White House Divisions Deepen As Trump Fumes Over Perceived Slights
The creative tension that Donald Trump
is said to encourage among his staff appears to have taken a more
tumultuous turn in recent days as the White House struggles to stabilize
in the wake of an unusually volatile weekend, during which Trump
repeatedly chided the press for accurately reporting the size of his
inauguration crowd.
As The Washington Post reports,
the president “feels demoralized that the public’s perception of his
presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of
accomplishment.” When the media began harping on the relatively low
turnout for his inauguration speech Friday, especially compared to the
massive protests the following day, Trump reportedly demanded a response
from Sean Spicer, his White House press secretary. But journalists weren’t the only ones who derided Spicer’s poorly received
rebuttal. While reporters attacked Spicer for sowing disinformation
about Trump’s crowd sizes (and then not taking any questions), Trump
reportedly disparaged him for the unflattering optics. Nearly a dozen
sources close to the president told the Post that Trump was
disappointed in Spicer, who he thought was too restrained and looked
unprofessional in an oversize pinstripe jacket.
Spicer
reportedly earned back some respect from Trump after delivering a more
composed follow-up presser on Monday—but he still might be headed for
the chopping block. On Tuesday, Mike Allen of Axios reported
that one top White House official was already discussing a potential
press secretary replacement as a result of Saturday’s disaster, which
might have confirmed a number of reservations Trump had about Spicer
previously. According to the Post, Trump was hesitant to name
Spicer to the top communications role at first, as “he did not see
Spicer as particularly telegenic and preferred a woman for the
position.” And in Trump’s circle, where loyalty is the No. 1 currency,
Spicer—unlike Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner—was brought in by former R.N.C. chair Reince Priebus
and doesn’t have a long history with Trump. He also may not project the
confident image Trump wants for the public face of his White House. As Maggie Haberman of The New York Times noted on Twitter,
the president wanted Spicer “to be in command/project strength. He did
neither . . . [H]e wanted Spicer to be a derivative of himself.”
Trump’s rocky first weekend in office has reportedly exacerbated tensions elsewhere in Trumpworld, too. Brad Pascale,
a Kushner confidant who served as the data and digital strategist on
the Trump campaign, has reportedly come up against G.O.P. mega-donor Rebekah Mercer—who was behind the campaign shake-up
that brought Conway and Bannon on board last summer—over what data
company the team should use for its operation outside of the White House
to bolster Trump’s support. And Kushner himself has emerged as a source
of some tension within the ranks. According to the Post, “a
number of Trump’s most loyal campaign aides have been alarmed by
Kushner’s efforts to elbow aside anyone he perceives as a possible
threat to his role as Trump’s chief consigliere,” and he reportedly
opposed Trump giving Conway a role in the White House.
Conway’s role has also come under scrutiny as her profile has risen. Despite taking over top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett’s office, one source suggested to the Post
that the distance between her office and the president’s is indicative
of her “diminished standing.” (Trump, meanwhile, reportedly called Vice
President Mike Pence to extol Conway’s “alternative facts” face-off with Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press
and offered her effusive praise onstage at a black-tie dinner on the
eve of the inauguration.) Reports have swirled that there is discord
among Trump’s closest advisers—Kushner, Bannon, Priebus, and
Conway—notably between the latter. But Conway dismissed the rumors to
the Post, characterizing the inner circle as a “cohesive unit”
and arguing that Priebus “has a very good way of choosing battles
wisely, which is a hallmark of a real leader and manager.”
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