White House Archives - Ethics & Public Policy Center
White House Oral History: Peter Wehner
In an interview conducted by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, EPPC Senior Fellow Peter Wehner reflects on his early political and religious life, his observations regarding political conservatism, and his years of service in the George W. Bush White House.
Another Warning Sign
The Mueller report is a window into the manner of administration that characterizes the Trump era, and therefore is another warning about how fundamentally unprepared our government is for a significant crisis or emergency.
Help Wanted?
As befits his general pattern, President Trump is going about replacing his chief of staff in an absurd, shambolic fashion.
Making Acosta a Federal Case
The White House handled Mr. Showboat in about the worst possible way.
The Kavanaugh Paper Flow
A review of all the paperwork that circulated through Brett Kavanaugh’s office when he was staff secretary would pretty much amount to a review of all the paperwork that circulated through the White House in those years, and yet would also reveal essentially nothing about Kavanaugh. It would mostly amount to a monumental waste of the Senate’s time.
Playboy Comes to D.C.
The magazine’s table at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner represents a further decline of cultural standards.
Another Warning Sign
A White House dealing with an intense crisis needs to rely on established patterns of mutual trust and respect and familiar procedures for handling and channeling information, putting options before the president, and keeping things calm and organized. More than a year in, President Trump’s White House lacks almost all of that.
Trump’s White House Is a Black Hole
Character is fate. That’s as true for a president as it is for anyone else, and so it’s no surprise that the Trump presidency is engulfed in chaos.
The Anti-Porter Conspiracy
Even assuming that the former White House staff secretary’s public behavior has always been “impeccable,” to permit him to serve in a position of honor diminishes all of us. We demand some minimum level of decent (to say nothing of legal) behavior from those in positions of trust because that’s one way we uphold our standards.
The Trump Show
A televised White House discussion on immigration suggests something about both the strengths and the weaknesses of Donald Trump’s very unusual way of being president.
