31 July, 2017
Trump made the announcement official on Twitter Friday shortly before 5 p.m.
He led the Southern Command, where he oversaw US military operations in South and Central America, including the southern border, and he formed a tough immigration stance. Panetta also worked with Kelly while defense secretary under President Barack Obama. "He has been a true star of my Administration".
On Friday, as Trump traveled to an event in Long Island, N.Y., he took both Scaramucci and Priebus with him. It also capped an utterly fantastical - and bad - week for the president in which the chaos within his administration was on public display time and again. Bannon was reported to have lobbied intensely against Trump's decision to hire Scaramucci.
But I would add that, you know, from the moment that President Trump took office, Reince Priebus was really the source of nearly constant speculation about how long he would last in this White House that has just really been, you know, driven by these warring power centers.
The intervening week was chaos - plain and simple. The New Yorker magazine published an interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an avalanche of vulgarity, a "paranoid schizophrenic".
The interview (which Scaramucci seems to believe was supposed to be confidential) was filled with vulgarity and extreme statements. We'll be working on a transition here for a couple weeks together with General Kelly starting on Monday morning. Comedy Central's The President Show scooped him up to play Scaramucci opposite Anthony Atamanuik's as Trump.
"They are excited about this new direction", said a former Trump campaign staffer with close ties to the White House.
Priebus chose to go on CNN for his first interview hours after Trump announced he was being replaced.
"He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately", House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said of his close friend in a statement. The White House press secretary would not explicitly say that the White House or the president, for that matter, had confidence in Reince Priebus.
He previously served as the former Commander of US Southern Command and was the commanding general of the Multi- National Force West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009.
Everyone who is an RNC staffer assumes their number may be up.
And so, Kelly is in, Priebus is out. Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, was forced from his post less than a month into the administration, a result of misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his interactions with Russians.
"I think that Donald Trump won because he was real", Priebus said that night, as one Wisconsinite shouted that Priebus was her hero.
In short: Trump is going to be allowed to be Trump. He is convinced (as most presidents are) that he is the best communicator, strategist, pollster and everything else for himself.
Pressed on that point, the source said: "They will follow his lead".
The dismissal of Priebus removes the last major impediment to letting Trump follow those instincts at all times. He equates leaks, which have plagued the administration, with treason and knows how to work the halls of Congress, which the White House has also had trouble doing.
Trump is free to be Trump.
