President Donald J. Trump arrives in Switzerland | January 25, 2018 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
In the movie The Blues Brothers, brothers Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) put their old band back together for one big charity show to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised. The brothers drive around Chicago recruiting old members of the band, including Steve “The Colonel” Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Murphy ‘Murph’ Dunne, Willie ‘Too Big’ Hall, Tom ‘Bones’ Malone, ‘Blue Lou’ Marini, Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy, and Alan ‘Mr. Fabulous’ Rubin. The plan works, but Jake and Elwood are sent to jail for numerous violations of the law.
Now, if the rumors prove true, President Donald Trump may be “getting the band back together,” by bringing on Corey Lewandowski as a replacement for Chief of Staff John Kelly. Lewandowski was Trump’s original campaign manager and is credited with the President’s inconceivable win in the GOP primary against 16 more seasoned competitors. Despite Trump having to fire Lewandowski in the summer of 2016, the two have remained friends, and many have guessed that Trump would like to rehire Lewandowski for some time.
This is all speculation at this point, but Curt Mills, writing at The American Conservative, explains what that might mean for Trump and the presidency.
He writes (abridged):
President Donald Trump is getting the gang back together—or at least he’d like to. He’s certainly well on his way to assembling the team he’s always envisioned.
Now the president can accomplish the coup de grace: installing Corey Lewandowski, his first campaign manager and continual confidante, as his chief of staff.
But appearing with Trump at a political rally in Michigan on Saturday was none other than Lewandowski, who strikingly was called on by the president to address the crowd.
“Speaking of not being a patsy or a pushover,” the president told those gathered on Saturday night, “you ever watch Corey Lewandowski on the shows? Where’s Corey? Corey! And [Citizens’ United chief] David Bossie.”
Bossie is another Trump consigliere who could be formally ushered into the West Wing.
First, the president doesn’t really want a chief of staff, not in any traditional sense.
A source intimately familiar with Trump’s work style says the recent Cabinet reshuffle is true to form—he wants a rotating cadre of advisors who double as friends, with no central management to stop him.
With Lewandowski at the helm, the administration could replicate the outlaw, lean-and-mean, and almost start-up feel of Trump’s stunning primary campaign, which Lewandowski led until he was fired in June 2016. He has continued to serve as an unofficial media surrogate for Team Trump ever since.
There is a second advantage to having an old campaign hand onboard. Trump has declared his intention for re-election earlier than any modern president.
Just last week, even old rival Ted Cruz endorsed his former foe.
Read more here.
