General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrumps Public Humiliation
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/02/robert_harward_turned_down_trump_now_others_can_too.htmlTrumps Public Humiliation
By rejecting the national security adviser job, Robert Harward gave cover to every professional who wants to turn the president down.
By Fred Kaplan
Donald Trump isnt accustomed to hearing prospective underlings say No. So it came as a shock when retired Vice Adm. Robert Harwardhis first choice to replace Michael Flynn as national security advisertold the president hed have to think about the offer. It must have been a double shock when, a few days later, Harward turned him down flat.
snip//
Trump may now have a hard time filling the position with anyone whose qualifications or prominence would help calm the jitters of allies worldwideand foreign-policy specialists herewho are wondering what the hell is going on with this president. At the moment, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, a competent administrator who had been the NSCs chief of staff, is the acting national security adviser, and it may be that Trump will have to settle on him as the successor.
Three weeks into his term, Trump heads a White House with three or four vacant power centers. He has no national security adviser, a half-full NSC staff, hollow Defense and State Departments (where Trump has yet to nominate any deputy or undersecretaries), and the secretaries heading those departmentsMattis and Rex Tillersonwho, however smart and talented they may be, have never run a federal agency.
At his wild and woolly press conference Thursday afternoon, Trump twice insisted that his administration was a fine-tuned machine. It was a risible claim then. A few hours later, after news broke that a retired vice admiral and former Navy SEAL didnt want to work for him, not even in one of the most vaunted jobs in the White House, the claim careened into total absurdity.
Cha
(297,240 posts)Vice Admiral.
I thought his "public humiliation" was going to be his presser.. you know, the one where he humiliated himself. That too.
samnsara
(17,622 posts)TrollBuster9090
(5,954 posts)Initech
(100,076 posts)PatrickforO
(14,574 posts)for the American people. Our misguided Electoral College elected a madman, and now we the people must try our best to get out of it.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)rpannier
(24,329 posts)1. Those who crave being at or near the center of power and would sell out everyone and everything to get it. They will be able to say, "I was the Secretary of..." Even if it turns into a disaster, they will have made their contacts, greaed the wheels and made their money
2. Those who see a catastrophe and feel they have to do something to slow and stop it before it blows up
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)for good reason.
DK504
(3,847 posts)corrupt and illegal activites.
mgardener
(1,816 posts)For a Pence White house.
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)Probably will not drop below 35% unless Murdoch turns on him
Lucky Luciano
(11,256 posts)No matter what, W would never go below 28%. So sub-30 means he is done in my view.
rpannier
(24,329 posts)Hair Douchengroper has fewer supporters, but they're far more ravenous
I say he bottoms at 31 and doesn't drop below that until they either die off or realize the jobs aren't coming back
That would be in 2018-9. If he lasts that long
Martin Eden
(12,867 posts)Heck, Donnie doesn't even need a National Security Advisor, since he already knows more than the generals.
global1
(25,249 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)greymattermom
(5,754 posts)but he has no idea what power the folks he's dealing with now really have. I'm sure it's much more than a real estate dealer has.
tanyev
(42,559 posts)vlyons
(10,252 posts)Didn't everyone here at DU tell the world that Traitor Trump is a pathelogical liar? We told you that every thing he says, everything coming out his mouth is a lie. A liar going back decades. Pathetic. Trump's presser yesterday was like Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Everyone who saw it knew he was lying. Was even called out on some of his lies. Pathetic and erratic.
dawnie51
(959 posts)are filled by unqualified money grubbing corporates who have ZERO interest in public policy and TOTAL interest in filling their pockets with public money. No one who gives a shit about the country would EVER work for this buffoon, and everyone knows it.
mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)how about hiring them? They probably wouldn't do any worse that the oligarchs he's choosing.
Nitram
(22,801 posts)DippyDem
(659 posts)Let him play golf whenever he wants and get his airplane back and pay for it out of his own pocket.
mikelewis
(4,079 posts)I'll be great... the greatest... what's the position again... doesn't matter... Sign me up chief... I have no idea what I'm doing, I have an inherent distrust of the people I'll be Lording over and to top it off... I love Borscht. I'd willing sell out my fellow Americans... operative word being sell... and will follow whatever orders President Bannon orders; provided I don't have to be in the same room as him as he's disgusting to look at so I can only imagine what he smells like.
Ligyron
(7,632 posts)His refusal occured just after that and who could blame him?
One of the scariest things I've ever seen on teevee.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I'm surprised that the presser was a surprise to Harward, and that the long string of Trump lies and rants and off balance statements and actions wasn't enough to convince him.
Maybe he decided before, though, and it was announced after.
He made the right decision.
Ligyron
(7,632 posts)Plus he didn't like the people Trump insisted remain in the NSC like Bannon. He expected, as most people would, that he'd be able to put his own folks in.
Also, who would want the job under those conditions? Now Betray us has truned it down too. Nobody wants to get Trump stink all over them. It would probably a career ender.
dalton99a
(81,509 posts)oasis
(49,387 posts)joanbarnes
(1,722 posts)kairos12
(12,862 posts)zentrum
(9,865 posts)....to give them cover, they are not really very professional.
Brother Buzz
(36,434 posts)quit on Wednesday.
10 Resign from Presidents Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/10-resig
by TRACI G. LEE
FEB 16 2017
Ten members of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) submitted their resignation to President Donald Trump, NBC News has learned.
In the letter addressed to Trump and obtained by NBC News on Wednesday, the 10 members approximately two-thirds of the commission stated their objection to the president's "portrayal of immigrants, refugees, people of color and people of various faiths as untrustworthy, threatening, and a drain on our nation."
The letter, dated Feb. 15, lists several of the Trump administration's actions that the members say go against the commission's principles, including proposals to cut federal resources to sanctuary cities, repealing the Affordable Care Act, and banning refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Members also met with former Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu, and former WHIAAPI executive directors Kiran Ahuja and Doua Thor. via White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Among the members who resigned are its chair and vice chair Tung Thanh Nguyen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; and Mary Okada, president and CEO of Guam Community College and actor Maulik Pancholy, who told NBC News that the decision to leave was "an emotional and difficult" one.
<more>
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/10-resign-president-s-advisory-commission-asian-americans-pacific-islanders-n721386
DefenseLawyer
(11,101 posts)In military intelligence. He may know what many still only suspect.
SunSeeker
(51,559 posts)SHRED
(28,136 posts)...prior to him accepting or rejecting the offer?
Very odd.
DFW
(54,386 posts)Trump needs an emotional nanny--a National Insecurity Adviser, because he certainly has no shortage of insecurity.
Maybe they'll even need to form a National Insecurity Council, so he has a shrink on call wherever he goes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President's_Analyst
malaise
(269,004 posts)to turn down the offer.
I loved how the Con's goons at the WH said that the offer to Harwood wasn't a real offer