Trump favorite courtier
by digby
It looks like King Donald has a new “gentleman of the stool”:
President Donald Trump has wondered aloud over the past weeks — to pretty much anyone listening — who would occupy the singular role of confidant and conspirator that longtime top aide Hope Hicks was leaving behind.
The answer, at least in some capacity, will be Dan Scavino, the social media director who this week moved into the minuscule office a pace or two from Trump’s desk that Hicks spent the past week packing up. Described by aides as Trump’s “mini me,” who can channel his moods and voice as few others can, Scavino is the last remaining staffer from the launch of Trump’s presidential campaign still posted by the President’s side.That’s left West Wing officials, most with shorter and more distant relationships with the President, eying Scavino as Hicks’ natural successor — not as communications director, but as the White House aide Trump calls upon when he wants to vent, plot, confide, boast or reminisce.If Hicks was able to occasionally act as a taming force on the President, however, there’s little expectation that Scavino will follow suit. When the President has come under fire in the past, Scavino has doubled down on the controversy of the moment, at times defending Trump from his own personal Twitter account.
Scavino is viewed by colleagues with a mix of reverence, for his uncanny ability to mimic the President’s moods and whims, and puzzlement, for his unlikely rise from Trump’s golf caddy to his club manager to gatekeeper of the most powerful Twitter account in the world.
“It’s beyond loyalty,” a source familiar with their relationship said.
In a White House that is becoming increasingly full of aides the President either doesn’t know or doesn’t trust, Scavino is one person the President is confident has his back entirely, people familiar with their relationship say. Scavino, one source noted, has dedicated his entire adult life to Trump.
Look for Scavino to be promoted to Secretary of Defense when Mattis is inevitably fired. That’s how feudal kings work.
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