Messy backstage jockeying in Trump transition could shape Hill strategy four years after Jan. 6
A Republican senator was expressing his unhappiness to Susie Wiles, the incoming White House chief of staff.
"I texted you three days ago," the lawmaker said.
Wiles, who ran Donald Trump’s campaign, said she got it and would respond, without sounding like she was in a rush.
There’s little doubt that her phone must be flooded with messages from people who want a job – or influence – in the incoming Trump administration.
But the jockeying sheds light on a dilemma that Trump may face in a city that he controls, with both houses of Congress under Republican management (and Kamala Harris peacefully certifying the transfer of power yesterday, four years to the day after the Capitol riot).
The flip side of nearly unlimited clout is that when things go wrong, there’s no one else to blame.
And then there’s the black hole known as Congress. Having dragged Mike Johnson across the finish line in the election for speaker, by making calls even from his golf course, Trump now faces a dilemma after the Christmas debt ceiling battle that just delayed the budget fight until March.
Using a process known as reconciliation, which lowers the threshold from 60 Senate votes to 51 – both parties have used this for party-line dominance – Trump favors "one big beautiful bill." That would include budget cuts, energy deregulation, tax cuts, the border crackdown and other presidential priorities.
But many on the Hill support two separate bills, and some in Trump World believe Congress simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to take the kitchen-sink approach.
So the big beautiful bill might not get passed until June, depriving the 47th president of an early win.
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Johnson will have just a 1-vote margin, making it hard for him to deliver the deep spending cuts that the hardliners want in an echo of the battle that toppled Kevin McCarthy.
In the meantime, the Homeland Security Department would have difficulty mounting a major initiative because, like other agencies, it’s operating on the stopgap spending budget that nearly shut down the government at Christmas.
The risk of pushing two bills is that once the first one passes, the momentum may dissipate for approving a second measure, even if it contains such Trump priorities as tax cuts.
Trump hedged his bets yesterday, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt: "I would prefer one, but…I’m open to either way, as long as we get something passed as quickly as possible."
Washington is a city obsessed with titles and perceived influence, and that will impact the way the White House is run.
Wiles has helped downgrade some jobs that have always been assistant to the president titles to deputy assistant to the president–something no sane outsider would care about but which is a major deal for the insiders. That’s because after reaching the limit for assistant jobs, the only alternative was to create a bunch of deputy slots.
Wiles, for her part, has told Axios: "I don't welcome people who want to work solo or be a star… My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, second-guessing inappropriately, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission."
Karoline Leavitt, the incoming press secretary, is also being deprived of the big office that has been used by her predecessors for at least three decades. That’s going to another communications aide.
I can remember being in that second-floor office when Mike McCurry was press secretary, and Bill Clinton walking in and chatting while I was working on my book "Spin Cycle." The reason for the large office was the gaggles taking place with the press, and sometimes interviews, which could not be accommodated by most smallish West Wing offices.
Anyone in Wiles’ sensitive position would invariably upset some officials during a process that determines winners and losers. But Trump views her as a grandmother and doesn’t yell at her the way he might at other officials over a disagreement.
As for Elon Musk’s powerful role, Trump enjoys the company of wealthy people, and the X owner is the richest person on the planet. So he has influence until he doesn’t, if there is a future falling out.
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Besides, it will be harder for Musk to hang around once Trump moves from Mar-a-Lago to the White House, unless he wants to give Elon the Lincoln Bedroom.
For now, the transition is organized chaos. But as Trump knows all too well, having done this job before, when there’s a terror attack or border incident or rising grocery prices on his watch, he owns it.
Meanwhile, with Kamala Harris certifying her own defeat in routine fashion yesterday – drawing live coverage considering the history of Jan. 6 – Donald Trump posted this:
"Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult as possible, from Lawfare such as has never been seen before, to costly and ridiculous Executive Orders on the Green New Scam and other money wasting Hoaxes. Fear not, these ‘Orders’ will all be terminated shortly, and we will become a Nation of Common Sense and Strength. MAGA!!!"
Is that worse than what happened on Jan. 6, 202?
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It’s true that the outgoing president has, among other things, issued orders to stop oil exploration along 625 million acres offshore, but there’s no reason the "drill, baby, drill" president can’t reverse that, although it could slow him down.
Harris gave a short talk yesterday about the peaceful transfer of power, and Biden made the case in a Washington Post op-ed that we must never forget what happened on that dark day.
No matter who you agree with, I think it’s fair to say that issue was litigated in the election, and Americans voted to put Trump back in the White House knowing full well what happened during the televised riot.