Politics : 5 disturbing revelations about what's inside Trump's administration

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"Morale is low, factionalism is rampant and exhaustion is running high"
JACOB SUGARMAN, ALTERNET

Three weeks into his administration, Donald Trump is already considering overhauling the White House. And somehow, that may not even be at the top of his (growing) list of concerns.

A galling new investigation from Politico, based on interviews with two dozen people who have spent time with Trump since the inauguration, suggests the president is completely cowed by the complexities and responsibilities of managing a federal bureaucracy, his staffers bordering on mutinous: [Its] a powder-keg of a workplace where job duties are unclear, morale among some is low, factionalism is rampant and exhaustion is running high.

Here are five of the more explosive findings from its bombshell report:

1. Trump possesses a tenuous grasp of how government actually works.

Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject to seem in control at all times, one senior government official said or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay or even stop him from filling positions and implementing policies.

2. Leaks from the White House are driving him up the wall.

The administration is considering limiting the universe of aides with access to the calls or their transcripts, said one administration official, adding that the leaks and Trumps anger over them had created a climate where people are very careful who they talk to.

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Last week, Trump told an associate he had become weary of in-fighting among and leaks from his White House staff because it reflects on me, and that he intended to sit down staffers to tell them to cut this *beep* out.'

3. Jared Kushners feud with Chris Christie is alive and well.

Kushner, who is among Trumps most trusted advisers, has been incensed by reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has ripped the White House over its implementation of Trumps executive order restricting travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, is telling people that he expects to enter the White House as part of a second wave of staffers that will replace initial hires. Kushner has long had tensions with Christie who as Attorney General of New Jersey prosecuted Kushners father and played a key role in blocking him from getting a senior job in the administration.



4. Trump cant quit his SNL habit, and its threatening Sean Spicers job security.

Trump, a voracious consumer of cable news, has been known to critique aides and surrogates for their appearances. After Spicers press briefings, the president has told his spokesman that hes unhappy about specific answers or his demeanor.

The president, who is obsessive about looks and appearance, even was unhappy with a Saturday Night Live parody of a Spicer briefing, partly because the combative press secretary was depicted by a female comedian, Melissa McCarthy. After it aired, Spicer had proposed cracking a joke about the send-up during his next briefing, or even firing a squirt gun, as McCarthy had done in the sketch. Trump vetoed the idea, according to one person briefed on the matter.



5. Administration officials cant stand each other, and theyre all miserable.

Two visitors to the White House last week said they were struck by how tired the staff looks.

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For all of Trumps frustrations about staff drama however, it isnt clear theyre going away any time soon. Tensions remain between the staffs of chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon. Priebus advisers blamed Bannons team for the botched rollout of the travel ban executive order, saying that they hadnt done the needed legwork ahead of time.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/5-disturbing-new-revelations-about-whats-really-going-inside-chaotic-trump-white

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4. Trump cant quit his SNL habit, and its threatening Sean Spicers job security.

Trump, a voracious consumer of cable news, has been known to critique aides and surrogates for their appearances. After Spicers press briefings, the president has told his spokesman that hes unhappy about specific answers or his demeanor.

The president, who is obsessive about looks and appearance, even was unhappy with a Saturday Night Live parody of a Spicer briefing, partly because the combative press secretary was depicted by a female comedian, Melissa McCarthy. After it aired, Spicer had proposed cracking a joke about the send-up during his next briefing, or even firing a squirt gun, as McCarthy had done in the sketch. Trump vetoed the idea, according to one person briefed on the matter.

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1. Trump possesses a tenuous grasp of how government actually works.

Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject to seem in control at all times, one senior government official said or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay or even stop him from filling positions and implementing policies.

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The president, who is obsessive about looks and appearance,

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Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay or even stop him from filling positions and implementing policies.

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The administration is considering limiting the universe of aides with access to the calls or their transcripts, said one administration official, adding that the leaks and Trumps anger over them had created a climate where people are very careful who they talk to.

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Trump transition team members had to sign a code of ethics with a pretty significant lobbying ban, but theyve also had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to make certain they keep all of their work confidential, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.

The agreement legally bars transition staffers from disclosing info about major portions of the transition work, like policy briefings, personnel material, donor info, fundraising goals, budgets, contracts, or any draft research papers. It also demands that if anyone on the team suspects a colleague of leaking material, he or she must tell transition team leadership. And it gives the Trump team grounds to tell those who run afoul of the rules: Youre fired.

If anyone is caught giving away info about the transition, he or so could face a court order to force them to stop, the Trump transition NDA says. Paid staffers, consultants, and volunteers all had to sign the document, one source close to the transition said. A Trump spokesperson and incoming White House Counsel, Don McGahn, did not respond to requests for comment.

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But theres no way for a President Trump to prevent his political appointees from talking about him and his family, other than showing them the door, she said. Career federal employees have protections that even Trump cant touch.

You have a First Amendment right to trash-talk your boss, Cannon said. Theres nothing in the world that can stop Joe Blow, Commerce Department employee, from trash-talking the president. You dont see that a lot, but it could happen.

Cannon noted that that political appointees all serve without due process at the pleasure of the president and can be fired for any reason, including for disparaging Trump. But they cant be silenced.

The political appointees are going to lose their jobs, Cannon said. Career people cant lose their jobs, not for speaking their minds.

Robert Passman, the founding partner at Passman & Kaplan who specializes in federal employment law, said any new NDA for Executive Branch workers would have to be approved by the Office of Personnel Management.

I dont think OPM would allow it and I think it would be clearly improper, Passman said.

He agreed with Cannon that the only thing Trump can really do to encourage political appointees silence is to take away their jobs. Trumps go-to threat to sue somebody wont be at his disposal as president.

He can certainly tell them in advance that if they do talk hell fire them on the spot, and he can do that, Passman said. Otherwise you cant sue a federal employee for any acts committed within the scope of their employment, except for very rare exceptions.

Employment-law experts who spoke with The Daily Beast uniformly agreed that Trump may be able to demand his teams loyalty, but he wont be able to require their silence, as the law stands today, by doing anything other than firing them, as long as classified information isnt shared.

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Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject to seem in control at all times, one senior government official said or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay or even stop him from filling positions and implementing policies.

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