Hi, Ronny, Bye, Ronny

Pass the Kool-Aid, please. Another drinker of Trump’s Magic Elixir of Destruction has had his life unalterably changed for the very worst. 

Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, the so-called White House doctor, might have taken his first sip when he delightedly announced that Donald J. Trump is in remarkable health despite common knowledge that Trump has the health habits of a 15-year-old boy with acne and a lifetime free pass to McDonald’s. He’s never met a Big Mac that escaped him.

No big deal. If the White House Doc says you’re healthy, so be it, even if eyebrows were universally raised.

Trump himself was so impressed with his clean bill of health that he immediately nominated the good admiral to be the next Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the very troubled and second largest of the government agencies. 

So what if Ronny (where did he get that name?) Jackson has never managed anything larger than the 30-some-person White House health staff? Shoot, everybody is supposed to love him and he really looks good in that admiral’s uniform and he’s probably a fast learner. What could go wrong? Also, he’d probably be the right guy to privatize the VA health program and get some of those big bucks out there into Trump loyalist pockets where they rightfully belong. 

So there was Ronny, all set for his confirmation hearing, having gotten past his initial reluctance to step into a job that he was as prepared for as he was to be the CEO of Facebook. Sure, there were some faint murmurings that his total lack of experience might be a bit of a drawback, but, shoot, everybody loves him and he’s a fast learner. And that admiral’s uniform is still boss.

Then that dang fake news caught up with him and his confirmation hearing was “postponed” with no makeup date given. Seems the fake news is that the work environment in his White House shop is a tad toxic and there’s his drinking on duty and also reports of being a little free with his scripts.

Jeez, even some Republicans thought these reports were “troubling,” as the convenient phrase goes, and so his hearing got back-burnered until who knows when. Maybe never at this point.

Now some of the fake news is pointing out that Ronny Jackson was never really “vetted” by Trump et al in any serious way. Look, Donald Trump is a master at reading character, as his sterling and pristine cabinet attests on a daily basis. If he thought Ronny Jackson in that cool uniform would make a swell VA chief, then that is that and so be it. Has he been wrong yet? This might be the best cabinet ever in American history and if Trump likes the cut of your jib – to use an apropos naval term – you’re in like Flynn (who is out).

Still, Ronny Jackson’s White House office has never been busier since the fake news broke. There’s a big line of White House staffers looking to score some pills to let them keep up with the fast-breaking fake news that never seems to stop and a president who seems to be caught between Scylla and Charybdis – read Robert Mueller and Michael Avenatti.

Some of the White House folks are even hoping to be invited for Ronny Jackson’s cocktail hour, which starts at noon.