I’ve figured it out: Donald Trump is the leader of the resistance inside his own administration.
The 45th president exudes more defiance from one of his short, little fingers than all the liberal yodelers of the Democratic Party and entire armies of pink pussy-hat-wearing protesters put together. When not contravening the libs, Trump opposes the traditional Republican establishment that he is supposed to command. They demand additional sanctions on the Russians; he schemes to lighten them. They want free trade; he imposes punitive tariffs. They dig NATO; he calls it obsolete and works to weaken it. They desire immigration “reform”; he insists on deportation, fewer refugees, no Muslims and the building of a wall. They want to stay in Afghanistan and Syria; he wants out. On almost a daily basis Trump fights to prove that he — and not his appointees — runs his administration.
Trump’s powers of resistance shone brightest last month when one of his underlings took the pseudonym of “Anonymous” for an op-ed published in the New York Times. “There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first,” Anonymous wrote, claiming membership in a secret team that works behind the scenes to “insulate” White House operations from Trump’s “whims.” The op-ed is vague on exactly what sort of monkey-wrenching he and his squad have accomplished aside from expelling a slew of Russians in retaliation for Moscow’s poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain and making the Russia sanctions stick over Trump’s objections.
Anonymous is right about the “quiet resistance,” but he got it backward: He and his co-conspirators represent the Republican status quo and the foreign policy establishment that has gone largely unchallenged for more than a half-century. Meanwhile, Trump opposes the political status quo and establishment, compares U.S. intelligence agencies to “Nazis” and calls his own Department of Justice and FBI “completely out to lunch.” Working in the shadows against his staff to get his way, he is the genuine voice of resistance.
Other enemies lurk inside the administration, and Trump has vanquished them.
Trump isn’t a lone resister. Stephen Miller backs him on immigration and Peter Navarro on trade. Kellyanne Conway reliably parrots his changing views, at least in public, and Javanka support him because … because … because they’re family. Sean Hannity supports him because his job demands it. But on almost a weekly basis since becoming president, Trump has had to fight behind the White House curtain to exert his will. In Trump’s mind, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a human impediment to the administration ever since recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Trump, whose powers of self-pity continue to evolve, complained in August that Sessions “never took control of the Justice Department.” Last month, the president added, “I don’t have an attorney general.”
Trump’s original chief of staff, Reince Priebus, sought to tame and socialize the real estate mogul in the ways of presidential power. But uh-uh, no-go. By July 2016, the Trump resistance had ousted Priebus for, among other things, being so bossy. Things haven’t gone much smoother for Priebus’ replacement, John Kelly, whom Trump freezes out of all of his big moments: Kelly wasn’t there when Trump phoned his congratulations to Vladimir Putin upon winning the Russian election (disobeying orders not to congratulate the Kremlin boss), he wasn’t there when Trump hired John Bolton as his new national security adviser, and he wasn’t there when Trump went to Mar-a-Lago to mediate on immigration and trade. This spring, Trump told a confidant he is “tired of being told no” by Kelly — yet more evidence of the president’s resistance.
Trump’s position as the head of the Republican Party, and the head of the federal government, is much more precarious than most people assume — or, at least, Trump feels that way | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Other enemies lurk inside the administration, and Trump has vanquished them. More “A Team” presidential staffers have left the Trump White House in the first two years than any administration since Ronald Reagan’s. And it’s not just low-level munchkins being driven out. According to Bob Woodward’s new book “Fear: Trump in the White House,” on two occasions economic adviser Gary Cohn swiped papers off the president’s desk to prevented Trump from exiting NAFTA and leaving a South Korea trade deal. Cohn no longer works at the White House, marking another victory for the Trump resistance. Last year, what did the president do when many of his aides urged him not to appoint Anthony Scaramucci as his communications director? He went ahead and did it anyway. Small matter that Mooch lasted all of 10 days on the job before he was sacked. Trump has even defied his generals on ISIS and Syria. Remember Secretary of State Rex Tillerson? He dragged his feet on Trump’s plans for North Korea and the Iran nuclear deal. He fought with Trump over U.S. diplomacy in general. What happened? Calling Tillerson “too establishment“ in his thinking, Trump sacked him.
These examples demonstrate that Trump’s position as the head of the Republican Party, and the head of the federal government, is much more precarious than most people assume. Or, at least, Trump feels that way. He sits atop an administration and a conservative movement that can’t be trusted to support his goals. They don’t like it when he pops off at Christine Blasey Ford or says he loves Kim Jong Un. They wish he’d stop tweeting and just read the damn TelePrompter at his rallies. So what does he do? He resists.
Jack Shafer is POLITICO’s senior media writer.