The special elections to fill four seats of former GOP representatives that Donald Trump plucked out of Congress for his cabinet have exposed a widening rift between the White House and House Republicans fighting to maintain their majority.
National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Rep. Steve Stivers reportedly pushed the White House to choose some House Democrats for either administration or ambassadorial posts in order to put their seats in play for 2018. Guess what? Team Trump didn't listen. And now that the story's out there and the races in Georgia and Montana have gotten particularly hot, the White House has gotten all touchy about it, writes Jonathan Martin:
After reading the Times article, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, angrily complained to associates that Mr. Stivers was not treating the White House with respect and should not have publicly shared his request, according to three Republicans directly familiar with Mr. Priebus’s criticism. [...]
Mr. Priebus, who is highly sensitive about press portrayals of himself and the political stewardship of the White House, saw the anecdote as an example of congressional Republicans not offering Mr. Trump the deference that he is owed as the head of the party.
Last month, Mr. Stivers asked the Republican National Committee for financial assistance with the special elections. In discussions with the R.N.C. chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, Mr. Stivers intimated that the national party should feel partly responsible for the Georgia and Montana seats because Mr. Trump created the vacancies by appointing the Georgian Tom Price as health secretary and the Montanan Ryan Zinke as interior secretary, according to Republican officials familiar with the conversations.
Sorry Stivers, a White House that takes responsibility for anything at all other than "winning" is so 2016. In fact, White House officials apparently think they've been quite "generous" with the NRCC—Trump even headlined an NRCC fundraiser in March that netted $30 million, they say.
Nice try. That $30 million is going to be a pittance compared to what's needed to protect the GOP majority from Trump's abysmal approval ratings, not to mention his calamitous turn at governing (see Russia/health care).