Trump’s Insults Will Have Consequences
By deliberately offending the people he works with, the president has set himself up for failure.
Joke’s on him.
Photographer: Nicholas Kamm/AFP
Representative Mia Love, Republican from Utah, finally conceded defeat in her re-election bid — but not without taking a shot at President Donald Trump, who had insulted her the day after the vote:
Love promised more in the future, saying: “I am unleashed, I am untethered, and I am unshackled, and I can say exactly what’s on my mind.”
What has to be a little scary for the president is that there are an awful lot of Mia Loves around all of a sudden. More than 75 Republican representatives from the 115th Congress won’t be there in the 116th, along with a handful of senators. Trump has lost quite a few White House staffers, cabinet members and other executive-branch officials. It’s a safe bet that very few of these people have warm feelings for the president. Virtually all of those who personally interacted with him will have stories that put him in a bad light, whether it’s his ignorance of public policy, his inclination to do hugely unacceptable things, or his tendency to insult his supporters behind closed doors. We know this because a lot of these folks (and others who are still there) have already proved willing to disclose damaging information about the president, in some cases on the record.
Of course, some of these Formers will keep their mouths shut and quite a few won’t speak openly, whether it’s out of loyalty to the party or concern about their future careers. But one of the striking things about the Trump administration from the beginning has been the willingness of insiders to tell devastating stories about the president despite strong incentives not to do so. All of this turnover creates a growing group with much weaker incentives to keep quiet.
Does it matter? For public opinion, I doubt it. I’m pretty skeptical that any Love-style insults will have much effect, unless there’s a coordinated Republican effort to run Trump down, which seems unlikely. I’m also skeptical that more embarrassing revelations would change the minds of too many voters at this point. But I do think that further insults and revelations could harm Trump’s professional reputation, which in turn could further erode his influence. Trump is already an unusually weak president, but it’s certainly possible for him to get weaker.
Consider this, about Richard Nixon, from Nelson W. Polsby’s “Congress and the Presidency”: