A change is gonna come. I have to believe that. I have to believe that bigger (bigglier?) changes will be coming in the months ahead. For now, we just have to deal with some minor changes in the White House. Yesterday, we learned that the WH Communications Director – technically Sean Spicer’s boss – Mike Dubke had resigned. Dubke actually turned in his notice before Trump’s big nine-day trip, and he hasn’t set a date for when he’s actually leaving. Axios reports that this is the first of several staffing/communication changes being made. GOP “killers” like David Urban, Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie are all being considered for WH positions, especially in the newly formed “war room” to deal with the Russian investigations. Spicer will be staying on as press secretary for now, but Spicey will be doing fewer on-camera press briefings. It’s also being said that Trump will take more questions on-camera, since he feels he is his own best messenger.

As for that Russian war room, Jared is reportedly in charge of that, amongst his extensive portfolio. Can you imagine? Putting one of the major targets of the investigation in charge of the war room to discredit the investigation. It’s Trumpian logic. Politico had a lengthy (and somewhat funny) story about how Precious Jared is not going anywhere, even if he’s mostly loathed within the White House:

Once the untouchable son-in-law in a White House where top aides jockey for the president’s ear, Jared Kushner has now been cast in a new role: reassuring people that he’s not going to resign, while colleagues question whether he can survive politically. Any victory lap Kushner hoped to enjoy after pulling off a successful presidential foreign trip to the Middle East was cut short after The Washington Post reported that during the transition he discussed setting up a secret back channel with the Russian ambassador. He also failed to disclose earlier phone calls with Russian officials, according to a Reuters report.

A senior administration official said there was widespread concern, predating the foreign trip, that Kushner was in trouble — but “no one that I know has been asked to provide documents” and it wasn’t talked about openly in the White House or staff meetings. “No one knows what to make of it because he’s there every day, making decisions, in the Oval,” this person said. “So everyone just tries to act normal.”

Outside of Kushner’s small circle of trust — a group that includes Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, and advisers Hope Hicks, Josh Raffel, Dina Powell, Gary Cohn, Chris Liddell and Reed Cordish — many West Wing advisers are simultaneously rattled by the back-channel revelations and feeling a sense of schadenfreude. The focus on a family member also brings the Russia-related heat closer to Trump. Kushner has risen so quickly in the White House that his colleagues grumble about “principal confusion” — when a staffer thinks that the reflected spotlight of the boss is actually shining on him. Colleagues have rolled their eyes that Kushner has hired a communications adviser to work on his own portfolio. That aide, Raffel, traveled abroad with him to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Rome.

Kushner, who some say has sealed himself off from the competing White House power centers, may now be in a position of needing allies. And the pool of people in New York City eager to come to his defense has shrunk. Internally at the White House, according to multiple sources, there is a feeling of resentment among people about Kushner’s special status as a family member, and a feeling that it’s about time for him to have a turn under the gun.

There is also a sense of uncertainty about how long Kushner and Ivanka Trump — who associates say likes, but doesn’t love, Washington — are planning to stick it out. Some have noted that they rent their Kalorama mansion, which allows them to keep their options of moving back to Manhattan more open. But for now, according to a person familiar with the situation, Kushner isn’t going anywhere.

[From Politico]

How funny would it be if Precious Jared and Precious Ivanka did suddenly pull up stakes and go back to New York? I don’t think they would do that, although Ivanka’s preciousness might fade slightly if and when Melania finally moves her ass into the White House. If Ivanka is no longer de facto FLOTUS, suddenly she might get a bit bored. Also: sources told Politico (in this same story) that Jared is “unhappy” and “miserable” in his White House role because, much like Emperor Bigly’s life lessons, Kushner has only just realized that he can’t get everything done by imperial fiat.

There’s also this delicious story about Precious Jared and Emperor Bigly: Elizabeth Spiers, the former editor of the Kushner-owned New York Observer, wrote this comment to some right-wing troll:

My response to a right-wing blogger who called me a kook and a loser for stating that Donald Trump is a liar / water is wet: pic.twitter.com/pAp18w2x3W

— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) May 28, 2017

Photos courtesy of Getty.