Posted on 12/14/2018 2:44:17 PM PST by RoosterRedux
Punt. But why?
Yup, just watching him speak, you can tell he’s got one badass brain and isn’t afraid to use it.
Are you basing that on anything — or purely speculating?
Because without any basis I imagine any negotiated terms are favorable to Trump, not Mulvaney.
Mulvaney is talented. Could have been a pick for him, but with Trump keeping flexibility—or a stop-gap before Whittaker is available.
Wonder how long HE will last.....?
Good choice.
49 Democrats voted against Mulvaney when he was nominated for OMB Director in February 2017!
Compare and Contrast...
In 1991, all eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm William Barr for Attorney General.
In 2018, Trump nominated Barr to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.
That said, numerous sources indicated that Mulvaney was Trump's first choice. This was reported right after Allen's resignation was announced. Shortly after the mention of Mulvaney as first pick, Mulvaney went public with the statement that he wasn't interested in the job.
Then numerous other potential candidates stated publicly that they weren't interested in the job, preemptively ending further speculation.
Conclusion from the above and including what we all know about the job, potential candidates weren't stepping all over each other to get to the front of the COS line. The job is one of the most difficult and thankless in the administration. In addition to the normal difficulties of the COS job, being COS in a Trump administration is a particular challenge. The job entails instilling discipline and order in the WH staff and that is made more difficult by a president who himself enjoys and indeed needs a lively, chaotic, creative personal space from which to operative.
There were many reports that Allen and Trump wrestled over Trump's freewheeling style and his apparent off the cuff tweet habit.
Conclusion: I think it is safe to say that Mulvaney would want to come to a very clear understand with the President as to how he, Mulvaney, would balance a freewheeling and creative president on one hand and create a disciplined and orderly staff environment on the other.
This would come out of discussion and negotiation. As an aside, both Trump and Mulvaney understand negotiation and its importance in management.
As a comment on the President's style, I happen to understand his need for what is called "chaos." I don't think it's chaos at all. Trump is a creative thinker. Creative people need stimulation, not order.
Things in our world change extraordinarily fast. Trump can stay on top of them all. He even likes it that way...juggling many balls in the air at once.
That's how he keeps his enemies and opponents back on their heels.
Serving as COS for a manager like that is the ultimate challenge, so yes, I think Mulvaney did a lot of negotiating to reach an understanding with Trump how things would work if he, Mulvaney, accepted the job.
It would be a pretty safe assumption that the "acting" title means something has yet to be decided in this "deal" (i.e., negotiation are still underway).
That's my thinking.
Am I forgetting someone? Who is Allen?
Chief of Staff is also a fairly prestigious position for someone who not too long ago had been an obscure congressman.
It could be that the “acting” designation was Mulvaney’s request to avoid something that ends up looking like the Mooch’s 11 days—in case it doesn’t work out.
And agreed that coming to terms and an understanding on things up front could be important, because Trump is more creative and less procedural than many in his way of decision-making and management, it does appear.
Without knowing much about his style, I would imagine that he’d fall somewhere in between Priebus’s too light a hand and Kelly’s too heavy a hand. If he doesn’t come off as quite strong-handed enough, Trump may still like the option of Whittaker when Whittaker is done at Justice—though it is increasingly looking like Whittaker’s not doing enough in his current role.
Oops, sorry about that. When I am in caffeine deficit (like right now), I have a bad habit of referring to Gen Kelly as Allen. Don’t know where the hell that comes from.
Whittaker looks like a good man, but this job is way too important for taking chances.
That's why I thought the choice of Mulvaney was perfect.
That’s the day I fell in love with Mulvaney. Changed the locks, and then had a press conference when he bitch-slapped all of ‘em. LOL!!
It was a huge story when it happened. You don’t remember?
I suppose Ed Rollins is too old. He was great with Reagan.
Mulvaney is unquestionably very good.
But with Trump of course a lot has to do with chemistry—which is why I think it might have been Mulvaney asking for the “acting” title to start.
Either that or, again, Trump has in mind Whittaker when Whittaker comes available. Trump makes a lot of physical appearances—and might like the Hulk image.
Acting as opposed to sitting on his ass.
What was that about? Is there an article for that? I didn't see something like that on here.
I know I was like WTF is wrong this this guy. So much negativity in him. Maybe he has a brain tumor though and needs legit help.
“The job entails instilling discipline and order in the WH staff and that is made more difficult by a president who himself enjoys and indeed needs a lively, chaotic, creative personal space from which to operative.”
The President can do what he wants. But I’m not grasping why discipline and order would be a lot to ask of the WH staff. Are they teenagers? Do they really need someone to tell them to behave? While on staff at the White House? If so, they need to go spend a few years stocking shelves at Walmart. Maybe then they will respect and appreciate their WH positions.
Or better yet, maybe President Trump can replace some of those “undisciplined” WH staff members with Walmart employees who would love the opportunity to be working at the White House...and who would do great and loyal work for the President.
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