Medved: Trump ousting Priebus is ‘unprecedented’

Some people might say that President Donald Trump suddenly ousting Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff is unusual.

“It is not unusual, it is unprecedented,” Michael Medved told KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don. “We’ve never had anything like this.”

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Trump announced Friday via Twitter that he is replacing Priebus with General John Kelly who is currently the secretary of Homeland Security. Priebus was chief of staff for seven months.

“The appointment of General Kelly is a good move for President Trump, it may help his White House,” Medved said. “But this turmoil is completely unprecedented … first of all, there has never been a chief of staff who served only seven months. Never. It’s just unheard of if you are going to put that kind of confidence in somebody. Mack MClarty, who was a very bad choice in President Clinton’s first chief of staff, lasted a year and a half.”

So while the choice may be a good one, the bigger picture of a contentious White House is bad news for America and the president, according to Medved. Kelly will be entering a White House that has been plagued with drama from day one. Most recently, Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned as Anthony Scaramucci was brought in as White House communications director.

“I was actually at the White House on Tuesday,” Medved said. “One thing I found out is that Scaramucci did not report to Chief of Staff Reince Priebus because they don’t get along. He reported directly to the president. It is going to be crucial for the survival of this White House that Scaramucci reports to General Kelly and not directly to the president. This idea of a Hobbesian war of Bannon doesn’t like Miller, and Miller doesn’t like Conway, and nobody likes Reince, and people didn’t like Sean Spicer and back and forth. You don’t want that.”

“Scaramucci, by the way, announced earlier today he is not taking his $179,000 salary from the public,” Medved added. “I would say in that regard, it’s a good thing. He’s worth every penny.”

The White House drama may have translated into headlines for President Trump in the past, but Medved — a presidential expert — notes that the attention can backfire.

“The terrible thing about the president, and it really is a terrible thing, is that he does not yet understand that being at the top of the news everyday is very bad for any president,” Medved said. “Any president wants the attention to shift from time-to-time. Because we don’t have a news business in this country – we have a bad-news business. How much did we hear about Mayor Murray until you-know-what? If you are hearing about the president everyday, it means he’s in trouble.”