have a seat brad I am hearing my people are calling you brad ferrariscale why is that is that an inside joke I don’t get it brad https://t.co/aZ5SDhhXGJ
— kilgore trout, potato thief (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 4, 2020
Thanks to commentor Kay for this refulgent little report on the GOP affray from Gabriel Sherman at Vanity Fair:
In Donald Trump’s West Wing, being a member of the Trump family has historically been the ultimate job security. But that truism is being stress-tested after a run of polls consistently show Trump losing to Joe Biden at this stage of the race—a CNN poll this morning has him down 14 points. According to a source close to the White House, Trump has mulled taking oversight of the campaign away from his son-in-law Jared Kushner. “Trump is malignantly crazy about the bad poll numbers,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s going to broom Kushner and [Brad] Parscale—the numbers are not getting better,” a Republican close to the campaign said.
Long before the reelection campaign went sideways, Trump frequently blew up at Kushner. For instance, former West Wing officials recall how Trump hated when Kushner received too much positive press (In January, Trump was rankled when Kushner’s portrait graced the cover of Time). “Any time Jared is in the papers, Trump complains, ‘We have to get Jared back to New York!’” said a Republican who heard Trump make the comment. In the end, the source cautioned that Trump won’t push Kushner out. “This is typical with him and Jared,” the source said.
(The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Kushner declined to comment.)…
Over the weekend, Trump called around to New York friends and outside advisers in hopes they would validate Trump’s belief that the polls are wrong. “He’s asking people to agree with him that the polls are biased. But no one is telling him what he wants to hear,” said a Republican briefed on the calls. Republicans know how bad things are, but the party still believes sticking with Trump is the best bet for holding the Senate. Last week, Mitch McConnell told Republican senators that they couldn’t abandon Trump, according to a source. McConnell reminded Republicans that former New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte lost her 2016 reelection bid after breaking with Trump over the Access Hollywood video.
(Through a spokesperson, McConnell denied making the comment.)
My guess is that if #MoscowMitch is telling his fellows that they can’t abandon Trump, then #MoscowMitch has already prepared a draft of his eulogy for Trump’s upcoming defenestration. Because I’m a cynic, like that.
Speaking of defenestrations, Young Prince Jared just set up his own. Knowingly, or not?
Kushner: The law enforcement community heard the cries from the community, saw the injustices in the system that needed to be fixed and they responded by coming together to fix it pic.twitter.com/i7Dee03MYu
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 8, 2020
Earlier report from Mr. Sherman:
In private, Trump says Democratic governors are letting riots continue because it will hurt Trump’s re-election. My latest:https://t.co/ftt9ElIA6O
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) June 2, 2020
Schadenfreude Open Thread: Turmoil in the Trump CampaignPost + Comments (62)