It’s been brewing for some time, but the latest percolation of the Trump Effect burst forth just a week or so ago, when a disloyal new Administration employee was forcibly ejected from his job at HUD by security officers,, on directions of the White House.
From the February 16 edition of the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — A top aide to President Trump’s housing secretary nominee, Ben Carson, was fired and led out of the department’s headquarters by security on Wednesday after writings critical of Mr. Trump surfaced in his vetting, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Shermichael Singleton, who was one of the few black conservatives in the Trump administration, had been working at the Department of Housing and Urban Development since Jan. 23 as a senior adviser. He was preparing a cross-country tour for Mr. Carson, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate this month.
But according to the two people briefed, Mr. Singleton’s background check had not been completed. As it was being finished this week, Mr. Trump’s advisers turned up public writings by Mr. Singleton that appeared during the later stages of the campaign in which he was deeply critical of the candidate.
“My party in particular has allowed itself to be taken over by someone who claims to be a Republican but doesn’t represent any of our values, principles or traditions,” he wrote in The Hill in October 2016.
The firing was reminiscent of the decision by the White House to block a senior Republican foreign policy adviser, Elliott Abrams, from becoming deputy secretary of state. The move came after Mr. Abrams’s anti-Trump writings came to the president’s attention. Mr. Abrams had been the choice of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.
A person close to Mr. Singleton said an initial vetting of the 26-year-old by HUD and White House personnel had come up with his criticism. He answered a number of questions regarding the article and expressed remorse for the piece and support for Mr. Trump.
But a second look may have done him in. On Wednesday, Mr. Singleton was presented again with the piece and told it was the reason for his termination. Reached by phone, he would say only, “I can’t talk about that.”
A spokesman for HUD confirmed Mr. Singleton’s position and said only that, “As of Feb. 15, 2017, he is no longer with the department.”
Mr. Singleton plans to return to a previous job he held as a vice president with Howard Stirk Holdings, a media company run by Armstrong Williams, a conservative media personality and close friend of Mr. Carson’s.
Singleton’s crime? Drugs at work, online pornography viewing, failure to pay child support, domestic violence? None of the above. He committed a vicious mind crime.* He made some less than adoring comments about our Dear Leader in October 2016. Note this was before the election, so our Dear Leader wasn’t anything but your average Joe yet.
After the election, Trump’s fantastic, best and brightest personnel vetting and evaluation system was put in place and working very smoothly, just like the finely tuned machine all things Trump must be and are, in fact.
HUD employee and Carson senior aide Shermichael Singleton underwent the full cavity body search required under these circumstances and was granted employment by the Trump Team, and he began to work for real on January 23 for his boss, Ben Carson at HUD headquarters. Singleton’s prior article in question was published on October 24, 2016 in The Hill, a well known Washington publication, which even Trump’s dummies can read without a subscription. Singleton’s article was not secret or hidden from Trump’s vetting mavens, in the slightest, minimal degree. In fact, they discussed it with him.
And yet, later on somebody else (read the White House Inner Cabal Loyalty Police) decided that purity is the most important value for the Great Father, bar none: not competence, or experience, or intelligence, or capability.
Shermichael failed the political purity test. Carson’s wishes as Cabinet Secretary be damned. The boy had to go, and publicly to make a larger purity point. Bonus points to the sagacious defenders of the Trumpian faith. The fellow was also Black (completely irrelevant and unconnected, naturally), one of the very few Black conservatives invited into Trump’s Big House on the Hill, as it were.
And finally, he had the absolute balls to diss Trump on the Holy Twitter, for crying out loud. Unforgiveable, indeed.
So a quiet hand signal to the nationalist movement types who support Trump, a small gift from the Bannon wing about political and other kinds of purity, like who measures up for the movement. One at a time is generally quite enough when it comes to the tolerance of diversity elements.
And now we have a strict new political purity standard. Utter a critical word about the Man, Get the Can. The Shermichael Test for Government Employment.
We will leave it to others to discuss whether this Test is wise, or a good idea, or even practical. We will assume for the present it may be legal, though that is not firmly established. Let’s assume it should be applied across the range of all new Federal hires in order to Make America Great Again. Let’s focus on the general application of the Shermichael Test for Trump’s personnel choices, as he ramps up the pace for all the wins and more wins Trump has promised we are going to share.
In other words, how’s it going?
Everyone remembers there were some folks running for President last year who said a bad word or two about the Donald during campaign season. Those folks included Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio,, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Bobby Jindal. None of the folks have any Presidentially approved jobs to write home about.
Note that each of these Republicans was blasted by Trump’s insults all the day long, so the Shermichael Purity Test is wonderfully asymmetrical. I can do it to you, but you have to take it from me. A wonderful Bully Boy strategy dear to the inner heart and soul of our Adolescent-in-Chief, helping to get his rocks off. What a swell guy.
But all those losers are the also-rans and never-weres of 2016. Let’s look at those blessed few who ran the race and gained the prizes of Presidential love and approval, and the steady taxpayer funded Federal biweekly paycheck and the lovely perks of superior access and leadership (like White House Mess privileges, and a parking space).
Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President
Kellyanne Conway is Counselor to the President with an Office in the West Wing. Her personal badmouthing of Trump goes back early and often to February, March, and April 2016. Here are just seven little examples.
Conway: Trump “Says He’s For The Little Guy But He’s Actually Built A Lot Of His Businesses On The Backs Of The Little Guy.” Conway stated that Trump had “actually built a lot of his business on the backs of the little guy” and has a history of “not paying contractors after [they have helped him] build something,” adding that “the little guys have suffered” because of Trump. From the February 10 edition of CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello.
Conway: Trump Victims Include “Victims Of Trump University, Victims Of Trump In Atlantic City.” Conway praised anti-Trump messaging, saying it’s that “gotten better” because people are “starting to talk about victims of Trump University, victims of Trump in Atlantic City.” Conway also continued highlighting Trump’s hypocrisy in claiming that he is “for the little guy,” when really he has built his business “on the backs of the little guy.” From the March 8 edition of CNN’s At This Hour.
Conway: “I Would Like To See” Trump’s Tax Returns “Be Transparent.” Conway criticized Trump’s failure to release his tax returns, saying, “I would like to see those be transparent.” She also castigated Trump’s “unpresidential” rhetoric, referencing the time when he “insulted [his opponents] as ‘lying Ted’ and John Kasich ‘who eats like this slob.’” From the April 25 edition of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.
Conway Condemned Trump For “Hurl[ing] Personal Insults” And Using “Vulgar” Language That Was “Unfortunate For Children.” Conway reprimanded Trump for using “the p-word” at a rally, language she characterized as “unfortunate for children,” and claimed that voters “will think thrice now when they go into the ballot box.” From the February 9 edition of CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello.
Conway: Trump “Can Whine And Complain” By Saying “The System Is Rigged,” But “There’s No Place In Politics For Accusing Folks Of Using Gestapo Tactics.” Conway mocked Trump’s complaints after he lost the Colorado primary that “the system is rigged, the system is corrupt,” sayng, “You can whine and complain all you want,” but “you didn’t know the rules.” She also attacked the Trump campaign’s claim that Colorado winner Sen. Ted Cruz used “Gestapo tactics,” saying “there’s no place in politics” for those comments. Conway also denounced Trump ally Roger Stone for attempting to intimidate delegates, saying Trump should tell him “to cut the crap.” From the April 13 edition of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.
Conway: Trump’s “False” Accusations About The Cruz Campaign Show “The Danger Of Just Saying Things That Aren’t True.” Conway rebuked Trump for lobbing “personal insults at somebody’s wife” as well as for his accusations that Cruz was “committing a felony and breaking a law,” adding that such a comment reveals “the danger of just saying things that aren’t true.” From the April 6 edition of CNN’s Erin Burnett Outfront.
Conway: Unlike Trump, “Pro-Life Candidates” “Don’t Need Four Or Five Times To Get It Right.” Conway disavowed Trump’s suggestion that there should be some form of punishment for women who have abortions, arguing that he had “upended” decades of work by pro-lifers, and she implied that real pro-life candidates “would have gotten [the question] right the first time.” She also criticized Trump’s “free earned media coverage” and said, “If you live by the media questions, sometimes you have to die by the media questions.” From the March 30 edition of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.
So my question is, how in the world does this woman have a precious job a few feet away from the President with this kind of mouth? She literally defines Shermichael Test failure. What, Trump hasn’t noticed? His Vetting Pros haven’t gotten around to her review yet? Trump.45 needed a woman to explain his boos-boos to the media, even though she is not loyal? Why does she still have a job?
Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy
Perry’s public disloyalty goes back to July 2015, more than 18 months ago. And he has a great big mouth, calling the Boss Man a “barking carnival act” and a “cancer on conservatism”
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has already emerged as one of the GOP presidential field’s most vocal critics of Donald Trump, ratcheted up his rhetoric again Wednesday as he slammed the real estate mogul’s presidential bid as a “cancer on conservatism” and warned that, left unchecked, Trump could be the demise of the Republican Party.
“He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued,” Perry charged during an address at the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington. “Let no one be mistaken: Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.”
Perry did a belly flop on the Shermichael Test. So how in the world does this guy have a Cabinet job with Trump the President? And why would the Senate approve such a disloyal creature to receive a taxpayer funded salary? Are you kidding me? And where were the Trumpian Purity Vetters on this one? Golfing, perhaps? Smoking some primo dope?
Reince Priebus, White House Chief of Staff
The furious Chairman of the RNC was pissed at Trump’s attack on a dead American Muslim soldier’s family and his failure to properly endorse Paul Ryan, the leading Republican in the House of Representatives, way back in August 2016, well before Shermichael opened his big mouth.
And Priebus had a much bigger megaphone, and caused Trump much more trouble in public at the time, deflecting his precious attention from more important things, like the soft opening of Trump’s fabulous hotel in Washington DC, less than a month later.
Priebus made so bold as to express the view that he personally felt burned and a fool, after he had done so much to make Trump acceptable to a doubting Republican fold, and cover for Trump’s numerous self-inflicted wounds.
From August 2, 2016:
Donald Trump’s White House campaign was in turmoil on Wednesday, with a senior Republican Party official furious over his criticism of a dead soldier’s family and his refusal to back the re-election campaign of House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan.
Trump hit back on Tuesday at critics in the Republican leadership who have taken him to task for his insistent public dispute with the parents of the soldier, a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in the Iraq war. In a revolt against the party, he denied both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain support in their re-election bids.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was furious over the failure to endorse Ryan, who is the most senior elected Republican, and over Trump’s feud with the Khan family, two Republican sources said.
“He feels like a fool,” a Republican source familiar with the situation said.
Ahead of last month’s Republican Party Convention, the RNC sought to rally the fractured party behind Trump. Priebus feels burned by Trump’s string of self-inflicted wounds and his refusal to observe basic decorum by giving Ryan his support.
From a Politico profile on July 21, 2016:
Certainly, Priebus did not refrain from criticizing Trump after the candidate first unveiled his proposal to ban all Muslim immigrants from the country.
“I don’t agree,” he said. “We need to aggressively take on radical Islamic terrorism but not at the expense of our American values.” But when asked to consider the political ramifications for the GOP in a general election, Priebus refused to expand on his critique. “That’s as far as I’m going to go,” he said.
It is just preposterous that this guy has one of the top two White House staff jobs, setting the President’s schedule, and running his office. How absurd. Priebus flunks the Shermichael Test with a score so low we can’t even print it. Give me a break.
Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Yet another uppity woman, Governor of South Carolina at the time she spoke about Trump’s defects in all seriousness. In the official Republican response to the President’s State of the Union Address in January 2016, she called out Trump as the angriest voice, and declared we must resist. Not content with this nationally broadcast put down, she doubled down in February by giving Trump another good whacking by saying the Man was “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.”
Those are fighting words coming from the mouth of a gentille southern lady of quality, my friends. Make no mistake.
From US News on January 13, 2016:
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley gave the Republican Party’s response to President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address on Tuesday, and her speech included implied criticism of Donald Trump. “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices,” Haley said. “We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.” In an interview with NBC’s “Today” on Wednesday, Haley specified that Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, was one of the “angriest voices” that she condemned.
And the Washington Post on November 23, 2016 in a post election review:
Her relationship with Trump has been contentious: In January, Haley delivered the Republican response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address, and, without mentioning Trump by name, appeared to criticize him and his candidacy: “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”
In response, Trump said Haley was “weak” on immigration.
A month later, during the South Carolina primary (which Trump won), Haley described Trump as “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.”
Another plain Shermichael Purity Test failure. Why does this woman have a Presidential appointment at the Cabinet level? What a profound failure of the Vetting incompetents. Letting such a ragamuffin anywhere near to our Dear Leader. Who will step up and fix this travesty?
Bottom Line
We have a new Federal Personnel innovation, thanks to Trump’s Trusty Minions, who e’er they be. I suspect largely the dual Stevie Boys. The Shermichael Purity Test. Shermichael Singleton was frog marched out the door, after the fact. Disloyalty will be punished, and purity of thought strictly enforced.
It may come as a surprise to non-old fashioned fuddy-duddy’s that Federal employees do not and have never sworn any oath or pledge of allegiance to the individual who temporarily occupies the Oval office. Their sole obligation is to the United States of America, period. And never let the two be confused for a single instant. The President is not owed a tiny drop of personal loyalty beyond that due to the office he occupies. He can’t legally ask for it, demand it, or enforce it. Period. Those are the plain and simple rules we live by.
We have an uncomfortable history in America of thought purity interrogations and inquisitions from the times that Trump loves so much, that is the Joe McCarthy era in the early 1950’s. What a mistake we all made then. McCarthy was disgraced eventually, but not until after he wreaked havoc with our freedoms and self respect as a nation. McCarthy drove himself quite mad, actually.
Trump has a former indirect personal association with that time thorough his business dealings and friendship with the vile Roy Cohn, a New York lawyer who was McCarthy’s Chief Counsel, and 25 years later served as Trump’s personal attorney. Among other things, Cohn drafted Trump’s unbreakable pre-nup with Ivana, hi first wife. No wonder she got screwed over. Cohn also represented Trump and his Dad as they were sued by HUD for housing racial discrimination against blacks in 1973 (Cohn and Trump lost their case, and had to agree to a Consent Order). Trump has no problems dealing with the devil for his own benefit. Take notice, America.
While interesting enough, that history is neither here nor there. What is of significance is that a fair and balanced Shermichael test, applied to Trump’s small and decreasing inner circle (after the departure of the lately unlamented Michael Flynn) would indict at least four more favorites for prompt and immediate removal: Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, Rick Perry, and Nikki Haley.
If this sort of ideological purity is pursued with vigor, soon all the staff that will be left is Stevie Boy Bannon, who will no doubt produce some Magical Cloak of Invisibility and poor Kushner, who gets a pass only by virtue of the gene thing.
It would be as if there was a do-over and McCarthy won (Bannon rampant). All the Commies out there just better watch out. We’re coming for you. Ideological Purity or Die. And by the way, Kushner is not exempt, even if Trump.45 is supposed to be in charge. Just wait and see.
A cynic might ask then if there is some discriminatory application of the strict Shermichael Test criteria being practiced in the White House, since all four of the violators still have their White House and Federal credentials and salaries as of today.
That is to say, White Dudes are first among equals, then Rich Dudes of whatever stripe, then attractive women, then Little People, then less attractive women, and then Blacks of nearly every stripe, except celebrities, sports figures, the occasional millionaire, and some agreeable professional types.
Now, that’s not really so hard a set of implementation policies to get one’s head around. The Shermichael test fairly applied would sweep clean. In the meantime, a modified version helps keeps out the troublesome ones and eases Trump.45’s troubled mind.
No Criticism, and America is Better Off. Go back to sleep, or turn on Fox News for some fake thrills.
*Here is the young man’s corrosive and disloyal article. Make sure you don your asbestos gloves and put on your welding goggles before handling this incendiary piece. Compare and contrast with the sweeter, milder writings of, say, the two Stevie Boys, Bannon and Miller, for a properly structured judicious tone, mild phrasings, and inspirational spirit. Quite a contrast, I’m sure you’ll be forced to agree. How dare Singleton say such things in America in 2016?
Young whippersnappers better learn their proper place and give due respect in Trump’s 2017 America.
From The Hill, October 24, 2016:
As a minority who happens to be a Republican, I have a unique view as it pertains to the current state of political affairs in our country.
As an African-American, like so many of my peers, I am concerned about police brutality, the lack of economic and educational opportunities for our urban cities, and the complete disregard for criminal justice reform. Hearing the nominee of my party ignore these harsh truths and opt for words like “law and order” sounds like a coded message from an era in our history that should stay in the past.
Now, in no way am I saying that we shouldn’t have rules or laws, but context is everything and the manner in which GOP nominee Donald Trump portrays our inner cities is as if they are the ailments of American society and should be exterminated and swiftly removed.
He never mentions the many hardworking, good and honest people who are simply trying the best they can to achieve their share of the American dream.
But I guess that’s impossible to do when you don’t even bother to effectively target and outreach to diverse groups.
Inner city people have no education and there are some bad hombres. No wonder the GOP struggles with minorities. #debate
— Shermichael (@Shermichael_) October 20, 2016
Instead of being offered solutions to the problems that not only plague the African-American and Hispanic communities, but Americans across the spectrum, we have to operate within the realms of the lowest forms of the human condition.
My party in particular has allowed itself to be taken over by someone who claims to be a Republican but doesn’t represent any of our values, principles or traditions.
We allowed that hostile takeover to happen on our watch.
This individual recognized a moment of great disparity in the Republican base and, like cancer, attacked and spread, consuming everything in his path.
I do not blame the 14 million Americans who supported Trump; they feel left out, forgotten and ignored. The level of disenfranchisement felt by this group as it relates to Republican leadership led to a level of anger and disillusionment that allowed them to follow a man who is antithetical to their core beliefs.
But we look to leaders for direction and guidance. With nowhere to turn, Trump supporters turned to a candidate different from the rest. For many of them, anything that is antithetical to Washington is good, even if it could turn out to be the worst thing for all of us.
Regardless, the moral fiber of the Republican Party and America as a whole is at stake. That is why I continue to speak up against Trump’s candidacy.
There is no way I can bring myself to vote for Donald Trump in November. He has consistently reaffirmed my… https://t.co/qsWAReLccI
— Shermichael (@Shermichael_) October 8, 2016
Trump has taken us to a new moral low, where it is acceptable for a presidential candidate to mimic and mock someone with disabilities. Yet our religious leaders stand by and say nothing while defending their reasons for maintaining their support.
I don’t purport to be a perfect Christian; I’m far from it. But how can we be silent while the most vulnerable members of our society are under attack? I don’t think that is something Christ would approve of.
Yet we remain silent. Are we not morally obliged to stand up and speak out?
Republicans who have wives, daughters, granddaughters — or who are women themselves — have stood idly by, finding every plausible explanation to excuse and defend the reprehensible, inexcusable and indefensible sexist remarks and actions of a man who is unfit to be president and undeserving to represent the Republican Party.
So I ask again: Are we not morally obliged to stand up and speak out against such reprehensible acts?
Donald Trump’s statements are appalling and despicable. There is no way anyone can defend what is clearly indefensible.
— Shermichael (@Shermichael_) October 7, 2016
We must all search the inner depths of our conscience and ask: Is this what we really want? Does this really represent conservative principles and ideas and, more importantly, does it represent the ideals of America?
Anyone who is objective in such self-reflection would reach the only conclusion that holds any level of truth — and that answer is “no.”
Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but Republicans must do the right thing for America and the party. The brand and image of the Republican Party have been destroyed and we must take responsibility to rebuild our party on our solid principles. We must become rational conservatives who are concerned with reason, idealism and practicality.
That is the only way we can save the party and compete in a changing America that is becoming more diverse every year.
If we do the right thing, then we can truly “Make America Great.” But if we continue down this destructive path, it can only lead to one end and neither the party nor America benefits from that result.