TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY/WHITE HOUSE STAFF: “No one ever said being White House chief of staff was easy. Dick Cheney, who served in the role for President Gerald Ford, blamed the job for his first heart attack. President Barack Obama’s third chief, Bill Daley, came down with shingles from the stress. But despite the pressure, it was considered one of Washington’s most coveted gigs. It was a job that men (and they’ve all been men) schemed to get, waging behind-the-scenes campaigns to win over the president and his family. As with many of this city’s long-held principles, though, that is no longer the case in the Trump era. Nick Ayers stunned President Trump over the weekend when the 36-year-old political operative turned down an offer to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, a rejection some called ‘a humiliation’ for the president and his children. It’s hard to grasp how embarrassing Mr. Ayers’s decision is for the Trump administration without understanding what, exactly, he was passing up.”
–Lisa Lerer, “Why Can’t Trump Find a Chief of Staff? Ask His Family,” The New York Times online, December 10, 2018