Some years ago, a group of newspaper reporters came up with a headline that could work with almost any story. Here’s what they agreed on: “They’re at it again.”
With that breakthrough in headline-writing in mind, creating the all-purpose headline for stories involving President Trump is pretty easy: “He’s at it again.”
Take any week, and this headline fits one way or another on story after story. For instance, let’s check out a few news stories chosen at random from last week.
* Taxes: Playing games. Steve Bannon, the White House counselor, let it be known that he favors raising income taxes on the rich. Those whose annual income exceeds $5 million would see the top tax rate rise from 39.6 percent to 44 percent. The revenue would be used to lower taxes on the middle class and below. And Democrats would be appeased.
We could have ignored this except for what Trump then said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “If there’s upward revision it’s going to be on high-income people,” he said. “I have wealthy friends that say to me, ‘I don’t mind paying more tax.’ ” That prompted a wave of speculation. Trump loves to stir things up.
Two days later, we knew for sure Trump was playing games again. The White House and Republican leaders in Congress put out a statement on tax reform. There was nothing on raising taxes.
* Boy Scout speech: Inappropriate. Trump specializes in being inappropriate. He does it all the time. He insults people. It sets him apart from practically every politician in the universe. Richard Nixon said a president should “never shoot down” and attack people below his rank. Trump shoots down all the time at lesser folks.
At the National Scout Jamboree in Mt. Hope, West Virginia, the appropriate remarks would consist of praise for the Scouts, their oath and ethos, and the famous people who once were Eagle Scouts. Trump did some of that. Then he turned political, as if he were addressing a rally of supporters. He criticized his political foes—his predecessor Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton included—talked about his experience on election night, defended his agenda, spoke about health care, and so on. He was booed by Scout parents who weren’t pleased.
* Anthony Scaramucci: Chaos. Trump is adept at keeping the White House in a state of pandemonium. And Scaramucci, appointed as the new communications director, quickly delivered a lot of it. His job, it turned out, had little to do with communicating. He was hired to track down leakers and he’s eager to fire as many as possible. And he had direct access to the president.
For uproar purposes, Trump usually relies on a tweet in which he says something totally unexpected by the White House staff, the media, and the entire Washington community. Newt Gingrich told talk-radio host Laura Ingraham that Scaramucci is “full of himself. I think he got down here from New York and he is all excited. Frankly he is talking more than he is thinking.” Gingrich was right. Scaramucci produces chaos.
* Transgenders in the military: Making life difficult for friends and allies. Trump does this routinely. When he decided transgendered people don’t belong in the armed forces, he immediately tweeted his decision to the world. The military brass, the White House staff, and organizers of visible support for his policies—they were no more ready to deal with this issue than the bloke on the street. But the LGBT lobby was ready, and their response and that of Democrats dominated the news.
Trump doesn’t appear concerned about the difficulties he tosses in the laps of Republicans. The press demands that they respond to his tweets. When he adopts a new policy overnight, they have to explain it. He makes everything hard. Trump’s enemies live far happier lives than his friends do.
* Health care: Trump’s take. The president isn’t well versed on Republican bills to repeal and replace Obamacare. But that doesn’t keep him from taking positions on what Republicans should do. His advice changes from day to day. The president is playing no role in the Senate’s excruciating efforts to get a bill passed. Trump’s lobbying has been feeble. Yet the press pretends that what’s at stake is something called Trumpcare. Reporters surely know better.
Trump’s negotiating skill didn’t make the trip from New York. When Trump invites Senate Republicans to lunch at the White House and exhorts them to vote for a health-care bill, it has no effect on how they’ll vote. Threatening doesn’t work either. Another president might tell Dean Heller of Nevada how he’ll be rewarded if he votes for cuts in Medicaid. Trump lacks the ability to make deals like that. He’d rather bluster.
It’s pretty much like this every week. So whatever happens, far more often than not it’s safe to say, “he’s at it again.”
Fred Barnes is an executive editor at The Weekly Standard.
