GOP anxiety spikes as Trump perils grow
A growing number of Republicans fear that a battery of new revelations in the far-reaching Russia investigation has dramatically heightened the legal and political danger to Donald Trump’s presidency – and threatens to consume the rest of the party as well.
President Donald Trump added to the tumult yesterday by announcing the abrupt exit of his chief of staff, John Kelly, whom he sees as lacking the political judgment and finesse to steer the White House through the treacherous months to come.
Trump remains headstrong in his belief that he can outsmart adversaries and weather any threats, according to advisers. In the Russia probe, he continues to roar denials, dubiously proclaiming that the latest allegations of wrongdoing by his former associates ‘‘totally clear’’ him.
But anxiety is spiking among Republican allies, who complain that Trump and the White House have no real plan for dealing with the Russia crisis while confronting a host of other troubles at home and abroad.
Facing the dawn of his third year in office and his bid for re-election, Trump is stepping into a political hailstorm. Democrats are preparing to seize control of the House in January with subpoena power to investigate corruption. Global markets are reeling from his trade war. The United States is isolated from its traditional partners. The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference is intensifying. And court filings on Friday, local time, in a separate federal case implicated Trump in a felony.
The White House is adopting what one official termed a ‘‘shrugged shoulders’’ strategy for the Mueller findings, calculating that most GOP base voters will believe whatever the president tells them to believe.
But some allies fret that the president’s coalition could crack apart under the growing pressure.
Stephen Bannon, the former Trump strategist who helped him navigate the most arduous phase of his 2016 campaign, predicted 2019 would be a year of ‘‘siege warfare’’ and cast the president’s inner circle as naively optimistic and unsophisticated.
‘‘The Democrats are going to weaponise the Mueller report and the president needs a team that can go to the mattresses,’’ Bannon said. ‘‘The president can’t trust the GOP to be there when it counts . ... They don’t feel any sense of duty or responsibility to stand with Trump.’’
This portrait of the Trump White House at a precarious juncture is based on interviews with 14 administration officials, presidential confidants and allies, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss private exchanges.
Some GOP senators were particularly shaken by last week’s revelation that former national security adviser Michael Flynn had met with Mueller’s team 19 separate times – a distressing signal to them that the probe may be more serious than they had been led to assume, according to senior Republican officials.
Even in the friendliest quarters, there are fresh hints of trouble. Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson, a reliable prime-time booster of the president, faulted Trump in an interview last week for failing to keep his main campaign promises, understand the legislative process and learn how to govern effectively. – Washington Post