President Donald Trump has spent his last week in his office, as in previous years: burning relations or increasing his power.
In the past few days, the president has launched a primary against top-ranked Republicans, ousting administrative officials who were Bedrock allies, threatening big bills formed with his team and turning to officials who did not help him stay in power. Inside the White House, the response to all of that is raising alarm bells, With the resignation, this is the modus operandi of the 45th US President. Trump’s deep self-interest is no secret. But despite being clearly anti-democratic from the onslaught on democratic processes by its legitimate team and administration, that feature never appears against the background of this result.
“The president spent more time over the Christmas weekend [at Mar-a-Lago] Talking about other Republicans who weren’t doing what they wanted and behaving like failures and losers, ”said a person present at his private Florida club who said his complaints were over. Even behind closed doors, the source said, “he didn’t look happy about this Christmas.”
“You don’t want to go out with him this way. It’s not like you’re in a bunker at the end of the WWII. You are in Crazy Town.”
– Sam Nunberg, Trump’s former political adviser
But Trump’s actions also raise questions about his future. And they have highlighted the basic paradox behind their political rise – once again: how can one burn so many bridges and not find oneself alone in the end?
“He’s no longer a celebrity mogul magnet because he was in New York, and now he’s part … that special Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush [one term president] Club, ”said Sam Nunberg, a Trump supporter and former political adviser. “He’s gone from handling it in a way that would have helped him keep the power base that he now had to go through conspiracy theories and hand over the portfolio to Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell’s two messy mornings. Get out. It’s not like you’re in a bunker at the end of WWII. You’re in Crazy Town. “
Trump has always presented himself as an iconoclast. His bravery also took place in New York City in the 1980s. He lives among his contemporaries because of his love of meditation. He first considered contesting the presidential election as an independent. And even when he got the Republican Party nomination, it was under a framework of hostile takeover.
One of the surprises of his time in office fees is that he stuck so firmly in the traditional Republican agenda. But Trump was never truly part of the party, At least in no way does his second-in-command recognize anyone like Mike Pence. That he was not a traditional politician. He has shown no loyalty to his aides or fellow GOP legislators or his cabinet members. He fired people on Twitter, mocked his GOP detractors, executed his fanatics, and disciplined the leadership when they were not strangers.
And yet, even by those standards, the last few days have seen insiders feel shocking for their destruction. Trump has attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for admitting that Biden was elected president; He has threatened the primary San John Thun (RSD) for not going along with the efforts to block the election certificate; He fired Attorney General Bill Burr for not doing enough to win the election from the department’s resources; He has turned to White House adviser Pat Poplon for not supporting authoritarian initiatives such as increasing the voting machine; And he sen. As part of retaliation against James Inhoffe (anti-alliance), he cut the deal to give Morocco in Western Sahara an alliance that would not use a defense bill to go after social media giants like Trump. He has slammed the Republican leadership in Georgia because the state is a U.S. powerhouse. Run-ups that could determine Senate control are ready for elections.
Most recently, he took the torch of a covid-relief bill negotiated by his own Treasury secretary and threatened not to sign a government-funded bill for provisions that largely matched requests made by the provision office. And those who have complained that his behavior is irregular and deeply problematic have stretched out two huge middle fingers.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Trump has sharply criticized his opposition to funding bills in recent days. Instead, Trump called his G.O.P. Alleged for not doing enough for Stalworts Him, Sources said. A man who spoke with Trump lightly reminded the president that his move toward relief legislation could make life harder for his Republican allies in DC and Georgia, simply replying to Trump by saying (according to this source), “Well, That life. The source then recounted how the president should focus more on the “fraud” of this 2020 election to the elected Republicans and if Biden’s clear victory should be reversed, and complained that they are not fighting aggressively or taking a united front. Turned. .
It may not come as a surprise to those in the short end of the exchange that Trump will ignore his party and turn to top aides in times of crisis. Few, if any, end up in a better place than where their relationship with Trump began.
Take Nunberg. When he got involved in Trump’s campaign, despite the fact that Trump in his words “threw my father’s pay out of the money”. But beacons could be beacons, and Nunberg said he saw something historic in what Trump was doing. So it was morning. And, for a while, it worked. Until then it happened. He was fired after finding racist Facebook posts on his page. He claimed he was not his at the time, but later apologized for the posts in an interview with MSNBC.
The Trump campaign was eager to distance itself from Nuremberg, and Trump sued his former campaign aide in 2016 for 10 million, claiming he had violated the confidentiality agreement by speaking to the press. The two settled the lawsuit later that year.
Looking back now, Nunberg believes Trump “ruined my career.” He predicts, and he won’t be alone either. “Hope Hicks,” he said, “should stop at Fox [Corps]Corey Lewandowski, the one-time Trump campaign manager and his nemesis, predicted that “at some point he will return to New Hampshire with a reduced share of rent.”
Others also have fewer futures. Trump has served as one of Trump’s most trusted advisers and most of the latter’s carriers, with former administration leaders such as John McIntyre and Dan Scavino serving as former leaders in the White House. -House social media and mega messaging. Both are incarnations of the Republican operator operator who is so tied to the outgoing president at the moment that it’s hard to imagine their public life without them like a vehicle. He was facing public scandal after Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parskell, was pushed aside from his post and when police were called to his home. Other aides have been forced to bear the brunt of the legal drama – and the massive billing – of political isolation, and indefinite compensation in the private sector. Some have been pardoned in recent days. But that forgiveness carries with it the stress of notoriety.
Nunberg, for his part, couldn’t explain why he led people to Trump knowing the damage they were doing. Some suspect he wants proximity to power. Others believe they can shape it. Many people look to make money out of it. But one of them was a mystery.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know,” Nunberg said. “I was the one who was treated badly outside.”
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