John Kelly begins his first week on the job as chief of staff at a time of great challenge in the White House. President Donald Trump’s first major legislative effort, repealing Obamacare, has failed. Prospects for the next agenda items—tax reform, a budget deal, infrastructure, immigration—are dim. North Korea rushes rapidly toward threatening the United States and our allies with nuclear weapons. Iran acts in defiance of a nuclear deterrence agreement the president can’t seem to untie the U.S. government from.
There are challenges within the administration, too. Trump wants to ditch attorney general Jeff Sessions, whom he blames for the existence of a special counsel investigation that’s dogging the president and his family. The ousting of Reince Priebus last week was the culmination of months of civil war among West Wing aides. There is little indication the belligerents in that war plan to stand down, particularly with the arrival of communications director Anthony Scaramucci, whose willingness to do Trump’s dirty work with reckless abandon has only increased the sense of volatility. All the while the president himself remains disorderly and mercurial.
This and much more is what Kelly has been tasked to deal with in his new role. Can the retired Marine general enact discipline in the West Wing, playing the part of strong chief of staff in a way Priebus was never able to do? Will he command the respect of White House aides who often went around Priebus to other power centers within to West Wing or to the president himself? Will he have the ability to hire and fire staff? Can he speak truthfully and forcefully to Trump about doing what’s best for his administration and the country, even and especially when it contradicts the president’s instincts or impulses?
Kelly, a loyal member of Trump’s Cabinet (he had been running the Department of Homeland Security) who has no discernible political allegiances, has the opportunity to set the Trump ship right. But that can only happen if Trump empowers Kelly.
Trump to Sign Tough Russia Sanctions Bill
Late on Friday, the White House announced that President Trump will sign into law a new package of sanctions aiming at three bad actors: North Korea, Iran, and Russia. “President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it.”
The sanctions bill passed overwhelmingly in both the House and the Senate, meaning Trump would have likely seen a veto overridden. The president plans to sign the bill into law on Monday.
Mike Pence, meanwhile, is in Estonia, where he delivered a message from Trump to the regime of Vladimir Putin next door. ““Russia’s destabilizing activities, its support for rogue regimes, its activities in Ukraine, are unacceptable,” Pence said, according to the Washington Post.
Another White House Push to Repeal Obamacare
When the Senate’s attempt to repeal Obamacare died in the Senate early Friday morning, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it was “time to move on.” But President Trump hit back in a weekend-long tweetstorm, attacking the GOP senate as “fools” and “quitters” and insisting that they demand yet another health care vote before considering any other legislation.
“After seven years of ‘talking’ Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!” Trump tweeted Saturday. “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!”
He added: “Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!”
Trump also angrily called on McConnell to abolish the Senate’s filibuster, under which legislation not related to federal spending requires 60 votes to move forward, saying it allowed eight Democrats to “totally control the U.S. Senate.”
“The very outdated filibuster rule must go. Budget reconciliation is killing R’s in the senate. Mitch M, go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT’S TIME!” Trump tweeted. “Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time.”
Under current Senate filibuster rules, most of the regulatory elements of Obamacare would require 60 votes to pass. But the filibuster did not directly impact last week’s Senate vote on repealing the law’s numerous taxes and subsidies through the budget reconciliation process. Furthermore, no Republican proposal to the Senate bill managed to garner even a simple majority.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump’s demand that the Senate consider health care before any other issue is official White House policy.
“In the White House’s view, they can’t move on in the Senate,” Mulvaney told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years, and then not do it.”
