President Trump’s rhetoric and tweets are scrambling the attempt at message discipline on the part of his Republican allies and his own White House aides seeking defend him against impeachment.
The White House issues regular talking points and is running what one senior House Republican described as an unusually “professionalized” effort to protect Trump from an impeachment inquiry initiated by Democrats in the House. That effort is dovetailing with a House Republican operation in which lawmakers and staff from key committees meet regularly to exchange information and coordinate communications strategy.
But with Trump’s Twitter posts that can land at any moment in rapid succession and shocking commentary that can erupt anywhere from the Oval Office to rallies around the nation, some Republican insiders worry the endeavor is useless.
Trump’s tweets and public comments from personal attorney Rudy Giuliani often diverge from party messaging and catch Republicans on Capitol Hill off guard. That makes it difficult for them to defend Trump from a Democratic impeachment inquiry that they believe stands on weak political grounds.
“The president’s tweets and the ‘What planet are they on?’ defenses from his staunchest supporters not only actively hurt making substantive defenses the president will need, they also send a [bad] message to voters,” said Republican operative Doug Heye, a former House GOP leadership aide. “This hurts the president going into an election year.”
The impeachment effort centers on a July telephone call, revealed by a whistleblower complaint, in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Joe is a leading Democratic contender, and Trump could face him in 2020.
Talking points issued by the White House and House Republican leaders have sought to undermine impeachment by urging Trump’s GOP allies to focus on facts, the law, and the Constitution, arguing that the inquiry is falling short in all three categories. Trump tends to make the conflict personal and paint impeachment as inherently illegitimate.
“The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it!” Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
This sort of Twitter post tends to be well-received by Trump’s loyal voting base and some party officials and conservative figures aligned with the White House. But the politics of impeachment could turn on independents and swing voters.
In interviews, Republican operatives said maintaining a unified GOP front is imperative if support for impeachment is to be kept at a minimum among those key voting blocs. It is hard for Republicans in Congress to do their part in that regard if they have to compete with Trump’s surprising, domineering tweets.
“If they’re going to defend the president, there needs to be better cooperation,” a Republican communications strategist said, citing Trump’s unpredictable tweets.
Giuliani is part of the problem.
At Trump’s behest, the former New York mayor has been trying to dig up dirt on Biden, who runs strong against the president in hypothetical 2020 polling. Giuliani regularly appears on television news programs revealing information, or making claims, that Republicans say are hurting Trump and them.
“Rudy is a problem for everyone,” a Republican insider said. “Rudy getting off TV would be one of the best things for the GOP impeachment defense.”
There is some messaging overlap between Republicans and Trump tweets. Both the president and his GOP defenders say the Democrats are pursuing impeachment as part of a partisan vendetta to undo Trump’s victory in 2016.
