.com)
Like I keep saying….watch for that one small incident that can be used to turn this from a war or words to a war of bullets and missiles.
Why would I say this? Pompeo has trotted through the Middle East beat the drums of war…..
The United States’ international windbag, Secretary of Defense (read: War) Mike Pompeo has been acting the imperial blowhard throughout the Middle East. With his boss busy denying that he’s a Russian agent, watching advisors and cabinet members come and go with dizzying alacrity, and dodging porn-star accusations, Pompeo is trotting through the Middle East, sounding war drums.
It seems that Iran, which has long been in the crosshairs of U.S. gunboat ‘diplomacy’, remains firmly targeted. In Cairo, Pompeo promised a “…campaign to stop Iran’s malevolent influence and actions against this region and the world”.
For those that want to know what went wrong and the US and Iran were at each other’s throats……all this animosity began with the hostage situation from the 1970s……if one would like to see how all this manure began then the national archives can help…..
The Iran Hostage Crisis was a major international crisis caused by the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and its employees by revolutionary Iranian students, who then held the Embassy employees as hostages, in direct violation of international law. The revolutionary government of Iran, under the Ayatollah Khomeini, supported the hostage undertaking. The crisis ended with the release of the hostages after a captivity of 444 days, from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981.
The first working day of the new year and the country can say good-bye to the beleaguered John Kelly.
Since taking office as Chief of Staff for Pres. Trump, John Kelly has taken lots of criticism from Trump and his array of slobbering minions….
But Kelly took some parting shots at the Trump admin……
“To be honest, it’s not a wall.” That’s John Kelly in an LA Times exit interview about immigration policy, Afghanistan, the legality of President Trump’s orders—and whether Kelly was allowed to “go get a beer” during his “bone-crushing hard job” as chief of staff. “The president still says ‘wall’—oftentimes frankly he’ll say ‘barrier’ or ‘fencing,’ now he’s tended toward steel slats,” per Kelly. “But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration, when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it.” Kelly says that jibes with what heard in early 2017 from “salt-of-the-earth, Joe-Six-Pack folks” who work as border agents: “They said, ‘Well we need a physical barrier in certain places, we need technology across the board, and we need more people.'” For more:
Afghanistan: “When I first took over, he was inclined to want to withdraw from Afghanistan,” Kelly recalls of Trump. “He was frustrated. It was a huge decision to make … and frankly there was no system at all for a lot of reasons—palace intrigue and the rest of it—when I got there.”
Not “ignorance”: “It’s never been: The president just wants to make a decision based on no knowledge and ignorance,” says Kelly, who assures the Times he gave Trump access to reams of information before major decisions. “You may not like his decision, but at least he was fully informed on the impact.”
Not so bad: “Illegal immigrants, overwhelmingly, are not bad people,” says Kelly, who still argues for stricter laws to keep the numbers down. “I have nothing but compassion for them, the young kids.”
Sessions surprise: “What happened was Jeff Sessions, he was the one that instituted the zero-tolerance process on the border that resulted in both people being detained and the family separation,” per Kelly. “He surprised us.”
No beer: Kelly describes 15-hour days that start at 4am and end at 9pm with him going over classified reports. “I’m guarded by the Secret Service. I can’t even go get a beer.”
Reaction: A tremor of delight has rippled through certain media outlets, with the Guardian saying the interview “contained a number of statements likely to irk Trump” and the Washington Post noting that “Kelly’s words are not exactly a ringing endorsement of Trump’s decisions.”
This should unleash the stupid of this president that listens to no one but the alt-Right commentators…..that could make for a disastrous new year……time will tell….(as they say).
Grab your junk…it’s gonna be a bumpy ride in 2019!
Joy to the world for Our Dear Supreme Leader has named a new Chief of Staff……another spineless toad that will crap all over his reputation to be at the center of power in the Trump White House…..
Who is this masked man?
President Trump on Friday picked budget director Mick Mulvaney to be his next chief of staff, the AP reports, ending a chaotic search for a new chief of staff that had been inching forward with the feel of an unfolding reality TV show. Trump tweeted that Mulvaney “will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction.” In another tweet, Trump said: “Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,” Trump posted. “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! John will be staying until the end of the year. He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!”
The humor is another spineless toad in a leadership role…..
John Kelly has been the Trump Chief of Staff since the early days of the admin….once Priebus got on the wrong side of Our Supreme Leader….Kelly was an adult in an infantile White House only he could bring sanity to the Oval Office…..well that did not work out as thought…..his spine was not as rigid as we were told.
Personally, I thought in the beginning that he might be a good choice but early on it was illustrated that he would not be anything other than another “yes” man without a spine.
Well word has come out that he will take a powder at the end of this year…..
– It’s official: John Kelly is leaving the White House. “John Kelly will be leaving toward the end of the year,” said President Trump while heading out for the Army-Navy game Saturday, USA Today reports. Rumors had been swirling after White House sources said Kelly was on his way out—and Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s most senior aide, might be taking his place, per the Wall Street Journal. “Stop calling John [Kelly] for anything,” President Trump was quoted as saying. “Call Nick. He’s my guy.” But Trump aides warned that Ayers was more a Pence advocate, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly criticized Ayers’ foreign-policy skills. On the plus side, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner—who have bristled under Kelly’s command-and-control style as chief of staff—are said to be pro-Ayers.
Kelly repeatedly clashed with Trump and lost some West Wing authority during his 17-month tenure, per CNN. A former Marine Corps general, Kelly imposed discipline on a freewheeling White House but saw Trump work around his who-gets-to-see-Trump-when rules. Kelly also made his own problems, erupting in a profanity-laced exchange with national security adviser John Bolton, engaging in a “near brawl” with informal Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, slamming Rep. Frederica Wilson with false information, and apparently mishandling the abuse scandal around ex-staff secretary Rob Porter. Kelly also denied reports that he’d called Trump “an idiot” and considered himself “the lone bulwark against catastrophe” in Trump’s White House. Trump called Kelly “a great guy” in announcing his departure.
They say that the Chief of Staff for Pence will be chosen to take Kelly’s place at the side of Trump…..well maybe not……
President Donald Trump’s top pick to replace chief of staff John Kelly, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill the role, the AP reports. Ayers, who is chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was seen as the favorite for the job when Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would leave around year’s end. But a White House official said Sunday that Trump and Ayers could not reach agreement on Ayers’ length of service and that he would instead assist the president from outside the administration. Ayers confirmed the decision in a tweet Sunday, thanking Trump and Pence for giving him the opportunity to work in the White House: “I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause,” he said. (He was actually a somewhat controversial choice.)
It was not immediately clear whether Trump had a new favorite for the post. The official was not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers and Trump had discussed the job for months. The new hire was to be key to a West Wing reshuffling to shift focus toward the 2020 re-election campaign and the challenge of governing with Democrats in control of the House. President Donald Trump is considering four people as he determines who will be his next chief of staff, per the AP. A person familiar with Trump’s thinking says the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, is among those under consideration to replace John Kelly.
Well CRAP!
Who will be the next person in DC to prove that they have NO spine?
The White House these days are a mish-mash of conservatives…..some moderates, some Tea Partyers and some alt-Righters.
I can only imagine that this would be a bit difficult for the argument of all parties on policy….I bet there is some backstabbing going on and eventually it will boil over into a full fledged brawl around the Twitter button.
There is already some rumors of cracks forming in the White House team….mainly around the Chief of staff, Rancid Prius……
As the White House struggles to gain its footing almost two months into Donald Trump’s presidency, administration officials increasingly put the blame on one person: Reince Priebus.
In interviews, more than a dozen Trump aides, allies, and others close to the White House said Priebus, the 44-year-old chief of staff, was becoming a singular target of criticism within the White House.
They described a micromanager who sprints from one West Wing meeting to another, inserting himself into conversations big and small and leaving many staffers with the impression that he’s trying to block their access to Trump. They vented about his determination to fill the administration with his political allies. And they expressed alarm at what they say are directionless morning staff meetings Priebus oversees that could otherwise be used to rigorously set the day’s agenda and counterbalance the president’s own unpredictability.
I know it is early in the life of the present administration but these types of cracks can be dangerous to the president and his policies…..can these people work out their differences or will it become too much too handle?
Racid needs to watch Pence and Bannon…they both are mongoose waiting to strike.
CPAC is going on as I type…the meeting of the minds (HA) of the conservative movement…..and so far the big story is something that the WH Chief of Staff said during his moment in the spotlight……at least they showed a racist the door…..but now more on Bannon’s rhetoric…..
Steve Bannon made his first public appearance since Donald Trump became president Thursday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the Washington Post reports. The president’s chief strategist said Trump’s goal is the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” meaning dismantling systems of taxation, regulation, and trade. Bannon said Trump picked his Cabinet nominees with that deconstruction in mind. Here’s what else is making headlines at CPAC:
Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who spoke alongside Bannon, says they aren’t rivals, as characterized by the media. Instead he says they work alongside each other and share a connection through Trump, Politico reports.
White nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of CPAC after being spotted in the lobby of the hotel where it’s taking place. “His views are repugnant and have absolutely nothing to do with conservatism,” a CPAC spokesperson tells NPR.
The Hill reports Bannon also reserved some of his time to bash reporters and the media, who he repeatedly called the “opposition party.” He warned that every day will be a fight against the “corporatist, globalist media.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz predicted—without explanation—that Trump will have a second Supreme Court seat to fill by the summer, Time reports. He also called the Democratic base “bat crap crazy.”
Speaking of Cruz, a lot has changed since last year’s CPAC, where he was the headliner and Trump canceled his speech, according to US News. Kellyanne Conway, who was working for Cruz this time last year, says CPAC is now “TPAC,” in reference to Trump.
Despite earlier reports that she clashed with the attorney general and Trump on protecting the bathroom rights of transgender students, at CPAC Betsy DeVos said she supported the removal of Obama’s guidelines, calling them “overreach,” the Huffington Post reports
Sounds like Mr. Bannon has a theory in mind……it is called…..Transnationalism
Interactions and coalitions across state boundaries that involve such diverse nongovernmental actors as multinational corporations and banks, church groups, and terrorist networks. In some usages, transnationalism includes both nongovernmental as well as transgovernmental links. The term transnational is used both to label the actor (for example, a transnational actor) or a pattern of behavior (for example, an international organisation that acts transnationally – operates across state borders). Theorists focusing on transnationalism often deemphasise the state as primary and unitary actor.
The last line says it all….deemphasize the state…does that mean “deconstructed”…….?
The American Conservative has had some thoughts on “Transnational Nationalism”……..
Linker’s main point — and it’s a trenchant one — is to note the belatedness of the effort: National Review and Public Interest took years or even decades to bring the fusionist New Right and neoconservatism respectively to a position of political dominance, whereas American Affairs was only founded after Trump’s unexpected triumph. But I want to comment on something Linker says at the end of the piece about our nationalist moment:
