Trump takes his time supporting Sanders after the restaurant rejects his

WASHINGTON – When Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary, was fired from a restaurant with her family over the weekend, the country's conservatives rallied to defend President Trump. through his spokesperson.

But a powerful voice in Mrs. Sanders' camp, Mr. Trump himself, took his time in offering his support to a senior assistant who became one of the most recognizable lightning rods on his policies and his false allegations . He waited 48 hours before writing a post on Twitter criticizing the appearance of the outside of the restaurant, which he described as "filthy" and revealing of an institution " dirty". He called Mrs. Sanders "a good person".

The episode – and the unusually lukewarm late response from the president – has highlighted a double-edged dynamic that seems to affect almost everyone in Trump's restricted circle and has recently begun to make its effects felt on Ms. Sanders: The President's inaccuracies and his own obfuscations during the White House briefings eroded his public credibility, his stock with Mr. Trump began to sink.

In recent days, Mr. Trump has asked people in private what they think of Mrs. Sanders – an indication, they say, that the president obsessed with the press began to sour over her. He also told him, before heading to the lectern in the briefing room, that he was going to "rate" his TV performances. (People who heard Mr. Trump make the threat say that he's joking.)

Mrs. Sanders has been under the watchful eye of her boss since the White House Correspondents dinner on April 27, when she remained at her seat during a scathing roast of a comedian who l? called a liar. Mr. Trump told people in the West Wing that he thought Mrs. Sanders should have left, as another White House official, Mercedes Schlapp, chose to do in a showy exhibition.

Mrs. Sanders has sometimes reminded her colleagues that she will not be in employment forever, according to West Wing officials. But these officials said that it was almost impossible to think of what Mr Trump would do for a replacement if Ms Sanders left. His main deputy, Raj Shah, is not widely regarded as a potential successor because he also should not stay in the White House long term.

And while the president is known to be fickle about his staff, he also avoids confrontation and does not relish firing people. His preference is to make life uncomfortable for the subordinates with whom he is unhappy, creating a clumsy dynamic that lasts until they leave.

Trump is already facing staffing challenges at a precarious moment in a mid-term election year, when previous presidents strove to keep their White House staff stable. But in the coming weeks, Trump will lose Marc Short, his legislative affairs chief who plans to leave in July, and Joseph W. Hagin, his deputy chief of operations, who announced this month. he was retiring.

John F. Kelly, the chief of staff, has already experienced the cycle that Ms. Sanders is facing. Mr Kelly has seen his reputation as a general apolitical four-star diminish in association with Mr Trump, and has felt the cold of a president who privately expresses his dissatisfaction on a regular basis.

Some of Sanders' colleagues said that they were impressed by her longevity, working for a mercurial and perpetually dissatisfied president. They also noted that at other times, Mr. Trump praised Ms. Sanders publicly and her colleagues.

But several White House staff have described the West Wing atmosphere as the most tense in months. According to interviews with half a dozen former and current staff members who are still in contact with people at the White House, a constant sense of dread has infiltrated into the everyday. Mrs. Sanders' rejection by the Red Hen, Lexington, Va., Restaurant has only exacerbated the feeling of unease.

For Ms. Sanders, the affront of a food establishment that challenges Mr. Trump's policy was infuriating enough to elicit an article on his official Twitter account that named the restaurant, which some food and beverage experts said was not a good idea. Ethics have described as a violation of the rules prohibiting federal employees from approving – and, by extension, criticizing criticism – a private company.

"A healthy debate about ideas and political philosophy is important, but calls for harassment and pressure for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable," Sanders said at the start of her briefing on Monday. .

Asked about her decision to use her White House Twitter account to complain about her treatment, Ms. Sanders replied that she was answering in her official capacity dozens of press inquiries about what had become a "news of the day", as it would on any other subject.

The episode quickly became a test of the nation's political divide, with some progressive activists offering eulogistic praise for the conservative restaurant and worshipers denouncing the owner's actions.

It was not the first time that Mrs. Sanders had become a flashpoint for a passionate partisan debate.

Ari Fleischer, press secretary of the White House under the leadership of George W. Bush, said that Sanders' image had been bolstered by the public escape of progressives, both in the red hen and in Michele Wolff's brutal jokes. the actor at the dinner of correspondents of the White House.

"People see it attacked in a very public way and in a way that seems to go beyond normal, and it generates sympathy and pushes people who do not like it, or Trump, to wonder if it goes too far. " .

He said the attacks on Ms. Sanders' credibility are the product of her position, including her defense of Mr. Trump's false claims.

"People were waiting for her to say," There is no evidence of what the president has said "- of course, she can not say it," said M Fleischer. "It's more a reflection of the things her boss sometimes says hard to defend, and then the expectation that she'll stay there and stuff holes in it, which is not her." job."