As his White House staff and his allies talk of an atmosphere of “pure madness”, Donald Trump jokes, “I like chaos” and says — jokingly? — that it might be a good idea if he was President for life.
White House aides are telling reporters of the worst turmoil since last summer, with a volatile Trump swinging between anger, frustration, and occasional euphoria amid the Russia investigation that is closing on him and his inner circle. They fear that, as one official put it, “we haven’t bottomed out”.
Trump’s circle shrunk last week with the resignation of his closest confidante, White House Communications Director Hope Hicks. And his son-in-law Jared Kushner is under great pressure — a pressure possibly fed by rivals around White House Chief of Staff John Kelly — with a series of revelations about his financial entanglements in meetings with foreign officials and in loans from US funders benefitting from Trump’s rollback of regulations.
In the past week, Trump swung wildly from position to position on gun control. He suddenly imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum — reportedly deciding after watching pro-tariff advertisements on Fox TV — that angered American allies and worried US businesses. And, fretting about the Russia inquiry, he renewed attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Some advisors said Trump has been cheerful at times, particularly over media coverage of his prominence in the gun control debate and with diversions such as his comedic routine for a Saturday night dinner with Washington officials and journalists.
But others are noting an increasing toll on Trump’s mental state. “Pure madness,” said one ally.
Trump has been asking people close to him if they think Kushner or Kushner Companies has done anything wrong. He repeatedly tells aides that the Russia investigation will not ensnare him and that he thinks the American people are finally starting to conclude that it was the Democrats who colluded with the Russians.
As the Trump-Russia investigation is leading to more indictments and convictions, Trump has turned again against Attorney General Sessions, who was forced to recuse himself because of his own contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in 2016.
Trump was furious on Wednesday night about a photo of Sessions at dinner with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and another top Justice Department prosecutor, hours after Trump had demanded on Twitter that Sessions investigate 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The next morning, Trump was raging to friends and allies about an intentional show of disloyalty.
“Morale is the worst it’s ever been,” said a Republican strategist in frequent contact with White House staff. “Nobody knows what to expect.”
“A Rigged System”
Both Trump’s anger and his bluster were on display on Saturday in a lunch at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and then at the Washington dinner.
At Mar-a-Lago, he railed again about a system that is not supporting his claim to leadership. Updating his pre-election mantra, when he thought he might lose to Clinton — and reflecting his running battle with agencies such as the FBI and the Justice Department — he said:
I’m telling you, it’s a rigged system folks. I’ve been saying that for a long time. It’s a rigged system. And we don’t have the right people in there yet. We have a lot of great people, but certain things, we don’t have the right people.
At the Gridiron dinner, he tried joking about the situation:
So many people have been leaving the White House. It’s invigorating since you want turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Who’s going to be the next to leave? [Hard-right senior advisor] Steve Miller, or [wife] Melania?
Trump said he had offered Sessions a ride to the dinner, “but he recused himself”. And, in another joke about himself and his foes, he said North Korea’s Kim Jong Un faced “the risk of dealing with a madman” if they ever met.
But perhaps the most telling “joke”, amid the contrast between “chaos” and Trump’s attempt to portray his authority, was this remark about China’s leader Xi Jinping, who just removed Presidential term limits:
He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great,. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great.
Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.