Ever since Donald Trump was sworn into the White House, constant controversy has surrounded him and his staff. After just under three months in power, the president's top advisers are sending out a warning to his entire team.
Trump's warning shot
During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump vowed to pick "the best people" to surround him if he was elected as the 45th President of the United States. Critics had their doubts, often pointing to the people working in his campaign as evidence, most notably the likes of former Breitbart News CEO Steve Bannon, former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, and other allies and associates like Roger Stone.
Despite the push back from the mainstream news media, the former host of "The Apprentice" was able to weather the storm and pulled off one of the most shocking political upsets in American history with his win over Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, in the two and a half months since Trump took his oath of office on Inauguration Day, there have been ongoing reports of trouble behind the scenes, which was confirmed in a April 10 report in Politico.
"We’ve got essentially two-and-a-half weeks to turn everything around," says one Trump staffer https://t.co/UZ3TQroIhy pic.twitter.com/fKUWVJQAeA
— POLITICO (@politico) April 10, 2017
Over the weekend, former George W.
Bush senior adviser Karl Rove noted that there were three factions inside the White House that are tearing the administration apart. The groups are led by current chief strategist Steve Bannon, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, with all three butting heads over a variety of issues. According to the report in Politico, Trump's top advisers are giving his staff until April 29, the administration's 100th day in office, to made the necessary changes.
"One hundred days is the marker," one White House staff member confirmed, explaining "we've got essentially 2 and half weeks to turn everything around." The unnamed staffer went on to admit that "this is going to be a monumental task." The report goes on to note that over 30 staff members gathered together in the White House last week and spoke to communication director Mike Dubke about a much-needed "re-branding" of the administration.
Donald Trump apparently didn't know about meeting, with one offical being quoted as saying, "I think the president’s head would explode if he heard that."
Karl Rove: White House staff has been "leaking on each other for weeks" https://t.co/xBN01MlEWK pic.twitter.com/9ebaoSfYJF
— The Hill (@thehill) April 10, 2017
Trump trouble
Also taking part in the meeting was Kellyanne Conway, who helped break the staff into three sections and used whiteboards and markers to describe the strategy moving forward. One offical who was in attendance said the experience made him feel like he was back in elementary school. "It made me feel like I was back in fifth grade," he said. As of press time, it's unknown what will take place if the so-called "re-branding" doesn't occur, but it's another example of the issues going on behind the scenes in the Donald Trump White House.