JUST IN: Trump Pulls Nomination For Massive Administration Post, Explains Why

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday clapped back at the Wall Street Journal for what he alleged is too much negative attention in its reporting on his various administration appointments, notably Chad Chronister, the Florida county sheriff who withdrew his nomination to lead the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency on Tuesday.

In a post on Truth Social, the incoming leader of the free world ripped the Journal for its “obnoxious and unreadable” coverage of Chronister, who said in a statement that he was stepping back from the new role in order to fulfill his duties to the residents of Hillsborough County. But it wasn’t Chronister’s decision that led to the power vacuum, Trump confirmed. “The Wall Street Journal is becoming more and more obnoxious and unreadable. Today’s main headline is: ‘Trump’s DEA Pick Pulls Out In Latest Setback.’ With all that’s happening in the World, this is their Number One story of the day,” he wrote. “Besides, he didn’t pull out, I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”

(VOTE: Should JD Vance Run For President In 2028?)

The mysterious allusion to criticism by Chronister is par for the course with President Trump. Now on his second go-around, the Republican has placed a premium on loyalty by everyone from low-level staffers to Cabinet picks, a measure that the Florida sheriff appears to have run afoul of during private conversations with conservative religious leaders. Those discussions got back to Trump, who is known to quickly turn icy against those who feel they know better than him how to win elections or govern the country. In light of Chronister’s dismissal, the Western Journal reports that the president-elect’s transition team is “scrutinizing” his appointments even closer than before.

What the Journal described as a “setback” for Trump was anything but, he exclaimed. “But, more importantly, what’s my ‘latest’ setback??? I just won the Presidency of the United States! They haven’t written a good story about me in YEARS,” Trump complained before kicking the Journal in the teeth one last time. “Somebody over there ought to look at what they’re doing. The only one worse than them is stupid, China-centric Forbes Magazine!”

It remains unknown who Chronister spoke with or what was said when, but conservatives were already skeptical about the officer in the run-up to his withdrawal. Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) last week prodded Trump to drop his DEA nominee, citing the sheriff’s genuflecting before Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 and even arresting a Christian pastor who refused to reply with Covid-19 social distancing mandates. “Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest of a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns,” he wrote on X Sunday.

Others on social media resurfaced an old post by Chronister touting the arrest of Dr. Ronald Howard-Browne, pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church, for defying lockdowns and continuing to hold services “which put his congregation and our community in danger.” If those criticisms reached Trump’s ears, it’s a sign that he remains a keen listener to his MAGA base about whom it considers to be sufficiently conservative for a second administration.

(FREE REPORT: Take Advantage Of Trump’s New “IRS Loophole” ASAP)