The resignation of Hope Hicks, Donald Trump’s director of communications, leaves an angry, isolated US president at increased risk of lashing out as his once tight inner circle shrinks, according to White House watchers.
In recent days fresh rumours have swirled that other key figures may be on their way out.
Although the Trump administration has been marked by a high staff turnover, the departure of Ms Hicks is a particular loss, according to some of those who know the president best.
“Outside of Melania, there was no one closer to the president in the White House,” said Christopher Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media and an old friend of Mr Trump.
“This will be a major blow, because she has been not only a trusted and loyal aide, but very competent and had brought the White House communications office to a new level.”
Mr Trump arrived in the White House with a close band of staff and relatives who had been with him through an election campaign they were never supposed to win.
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Trump's 'most trusted aide' Hope Hicks quits after 'white lies' admission
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Analysts say they played a vital role for the president, providing stability in the unfamiliar surroundings of the White House. Ms Hicks’ departure now leaves only a handful of the “Trump originals” – mostly relatives such as his wife, Melania, his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner.
Ms Hicks, who had no political experience before being brought in from Ivanka Trump’s clothing and licensing business to run the Trump campaign communications office, was seen as a calming influence, able to read the president’s moods.
As a result, her departure could leave a more volatile Oval Office, said Robert Shapiro, professor of political science at Columbia University.
“In the context of his need to blow off steam he may be more at risk of going off the deep end and derailing,” he said. “He’s shown enough of that in the past and we may get more of that.”
Mr Trump's family and friends were one of the distinct factions established when the president set up his White House, dividing it between competing power centres. Vying for influence alongside them were the retired generals – such as John Kelly, now chief of staff, and National Security Adviser HR McMaster – and the bankers, including Gary Cohn, the chief economic adviser who arrived from Goldman Sachs.
Former chief strategist Steve Bannon led a band of populists before his departure in August last year, while the Republican mainstream was represented by apparatchiks, such as Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer.
Ms Hicks’ exit follows the departure in September last year of Keith Schiller – who, along with Ms Hicks, was thought to be one of the aides closest to Mr Trump. The former cop had worked for the president since 1999 and became his director of security in 2004, a role that grew until he was seen as Mr Trump’s bagman.
In office he became director of Oval Office operations, essentially acting as the president’s gatekeeper and sounding board. When aides wanted to know Mr Trump’s mood and whether it was a good time to present a policy proposal, it was Mr Schiller whom they consulted.
Now, with Ms Hicks also gone, Mr Trump is left with a depleted inner circle of trusted long-term aides.
One of those who remains in the White House is Dan Scavino, director of social media. His rise was typical of the unorthodox way in which some of these political outsiders came into Mr Trump’s orbit and ultimately followed him to the White House.
He was a golf caddie for Mr Trump in 1990 before advancing to become general manager of Trump National Golf Club Westchester and then joining the election campaign when it began.
And then there are the family members such as Melania, Mr Kushner and Ivanka. But even they have come under increasing pressure.
It emerged last week that Mr Kushner had been stripped of his high-level security clearance as fresh concerns swirled about the way his web of business interests may create conflicts of interests.
And in January Melania decided not to accompany her husband to Davos for the World Economic Forum and also travelled alone to his first State of the Union address, sparking speculation she was punishing him for reports that he had an affair with a stripper.
The result, said Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College in New York, was a deeper sense of chaos. In recent days the president has flip flopped on gun control and signalled a trade war, while briefings against Mr Kelly and Mr Kushner have intensified.
“I think we do see a tightening of that circle around a president, who already by his own admission feels isolated – as most presidents do in the White House,” she said.
“This is a president who needs people around him that he trusts and can speak the truth to him.”
However, Mr Ruddy said the president had developed a good rapport with new figures in the White House and that it was a mistake to look only at staff on the payroll. Mr Trump still seeks counsel from friends outside Washington.
“I speak to them fairly often as a number of friends and associates do, and the president’s going to continue that contact because he wants to avoid being in the Beltway bubble,” he said.
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Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company%20Profile
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
