Donald Trump — unbridled and emboldened, his control of the Republican Party all but complete, canny about the mechanics of government in a way he was not eight years back when his first election was such a shock — is headed again to the White House. But how exactly might this tour differ from the last tumultuous term?
To get a better sense of what is to come — in the Senate confirmation hearings for his controversial Cabinet picks, his first 100 days and beyond — I convened a quartet of POLITICO colleagues who’ve watched and covered Trump from the get-go: Anita Kumar, Eli Stokols, Kyle Cheney and Meridith McGraw. Their composite take: Trump is Trump, always has been, always will be — fractious, breakneck, unscripted — but after Jan. 6, two failed assassination attempts and an array of prosecutions (and convictions) didn’t stop him from getting reelected by a larger margin than the first time he won, he has, they say, a different sort of confidence and nerve. The GOP establishment is no longer so much trying to control him as he is testing the absolute limits of its willingness and ability to stand up to him.
It’s a moment that’s in some sense reminiscent of points in his past that ultimately led to trouble for Trump — Icarus-like inclinations that have made for scrapes he’s had to work hard to survive. At least for now, though, barreling toward what promises to be a contentious four or more years, the 45th and now 47th president is proceeding with an air of untouchability.
We had this conversation before the especially controversial Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration as Trump’s desired attorney general. But plenty of boundary-stretching Cabinet candidates remain. “He’s daring Senate Republicans to go against him — but he’s also daring the entire government apparatus to defy him,” McGraw said. “There’s an audacity to all of it.”
If there is a vestige of a guardrail left, in Cheney’s view, it’s that the protection afforded him by the position only lasts as long as his occupation of the office. “All the forces that were coming for him have been kind of defanged and obliterated,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean that he’s impervious to them forever.”
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
IF we do OUR job, those that would come against him be “no more forever”. And that’s on US. Expose it all….FULL transparency AND accountability. Do not forget the children……
“Trump still standing, everyone else exhausted”
Isn’t that the truth? We have to make sure that he is protected-we will not get another like him!
Screech, gnash your snaggled teeth and cry MOAR, libtard wingnuts. Crawl back in your pathetic holes and die!
RIP = May your miserably rest in Purgatory for eternity.
anoldpieceofleather