Fear: Trump in the White House(78)
The letter’s signers included an all-star cast of Republicans and Democrats—former Federal Reserve chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, Laura Tyson, the top economic adviser in the Clinton administration, and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz.
Across the top, in a handwritten note to Trump, Wilber Ross scrawled his disagreement: “Dear Mr. President, It is importantly the advice of the people on this list that resulted in our [trade] deficits. We cannot afford their policies. Best Regards, Wilbur.”
* * *
The final 10 days of July 2017 left scars. On Thursday, July 27, Trump had hired Anthony Scaramucci, a brash investment banker and another Goldman Sachs alumnus, as communications director over Priebus’s strong objections.
Scaramucci had done a victory lap of interviews and said publicly that Priebus would be asked to resign soon. “Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, paranoiac,” he said.
Early the morning of Friday, July 28, Trump’s promise to repeal and replace Obamacare had failed in Congress. Trump blamed Priebus. He was supposed to know the Hill and have close relationships with the Republican leaders. No matter how Priebus tried to explain, Trump would not buy it. “You didn’t get it done.”
That day, Trump flew to Long Island to give a speech. Priebus accompanied him. They had a talk in the private cabin at the front of Air Force One.
Priebus had submitted his resignation the night before. He was fed up and knew he had lost his usefulness to Trump.
Trump wondered who would be a good replacement and said he had talked to John Kelly, the secretary of homeland security and retired Marine four-star general. What do you think of Kelly? Trump asked.
General Kelly would be great, Priebus said.
Trump agreed and said he thought Kelly would be just right, but he said he had not offered Kelly the job.
Priebus was concerned about the optics of his departure. We can do it this weekend, he said, or we can do a press release. Or do it Monday. Whatever you want to do. “I’m ready to do it how you want to do it.”
“Maybe we’ll do it this weekend,” Trump said. What are you going to do?
Priebus hoped to rejoin his old law firm.
Trump gave him a big hug. “We’ll figure it out,” he said. “You’re the man.”
Air Force One landed. Priebus walked off down the ramp. Rain dotted his black SUV, where Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino were waiting for him. He felt as good about the situation as possible.
He got an alert for a presidential tweet. He looked down at the latest from @realdonaldtrump: “I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American . . .”
“Unbelievable!” thought Priebus. “Is this serious?”
He had just talked to Trump about waiting.
No one had expected Trump’s tweet. When Miller and Scavino saw it, they hopped out of Priebus’s SUV to get into another car, leaving the former chief of staff alone.
As he shut the car door, Priebus wondered if maybe Trump had drafted a tweet and sent it accidentally. No, that had not happened. The conversation in the cabin was just one more lie.
That night General Kelly came to see Priebus. They had been in the foxhole together, but Kelly had privately criticized the disorder and chaos of the White House to Trump. Kelly had told the president he believed he could straighten the place out.
“Reince,” Kelly said, “I’d never do this to you. I’d never been offered this job until the tweet came out. I would have told you.”
It made no sense, Priebus realized, unless you understood the way Trump made decisions. “The president has zero psychological ability to recognize empathy or pity in any way.”
Caught by surprise, Kelly had gone dark for several hours. He’d had to call his wife and explain that he had no choice but to accept after being offered one of the most important jobs in the world via tweet.
Kelly said in a statement that day, “I have been fortunate to have served my country for more than 45 years—first as a Marine and then as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. I am honored to be asked to serve as the Chief of Staff to the president of the United States.”
* * *
In some respects Priebus never got over the way his departure was handled. If you have no empathy or pity for anything or anybody, then that episode doesn’t seem that abnormal, Priebus concluded. Which is why Trump could call him two days later: Reince, my man, what’s going on? How you doing? Trump didn’t think they had a problem, so he didn’t view it as awkward.
As a general rule, in relations with Trump, the closer you were, the further away you got. You started with 100 points. You couldn’t get more. Kelly had started with 100 points in his jar, and they’d gone down. Being close to Trump, especially in the chief of staff role, meant going down in points. It meant you paid.
The most important part of Trump’s world was the ring right outside of the bull’s-eye: the people that Trump thought perhaps he should have hired, or who had worked for him and he’d gotten rid of and now thought, Maybe I shouldn’t have. It was the people who were either there or should have been there, or associates or acquaintances that owed nothing to him and were around him but didn’t come in for anything. It was that outside circle that had the most power, not the people on the inside. It wasn’t Kelly or Priebus or Bannon.