Campaign Action
Donald Trump’s unhinged tweeting is making life difficult for his supporters … not that his supporters deserve a bit of sympathy. Unhinged, abusive tweeting was part of the package they bought into, and as adults, they could decide not to keep supporting the unhinged, abusive tweeter with all the Russia ties. Many ordinary voters are deciding just that, polls show. But congressional Republicans are committed to Trump, because the popular vote loser is their path to cutting taxes for the wealthy and cutting services for everyone else, and they’re not letting go of that. They just wish he’d shut up and let them be the grownups in the room speaking for him, the New York Times reports:
“The tweets make it much more difficult for us as we try to build a case against these leakers,” said Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican who sits on the Intelligence Committee. “We always have to be answering questions about the tweets — it puts us on defense all the time when we could be building a case for the president.” [...]
“I don’t always like what the president is saying,” the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, told The Washington Examiner last month. “I do think he frequently, by wading into other matters, takes attention away” from “the very substantial things we’re already accomplishing.”
Sean Spicer goes out every day tasked with defending and amplifying Trump’s tweets, however far from reality they may be, which he does with grim, angry conviction—in public. What about in private?
Within the White House, a number of Mr. Trump’s advisers — including the press secretary, Sean Spicer, who has himself repeated unsubstantiated claims of British spying on Mr. Trump — have told allies that Mr. Trump’s Twitter habits are making their jobs harder, said administration officials interviewed over the past week. Mr. Spicer said he has no problem with his boss’s tweeting. “It’s just not true. I have not commented on the tweets to anyone including my wife,” he said in an email.
Notice how Spicer’s not saying it’s not true that Trump’s Twitter habits are making staffers’ jobs harder, he’s just saying he hasn’t commented on it. And the whole “I have not commented … to anyone including my wife” thing seems like he’s protesting a bit too much. Nor could he resist tweeting his own angry response when one of the New York Times story’s authors tweeted the story out by saying “Even Spicer has had it with Trump’s tweets.”
But of course he has to say that. It’s Twitter. The boss is watching.