Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194
What Just Happened?
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway blasted Senate Democrats for “trying to embarrass” the incoming administration’s Cabinet nominees, The Hill reports.
Said Conway: “This idea of humiliating and trying to embarrass qualified men and women who just wish to serve this nation is reprehensible.”
Jonathan Bernstein: “We’re two days away from having a new president. But we’re apparently a lot longer than that from having a Trump administration with even a minimally functional ability to govern.”
“Overall, out of 690 positions requiring Senate confirmation tracked by the Washington Post and Partnership for Public Service, Trump has come up with only 28 people so far.”
At least 59 Democratic lawmakers have now announced they’ll boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, The Hill reports.
President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for White House budget director “failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household employee, he admitted in a statement to the Senate Budget Committee, the sort of tax compliance issue that has derailed cabinet nominees in the past,” the New York Times reports.
In a questionnaire provided to the committee, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), a conservative and vocal proponent of fiscal restraint noted, “I have come to learn during the confirmation review process that I failed to pay FICA and federal and state unemployment taxes on a household employee for the years 2000-2004.”
Politico: “Sources close to the transition describe Trump’s national security staffing as a ‘black box,’ leaving everyone from Obama administration officials to Trump job seekers and foreign diplomats guessing at who will land crucial positions shaping policy and managing crises. Much of the speculation focuses on the NSC, which plays the vital role of coordinating foreign policy and national security within the White House. The NSC staffing process is being controlled closely by Trump’s national security adviser-designate, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who, unlike his past several predecessors, has no NSC experience.”
Sidney Blumenthal: “Before Trump, only four men became president without winning a plurality or majority of the popular vote. Only one lost a greater percentage of the vote than Trump. Three of them served only one term. Three assumed office under clouds of illegitimacy.”
“Each of these presidents, raised to the office against the popular will, was marked by the defect of their election. None evaded the debility of their unpopular elections. Either they were so politically hampered they lacked credibility and could do little, or else they tried to defy their original sin by governing as though they had solid mandates and disintegrated.”
For members: Top 5 Ways to Question Trump’s Legitimacy
President-elect Donald Trump admitted that receiving intel briefings has shown him that the U.S. faces some formidable “enemies” but said he will “solve the problems,” ABC News reports.
Said Trump: “I’ve had a lot of briefings that are very… I don’t want to say ‘scary’ because I’ll solve the problems. But we have some big enemies out there in this country and we have some very big enemies — very big and, in some cases, strong enemies.”
He added that he likes his briefings short: “I like bullets or I like as little as possible. I don’t need, you know, 200-page reports on something that can be handled on a page. That I can tell you.”
President-elect Donald Trump “plans to select the media representatives who are given access to the presidential press briefing room, but will not move the room out of the White House,” Reuters reports.
Said Trump: “We have so many people that want to go in so we’ll have to just have to pick the people to go into the room – I’m sure other people will be thrilled about that. But we offered a much larger room because we need a much larger room and we offered to do that, but they went crazy. And they’ll be begging for a much larger room very soon, you watch.”
First Read: “We have three takeaways to the news from our latest NBC/WSJ poll, which shows President-elect Trump entering office Friday with historically low approval and favorability numbers. One, this is what happens when you don’t reach out to your opponents or the millions of Americans who didn’t vote for you. Two, Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election as much as Trump won it. (How do you lose to someone who is this unpopular, even during a honeymoon phase?) And three, Trump probably wishes Clinton were still around to campaign against.”
Just days before his inauguration, a new CBS News poll finds Donald Trump’s favorable rating at just 32%, the lowest of any president-elect going back to Ronald Reagan in 1981, when CBS News began taking this measure.
New York Times: “Indeed, Mr. Trump will take office on Friday with less popular support than any new president in modern times, according to an array of surveys, a sign that he has failed to rally Americans behind him, beyond the base that helped him win in November. Rather than a unifying moment, his transition to power has seen a continuation of the polarization of the election last year.”
“Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Friday, but he’ll consider his first day on the job to be Monday,” the Boston Globe reports.
Said Trump: “I mean my day one is gonna be Monday because I don’t want to be signing and get it mixed up with lots of celebration.”
“We’re going to show the people as we build up our military, we’re going to display our military. That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we’re going to be showing our military.”
— President-elect Donald Trump, in an interview with the Washington Post.
Politico: “Deep-pocketed donors face a decision on Wednesday night: whether to dine with the Vice President-elect at the National Portrait Gallery, or enjoy an ‘intimate policy discussion’ with incoming Cabinet appointees at an exclusive dinner at the Library of Congress. The closed-door events, just two of many being held during inauguration week, were double-scheduled by planners.”
“The cost of admission for the Cabinet dinner is included in a package for either $100,000 or $250,000 to the presidential inaugural committee, while dinner with Vice President-elect Mike Pence is open to donors and corporate underwriters at the $500,000 and $1 million-level as part of multi-day itineraries… The invite states that only ‘select’ Cabinet officials will attend, prompting concerns that only a few lower-profile nominees would be on hand. If that happens, ‘people will be pissed,’ the Trump donor said.”
Playbook: “What’s clear as Donald Trump takes the White House is that he’s not only on a different page than most elected Republicans in Washington, but is reading from a completely different book. Two easy examples: he said he wants health insurance for everyone — sounding more Bernie Sanders than Paul Ryan — and then dumped all over the complex but key border adjustment provision in the GOP’s tax reform plan. But the message dissonance is in stark contrast to a flurry of behind-the-scenes meetings and nearly daily contact between congressional leaders and the president elect and his team. The basic message, according to Hill and Trump World sources: Don’t get too spun up about what Trump says and tweets on any given day.”
Said one key Republican: “Folks just need to calm down. We’re not flying blind here. The president-elect is going to express himself in all sorts of ways but you have to understand that he and his team are talking to Hill leaders about these issues every single day. And all of our conversations are moving us closer, not apart.”
New York Times: “In a city bracing for convulsive change, Mr. Priebus has emerged as an unlikely symbol of stability, someone who they hope will domesticate the new president and transform his storm-the-gates campaign into a normal, functional White House that can ‘make America sane again,’ in a phrase making the rounds this week among congressional Republicans.”
“Mr. Priebus has had a spotty record on cabinet picks, pushing hard for the long-shot nomination of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York as secretary of state. But Mr. Priebus has had a relatively free hand to pick the operational staff that handles the day-to-day operations of every White House, while selling Mr. Trump on Sean Spicer, the pugnacious R.N.C. spokesman, for White House press secretary.”
“It’s like a Rubik’s Cube trying to figure this guy out. We have no freakin’ idea what he’s gonna do.”
— Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview with the New York Times, on what to expect from Donald Trump.
President-elect Trump has written his inauguration address draft himself, two senior Trump transition officials told CNN.
“The decision is a departure from how Trump tackled speeches during the campaign, when he either delivered off-the-cuff remarks or relied on text prepared by his senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller. It’s unclear exactly to what extent Miller has been involved in fine-tuning Trump’s draft.”
Politico: “With Republicans in control of the White House and the Senate, it wasn’t supposed to be this difficult for Trump to get his team in place posthaste, especially since Democrats did away with the 60-vote requirement for Cabinet nominees. But all signs are pointing to a slog for Trump and the Senate GOP, even if Republicans believe eventually all of Trump’s picks will be approved.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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