How Trump botched the Ronny Jackson nomination

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Republicans see the VA nominee mess as a distillation of the problems with the president’s management style.

By BURGESS EVERETT, ELIANA JOHNSON and ELANA SCHOR, 04/24/2018 07:20 PM EDT

President Donald Trump could have avoided the firestorm over Ronny Jackson’s nomination if he’d taken Johnny Isakson’s advice to begin with.

In a private conversation with Trump last month, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs chairman mounted a strong defense of then-VA Secretary David Shulkin. But despite Isakson’s guidance, Shulkin was canned a few days later, and Jackson, the White House physician, was quickly nominated to take his place.

Jackson was chosen with little vetting, angering several White House aides, including chief of staff John Kelly. And now a whisper campaign of allegations threatens to tank his nomination.

The episode offers a window into how the president’s impulsive decision-making has created problems for GOP senators as well as his own aides. On Tuesday, Senate Republicans were left to field questions about unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct against Jackson brought to the Veterans‘ Affairs Committee. One GOP senator, who requested anonymity, said the hope is that Trump withdraws the nomination sooner rather than later to avoid prolonging the pain.

Instead, the president sent mixed signals about the nomination as Jackson fought to keep his prospects alive. In a private meeting with Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Jackson said the allegations are false and that he wants a hearing to make his case. At the same time, Trump was telling reporters that he “personally” didn’t think Jackson should fight on but it was “totally” Jackson’s decision.

“The president says, ‘Oh yeah, I wouldn’t move forward with it.’ I mean, what does that say? If the president is going to put forward somebody’s name, he needs to have the confidence in that individual,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “And if it’s just like kind of a knee-jerk, here’s a warm body? Then his team needs to work to make sure that the president sees the short-sightedness of that.”.......

Read the rest at: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/24/trump-gop-management-flaws-va-green-547917