Dem
54
Ties
2
GOP
44
Less than 48 hours after elevating the nation's most prominent white nationalist (sorry, David Duke!) to the post of White House Chief-of-Staff, Donald Trump toyed around with appointing a guy literally named White as White House Press Secretary (WHPS). Or maybe it was supposed to be a gal literally named White (keep reading).
The guy in question is Dana White, who is well known as a Trump buddy, and has achieved notoriety as the loudmouthed leader/#1 hype man of the UFC MMA promotion. It was on Saturday that Trump first floated his name as possibly the next WHPS. The story quickly went through many iterations: White was not interested, White was flying to Washington to discuss the position, Trump was enthused by the idea, Trump said he was just joking, etc. The latest (and presumably final) story was that White—who definitely was in Washington yesterday—isn't taking the job, and that Trump only said so to distract the press, and send them on a wild goose chase.
We considered writing up the story for Sunday's posting, and for Monday's, before finally deciding to run it today. Having followed things pretty closely, while they were unfolding, we will say this: White was not too likely to take the job (since he's busy with other, much more lucrative, things), but if he HAD been willing, Trump would have hired him in a heartbeat. Have no doubt about that.
The story reiterates a couple of things about Trump, and where his head is currently at. First, as with Stephen Miller, White is an a**hole and a bomb-thrower. Again, the bunker mentality is setting in, and Trump is preparing for war against his many and varied enemies. Second, and this is also true of Stephen Miller, White is a longtime Trump insider. The President has no interest in bringing in new voices who might puncture his bubble. Instead, he's going to double- and triple-down on existing loyalists, and is going to expect them to help maintain the charade that the sky is not, in fact, falling. Approval rating in the 20s, here we come.
There's also one other aspect to the story worth pointing out, namely that it once again highlights Trump's disdain for women. White is a known spousal abuser. The reason it is known is because he was caught on camera slapping his wife. And do you think it's likely that White got unlucky, and just so happened to be right next to a camera the one and only time he engaged in domestic violence? If so, please let us know, because we have some crypto we'd like to sell you. And yet, despite this, Trump pals around with White on a regular basis and, again, was certainly willing to make this sorry excuse for a human being the WHPS.
Finally, we probably should pay off the note about guy Dana White vs. gal Dana White. There is a former Fox contributor, currently working as a spokeswoman for the State Department, who is also named Dana White. She actually has experience with this, Trump loves to hire current and former Fox staffers, and the non-MMA Dana White is Black, and so would allow him to cosplay as "open-minded." There is a theory, and it's far from crazy, that Trump was given a list of suggestions as to the next WHPS, that he thought that "Dana White" referred to the MMA guy, and that he went off half-cocked and posted the notion to social media. If so, then we also have another hurricane-Sharpie situation here, where Trump erred and, rather than admit to it, kept doubling down. Good quality to have in the guy who, theoretically, will be responsible for ending the Iran War. (Z)