The fact that a lot of people who might ordinarily be honest with the president - even if he just ignored them anyway - are outright avoiding him has exacerbated the issue that’s always been the case, where the people in his ear are the craziest ones. Olivia: As the president says, I feel very, very strongly that things are going very well, big league! Yugely. It kind of underscores the extent to which this White House is the definition of an unhealthy work environment and is populated by people who are entirely self-interested and sadistic.īen: So you’re saying everything is going smoothly. ![]() But it makes even less sense now that there’s an exit date for everyone, since it’s not like lancing your enemy is going to result in anything in the long term, like a better job or closer proximity to power. And also, unsurprisingly, a lot of the staff is totally preoccupied with petty infighting - which has always been the case. And I hear a lot from people who are either considering leaving early or who are just counting down the days until this is over. So I guess I’d say the mood is frustrated. But when they tell him they think it’s over, he tells them he doesn’t want to hear it and dismisses them from the room. So, for instance, he’s been reaching out to staffers who have been avoiding him since Election Day and asking them what they think. He’s also starting to worry about staffers writing books or doing interviews, like Brad Parscale just did with Fox, where they turn on him even in a minor way. But several officials I’ve spoken to have told me that even though Trump understands he lost, he’s still not ready to admit it, even in private conversation - and that he doesn’t want to have people around him who aren’t willing to at least to pretend to buy his fiction that there’s a path forward to overturn the results. Olivia: As with anything in the White House, it depends on who you talk to. Based on what you’ve picked up, what is the mood in the White House right now amid his ham-fisted and doomed attempt to stay in power? Much of the Trump administration is at last cooperating with the incoming president, but Trump himself has, if anything, ratcheted up his I-wuz-robbed rhetoric, constantly tweeting out inflammatory lies about a stolen election and continuing to unsuccessfully pressure state legislatures to simply overturn the results and hand him the election (as his lawyers rack up loss after laughable loss in court). But what about all the people around him? I talked to our Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi about White House workplace dynamics, when (if ever) the GOP rank and file will abandon a lost cause, and whether Trump will even stick around until January 20.īen: It’s been five weeks since the election, and we’re a few days away from the Electoral College meeting to ratify Joe Biden’s win. ![]() ![]() With his days in Washington ticking down, President Trump is doing what he does best: ignoring reality.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |