Trump hires in his own image -- bullies, posers, and bad boys
By Michael D'Antonio
Updated 9:18 PM ET, Thu February 8, 2018
Michael D'Antonio is the author of the book "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success" (St. Martin's Press). The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN) - With critics of chief of staff John Kelly calling for his resignation after he supported an accused wife beater who recently resigned from the White House staff, it's time to ask a simple question: How many appalling characters must be wrung out of the West Wing before we recognize that the problem is the man at the top, who sets the tone for the workplace culture?
Kelly's stubborn defense of Robert Porter, who faces abuse accusations from three women, including a former wife who shared a photograph of her bruised face with the media, is consistent with President Trump's lifelong penchant for doubling down on outrageous statements. Decades of this practice trained many people to accept "Trump being Trump," which meant they discounted his racist, sexist comments and tweets. More importantly, the more Trump got away with his outrageous behavior, the more he came to regard this trait as something positive -- and he brought into his inner circle men with the same bully-boy ways.
Hopes that Kelly might be a stable influence on the President faded as he got in on an unseemly spat between Trump and a war widow who felt the President disrespected her. More recently, Kelly exposed himself as truly Trumpian by saying "some would say" immigrants who failed to enroll in DACA were "too lazy to get off their asses." The very next day Kelly offered presidential-grade bluster in response to news that Robert Porter, the man who controls the flow of information in the Oval office, couldn't pass an FBI background check because of accusations of abuse from three women, two of whom are his former wives. He said in a statement that Porter was "a man of true integrity and honor and I can't say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante, and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him."
In staffing his campaign for president and later his administration, Trump either attracted or sought out men with attitudes similar to his own. In this crowd it was okay to be overly aggressive, or burdened with a sketchy background, just as long as you were truly useful to the President and didn't upstage him. Consider this list:
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https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/08/opinions/men-trump-hired-john-kelly-rob-porter-dantonio-opinion/index.html
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