In the Trump White House, a month and a half is more like a lifetime, meaning that many officials, voters, and reporters—not to mention Trump himself—have long since moved on from the momentary chaos. (Indeed, one outside adviser to the president’s 2020 campaign told me he didn’t even recall that Trump had pledged to cut off the aid.)
This routine has both drawbacks and benefits for the president. But for American taxpayers and citizens of other countries, the effects can be devastating. By impulsively announcing a policy, Trump often harms his chances of actually seeing it brought to life, given a directive’s typical lack of vetting. But because so much of the news cycle is driven by Trump’s off-the-cuff statements and tweets—and not necessarily the follow-through—his supporters are often left with the image of a president who has, in fact, slashed aid to Central America, even if the money is still flowing into the three countries in question. (It is.) As one senior Trump-campaign official told me last week, the president’s appeal is about “the fight,” not “the resolution.” [...]
This cycle is a source of frustration among many of the aides tasked with trying to bring the president’s impulsive public demands to life. Even if Trump fixates on an entirely different issue the next day—perhaps something gleaned from that morning’s episode of Fox & Friends or the previous night’s Hannity—multiple officials across the federal government are still left to allocate resources and finagle some sort of response. (He is the president, after all.) Sometimes that means containing the fallout of Trump’s hastiness by walking back a decision, but doing so in an obsequious manner.
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