美媒：川普終於有了他想要的團隊，但卻是個“二把刀”

白宮內工作人員的真實水平 ～ 

 

http://dailynews.sina.com   2020年10月13日 18:03   參考消息

 

 

　　原標題：美媒：川普終於有了他想要的團隊，但卻是個“二把刀”

　　美國《政治報》網站10月11日發表題為《川普治下白宮的外行時刻》一文稱，唐納德·川普確診新冠肺炎後最近幾天發生的事情表明，他身邊讓人感到熟悉的信口開河現象進入了一個全新階段。全文摘編如下：

　　自相矛盾

　　這在一定程度上是因為，在第一個任期接近尾聲之際，川普身邊的專業人士並不那麽專業。如今，就關鍵性工作人員和內閣職位而言，經驗能媲美前幾屆政府中同樣職務者的人鳳毛麟角。

　　這個重大缺陷在種種不起眼的錯誤中暴露無遺。如正式的白宮聲明屢屢出現明顯的拚寫錯誤，川普在一段視頻講話中念錯一位著名共和黨參議員的名字等。戰略溝通部主任阿莉薩·法拉在接受電視采訪時幹了差不多同樣的事情，她多次說錯川普醫生的名字。

　　周三，關於正在康複過程中但可能仍有傳染性的川普前一天有沒有去過橢圓形辦公室，白宮辦公廳主任馬克·梅多斯和國家經濟委員會主任拉裏·庫德洛在公開場合的說法相互矛盾。

　　新聞秘書凱莉·麥克納尼的新聞發布會基本被記者們斥為娛樂而已，根本不是可靠信息的來源，很多時候壓根沒有任何信息。本月早些時候，她在新聞發布會上居然不知道自己接觸過的總統顧問霍普·希克斯新冠病毒檢測結果呈陽性。法拉公開承諾公布感染新冠病毒的白宮助手人數後，過了幾小時，麥克納尼稱，出於“隱私”原因，他們不會提供這方麵的數字。

▲資料圖片：白宮新聞秘書凱莉·麥克納尼（新華社/歐新）

　　這些失誤很容易讓人覺得不過是小小的溝通錯誤，但與公眾溝通是白宮的最重要工作之一。而且，川普治下白宮把事情搞得一團糟，令原本就焦頭爛額的政府雪上加霜。

　　這種現象不僅涉及與川普個人健康和政見有關的事務，還涉及外交政策事務。在外交政策問題上，以往政府的立場是：世人都在看著呢，說話一定要準確、明白。

　　川普的國家安全事務助理羅伯特·奧布萊恩周三在某大學發表演講時說，美國到“明年初”將把駐阿富汗部隊人數減少到2500人；短短幾個小時後，川普在推特上發文稱，美國將在聖誕節前撤出全部駐阿部隊。

　　盲目忠誠

　　最近幾天發生的事情並不反常，但確實表明了近四年來日漸形成的一種趨勢達到新的頂峰。自上任第一天起，川普就一直在挑起政府內部爭鬥，靶子往往是有獨立見解或者在加入政府之前成績斐然的人。

　　除了少數例外，川普總是在爭鬥中獲勝，如今擁有了他想要的團隊。但這是代價高昂的勝利：他發現自己身邊人的履曆在通常情況下是不宜擔任白宮或內閣高層職務的。一流團隊就別指望了。眼下，能有二流團隊就是萬幸了。

　　卡洛斯·古鐵雷斯曾在小布什政府擔任商務部長，走上仕途之前是凱洛格公司的董事長兼首席執行官。他說，在川普政府任職的人必須“表現出絕對的忠誠”，而這種效忠意味著其他方麵的從政素質不保。“政策經驗、知識水平和辦事能力並不是最重要的。最重要的是：誰能效忠於總統且（表現出）盲目的忠誠。”

　　一般來說，政府高官職位具有足夠的吸引力，任何一位總統都會有眾多政策經驗豐富或者在其他領域表現出色的人可供挑選。

　　川普治下的白宮在一開始也是這樣，川普多年前曾承諾“隻任用最優秀、最靠譜的人”。不管人們如何看待白宮前辦公廳主任約翰·凱利和前國防部長詹姆斯·馬蒂斯，這兩個人好歹都是退役四星將軍。

　　外行上任

　　現任白宮辦公廳主任馬克·梅多斯沿襲了擔任該職務的人均來自國會山的傳統。但2012年以“茶黨”共和黨人身份當選國會議員的梅多斯，既未擔任過參議院多數黨領袖，也沒有為贏得多數黨地位而開展卓有成效的競選活動。他的發達之道是領導以破壞不合心意的議案為特點的眾議院自由黨團會，不是帶頭推動重大計劃。

　　同樣的例子在內閣和總統非正式顧問團中比比皆是。財政部長史蒂文·姆努欽以前沒有擔任過政府職務，但確實曾在華爾街叱吒風雲，類似於之前擔任這一職務的幾個人。但在五角大樓，川普把國家安全界德高望重的人物之一馬蒂斯換成了西點軍校畢業的馬克·埃斯珀，後者從陸軍退役、進入川普政府之前是智庫資深人士和說客，雖有所作為但不及大多數國防部長的豐富從政經驗。在衛生與公眾服務部，部長亞曆克斯·阿紮確曾在該部門擔任高級別職務，但無論是在疫情之前還是疫情期間都始終難以與川普和他的白宮西翼建立有效的工作關係。

▲資料圖片：3月13日，美國總統川普（前）在華盛頓白宮的記者會上講話，正式宣布“國家緊急狀態”。（新華社）

　　許多現任白宮助手麵臨的另一個問題是不懂內部程序，而這些程序的存在自有其道理：確保取得好的結果，避免讓大家出醜難堪。一位前政府官員說：“他們未充分了解白宮是如何運作的，未充分了解白宮和新聞界在諸如此類的危機時刻如何精誠合作。

(https://dailynews.sina.com/gb/international/cankaoxiaoxi/2020-10-13/doc-ihaauwts5974313.shtml)

 

Amateur hour at the Trump White House
The coronavirus outbreak at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is just one facet of a much deeper presidential malaise.

President Donald Trump speaks at a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable campaign event at Arizona Grand Resort & Spa, in Phoenix. | Andrew Harnik, File/ AP Photo

By JOHN F. HARRIS and DANIEL LIPPMAN

10/11/2020 07:01 AM EDT

Updated: 10/11/2020 11:24 AM EDT

Nearly everyone remembers the old cliché: If you can’t trust someone to get the little things right, how can you ever count on them to do the big things?

President Donald Trump had better hope that bromide, invoked everywhere from youth sports teams to sales training sessions, doesn’t apply to him.

As his presidency lurches toward a climactic judgment on Nov. 3, the little things lately have rarely gone more pervasively or embarrassingly wrong — at a time when public confidence in Trump’s handling of the big things is hardly robust.

The initial reaction might be, So what’s new here? But recent days, in the wake of Trump being stricken with coronavirus, have highlighted just how the lurching improvisation that is a familiar phenomenon around Trump has entered a different phase. The professionals around the president aren’t merely laboring to contain and channel the disruptive politician they work for. Very often they are amplifying the chaos.

That’s in part because, as his first term comes to a close, the professionals around Trump are not all that professional. It is now the exception in key staff and Cabinet posts to have people whose experience would be commensurate with that of people who have typically held those jobs in previous administrations of both parties. This major weakness has been revealing itself in a barrage of minor errors that summon Casey Stengel’s incredulous question about the 1962 New York Mets: Can’t anybody here play this game?

There have been prominent misspellings in official White House statements (the pharmaceutical company whose treatment Trump took is Regeneron, not Regeron). Trump bungled the name of a well-known Republican senator (that’s James Inhofe, not Imhofe) in a video message. Communications Director Alyssa Farah did much the same in a television interview, repeatedly mispronouncing the name of Trump’s physician (it’s Dr. Sean Conley, with two syllables, not Connelly with three).

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow on Wednesday contradicted each other in public remarks on whether a recuperating, but still possibly infectious, Trump had been in the Oval Office the day before. (Kudlow thought he had, Meadows was apparently right that on that day Trump hadn’t.)

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany calls on a reporter during a press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. | Andrew Harnik/ AP Photo

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s briefings are largely dismissed as mere entertainment by reporters, not a source of reliable information or, on frequent occasions, any information at all. Earlier this month, she didn’t know at her own briefing that presidential counselor Hope Hicks, to whom she had been exposed, had tested positive for the virus. After Farah publicly promised to release the numbers of White House aides infected with coronavirus, a few hours later McEnany said they wouldn’t provide those numbers for “privacy” reasons.

It’s easy to dismiss these flubs as minor communications errors, but communicating with the public is one of the most important things White Houses do. And this one has made such a hash of things that it has compounded the very real substantive problems confronting an administration that has more of its fair share of those as well.

This phenomenon goes beyond matters relating to Trump’s personal health or politics to matters of foreign policy on which previous administrations have previously operated on the assumption that, when the world is watching, it is critical to speak with precision and clear purpose.

Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security adviser, told a university audience on Wednesday that the U.S. would draw down troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,500 by “early next year,” only to be contradicted by Trump a few hours later in a tweet that the U.S. would have all troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas.

What’s been going on in recent days is not an anomaly, but it does represent a new apogee in a trend that has been building for nearly four years. Trump has been waging an internal war within his administration since his first days in office. Often the targets have been people with independent judgment or significant records of achievement before joining the administration.

With few exceptions, Trump has won this war, and now has the team he wants. But it’s a Pyrrhic victory: He finds himself surrounded by people whose résumés typically would not land them in jobs at senior levels of the White House or Cabinet. Never mind the A Team. At this point, even the B Team would represent a significant upgrade.

Carlos Gutierrez, who was secretary of Commerce in the George W. Bush administration and had been chairman and CEO of Kellogg prior to his government service, said political appointees in the Trump administration have to “show absolute loyalty,” and such a loyalty oath has enacted a cost in terms of other qualities one looks for in potential staffers.

“Policy experience, knowledge, competence is not at the top of the list,” said Gutierrez, who is among the seven former Bush Cabinet members to have endorsed Joe Biden. “At the top of the list is: Who will be loyal to the president and [show] a blind loyalty?”

A situation like this does not just happen — Trump has had to work at it. As a rule, senior administration jobs are usually attractive enough that any president has the pick of people with extensive policy or political experience, or outstanding success in other highly competitive arenas.

This was true of the Trump White House initially, and Trump promised years ago to hire “only the best and most serious people.” Whatever one thinks of former White House chief of staff John Kelly or former Defense Secretary James Mattis, both are retired four-star generals. It simply isn’t possible to reach that level without formidable intelligence and a demonstrable leadership record. Whatever one thinks of Wall Street, no one gets to the top ranks of Goldman Sachs — as former Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn did earlier in his career — by being a nincompoop.

President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows talk before Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Washington. | Alex Brandon/ AP Photo

Current White House chief of staff Mark Meadows follows a tradition of White House chiefs of staff who come from Capitol Hill. But Meadows, elected to Congress as a tea party Republican in 2012, had never been Senate majority leader, like Reagan chief of staff Howard Baker, or a prominent committee chairman, like Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta, or even a key player in a successful campaign to win majority status, like Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. He earned his stripes by leading the House Freedom Caucus, whose hallmark has been torpedoing legislation it doesn’t like, rather than spearheading major initiatives.

The same trend is pervasive, though not universal, in the Cabinet and sub-cabinet. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin did not have previous government experience, but he did fashion an impressive career on Wall Street, similar to previous occupants of the job, like Robert Rubin in the Clinton years. But at the Pentagon, Trump has gone from Mattis, one of the most respected figures in the national security establishment, to Mark Esper, a West Point graduate whose post-Army, pre-Trump career as a think tank veteran and lobbyist is respectable but not in line with the high-level government experience of most defense secretaries. At Homeland Security, Chad Wolf is acting secretary, not even confirmed, although he recently had his confirmation hearing after holding the job for 11 months. He previously was a lobbyist and the chief of staff to a predecessor. At Health and Human Services, Secretary Alex Azar does have previous high-level experience in that department but — both before the pandemic and during — has struggled for an effective working relationship with Trump and his West Wing.

Another issue many current White House aides face is a lack of knowledge of internal processes that are there for a reason: to ensure good outcomes and avoid making everyone look bad.

“They don’t have as full an understanding internally how the White House works, and they don’t have a full understanding of how the White House and the press work together during these sorts of crisis moments, which is different from during normal times in the White House when the relationships are more normalized,” said one former administration official.

“It’s been kind of an open secret that the administration had a very hard time finding qualified people to serve in government and that was from the beginning,” added one current administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity so as to not jeopardize their job.

A White House official said the charge that there are incompetent people at the White House is “ridiculous.”

“The best people are hired for these positions who are qualified regardless of experience or age or what have you,” the official said. “For every person who doesn’t want to work at the White House for some reason, there are like 10 other people in line who would kill for that job,” although the official did admit it wasn’t an “easy administration to work in.”

The source of much of the poor staffing in the White House and the administration that comes up time and time again in conversations with folks inside and outside the administration is the problematic role played by the Presidential Personnel Office, now headed up by 30-year-old former Trump body man Johnny McEntee, who’s viewed as the “keeper of the flame” in parts of Trump world, but despised in other corners for foisting unqualified, but sycophantic, young appointees — some even without college degrees — onto their agencies.

“I was initially dinged by the White House PPO because I wasn’t sufficiently groveling at the feet of Trump, and they had to take another look at me after apparently the secretary complained,” said the current administration official. “And I’m not alone. I know there are a lot of other people who are like that.”

The official slammed the “loyalty” interviews that PPO’s powerful White House liaisons conducted earlier this year of almost every administration appointee and called them an “inquisition.”

He recalled some of the questions: “Do you support the president? Are you going to stick around this term? Are you going to stick around for the next term? Blah, blah, blah. That kind of stuff. What has the president done that you’ve been so proud of? What is his biggest accomplishment? You know, crap like that.”

Meadows recently announced internally that many of the White House liaisons at the agencies were going to be replaced, leading to chatter in the administration about why McEntee didn't make the announcement himself. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson also publicly embarrassed McEntee by inadvertently letting reporters see his notes at a speech in late September, which revealed that he was “not happy” with how PPO was handling his department.

Chris Whipple, author of “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency,” said a hobbled White House staff at the end of Trump’s first term is not surprising.

“This was a White House that was totally broken and dysfunctional long before the pandemic came along, and this was inevitable,” he said. “And it would be hard under Donald Trump to get high-caliber White House staffers prepandemic but during a pandemic, it’s mission impossible — especially when they basically abandon any protocols to keep people safe.”

Another obstacle to having good staff in the White House and administration is that in the last few months of the president’s term, it’s hard to recruit top-level talent for such a potentially short stint of public service.

“Obviously at the end of any term, it’s hard to attract people from the private sector to come in, because you have to impoverish yourself, you have to go through a huge long background check, and there’s a potential that you’ll only be here for a month,” one current White House official said.

Constant staff turmoil means it’s hard for officials in the administration to build trust among one another and establish professional relationships that make it easier to cooperate.

“Of course it does hurt decision-making,” acknowledged Fiona Hill, who served as senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council earlier in the Trump administration. “There’s been so much churn.”

（https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/11/amateur-hour-trump-white-house-428533）