Fake News, Exposed: The Backstory Behind The 2 People Who Quit White House
In an article on the Atlantic website, a former Obama White House staffer explains why she resigned from the Trump White House after only eight days. Rumana Ahmed thought she should “try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration” she writes, “in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America’s Muslim citizens.”
But then the executive order suspending visa issuance for Syrian refugees and suspending it temporarily for nationals of seven Muslim majority countries forced her hand. She quit.
She “had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country’s most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim.”
The basic premise of the story doesn’t pass the smell test.
Trump campaigned with an opening bid to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States. But Ahmed wanted to stay on anyway. And then she left, after eight days, when a much more lenient policy was implemented. It doesn’t make sense.
Hers was the second story in less than a week in which a government official explained that they’d resigned because of Trump’s policies.
Ned Price, a CIA analyst who worked at the Obama White House, authored a cri de coeur for the Washington Post to explain why his disagreements with Trump’s policies prompted him to leave government service.
“To be clear,” wrote Price, “my decision had nothing to do with politics.”
What a strange coincidence that Price and Ahmed worked for the same person in the Obama White House, national security adviser for strategic communications, Ben Rhodes. In fact, they worked in the same room, outside of Rhodes’ office, as the 2016 New York Times Magazine profile of Rhodes showed:
“In the front office, [Rhodes’] assistant, Rumana Ahmed, and his deputy, Ned Price, are squeezed behind desks, which face a large television screen, from which CNN blares nonstop.”
Among their other duties, Price and Ahmed helped manage Rhodes’ “echo chamber” to market Obama’s policies. Former CIA analyst Price explained to the Times magazine how he manipulated American public opinion from his desk in the White House. The Obama NSC relied on “compadres” in the media to proliferate its message, Price said. “I will reach out to a couple people, and you know I wouldn’t want to name them — ”
GO READ THE WHOLE THING.
There can be little expectation that an individual will retain their employment with a new POTUS. Each President and Chief of Staff have the right to interview, hire and fire at will.
ReplyDeleteMs. Ahmed walked - per her version. Chances are she would have been relieved of employment anyway.
Regarding her image: Why is she wearing what look like work jeans in the White House when in official capacity? Was the WH culture that relaxed regarding professional dress? Hmmm