Being president is harder than Donald Trump thought,
according to aides and allies who say that he’s growing increasingly frustrated
with the challenges of running the massive federal bureaucracy.
In interviews, nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time
with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has
careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of
governing, from congressional delays over
his cabinet nominations and legal
fights holding up his aggressive initiatives to staff in-fighting and leaks.
The administration’s rocky opening days have been a setback
for a president who, as a billionaire businessman, sold himself to voters as
being uniquely qualified to fix what ailed the nation. Yet it has become
apparent, say those close to the president, most of whom requested anonymity to
describe the inner workings of the White House, that the transition from
overseeing a family business to running the country has been tough on him.
Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals
and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president
has been known to quickly change the subject — to "seem in control at all
times," one senior government official said — or direct questions about
details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or
House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the
ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay — or even stop — him from
filling positions and implementing policies.
After Trump grew infuriated by disclosures of his
confrontational phone calls with foreign leaders, an investigation was launched
into the source of the leaks, according to one White House aide. National
Security Council staffers have been instructed to cooperate with inquiries,
including requests to inspect their electronic communications, said two sources
familiar with the situation. It’s not clear whether the investigation is a
formal proceeding, how far along it is or who is conducting it.
The administration is considering limiting the universe of
aides with access to the calls or their transcripts, said one administration
official, adding that the leaks — and Trump’s anger over them — had created a
climate where people are “very careful who they talk to.”
The president and his allies believe career NSC staff
assigned from other agencies are out to get them. In turn, some NSC staff
believe Trump does not possess the capacity for detail and nuance required to
handle the sensitive issues discussed on the calls, and that he has politicized
their agency by appointing chief strategist Bannon to the council.
Last week, Trump told an associate he had become weary of
in-fighting among — and leaks from — his White House staff “because it reflects
on me,” and that he intended to sit down staffers to tell them “to cut this
shit out.”
He also became aggravated after learning about complications
surrounding his appointment of one of his top fundraisers, Anthony Scaramucci,
to a plum White House job, which Trump blamed on internal jockeying between
aides, according to one person with knowledge of the situation.
The White House press office did not respond to a series of
detailed questions about the way the president has coped with leaks,
in-fighting and setbacks.
Christopher Ruddy, a Trump friend and the chief executive of
the conservative Newsmax Media, said “Running the federal government is
something new for him, for sure.” But, Ruddy added, “I think if he's
demonstrated anything in his life, he is a very fast learner and adapts very
quickly. The man is not to be underestimated.”
For all his frustrations, Trump has reveled in the trappings
of the presidency. He has taken a liking to the Oval Office, where he spends
much of his time working. Following a recent gathering of business leaders, he
brought the group into the storied room and showed them around.
But he has also sought refuge from the pressures of the
presidency, frequently calling up old friends and sounding them out about golf.
Trump aides joke that they wish their boss would spend more
time at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where they say the president
appears more relaxed and at ease. He dispensed hugs and kisses to female guests
attending a Red Cross ball at the estate last week, and is scheduled to return
this weekend for a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Most of those interviewed for this story requested anonymity
to describe the inner workings of a White House where they say the tension has
been intensified by the president’s propensity for knee-jerk micromanaging when
faced with disappointment, and jockeying among aides to avoid blame or claim
credit when possible.
The interviews paint a picture of a powder-keg of a
workplace where job duties are unclear, morale among some is low, factionalism
is rampant and exhaustion is running high. Two visitors to the White House last
week said they were struck by how tired the staff looks.
In Washington circles, talk has turned to whether a staff
shake-up is in the works.
One person close to Trump said: "I think he'd like to
do it now, but he knows it's too soon."
Those closest to the president are unnerved by that
prospect, which they say would be a tacit acknowledgment that their team is
struggling.
Kushner, who is among Trump’s most trusted advisers, has
been incensed by reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has ripped
the White House over its implementation of Trump’s executive order restricting
travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, is telling people that he
expects to enter the White House as part of a “second wave” of staffers that
will replace initial hires. Kushner has long had tensions with Christie and
played a key role in blocking him from getting a senior job in the
administration.
Some staffers worry about running afoul of Kushner, and say
they’re unclear about his role, describing his portfolio as amorphous. “No one
quite knows what it is,” said one. “It’s confusing.”
Perhaps the job Trump has micromanaged the most is that of
press secretary Sean Spicer, whose performance as the public face of the White
House hasn’t always pleased the image-conscious president.
Trump, a voracious consumer of cable news, has been known to
critique aides and surrogates for their appearances. After Spicer’s press
briefings, the president has told his spokesman that he’s unhappy about
specific answers or his demeanor.
The president, who is obsessive about looks and appearance,
even was unhappy with a Saturday Night Live parody of a Spicer briefing, partly
because the combative press secretary was depicted by a female comedian,
Melissa McCarthy. After it aired, Spicer had proposed cracking a joke about the
send-up during his next briefing, or even firing a squirt gun, as McCarthy had
done in the sketch. Trump vetoed the idea, according to one person briefed on
the matter.
Spicer, a 45-year-old party operative who rose through the
ranks of the Republican National Committee, has told several people that he
finds the non-stop demands of the position difficult.
For now, the president is standing by his press secretary.
After CNN reported Tuesday that Trump regretted hiring Spicer and was
disappointed in him, the president spoke with his press secretary and told him
that he was in fine shape. Trump, who has been reluctant to admit any missteps,
also has acknowledged to Spicer that it was a mistake to send him to the White
House briefing room on the administration’s first full day to berate reporters
for coverage of his inauguration crowd size.
For all of Trump’s frustrations about staff drama however,
it isn’t clear they’re going away any time soon. Tensions remain between the
staffs of chief of staff Reince Priebus and Bannon. Priebus’s advisers blamed
Bannon’s team for the botched rollout of the travel ban executive order, saying
that they hadn’t done the needed legwork ahead of time.
And some were surprised that first lady Melania Trump
decided to hire Lindsey Reynolds as her chief of staff along with Stephanie
Winston Wolkoff as her senior adviser. Reynolds and Wolkoff worked on the
inauguration planning team, and Reynolds, a Republican fundraiser and event
planner, abruptly quit before Inauguration Day. At the time, several people
attributed her departure to “personality conflicts” with Wolkoff, a Trump
family friend who has overseen the Met Gala.
Source: Politico
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