WASHINGTON ― Republicans might reasonably have a number of reactions to a new book’s portrayal of President Donald Trump as a delusional, puerile ignoramus ― betrayal at the participation of colleagues, fear that their agenda is further imperiled.
But one emotion they cannot honestly express: surprise.
Journalist Michael Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, describes the president as a blustering, attention-challenged chief executive with little interest in most of his duties and deteriorating cognitive skills. A former deputy White House chief of staff, Katie Walsh, is quoted as saying her job was “like trying to figure out what a child wants.”
That blistering assessment is not much different from the way Republican leaders were describing him in private conversations from the time Trump sewed up the GOP nomination in late spring of 2016.
One top Republican National Committee official described to HuffPost how then-party chairman Reince Priebus would have to preface any criticism of Trump with several statements of praise. Otherwise Trump would lash out and not heed the advice, the official said on condition of anonymity to describe their nominee candidly.
When it was pointed out that was a common tactic for parents dealing with unruly preschoolers, the official smiled and shrugged.
A GOP fundraiser, recalling a late summer 2016 gathering of donors where he met Trump for the first time, said he watched in amazement as Trump was so flattered by the attention that he insisted on being photographed and engaging in lengthy self-congratulatory conversations with every person in attendance. It threw off the schedule for the rest of the day. “OK, so our guy is insane,” he said, also on the condition of anonymity.
All of those mental and personality traits now generating such chaos have been in full view for years, according to Rick Wilson, a Republican consultant in Florida who has been a vocal Trump critic since he entered the presidential race.
“Of course, he’s overmatched since day one on the job,” Wilson said. “You would not put this person in charge of a Waffle House, let alone the White House.”
Back in the summer of 2016, there was little thought even among GOP officials that Trump would actually become president. Rather, the goal was to temper his outbursts and unscripted statements so as to improve the chances that Republican members of Congress in Democratic-leaning states would retain their seats.
“I thought the fight would be over keeping the Senate,” said Grover Norquist, head of the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform who was then and remains today close to Republican leaders in Congress and the White House. Norquist said he was as surprised as anyone when Trump wound up winning the election.
Over his first year in the White House, Trump’s lack of knowledge about policy or even basic governance has been well documented, as has his continued unwillingness to accept criticism.
One Republican close to the White House, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Trump still needs to be mollified with praise before being given bad news or unwelcome advice. “That’s how he is,” the person said.
But Norquist said that his dealings with the White House in the recent push for tax cuts showed a president fully engaged. “On taxes, he’s focused and he gets it,” Norquist said.
The tax cut legislation was perhaps the only bill that Trump dealt with all year that directly affected him and his personal finances. A last-minute change before the House and Senate cast their final votes gave the sort of businesses that Trump owns a 20 percent tax break ― a matter that certainly could have held the president’s attention.