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This dilemma is nothing new. For years he instilled this sense of competition at the Trump Organization to, in his mind, great success. The enemy was both rival developers and down the hall. Once employees proved their loyalty, they took up offices on the 26th floor near Trump and his children. Most stayed over a decade once they got there.

But members of the new Trump team know they don't have years to earn that trust. To expedite their rise, they have become intimate with each other's biggest secrets and will spill them to their own advantage. Trump's first campaign manager and the head of his transition project were each ousted when they questioned the calls of Trump's son-in-law turned senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

I have two questions from these paragraphs. The followings are the parts I'm confused by.

Question#1: The enemy was both rival developers and down the hall.

What does down the hall mean?

Question#2 : Trump's first campaign manager and the head of his transition project were each ousted when they questioned the calls of Trump's son-in-law turned senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

I'm not absolutely sure what this sentence is trying to say. I tried to make sense, however.

My interpretation: They(trump's aides) were fired when they opposed to Trump's judgment nominating his son-in-law as a senior adviser.

http://time.com/4672974/donald-trump-white-house-chaos/

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  • The "down the hall" part doesn't make sense.
    – user3169
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 5:08

1 Answer 1

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The author of your article is painting a picture of an inner circle within the Trump organization. Anyone not within the inner circle or "family" is considered the enemy.

Most corporations have offices setup where the location of one's office is a sign of importance/influence/closeness to the top of the organization, the closer to the boss the greater the influence. So,

down the hall

has the meaning of people who are less significant in the organization. So, the picture that is being painted is once someone has a close office, they are trusted ("part of the family") and stay within the organization for a long time ("Most stayed over a decade once they got there").

In the second part of your excerpt

when they questioned the calls of Trump's son-in-law turned senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

points to people who questioned the "calls" (decisions) that Jared Kushner made. Again the picture being painted is that if one is close to Trump (having earned his trust to become part of "the family"), Trump will defend them. Jared Kushner is Trump's son-in-law and so literally part of the family.

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  • What does "turned" mean?
    – jack bang
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 5:53
  • It means Jared Kushner is Trump's son-in-law who later became (turned into) a senior advisor.
    – Peter
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 5:55
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    The quote refers to "rival developers and down the hall". "Down the hall" refers to other people within the organization on the management team (same floor of the building), as contrasted with people external to the organization (rival developers).
    – fixer1234
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 6:17

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