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A self-described “counter-puncher,” the President this week seemed to escalate his feuds and begin new ones: with the news media, the conservative Koch brothers and his own attorney general, whom he despises.
Presidential summer vacations, perhaps more than their winter counterparts, are often interrupted by world developments. President Barack Obama rarely made it through a stay on Martha’s Vineyard without having to address reporters: about Arab uprisings, unrest in Missouri or an ISIS attack. Last year, Trump leaned into the notion of a working vacation, taking meetings inside his Bedminster clubhouse and inviting reporters to witness them.
White House officials declined to specify what, precisely, Trump would be doing during this summer’s week in New Jersey. Trump was spotted playing golf on Friday morning before a severe storm ripped through the region.
Contemplating Mueller, Manafort and Cohen
This week the special counsel’s office responded to Trump’s lawyers offering new parameters for a presidential sit-down. But the two sides have yet to reach an agreement, even as the President remains intent that such an interview could help bring the investigation to a close.
People inside the White House said an angry burst of tweets on Wednesday — capped by a missive saying his attorney general should fire Mueller — reflected the anger Trump has aired privately for months, including about Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump has heard from top allies that he should be more outspoken about Sessions, even as Trump remains wary of firing him, people familiar with the conversations say.
On Tuesday night, Trump flew back from a rally in Florida with former aides who have stoked his anger and impulses in the past: current campaign manager Brad Parscale and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Earlier this summer, Parscale tweeted that Trump should fire Sessions in order to bring the Mueller probe to an end. A person on the flight says Trump spent most of his time with them in the air.
Hitting the trail and the media
White House aides are hopeful a heavy upcoming slate of politicking will improve Trump’s mood. He has used his rowdy campaign rallies as catharsis, basking in adoring crowds as he unleashes an explosion of grievance, with the occasional plug for whatever Republican candidate he is in town to bolster.
Instead, he used most of his time laying into the media, a sustained tirade that broke even his normal standards for griping. The crowd largely followed Trump’s lead, booing and jeering on cue. There are few signs the broadsides will cease; instead, people who have spoken to Trump say he believes the attacks on the media could form a winning part of his political pitch in the months and years to come.
The freshly hostile attacks on the media come amid a new — and evidently more combative — era for the communications operation inside the White House, now headed by former Fox News executive Bill Shine. There were signs this week of Shine settling into the job, even as John Kelly, the chief of staff, made known he had no intention of departing soon.
Shortly before the Italian prime minister was set to arrive at the White House on Monday, Shine was spotted outside the entrance to the West Wing with White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway. Documents in hand, Conway was describing to her new colleague what it looks like when foreign leaders arrive at the White House. Their vehicle slowly glides down the driveway before swinging around the portico, she motioned, and then the President walks out to greet his guest, before turning and smiling for the press standing nearby.
“I have never seen anyone shout a question from here,” Conway told Shine.
But officials say they have slowly started noticing his presence in the West Wing, whether it be through adjusted lighting for the President’s news conference in the East Room, after he complained how it had made his hair glow; neutral-density filters on windows to modify the sunlight ahead of video recordings; or even his increased stature with the President, who often asks aides “What does Bill think?” while making a decision.
‘Trump is Trump’
“It’s a classic situation where we are on the same page as the White House, but you know, Trump is Trump,” a senior GOP congressional aide said. “So it creates a little bit of uncertainty.”
Trump acknowledged on Thursday during his rally in Pennsylvania that his “preference” would be to shut down the government before voters head to the polls this fall. He noted twice this week that fellow Republicans have counseled him against pursuing such a contentious strategy so close to a moment of reckoning for the party, but said Thursday that the likes of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh had encouraged him to throw down the gauntlet on his border wall before the elections.
A White House aide said despite Trump’s repeated threats this week to force a spending battle over the wall in September, “his entire staff and Republicans in Congress are on the same page that shutting down the government before the midterms would doom us keeping the majority in the House.”
But even on vacation, the President made clear he was still focusing on his biggest obsession of all: campaign rallies.
He was heading to Ohio on Saturday, rallying support for a Republican facing a tough contest in a special election next week. On Thursday, however, Trump appeared confused about which Republican was on the ballot. He tweeted his support for Rep. Steve Stivers and encouraged his followers to vote for him on August 7 — even though Stivers isn’t up for re-election until November.
It likely makes little difference to Trump, who has treated his political rallies more as tributes to his own political successes than those of the candidates for whom he’s stumping. Some presidents may crave solitude on their getaways, but for Trump, soaking up adoration from supporters in a state where he can revive his own election victory may be the best relaxation of all.
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