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You are here: Home / White House / What a Weak American President Looks Like

What a Weak American President Looks Like

July 18, 2017 at 9:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

BuzzFeed: “Trump spent much of this past weekend watching the U.S. Women’s Golf Open at his family-owned golf club, a kind of metaphor for a presidency disconnected from actual power. But the health care failure — in which Trump allowed himself to lose control of his own agenda, and then lose the fight for that agenda — was the most humiliating in a sweep of presidential defeats.”

“The White House has lost control of its foreign policy to the military and to allies who can’t work with a globally loathed American leader even if they wanted to. He has lost control of his domestic policy to Congress, which has been unable to give him a signature win despite Republicans controlling both chambers. He has lost control of his own aides to leaks and investigations, of his old television cronies to spiteful personal feuds, and most of all of the narrative of an ‘America First’ presidency with a coherent vision or promise.”

Also interesting: “Even the president’s top backers are losing patience. Billionaire Trump patrons Rebecca and Bob Mercer are ‘apoplectic’ over the health care debacle, with renewed fears that Trump’s lofty goals of changing Washington have become all but impossible”

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Filed Under: White House

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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