Chapter 18 in the Trump Time Serialization
A Night on the Titanic
Download the PDF here to read the chapter. Enjoy the commentary below before or after you read it.
Chapter 18 Commentary
Election night at the West Wing, in retrospect, would turn out to be much like the last night in the ballroom of the Titanic. While the band played on – ushering up old memories by long dead bandleader father – the election was already lost.
What is perhaps most interesting about this chapter as you read it today is the Who’s Who of attendees at what would turn into a wake and how they are faring today.
National security advisor Robert O’Brien as played it like the strategist he is. He has gone home make a lot of money consulting while building his political network, and he is one of the few Trump alumni who has managed to survive without any major hits to his reputation. He pops up occasionally on national TV, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him vice presidential consideration, and if he somehow made that grade, would be a helluva candidate and I wouldn’t be more pleased.
As for the dream we had a firing FBI Director Chris Wray, Pentagon Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, the bête noire Tony Fauci, in my long-time nemesis Steve Mnuchin in a second term, we were denied that opportunity. Instead, Wray stayed at the FBI and he is responsible for doing everything from ordering that I myself be taken down by armed FBI agents at Reagan airport put in leg irons to orchestrating midnight raids on Mar a Lago and countless terrorist acts of intimidation against American citizens. He is bad to the bone, and if Trump is reelected, you can fully expect a full investigation of Wray’s bad acts – not the least of which is his failure to contain the Communist Chinese threat on domestic soil.
Johnnie McEntee, who I first met on the 2016 campaign trail when he serves along with Keith Schiller, as a Trump body guard, would serve in that capacity until 2018 in the White House when Chief of Staff John F’ing Kelly perp-walked McEntee out of the White House without telling Trump. Kelly didn’t last long after that, and Johnny would make a triumphant return as Trump’s Director of Personnel.
At any rate, I’m still steamed about Kelly’s treatment of McEntee – so uncalled for. And I expect Kelly to continue to pop up every now and again on TV or a fake news quote to bash Trump. My advice here to Kelly is that before you play that card again, you may remember that your own son lost his life in Afghanistan after stepping on a land mine, and it was Joe Biden who has dishonored the Afghan war dead with his humiliating exit of American troops from Kabul.
As for Johnny McEntee, I was amused to learn that Johnny was involved with a dating app called The Right Stuff – amused because the Hollywood handsome lad is probably the last guy in Trump land to ever need a dating app. I was less amused to see the Trump hater Jonathan Karl try to make some more money on yet another Trump-bashing book, singling out McEntee at one point for all manner of things.
Perhaps most to the point, McEntee has been assisting the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project vetting potential personnel. I’m of mixed emotions on this as Johnny knows how to root out any Never-Trumpers. However, the idea of Heritage fitting the drapes of the West Wind does not warm my heart – Heritage is a hotbed of Neo-Cons and anti-Trumpers and a Trojan Horse the Boss really doesn’t need to assist him.
By that as it may, I can think of nobody better than Johnny McEntee to help make key personnel decisions in a new Trump White House. Suggest you keep a watchful eye on this one.
Deborah Birx turned her memos and notes to a hit book on Trump that sold few copies, she has now receded to the dustbin of pandemic history. Same may be said for former press secretary and First Lady’s Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham, although Grisham’s book did a little better than Birx’s. I like Stephanie and am sad that she went over to the bitter side. Hell hath no fury – and I blame Mark Meadows for the whole mess.
Brother Rudy Giuliani is being persecuted by a weaponize justice system almost as much as Donald Trump. One day, Rudy’s courage in uncovering the Hunter Biden laptop story will be applauded almost as much as his service as mirror in New York City.
Laura Ingram, who I used to have tremendous respect for, has gone over to the dark Murdoch Fox News side to save her job and sorry ass. It’s sad to see her grovel, but she is in a long line of slaves on the Murdoch plantation behind Brett Baier, John Roberts, Brian Kilmeade, Neil Cavuto, Larry Kudlow, and Sean Hannity in towing the Fox line.
Susie Wiles is now running the 2024 Trump campaign, and she is certainly doing a lot of things right because, as I write this, Trump has emerged as the front runner.
Former press secretary Sarah Sanders is now the governor of Arkansas. It’s unlikely she would have reached that pinnacle so early if not for her royal blueline as the daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. But with Mike’s guidance, she’ll do a great job; and we’ll likely see her back in Washington at some point.
Kellyanne Conway remains as much a force in politics as her wastrel ex-husband, the despicable Trump Republican turncoat George Conway.
So have fun reading as this Who’s Who wines and dines in the West Wing, but it was indeed a sad night.
I enjoy your lively prose, Peter, and your take no prisoners attitude, which so mirrors Trump's own. I hope you are back in the White House in January 2024--in the West Wing proper, I mean, with direct access to the President. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year as the President continues to surge in the polls.
The cleansing of player stooges is greater than it is sad.