Congress gets no respite from Trump
WASHINGTON — Washington needs a vacation from itself. Yet for those who remain in Congress — and across the city’s motley roster of aides, journalists, consultants and lobbyists — the collective exhaling over this August recess has been complicated, as ever, by President Donald Trump.
No commander in chief in recent memory has rendered elected officials more vacation ready. Nor has any exacted a greater psychic toll on them once they got away.
“Under this presidency, every hour feels like a day. Every day feels like a week. Every week feels like a month,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “Both the American people and the Congress do need a mental health break.”
Even workaday cable news appearances run the risk of rousing the “First Viewer”, especially if adverse weather upends executive tee times in New Jersey.
On Monday morning, with conditions soggy in Bedminster, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., spoke with CNN about investigations into Trump and his team. A short while later, an aide reached the senator with an update: The president was at it again.
“Interesting to watch Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talking about hoax Russian collusion when he was a phony Vietnam con artist!” Trump wrote. Before joining the Senate, Blumenthal made misleading remarks about having “served in Vietnam” when in fact he served in a Marine Reserve unit in Washington. Trump himself received five deferments from the draft, including one for bad feet.
Asked hours later how his recess was going, Blumenthal drew a long breath. “Well,” he said by phone. “It feels like it’s barely begun.”
For Republicans, the break has delivered a different kind of angst. But at least they are home.
Initially, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, said that the chamber would remain in session until midmonth. By last Thursday, three days into August, bipartisan consensus reigned inside the Capitol in the case of Washington v. Anywhere Else.
Sensing the prospect of mass exodus, lawmakers swiftly passed important legislation to finance the Food and Drug Administration, approved dozens of presidential nominees and set off on their “state work period.”
And already by Tuesday evening, lawmakers had been compelled to snap to attention once more. Trump told reporters at his golf club that he would unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it endangered the United States. Instantly, staff members strained to catch up, hustling in their home offices. Statements were prepared in their bosses’ names. The city stirred, grudgingly. Washington had not been sleeping. It was just resting its eyes.