‘Do You Know How Special You Are?’ The New York Times Details Trump’s New Good Cop Routine With GOP Lawmakers
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
A revealing New York Times report sheds light on how President Donald Trump’s good cop routine has helped him tighten his grasp on Republicans in Washington, D.C.
According to Annie Karni and Jonathan Swan, “Mr. Trump, who has spent years showing Republicans that he can either be their greatest champion or their worst political enemy, focuses intently on wooing and socializing with G.O.P. lawmakers, relying on the implicit but rarely stated threat of ruining them to get his way when they stray from his demands.”
From the report:
He relies on the trappings of the presidency — rides on Air Force One; visits with their spouses to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.; White House tchotchkes; and seemingly endless Sharpie signatures on Trump-branded merchandise — to make Republicans members of Congress feel special and indebted to him.
“Do you know who sits in that seat?” Mr. Trump has told multiple lawmakers who have flown with him on Marine One, the presidential helicopter. “That’s Melania’s seat. She’s the only one who sits in that seat. Do you know how special you are to be in that seat?”
Swan and Karni detailed several anecdotes of Trump’s new approach in action, explaining how he’s compelled holdouts — including Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Keith Self (R-TX), and Tim Burchett (R-TN) — to come to see things his way in various situations.
“Mr. Trump has an official legislative liaison, James Braid, who is a former Senate aide and well-versed in the ways of Capitol Hill, but the president himself is often the one reaching out to Republican members of Congress, giving them freewheeling access and an open channel of communication to call or text him any time with problems or concerns,” wrote Swan and Karni. “‘I have his cellphone number!’ Representative John McGuire, a first-term Republican from Virginia, said excitedly on the campaign trail last summer, expressing shock that Mr. Trump would just call him directly on the phone.”
