Trump dogged by insecurity over popular vote, coverage
Washington — Donald Trump holds the most powerful office in the world. But he’s dogged by insecurity over his loss of the popular vote in the election and a persistent frustration that the legitimacy of his presidency is being challenged by Democrats and the media, aides and associates say.
Trump’s fixation has been a drag on the momentum of his opening days in office, with his exaggerations about inauguration crowds and false assertions about illegal balloting intruding on advisers’ plans to launch his presidency with a flurry of actions on the economy. His spokesman, Sean Spicer, has twice stepped into the fray himself, including on Tuesday, when he doubled down on Trump’s false claim that he lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally cast ballots.
“He believes what he believes based on the information he was provided,” said Spicer, who provided no evidence to back up the president’s statements. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have finalized their election results with no reports of the kind of widespread fraud that Trump is alleging.
If the president’s claim were true it would mark the most significant election fraud in U.S. history — and ironically, would raise the same questions about Trump’s legitimacy that he’s trying to avoid. Yet Spicer repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether the Trump administration would investigate the allegations pushed by the president.
Some Trump allies say Trump is justified in using his platform to defend his standing. They point to Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis’ pre-inauguration statement that he did not see Trump as a legitimate president, as well as U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia meddled in the election to help Trump win.
“Segments of his own government keep driving this narrative,” said Roger Stone, a longtime confidant. “I don’t think it hurts to point it out.”
Key advisers in Trump’s circle concede the focus on crowd claims and alleged voter fraud have been a distraction. But who’s going to stop him from airing his complaints?
After relishing in Friday’s inaugural festivities, the new president grew increasingly upset the next day by what he felt was biased media coverage of women’s marches across the globe protesting his election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Trump was particularly enraged with CNN, which he thought was “gloating” by continually running photos of the women’s march alongside the smaller crowds that attended his inauguration the day before, according to this person, one of several White House aides and associates who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
Trump has had a tumultuous relationship with the press, frequently calling the media dishonest and insulting individual reporters by name at his rallies and on Twitter. Still, two people close to Trump said he expected his coverage to turn more favorable once he took office. Instead, he’s told people he believes it’s gotten worse.
The bad press over the weekend has not allowed Trump to “enjoy” the White House as he feels he deserves, according to one person who has spoken with him.
The result has been a full display of Trump’s propensity for exaggeration and more. During an appearance at the CIA Saturday, he wrongly said the inaugural crowds gathered on the National Mall stretched to the Washington Monument, despite clear photo evidence to the contrary. And during a reception with lawmakers from both parties Monday night, he repeated his false assertion that millions of illegal immigrants provided Hillary Clinton’s margin in the popular vote. In other developments: Immigration: Trump will begin rolling out executive actions on immigration Wednesday, beginning with plans for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and other enforcement measures, according to two administration officials.
FBI: Trump has asked James Comey to stay on as FBI director, a delicate decision because Comey is overseeing an inquiry into whether Russia colluded with Trump’s presidential campaign in the hacking and public release of top Democrats’ private emails, administration sources said Tuesday.
Former President Barack Obama appointed Comey to a 10-year term in 2013, but Trump had the prerogative of removing him from the job.
Supreme Court: Trump has narrowed his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy to three judges and said he expects to make his decision in the coming days.
The leading contenders — all white men who all have met with Trump — are William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman, said a person familiar with the selection process.
Pryor, 54, is an Alabamabased judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Gorsuch, 49, is on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hardiman, 51, is based in Pittsburgh for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
U.N. ambassador: The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Nikki Haley, the popular South Carolina governor with little foreign affairs experience, as Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Haley has received a more favorable reception than other Trump nominees now tangled in confirmation battles. The vote was 96-4.