"Kitchen Cabinet"

[Teach]

“I speak for all of us (spoken with a “Southern drawl) and with the full agreement of our husbands, we will not entertain Margaret Eaton, nor will we attend any function at which she is present. Mr. President, she was a common barmaid” (Eaton had worked at her father’s bar in Washington, D.C., a “stone’s throw” from The White House).

Those remarks, or ones similar to that, were spoken by the spokeswoman of a delegation of the wives of Jackson’s Cabinet members who met with President Andrew Jackson seeking to persuade him to “dump” Margaret “Peggy” Eaton’s husband, Secretary of War, John Eaton.

Well, in 1831, two years after Jackson took office, both Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State, and John Eaton, resigned from the Cabinet. This allowed Jackson to “clean house (In modern parlance: “Drain the swamp”). Jackson then fired, as in “You’re Fired!’” every member of his then Cabinet - most of them were Calhounites; followers of VP John C. Calhoun - whom Jackson opposed.

In the interim, he established what is now referred to as a “Kitchen Cabinet” or “Parlor Cabinet”. These were unofficial advisers with whom Jackson consulted. These advisers held no public office, but were trusted friends of Jackson who counseled the president. They included: Martin Van Buren, William Francis Blair and Amos Kendall (they were both newspaper publishers), Atty. Roger B. Taney, later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, et al.

Yes, history has a way of repeating itself. In fact of all the previous presidents I’ve studied, I view Andrew Jackson (and possibly Teddy Roosevelt) as most similar in approach and temperament to the newly elected Donald Trump.

The question: Who, today, are members of President Trump’s “Kitchen Cabinet”? Here’s my take on whom Trump unofficially relies on: John Ridings Lee, insurance company exec., Harold Hamm, energy tycoon, Dan DiMicco, former steel company, exec., Forrest Lucas, Lucas Oil, Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, plus Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., his daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

As far as presidents and presidential politics is concerned: “What Goes Around…Comes Around.”

[boxcar]

“I speak for all of us (spoken with a “Southern drawl) and with the full agreement of our husbands, we will not entertain Margaret Eaton, nor will we attend any function at which she is present. Mr. President, she was a common barmaid” (Eaton had worked at her father’s bar in Washington, D.C., a “stone’s throw” from The White House).

Those remarks, or ones similar to that, were spoken by the spokeswoman of a delegation of the wives of Jackson’s Cabinet members who met with President Andrew Jackson seeking to persuade him to “dump” Margaret “Peggy” Eaton’s husband, Secretary of War, John Eaton.

Well, in 1831, two years after Jackson took office, both Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State, and John Eaton, resigned from the Cabinet. This allowed Jackson to “clean house (In modern parlance: “Drain the swamp”). Jackson then fired, as in “You’re Fired!’” every member of his then Cabinet - most of them were Calhounites; followers of VP John C. Calhoun - whom Jackson opposed.

In the interim, he established what is now referred to as a “Kitchen Cabinet” or “Parlor Cabinet”. These were unofficial advisers with whom Jackson consulted. These advisers held no public office, but were trusted friends of Jackson who counseled the president. They included: Martin Van Buren, William Francis Blair and Amos Kendall (they were both newspaper publishers), Atty. Roger B. Taney, later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, et al.

Yes, history has a way of repeating itself. In fact of all the previous presidents I’ve studied, I view Andrew Jackson (and possibly Teddy Roosevelt) as most similar in approach and temperament to the newly elected Donald Trump.

The question: Who, today, are members of President Trump’s “Kitchen Cabinet”? Here’s my take on whom Trump unofficially relies on: John Ridings Lee, insurance company exec., Harold Hamm, energy tycoon, Dan DiMicco, former steel company, exec., Forrest Lucas, Lucas Oil, Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, plus Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., his daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

As far as presidents and presidential politics is concerned: “What Goes Around…Comes Around.”

Yup, all highly successful people who didn't succeed with affirmative action programs. Or who never in their life received an award for mere participation in one event or another. Or who never sought coloring books in a safe room whenever they had a business setback. Or who never whined about how unfair capitalism is when some business deal fell through. And who aren't career politicians and probably have no interest in ever becoming one. Trump's cabinet has Obama's amateurish kitchen diplomacy beat to smithereens.