According to an excerpt from Michael Wolff’s new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which was published in New York magazine, President-elect Donald Trump received some much-needed staffing advice from an unlikely source. Soon after the Republican outsider’s jaw-dropping victory courtesy of the Electoral College, the “bare-bones transition team” quickly realized it would actually have to populat a new White House administration. Many veterans of the game, like the late Roger Ailes, told Trump he “[needed] a son of a bitch as [his] chief of staff.” Why? For his protection against Washington, of course.
Yet Ailes, the late former head of Fox News, wasn’t the aforementioned “unlikely source” who advised Trump on the subject. It was Ann Coulter:
Trump had no interest in appointing a strong chief of staff with a deep knowledge of Washington. Among his early choices for the job was Kushner — a man with no political experience beyond his role as a calm and flattering body man to Trump during the campaign.
It was Ann Coulter who finally took the president-elect aside. “Nobody is apparently telling you this,” she told him. “But you can’t. You just can’t hire your children.”
Wolff doesn’t provide any further details about Coulter’s interactions with Trump on this matter in the excerpt. However, considering her animosity toward Jared Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law turned senior advisor, who squared off with Steve Bannon before his ousting — that she advised against such hirings by the president-elect is telling.
As we know from the sieve-like FBI, 5 ppl under investigation: Flynn, Manafort, Page, Stone, Kushner. Only 1 works at the White House.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) June 12, 2017
Reminder: It was Kushner's decision to fire Comey that brought the Independent Counsel, not Sessions recusing himself months earlier. https://t.co/hr3A3bd8Kz
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 25, 2017
Jared Kushner told Trump to fire Comey, hire Scaramucci & back Luther Strange. How much awful advice will Trump take?https://t.co/pAzPmf3Rh9
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 27, 2017
As for Ailes, his suggestion for Trump’s “son of a bitch” chief of staff pick was former House Speaker John Boehner. When the Fox News founder reportedly told the president-elect this, the latter asked, “Who’s that?”
(Via New York)