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Keeping Trump’s Attention Is a Challenge

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Washington Post: “In a disorderly West Wing in which decisions are evaluated not by ideology but by their impact on the Trump brand and their fealty to the president’s campaign-trail promises, McMaster has struggled to become a dominant foreign policy force… Among his biggest challenges was holding the attention of the president… Trump had little time for in-depth briefings on Afghanistan’s history, its complicated politics or its seemingly endless civil war.”

“Even a single page of bullet points on the country seemed to tax the president’s attention span on the subject.”

Said one Trump confidant: “I call the president the two-minute man. The president has patience for a half-page.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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