A8 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2019
conservative media, in recent
weeks has run a deluge of
negative headlines about Trump
in all caps or bright-red type.
Trump is scrambling to keep
his political coalition intact. He
posted a video Friday on Twitter
slamming Romney as a
“Democrat secret asset” who
had merely been “posing as a
Republican” — an ironic charge
about Romney, a lifelong
Republican, coming from
Trump, a former Democrat.
The president’s message,
typed in all caps, conveyed his
urgency: “REPUBLICANS
MUST STICK TOGETHER AND
FIGHT!”
Trump has long striven to
show strength and to declare
himself a winner, even if doing
so requires fabrications. In the
199 0s, when his businesses
failed and declared bankruptcy
several times, Trump recast his
role as that of a wily
businessman outmaneuvering
the bankers trying to take him
down.
Trump has some ready
assistants in perpetuating his
narrative of winning. Just a few
hours after acting White House
chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s
admission of a quid pro quo
with Ukraine that brought fresh
peril to the administration,
which Mulvaney later recanted,
Te xas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R)
took the stage at Trump’s Dallas
rally.
“Since you elected him, he
has done nothing but win and
win and win and win and win,”
Patrick said. “Name a topic! The
economy. The stock market. The
strongest military. Oil and gas
industry. Moving our embassy
to Jerusalem. Every issue. The
Supreme Court.”
It’s a message that continues
to resonate with the president’s
most ardent supporters, who
remain a bulwark against his
falling fortunes.
Watching from the arena
floor Thursday, Rod Ta ylor, a 54-
year-old mechanic, was
convinced.
Asked whether the recent
controversies weakened Trump,
Ta ylor responded: “Hell no. He’s
the strongest president we’ve
ever had.”
“Every time somebody says
he’s weak, he turns it around,”
Ta ylor added.
Trump’s handling of this
impeachment period contrasts
with that of the last president to
face impeachment, Bill Clinton,
two decades ago. Clinton’s
strategy then was to show the
American people that he was
focused on doing his job as
president and was not
distracted by the proceedings
on Capitol Hill, much as they
gnawed at him.
Clinton paid particular
attention to foreign affairs,
striving to fortify alliances,
whereas Trump strained
alliances with his Syria decision
and, in the estimation of critics,
got played by Erdogan.
“The world leaders rallied
behind Bill Clinton,” l ongtime
Clinton friend Te rry McAuliffe
recalled. “I remember talking to
Clinton, one of the first calls he
got was from [South African
President] Nelson Mandela.”
Some of Trump’s former
advisers are exhibiting less
restraint than in earlier periods
when it comes to speaking
about the president.
John Bolton, who departed as
national security adviser last
month, is writing a book about
his time working for Trump and
has retained the same agents
who represented former FBI
director James B. Comey for his
tell-all, Matt Latimer and Keith
Urbahn.
Former defense secretary Jim
Mattis, who for months had
steadfastly refused to criticize
the sitting president, poked fun
of Trump during a roast
Thursday night at the Alfred E.
Smith Memorial Foundation
Dinner. Mattis noted that
Trump had called him “the
world’s most overrated general”
during a meeting with
congressional leaders the day
before.
“I’m honored to be
considered that by Donald
Trump because he also called
Meryl Streep an overrated
actress,” Mattis said, invoking
the three-time Academy Award
winner. “So, I guess I’m the
Meryl Streep of generals.”
Mattis went on to mock the
president’s taste for fast food. “I
think the only person in the
military that Mr. Trump doesn’t
think is overrated is Colonel
Sanders,” Mattis said, referring
to the Kentucky Fried Chicken
founder whose likeness graces
the chain’s iconic chicken
buckets.
[email protected]Mike DeBonis contributed to this
report.the media, without noting that
several Republicans objected as
well, when announcing he was
scrapping the plan to hold the
summit at Trump National
Doral Miami.
One of Trump’s greatest
political advantages has been
the uniformly positive coverage
he receives in conservative
media, but the firewall of loyal
defenders on which he has long
relied is cracking.
Trump has been angry with
Fox News Channel because he
deems the straight reporting,
polling and some of the
punditry it airs insufficiently
adulatory.
After a Fox poll this month
found that a record 51 percent
of Americans support his
impeachment and removal from
office, Trump erupted. He
lamented on Twitter that Fox is
“much different than it used to
be in the good old days” and
complained that it “doesn’t
deliver for US anymore.”
The Drudge Report, arguably
the most influential website infinancial data, deciding that
Congress could seek eight years
of Trump’s business records
from his accounting firm.
The mounting crises for the
administration — including self-
dealing accusations over
Trump’s now aborted decision
to host next year’s G-7 summit
at his own Florida resort — have
weakened the president’s hold
on his party. During Trump’s
past controversies, most
Republican lawmakers publicly
defended the president even if
they privately expressed
frustration, but now some are
speaking out in utter
exasperation.
“I think it’s not a good thing
to have the appearance — you
know, in the law, there’s a canon
that says, ‘Avoid the appearance
of impropriety,’ ” said Rep.
Francis Rooney (R-Fla.). “I think
that would be better if he would
not use his hotel for this kind of
stuff.”
Trump on Saturday night
blamed the “Irrational Hostility”
he faced from Democrats andthe more hateful and enraged
these crazy Democrats become.
Crazy. They’re crazy.”
Still, Trump’s supremacy is
being challenged inside his own
realm. With his administration
engulfed by crisis, Trump can no
longer control the forces once
solidly arrayed behind him.
A variety of administration
officials, including high-ranking
political appointees, have
trekked to Capitol Hill to offer
damaging revelations during
day-long depositions before
impeachment investigators.
By testifying, these officials
have decided to ignore the
Trump White House’s
unequivocal refusal to
participate in a “totally
compromised kangaroo court,”
effectively ripping off the
muzzles the president placed
over their mouths.
Trump is being humbled by
the judiciary as well. A federal
appeals court in Washington
ruled against the president this
month in an extended legal
battle over access to his“When he got on the phone
call with Erdogan, he was weak
as could be,” Schumer said
Thursday on MSNBC. “He
should have told Erdogan: ‘You
can’t do this. America’s not
going to let you do this.’ Instead,
he green-lights Erdogan, and
then a few hours later sends this
ranting, rambling letter that
shows ersatz toughness — and
to show you the effect, Erdogan
ignored the letter.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s claim of
brokering a major trade “deal”
with China after months of
acrimonious negotiations has
been undermined in Beijing,
where Chinese officials for the
past week have refused to
confirm key elements of the
supposed agreement — a clear
sign of continuing disagreement
between the two parties.
“It’s deflating when the
curtain is pulled back and the
Wizard of Oz is a little guy,” s aid
David Axelrod, who served as
senior adviser in the Obama
White House. “If your whole
predicate is strength and
everywhere you turn there are
signs of weakness, it is a
danger.”
Axelrod added: “His psyche is
invested in this facade of the
strongman and yet he seems to
be heeled by strongmen.”
White House press secretary
Stephanie Grisham rejected the
notion that Trump’s position has
been weakened in recent weeks,
writing in an email, “This
Administration continues to
deliver real results for this
country.”
Trump has defended his Syria
decision, arguing that it was
wise for him to teach the Turks
and Kurds a lesson in “tough
love.” He has also accused
House Democrats, as well as the
media, of betraying the
American people with an
impeachment inquiry he argues
was designed to overthrow the
results of the 2016 election.
“The economy’s booming, our
people are prospering, our
country’s thriving and our
nation is stronger than ever
before,” Trump told a roaring
crowd of 20,000 at a campaign
rally Thursday night in Dallas.
“But the more America achieves,Republican lawmakers are
criticizing him. He has lost
control over major conservative
media organs. Polling shows
that Americans increasingly
disapprove of his job
performance and support his
impeachment.
And in a rare concession to
his critics, Trump announced
late Saturday that he no longer
plans to host the Group of Seven
summit of world leaders at his
Florida golf club, folding after
two days of intense criticism
over having picked his own
property as the venue for a
diplomatic gathering.
Many of Trump’s Republican
allies revolted over his decision
to withdraw U.S. troops in Syria,
which triggered a bloody
Turkish invasion that killed
Kurdish fighters and civilians.
Trump bragged about
sending a “very powerful letter”
warning Turkish President
Recep Ta yyip Erdogan not to
invade Syria. “Don’t be a fool!”
Trump wrote. But Turkish
officials leaked word that their
leader had thrown the letter in
the trash, and Erdogan then
took Trump to task for his “lack
of respect.”
“A re we so weak, and so inept
diplomatically, that Turkey
forced the hand of the United
States of America? Turkey?” Sen.
Mitt Romney (Utah), the
Republican Party’s 2012
presidential nominee, said in a
speech Thursday denouncing
Trump’s Syria decision as “a
bloodstain in the annals of
American history.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote an op-
ed criticizing the pullout, a rare
rebuke of Trump.
“A merica’s wars will be
‘endless’ only if America refuses
to win them,” he wrote,
referencing Trump’s frequent
argument that his critics want
to keep U. S. troops abroad
indefinitely.
Senate Minority Leader
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said
Trump “shows strength at all
the wrong times, and then when
he needs to show strength, he
shows abject weakness.”
TRUMP FROM A
WHITE HOUSE DEBRIEF
Tr ump can no longer control the forces once staunchly arrayed behind him
JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST
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