Trump’s Chaos Theory for the Oval Office Is Taking Its Toll
March 2, 2018 by admin
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Yet at the end of a photo session, when a reporter asked Mr. Trump about the measures, he confirmed that the United States would announce next week that it is imposing long-term tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. The White House has not even completed a legal review of the measures.
Mr. Trump’s off-the-cuff opening of a trade war rattled the stock market, enraged Republicans and left Mr. Cohn’s future in doubt. Mr. Cohn, who almost left last year after Mr. Trump’s response to a white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Va., indicated he was waiting to see whether Mr. Trump goes through with the tariffs, people familiar with his thinking said.
The chaotic rollout also reflected the departure of another White House official, Rob Porter, who as the staff secretary had a key role in keeping the paper flowing in the West Wing and who had backed Mr. Cohn in his free-trade views. Mr. Porter was forced out last month after facing accusations of spousal abuse.
It was the second day in a row that Mr. Trump blindsided Republicans and his own aides. On Wednesday, in another televised session at the White House, he embraced the stricter gun control measures backed by Democrats and urged lawmakers to revive gun-safety regulations that are opposed by the National Rifle Association and most of his party. But late Thursday, he appeared to have changed his mind again, this time after a meeting with N.R.A. leaders that he described as “great.”
“I always said that it was going to take awhile for Donald Trump to adjust as president,” said Christopher Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media and an old friend of the president’s. In business, he said, Mr. Trump relied on a small circle of colleagues and a management style that amounted to “trial and error — the strongest survived, the weak died.”
Mr. Ruddy insisted that Mr. Trump was finding his groove in the Oval Office. But his subordinates are faring less well. With an erratic boss and little in the way of a coherent legislative agenda, they are consumed by infighting, fears of their legal exposure and an ambient sense that the White House is spinning out of control.
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Mr. Trump is isolated and angry, as well, according to other friends and aides, as he carries on a bitter feud with his attorney general and watches members of his family clash with a chief of staff he recruited to restore a semblance of order — all against the darkening shadow of an investigation of his ties to Russia.
The combined effect is taking a toll.
Mr. Trump’s instinct during these moments is to return to the populist themes that carried him to the White House, which is why his trade announcement is hardly surprising. Mr. Trump has few fixed views on any issue, but he has been consistent on his antipathy for free trade since the 1980s, when he took out newspaper ads warning about American deficits with Japan — a concern that has shifted to China in recent years.
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“The W.T.O. has been a disaster for this country,” Mr. Trump said Thursday, asserting that China’s economic rise coincided with its entry into the World Trade Organization. “It has been great for China and terrible for the United States, and great for other countries.”
But a president who has long tried to impose his version of reality on the world is finding the limits of that strategy. Without Mr. Porter playing a stopgap role on trade, the debate has been marked by a lack of focus on policy and planning, according to several aides.
Morale in the West Wing has sunk to a new low, these people said. In private conversations, Mr. Trump lashes out regularly at Attorney General Jeff Sessions with a vitriol that stuns members of his staff. Some longtime advisers said that Mr. Trump regards Mr. Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation as the “original sin,” which the president thinks has left him exposed.
Mr. Trump’s children, meanwhile, have grown exasperated with Mr. Kelly, seeing him as a hurdle to their father’s success and as antagonistic to their continued presence, according to several people familiar with their thinking. Anthony Scaramucci, an ally of some in the Trump family, whom Mr. Kelly fired as communications director after only 11 days, intensified his criticism of the chief of staff in a series of news interviews on Wednesday and Thursday.
Yet Mr. Trump is also frustrated with Mr. Kushner, whom he now views as a liability because of his legal entanglements, the investigations of the Kushner family’s real estate company and the publicity over having his security clearance downgraded, according to two people familiar with his views. In private conversations, the president vacillates between sounding regretful that Mr. Kushner is taking arrows and annoyed that he is another problem to deal with.
Privately, some aides have expressed frustration that Mr. Kushner and his wife, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, have remained at the White House, despite Mr. Trump at times saying they never should have come to the White House and should leave. Yet aides also noted that Mr. Trump has told the couple that they should keep serving in their roles, even as he has privately asked Mr. Kelly for his help in moving them out.
To some staff members, the chaos feels reminiscent of the earliest days of the Trump administration. Some argue Mr. Kelly should have carried out a larger staff shake-up when he came in. That has allowed several people to stagnate, particularly in policy roles, one adviser said.
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HR McMaster is reportedly becoming increasingly frustrated, and it’s fueled speculation he could be on his way out
March 2, 2018 by admin
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Thomson Reuters
- The White House is reportedly planning to replace National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
- McMaster reportedly threatened to quit in front of his staff and voiced frustration at White House officials.
- President Donald Trump is believed to have berated McMaster on several occasions, including one instance during which he complained McMaster droned on during meetings.
As reports Thursday painted national security adviser H.R. McMaster on the verge of a potential White House departure, a more fuller picture emerged of McMaster’s tenure, a rocky one that at least one point made him threaten to quit.
McMaster, who took on the role last February, has been known to storm out of the West Wing in fits of rage, according to The Washington Post. He also reportedly threatened to quit, but eventually calmed down hours later.
“He often gets frustrated, goes through a phase, and his peer support group pulls him out of a funk,” a senior administration official said to The Post. “I was convinced several times that this was it for his departure. Hasn’t happened. I think he deep down cares too much.”
McMaster’s statements and views have found himself often at odds with President Donald Trump. In his first group meeting at the National Security Council, he reportedly said using the term “radical Islamic terrorism” was counterproductive. Trump has used that label liberally before and after his election.
Thomson Reuters
Trump became increasingly frustrated with McMaster during meetings, according to The Post. The publication said Trump griped that McMaster droned on too long and was too rigid in his thinking. In one instance, when McMaster entered the Oval Office over the summer, Trump complained that he had already seen him that day.
Tension builds — and not just with Trump
Trump publicly took a rhetorical swing at McMaster last month, when he asserted that McMaster “forgot to say” during one public appearance that the 2016 US presidential election was “not impacted or changed” by Russia’s meddling.
McMaster has also reportedly been at odds with other senior officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
McMaster griped that Mattis, a former four-star Marine Corps general, treated him “like a three-star” as opposed to an equal in the administration, according to The Post.
Mattis and Tillerson are also believed to have opposed McMaster’s idea of a preemptive “bloody nose” strike against North Korea. McMaster was said to be a staunch proponent and has indicated that a limited strike may be needed to “compel” North Korea into denuclearizing. Mattis and Tillerson, on the other hand, are said to have warned the Trump administration of its potential implications and the chance that the conflict could spiral out of control after such a move.
White House denies McMaster is near the end
Several reports on Thursday floated potential replacements for McMaster, including Stephen Biegun, the vice president of international governmental affairs at Ford Motor Company; Safra Catz, Oracle’s co-CEO; and John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations.
But the White House pushed back on reports of McMaster’s impending exit, which was first reported by NBC News.
“We frequently face rumor and innuendo about senior administration officials,” deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a statement. “There are no personnel announcements at this time.”
National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton suggested Trump more emphatically denied the report.
“I was just with President Trump and McMaster in the Oval Office,” Anton said. “President Trump said that the NBC News story is ‘fake news,’ and told McMaster that he is doing a great job.”
Prior to joining the Trump administration, McMaster, a three-star US Army general, was widely praised for his military service. He was highly respected among military personnel and veterans and has been called a “warrior-scholar,” similar to Mattis.
His PhD dissertation-turned-book, “Dereliction of Duty,” chronicled how military officials did not effectively stand up to President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War.