A Republican senator expressed his displeasure to Susie Wiles, the new White House chief of staff.
“I texted you three days ago,” the lawmaker said.
Wiles, who ran Donald Trump’s campaign, said she understood and would respond, without sounding rushed.
No doubt his phone must be flooded with messages from people who want jobs – or influence – in the new Trump administration.
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The behind-the-scenes maneuverings ahead of Trump’s second presidency could highlight the legislative and administrative battles the next White House will be forced to wage. (Getty Images)
But the maneuvers highlight a dilemma Trump could face in a city he controls, with both houses of Congress under Republican leadership (and Kamala Harris peacefully certifying the transfer of power yesterday, four years to the day after the Capitol riot).
The flip side of almost unlimited influence is that when things go wrong, there is no one else to blame.
And then there is the black hole known as Congress. After dragging Mike Johnson to the finish line in the presidential election, making calls even from his golf course, Trump now faces a dilemma after the Christmas battle over the cap. debt which simply delayed the budget fight until March.
Using a process known as reconciliation, which lowers the threshold from 60 votes in the Senate to 51 – both parties have used this to dominate their party line – Trump favors “a big, beautiful bill.” This would include budget cuts, energy deregulation, tax cuts, border crackdowns and other presidential priorities.
But many on the Hill support two separate bills, and some in Trump World believe Congress simply doesn’t have the wiggle room to take a kitchen sink approach.
So the big, beautiful bill might not pass until June, depriving the 47th president of a quick victory.
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Johnson will have just a one-vote margin, making it difficult for him to achieve the deep spending cuts desired by hardliners, echoing the battle that toppled Kevin McCarthy.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security would struggle to mount a major initiative because, like other agencies, it is operating under the interim spending budget that nearly shut down the government over Christmas.
The risk of introducing two bills is that once the first is passed, the momentum for approving a second measure could dissipate, even if it contains priorities such as tax cuts .
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s one-vote majority leaves him little room for error in his attempts to rally his caucus around the new president’s agenda. (Valérie Plesch)
Trump hedged his bets yesterday, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt: “I’d rather have one, but…I’m open to either solution, as long as something gets passed as quickly as possible .”
Washington is a city obsessed with titles and perceived influence, and that will impact how the White House is run.
Wiles helped downgrade some positions that have historically been titles from assistant to the president to deputy assistant to the president — something no sane outsider would care about, but is a major deal to insiders. Indeed, after reaching the limit on the number of assistant jobs, the only alternative was to create a certain number of assistant positions.
Wiles, for his part, told Axios: “I don’t accept people who want to work solo or become a star… My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, inappropriate questioning or drama.” These are counterproductive to the mission. “.
Karoline Leavitt, the new press secretary, is also deprived of the large office used by her predecessors for at least three decades. This goes to another communications assistant.
I remember being in that second floor office when Mike McCurry was press secretary and Bill Clinton came in and chatted while I worked on my book “Spin Cycle.” The reason for the size of the office was the gatherings that took place with the press, and sometimes interviews, which could not be arranged by most small offices in the West Wing.
Anyone in Wiles’ sensitive position would invariably upset some officials during a process that determines winners and losers. But Trump treats her like a grandmother and doesn’t yell at her like he would other officials when they disagree.
As for Elon Musk’s powerful role, Trump enjoys the company of rich people, and the owner of X is the richest person on the planet. So he has influence until he no longer has it, if the future becomes unclear.
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Besides, it will be harder for Musk to stick around once Trump leaves Mar-a-Lago for the White House, unless he wants to give Elon the Lincoln Room.
For now, the transition is organized chaos. But as Trump knows very well, having done this job before, when there is a terrorist attack, a border incident or a food price hike on his watch, he owns it.
Meanwhile, as Kamala Harris routinely certified her own defeat yesterday – receiving live coverage given the January 6 story – Donald Trump posted this:
Trump has made no secret of his feelings about the Biden team’s handling of the presidential transition. (Getty/AP)
“Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult as possible, from laws like we’ve never seen before, to costly and ridiculous executive orders on the new green scam and other hoaxes that waste money. ‘Money. Fear not, these “orders” will all be finished shortly, and we will become a nation of common sense and MAGA strength!!!”
Is it worse than what happened on January 6, 202?
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It’s true that the outgoing president has, among other things, issued orders to stop oil exploration on 625 million acres offshore, but there is no reason for the president to “drill, baby, drill” cannot reverse this decision, even if it might slow him down.
Harris gave a brief speech yesterday on the peaceful transfer of power, and Biden argued in a Washington Post op-ed that we must never forget what happened that dark day.
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No matter who you agree with, I think it’s fair to say that this issue was debated in the election and Americans voted to return Trump to the White House, knowing full well what s happened during the televised riot.
