“In 1992, before delivering the Supreme Court's ruling in an abortion case, Justice Anthony Kennedy stood with a journalist observing rival groups of demonstrators and mused: ‘Sometimes you don't know if you're Caesar about to cross the Rubicon or Captain Queeg cutting your own tow line.’“
Shades of the Nixon enemies list, Trump is now seeking to muster coordinated messaging which continues to be a fleeting goal considering that Trump himself seems to negate the ham-fisted attempts to project leadership. Trying to replicate an election campaign’s rapid response to expected subpoenas will be a fool’s errand, but the WH has the fools for it.
“U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the news media and dismissed leaks from the White House as "fake news" on Sunday, following reports his son-in-law tried to set up a secret channel of communications with Moscow before Trump took office.”
… “That unfailing self-regard has not endeared him to the rest of the staff. Resentful Trump staff members have long talked about “Jared Island” to describe the special status occupied by Mr. Kushner, who, in their view, is given license to exercise power and take on a vague portfolio — “Middle East peace” and “innovation” are its central components — without suffering the consequences of failure visited by the president on mere hirelings.
Adding to the animus is Mr. Kushner’s aloof demeanor and his propensity for avoiding messy aspects of his job that he would simply rather not do — he has told associates he wants nothing to do with the legislative process, for instance. He also has a habit, they say, of disappearing during crises, such as his absence on a family ski trip when Mr. Trump’s first health care bill was crashing in March.” mobile.nytimes.com/...
the basic connections of a much more complex set of circumstances that led to the 2016 win
“It’s a seemingly impossible task,” one senior administration official involved with establishing the war room told the Daily Beast. “A disproportionate amount of our time has been spent reacting to ill-advised tweets.”
It has been duly noted in the White House that Mr. Trump, who feels that he has been ill served by his staff, has increasingly included Mr. Kushner when he dresses down aides and officials, a rarity earlier in his administration and during the campaign.
The most serious point of contention between the president and his son-in-law, two people familiar with the interactions said, was a video clip this month of Mr. Kushner’s sister Nicole Meyer pitching potential investors in Beijing on a Kushner Companies condominium project in Jersey City. At one point, Ms. Meyer — who remains close to Mr. Kushner — dangled the availability of EB-5 visas to the United States as an enticement for Chinese financiers willing to spend $500,000 or more.
For Mr. Trump, Ms. Meyer’s performance violated two major rules: Politically, it undercut his immigration crackdown, and in a personal sense, it smacked of profiteering off Mr. Trump — one of the sins that warrants expulsion from his orbit.
In the following days during routine West Wing meetings, the president made several snarky, disparaging comments about Mr. Kushner’s family and the visas that were clearly intended to express his annoyance, two aides said. Mr. Kushner did not respond, at least not in earshot.
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Then again, he’s getting a bit more thin-skinned… and bringing back Corey Lewandowski only doubles down on the same reactionary figures who might be useful to attack detractors but justice might not get as good a hearing.
More interesting is that someone in charge of Trump’s cellphone (Hope Hicks?) is now reading his replies and more importantly managing it by blocking folks.
Of course, The Return of the War Room might have been a much different film if some of its featured stars had accomplished once more what they pulled off back then: nominating a Clinton. Except that in 2008 the gods of irony put them on the wrong side of a divide that somebody once perfectly crystallized on a whiteboard: "change versus more of the same." This election cycle saw the ascendance of the second “once-in-a-generation” political talent in our generation. By definition, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has broken the cycle of the War Room culture associated with various Clintons and Bushes. As a result, The Return of the War Room arrives at a moment that feels very much like the fall of 1992 when the Democratic candidate found himself on the cusp of an historic victory and a turn-the-page presidency.