President Donald Trumps trip overseas may have been marked so far by his overly optimistic forecastsabout forging peace in the Middle East, a half-hearted message at the Israeli Holocaust memorial and the possible reveal of Israel as the source of sensitive intelligence he leaked to the Russians. But other than that, its been OK so far.
As it turns out, itsbecause influential members of his staff handled him in the same way you do a misbehaving teenager. They kept him busy.
As Politico reported on Tuesday, A decision was made early on to visit a part of the world where Trump is venerated and feared, and to pack his schedule so that he mostly stayed on message and, according to one aide, didnt have time to tweet.' Politico reportedthat the trip was packed with activities by Trump advisers Jared Kushner (his son-in-law),H. R. McMaster (his national security adviser) and Dina Powell (the deputy national security adviser for strategy). Powells influence has been particularly significant because she speaks fluent Arabic and has contacts from her years serving in the administration of President George W. Bush.
There are still a few days left in the trip, of course. And the president will be meeting with leaders who arent his biggest fans. But so far, hes been on his best behavior. And thats causing people to start using the p-word again.The visuals have been good, by and large, and he looks presidential, former President Barack Obama adviser, Democratic strategist Anita Dunn told Politico.
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Donald Trump's staff is managing him like he's a wayward teenager - Salon
The week started with a report Monday in The Washington Post that Trump had disclosed highly classified information to Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during a recent Oval Office meeting. While the White House pushed back on the disclosures as "wholly appropriate" -- in national security adviser H.R. McMaster's words -- they urged news organizations not to report on the actual information Trump told the Russians because it was so sensitive. Um, ok. Even as the White House -- and congressional Republicans -- were reeling from that revelation, this bombshell came from the New York Times: Then FBI Director James Comey had written a memo following a February 14 meeting with the President in which he noted that Trump had asked him to drop the investigation into deposed national security adviser Michael Flynn's ties to the Russians. "I hope you can let this go," Trump reportedly told Comey, after asking Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to leave the room.
It was only Tuesday.
The initial reaction out of White House was decidedly muted. "As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know -- there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity," Trump said. "I look forward to this matter concluding quickly."
By Friday, official Washington was running on empty -- exhausted by a seemingly endless stream of gigantic news stories, any one of which would dominate a normal news cycle for weeks.
The White House didn't deny the story. Instead they offered a ridiculous spin that Comey was getting in the way of Trump's attempts to push the reset button in the US relationship with Russia. Uh-huh.
Even that laundry list of horrible developments for the White House leaves things out -- most notably the ever-changing stories of why Trump actually fired Comey. It's mind-boggling.
Donald Trump, for stuffing seven years' worth of bad news into seven days, you had the worst week in Washington. Again. Congrats, or something.
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Donald Trump just had a(nother) terrible week - CNN
New York Times | Donald Trump, Our AI PresidentNew York TimesIt is hard to imagine a more scathing indictment of our ability to read another's thoughts and intentions than our inability to predict Donald Trump's next move. From the gross pre-election misjudgments to postelection bafflement, the best pundits are ... |
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Donald Trump, Our AI President - New York Times