Criticism and speculation swirled over the weekend that Chief of Staff John Kelly was on his way out after it was discovered that the White House had hired, not one, but two alleged domestic abusers. But it all got out of hand during ABC’s This Week on Sunday when former Bloomberg News editor Megan Murphy decried the administration’s hiring practices by berating everyone who wanted to work in the Trump White House as the new chief of staff, regardless of who they were.
When discussing who could possibly want to take Kelly’s place, Murphy unloaded on anyone who would desire to take the job. “You actually want to say to these people: “Is what you’re willing to do? Are you willing to degrade your humanity, your integrity, your very being, and what you want to leave as a legacy to this country,” she spat.
“To this country, it is about this country it is about what they want to project,” she rambled. “And if that's what Gary Cohn or somebody else who goes in that job, you are leaving your humanity, your integrity, and your dignity at the door!”
“But there is always someone who is willing to say, ‘I owe it to my country, maybe I can have the impact others didn't on him.’ That is a false hope,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod chimed in.
Murphy prefaced her brief tirade as a follow up to Axelrod who previously declared that the problem with the White House was the President himself. “People were hoping that John Kelly would rub off on Donald Trump. The fact is Donald Trump has rubbed off on John Kelly,” he mocked. He went on to lament how no chief of staff was going to be able to keep Trump in line:
And if the president is a dysfunctional personality, you're going to have a dysfunctional White House. And it doesn’t matter who you bring in as chief of staff, you can manage down. You've can't manage up with this president. So, anyone who takes the job next, I think Reince with there for 192 days, Kelly it’s been 172. Whoever’s there next is going to run into the very same problem. The problem is the President.
ABC’s loony Matthew Dowd went further and impugned the morality of anyone you ever worked or wanted to work in the Trump White House. “And anybody who goes into that White House—there’s already, in my mind, a question about their moral center. But being in that White House reveals fundamentally who these people are. We've seen it over and over and over,” he asserted.
It’s one thing to scrutinize what happened with the two hires in question, but it’s totally ridiculous to attack those who wanted to work in the White House and in service of their country, especially if they never did anything wrong. But to these liberals, it seemed like, just wanting to work for President Trump was a high crime in and of itself.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click expand to read:
ABC
This Week
February 11, 2018
9:53:14 AM Eastern [2 minutes10 seconds](…)
DAVID AXELROD: People were hoping that John Kelly would rub off on Donald Trump. The fact is Donald Trump has rubbed off on John Kelly. And there is no -- just going back to what Matthew said everything in every White House flows from the top. And if the president is a dysfunctional personality, you're going to have a dysfunctional White House. And it doesn’t matter who you bring in as chief of staff, you can manage down. You've can't manage up with this president. So, anyone who takes the job next, I think Reince with there for 192 days, Kelly it’s been 172. Whoever’s there next is going to run into the very same problem. The problem is the President.
ALEX CASTELLANOS: The scary part isn't that John Kelly hasn't done a good job, it's that he has.
MATTHEW DOWD: I think -- One thing I disagree with David on is, this president has done something really well, which is his ability to reveal people for who they fundamentally are. I don't think these people change because of Donald Trump. I think they are revealed for who they really are. And anybody who goes into that White House—there’s already, in my mind, a question about their moral center. But being in that White House reveals fundamentally who these people are. We've seen it over and over and over.
(…)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But you have to imagine somebody who’s called for this chief of staff job, what do they say to the President? What do they demand? How could he induce them to take it?
MEGAN MURPHY: It’s as David Said, the problem is the President. When you hear names like Gary Cohn, when you hear these-- you actually want to say to these people: “Is what you’re willing to do? Are you willing to degrade your humanity, your integrity, your very being, and what you want to leave as a legacy to this country?” To this country it is about this country it is about what they want to project. And if that's what Gary Cohn or somebody else who goes in that job, you are leaving your humanity, your integrity, and your dignity at the door!
AXELROD: But there is always someone who is willing to say, “I owe it to my country, maybe I can have the impact others didn't on him.” That is a false hope.
(…)
