[ad_1]
President Trump attends a meeting on Thursday in the White House Oval Office. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)
When President Trump delivers his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, a Democrat will sit at the podium above his shoulder for the first time .
The presence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Will bring new relief not only to the change of power of the Capitol, the opposition party can now thwart the agenda President, but also the converging pressures on Trump that led his presidency to a crossroads. 19659004] Trump imposed a political defeat with the closure of the government for 35 days. He has not secured any funding for the construction of a border wall and is preparing to declare a national emergency to fulfill his campaign promise. He recently clashed with the country's intelligence chiefs and some senators from his own party. The inquiry into Russia, which has trapped several of the president's allies, seems to be coming to an end. New congressional control surveys will begin soon. And the race to defeat him has really started.
"It's a defining moment," said Chris Whipple, author of "The Gatekeepers," a story of White House Chiefs of Staff. "Time is counted. It's a last chance to really do things right. "
The challenges stand at a time when Trump is as unused and isolated as ever. Inside the White House, assistants describe a chaotic and raging atmosphere reminiscent of the first weeks of Trump's presidency.
Power has been consolidated around presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, a senior advisor who de facto serves as head of the White House. Staff. Some counter-weight such as the ousted Chief of Staff, John F. Kelly, having disappeared, according to some advisers, the West Wing has the feeling of the 26th floor of the Trump Tower, where the latter had absolute control of the family business and was free to follow his impulses.
Mick Mulvaney, who replaced Kelly on an acting basis, said he was trying to manage the staff but not the president, according to officials in the administration. He told his friends that he came and went in the oval office and that he met alone Trump twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening, for about 15 minutes each. At a recent dinner, he had asked him if he acted as porter, Mulvaney laughed saying, "I do not try to stop him from doing things" , according to officials.
"I do not think he even tries to mask the fact that he runs the family business instead of one of the most powerful countries in the world," said Omarosa Manigault Newman, who starred in Trump's NBC reality show "The Apprentice".
Mick Mulvaney, Acting Chief of Staff of the White House, listens as President Trump meets with US manufacturers and signs an executive order in the Oval Office. Thursday. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)
The popularity of Trump is in decline. Polls show that many more Americans blame it for closure than Democrats and that a growing majority disapproves of its performance – despite Trump's management of a robust economy and its stated intentions to withdraw troops American unpopular foreign wars.
if Trump on Tuesday could use his annual speech in front of a joint session of Congress – and in front of a national television audience in prime time – to rectify his journey and seek to extend his call or get lost in conflicts with the opposition party, mainly illegal immigration and border security.
Last week, Trump had declared that his "State of the Union" would concern "unification", but this theme contradicts the president's fighting instincts and his indifference, even his hostility, to the Regards negotiations in Congress.
"He can blur national unity, but if he points the finger at the people in the gallery and says, in fact, immigrants of color come and kill you, that would undermine any pretense," he said. Michael Waldman, who, as a White House speechwriter, helped President Clinton establish the state of the Union following two closures by the government between 1995 and 1996.
Presidents faced with a decline in the number of polls have chosen to be very conciliatory or very optimistic, "said Waldman. "That would surprise everyone here. I do not know if this is in Trump's repertoire. When he does, he has the impression of reading under the duress of the prompter – and everyone knows that he will come back to the White House, but he will start tweeting again. "
Although the fight for a border wall has been a leader Over the past two months, the president's advisers have pointed out that his speech would not be a jeremiad focused on immigration, but that it would not be an issue. he would set an agenda for the coming year, for example, Trump plans to talk about infrastructure development and prescription drug pricing, two issues related to a broad bipartite call, according to a senior The White House
The president should also talk about foreign affairs and highlight recent moves by his government in Venezuela to force President Nicolás Maduro to take power, as well as ongoing trade talks between Trump and China and his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this weekend
At the same time, conservative leaders urge Trump to heavily insinuate Abortion has Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) sparked a national outcry last week for comments interpreted as arguments in favor of infanticide. The senior official said Trump would likely address the issue, which his aides described as an effective way to boost his political base after giving in to Democrats in January to end the closure.
President Trump, Center, Speaks at a Human Trafficking Meeting with Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Timothy Ballard, Founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, at the White House on Friday. (Oliver Contreras / For the Washington Post)
"For Trump, it's time to go," said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. "This speech tonight is not what you are against. That's what you are for. Tell the American people what you want to do and why. "
Yet, Trump's natural predisposition is to fight. It's a particularly confrontational moment for the President as he fights for the construction of a wall at the US-Mexico border. Congressional Democrats and the media.
Trump said he was about to declare a national emergency, which would prompt the executive powers to try to redirect federal funds toward building border walls without congressional approval.
We have set the stage for what is going to happen, "said Trump last week.
Such a move could pose legal problems and trigger a political storm, and some lawyers in the administration questioned the power of the president to do so, but plans were nevertheless developed for an emergency declaration.
Mulvaney told Trump that a national emergency would be "viable" and sought public financial means to exercise the option.A Army Corps officials have reviewed draft declarations identifying at least three companies likely to start working on the wall without a contract. candidacy, according to people familiar with the planning of the administration.
Looking for a Trump wall has few options.He does not want another government to the closing, believing that it had been politically defeated for the last time, and Democrats in the House made it clear that they would not vote to fund the construction of a wall before the deadline of February 15 to adopt a new project of law on internal security expenditure. 1965 – Republican representatives of the Senate also oppose the declaration of a national emergency, he added. The Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Warned Trump last week that this act could split the government, and told the President that Congress could pass a resolution disapproving of a statement of concern. emergency.
Rep. Mark Meadows (CR), head of conservative House Freedom Caucus and Trump's confidante, said, "It's not their call. There is not a single president there in the Senate. Quite frankly, some of them ran for the presidency.
Marine One's propellers are lifting snow on the South White House lawn as she transports President Trump and his family on Friday. (Oliver Contreras / For The Washington Post)
The administration is also preparing for what the ally calls "a storm storm" once the Democrats in the House have launched their promised surveillance investigations, which should allow to investigate the conduct of the president and his personal finances. alleged corruption in the administration
White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and deputy attorney Michael Purpura met with agency leaders to provide how to respond to monitoring requests and to review their staff. According to one person who attended the meeting, the lawyers planned their projects and met with chiefs of staff to help them prepare.
[A beefed-up White House legal team prepares aggressive defense of Trump’s executive privilege as investigations loom large]
Chase Untermeyer, Director of the Presidency. staff under former President George HW Bush, said that he was "puzzled". Trump has left so many senior political positions in his government, either vacant or filled with "interim" officials. These vacancies may be particularly problematic once Democrats' investigations begin, he said.
"Whatever the storm clouds, you need to have a team fully deployed in the field, not just to the White House agencies," said Untermeyer.
Meanwhile, Trump was ruminating last week on a former White House aide, Cliff Sims, whose full book describes malfunctioning and disloyalty in the West Wing.The staff members presented excerpts from Sims' book to the president and defended themselves against the portrait of their ex-colleague The advisers claimed that Trump was even more agitated, which rejected Sims as a "gofer" of low level.
Trump was less focused on the memory of the former New Jersey governor, Chris Christie – who wrote scathing on Kushner but sympathetically on the president – although he told his collaborators that he had not " liked "all comments from Chr during his media tour, according to a senior White House official.
The president was also irritated by the media coverage of his intelligence officials, including the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and their testimony in Congress, where they contradicted the president on several national security issues, including North Korea, Iran and the status of the Islamic State. But officials said he had not read the testimony – he had only seen the press accounts – and that he was relieved when intelligence officials explained to him what was wrong with him. they had told the senators.
Over the weekend, Trump tried to escape Washington's troubles by returning his first trip in two months to Mar-a-Lago. After spending Christmas at the White House, the President traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, where he played golf with two sports legends.
"Super morning at the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, with @JackNicklaus and @TigerWoods!" Trump tweeted Saturday with a picture of the three smiling ones.
[ad_2]
Source link
