Hope Hicks to resign as WH communications director

[Breccia]

Is there any point to remembering any of these people's names anymore? I'm pretty sure Trump's entire administration sets up their offices in a revolving door.

Pfft, you sound just like FOX News. Wait, what?



Et tu, FOX?

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Almost all he had left was Hope.

Oh, really, CNN? If that fruit was hanging any lower it'd be a potato.

President Donald Trump was left more beleaguered and isolated than ever after the resignation of his confidante Hope Hicks, one in the core of "originals" who had nurtured the iconoclastic tycoon all the way to the White House.

Hicks dropped her shocking announcement on a day that was bewildering even by the extreme standards of this White House, leaving Trump's presidency looking increasingly unmoored.

The departure of Hicks -- the young woman who became as much an emotional crutch as a communications director -- leaves the inner circle of a President for whom loyalty is an obsession in tatters.

"As a CEO, or as a President or anyone at the top, it is lonely, and when you go in there you have the team, and you have your team," Rob Astorino, a longtime friend of the President's, told CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday. "Your team are the people that know you best and you really, really trust."

"Hope was one of the people he really, really trusted," Astorino said. "So with her leaving, there is only a handful left, and he's going to feel like he is on an island."

Hicks' departure will come at a moment of maximum instability for the White House, with staff morale plummeting and the prowling presence of special counsel Robert Mueller and his Russia probe becoming ever more oppressive.

Trump's White House has been a whizzing revolving door for aides, officials and cabinet members whose stars often burn bright, then quickly burn out. Outsize personalities like Steve Bannon, fixers like first chief of staff Reince Priebus and retainers like Sean Spicer are all long gone.

But Hicks is one of the first among equals whose loyalty to Trump is unquestioned, and her exit will particularly sting, several aides told CNN. Not many people are irreplaceable. But for Trump, Hicks probably is.

"I don't think it's possible to overstate the significance and just the importance of her role within the White House. She's an invaluable team member and one of the originals," one Trump ally told CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

The loss of Hicks comes with other pillars of the President's Oval Office support network already felled or wobbling badly.

The political careers of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are teetering, with the President's son-in-law's lost top-secret security clearance threatening his role as Trump's foreign policy consigliere.

Earlier soul mates like former campaign chief Corey Lewandowski never made it to the White House. Keith Schiller, Trump's former bodyguard, left last year.

National security adviser Mike Flynn was gone in disgrace after a couple of weeks. And Trump's billionaire pal Tom Barrack didn't sign up for political service, nor did the President's ultra-loyal gatekeeper of many years Rhona Graff.

One loyalist who is still around is social media specialist Dan Scavino.

All of Trump's departed inner circle friends will still be available to him on the outside, for the President's daily roster of calls to vent and solicit advice.

But it's looking possible that soon, none will be by his side, and that means life in the Oval Office could get very lonely indeed for the President.

Man, it's such a shame when a corrupt incompetent businessman loses all his allies because they're corrupt and/or incompetent.

[Milchshake]

well, who's gonna steam his pants now?

Mitt Romney just perked up when he heard there was an opening.

[Celista]

Tokyo kun... so the graph that @Skroe posted a while ago is mostly true, then

Not sure what the graph is, but I was impressed with that level of insight in that subreddit. Her leaving right after her testimony is in fact a very bad sign.

My expectations for The_Donald redditors are admittedly very low.

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Mitt Romney just perked up when he heard there was an opening.

That's a good way to give yourself a second degree burn. What is with this guy, strapping his dog to the top of a car and then ironing his shirt while he's wearing it...either he's missing a few brain cells or this is his version of living life on the edge...

[Breccia]

My expectations for The_Donald redditors are admittedly very low.

I've made it a solemn vow never to go there, but if I had to guess based on context, it'd be 80% deflection threads about Pelosi and other Democrats, 15% outrage at businesses or non-Trump GOP members viewed as Second Amendment traitors, and 5% suggestions for Hicks' replacement -- probably Sheriff Joe, Laura Ingraham and Alex Jones.

[PosPosPos]

Yeah, which makes me wonder how bad Trump will get after Kelly goes to "spend more time with his family"...

Right before the midterm elections... from a political junkie perspective, that likes to track trends, and how that intersects with human psychology.... thats a lot of popcorn... (as the countries institutions slowly burn) I am both horrified, and entranced in the drama of it all...

It's like a particularly riveting and bloody psychological horror flick, yes.

[Travis B]

"Hope was one of the people he really, really trusted," Astorino said. "So with her leaving, there is only a handful left, and he's going to feel like he is on an island."

Surrounded by water. Big water. Ocean water.

[Kiri]

I guess we can now officially say that there is no more Hope for the White House?

[Dontrike]

My favorite hot take thus far:


Hey Kid! You wanna run Whitehouse Communications?

This has nothing to do with anything, but whoever taught that kid to mow a lawn needs to go back to learning how to color inside the lines.

[Vankrys]

Trump berated Hope Hicks for telling Congress she sometimes lies for him — and that was her ‘final straw’: report
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/tru...-straw-report/

Are you saying Trump throws people under the bus? No way.

[szechuan]

John Kelly is going to leave next then it's over. There's nobody sane left. Aside from Rex Tillerson Or at-least sane compared to Trump lol.

[TZucchini]

It's insane that this individual was anywhere near the White House to begin with. Trump is destroying this country. But at least he's making liberals mad.

[Breccia]

John Kelly is going to leave next then it's over. There's nobody sane left. Aside from Rex Tillerson Or at-least sane compared to Trump lol.

I'll be surprised if Tillerson outlasts Kelly. That Exxon deal with Russia? Fell through. The sanctions would make it so bad, that Exxon is willing to lose $200 million just to pull out now. And Trump hasn't even done anything yet, Exxon just knows it will happen (plus EU sanctions).

[Poopymonster]

well, who's gonna steam his pants now?

I guess he'll have to...

*puts on sunglasses*

Hope for the best.

[Redwyrm]

John Kelly is going to leave next then it's over. There's nobody sane left. Aside from Rex Tillerson Or at-least sane compared to Trump lol.

My bet is on Sessions. All I know is, in about 10 years after Trump leaves office, we'll have about 10 tv movies detailing how bad the dysfunction actually is/was

[Warning]

My bet is on Sessions. All I know is, in about 10 years after Trump leaves office, we'll have about 10 tv movies detailing how bad the dysfunction actually is/was

You're going to see a lot of people make the claim that all they did was try to keep things from getting worse, that if they hadn't been there we would've seen some REAL crazy. The daggers will come out and they'll fall over each other trying their hardest to prove that THEY were not to blame. I will not believe them. There is, and ever was, only one proper remedy to governments like these and that is resistance and refusal to cooperate. The republicans have given their souls trying to manage and steer and live with a president that is quite simply unfit for office. For that the party deserves to be benched for the next 10 years.

[Dontrike]

My bet is on Sessions. All I know is, in about 10 years after Trump leaves office, we'll have about 10 tv movies detailing how bad the dysfunction actually is/was

I can't wait for the Disaster Artist esque movie to come out about the Trump presidency and win tons of awards.

[Deleted]

Too bad, she's hot af.

[Breccia]

Too bad, she's hot af.

Well, her sole qualification was that she's a model. Oh, and she has an undergraduate English degree. And she modeled for Ivanka's online store. Before Trump brought her into the campaign, she had zero experience in any form of law, politics, or similarly relevant field.

She did show herself to be the kind of mature, strong, independent woman who dated serial wife-beater Rob Porter and Corey Lewandoswki while part of Team Trump.

"Wait, I thought Lewandowski was married."

He is. But remember, this is someone who Trump trusted. There were going to be some similarities. Adultery is just as good as any.

[Machismo]

I can't wait for the Disaster Artist esque movie to come out about the Trump presidency and win tons of awards.

I want one done in the form of a silent movie from the 1920's. Can you imagine the player piano music in the background, it would be spectacular.

[Blade Wolf]

I want one done in the form of a silent movie from the 1920's. Can you imagine the player piano music in the background, it would be spectacular.

I'd love a black and white rubberhose animated movie with wacky sound effects.