Milbank: Trump and the art of indecision

Trump appears to side with the last person he met with, complicating talks over the shutdown.

By Dana Milbank

As the federal government hurtled toward a shutdown last week, lawmakers played a now-familiar parlor game: What on Earth does President Trump want?

On Wednesday, the White House issued an official statement saying it supported a 30-day spending bill to avert a shutdown that included a six-year extension of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.

But Thursday dawned to see Trump declaring the opposite. “CHIP should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!” he exclaimed on Twitter.

There was so much head-scratching at the Capitol, they had to bring in a Zamboni to clear all the dandruff.

As The Washington Post reported, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the chamber’s No. 3 Republican, said he was “at a loss.”

And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, gave voice to the grievance of many: “We don’t have a reliable partner at the White House to negotiate with.”

Perhaps that’s because the president is always negotiating with himself.

Exactly a week earlier, Trump had thrown the Capitol into similar chaos when he tweeted out criticism of a surveillance bill his administration supported. Later the same day, he rejected, in colorful fashion, a bipartisan immigration compromise he had said just two days earlier he would embrace. And last week, on the same day lawmakers puzzled over the president’s actual position on the spending bill (the White House eventually returned to its original stance), Trump was contradicting his own chief of staff, John Kelly, who said Trump had “changed his attitude” and “evolved” on the nature of a border wall.

Trump replied that the wall “has never changed or evolved.”

The New Testament warns: “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” Trump isn’t playing an uncertain trumpet so much as he is randomly switching between a vuvuzela and a slide whistle.

The president’s mixed messages, more than anything, are what brought the government to the brink of a shutdown. The issues involved — protections for the “Dreamer” immigrants, the CHIP program and higher military spending — generally enjoy a broad bipartisan consensus.

A plaintive Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, essentially threw up his hands over immigration talks this last week: “I’m looking for something that President Trump supports, and he’s not yet indicated what measure he’s willing to sign. As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I will be convinced that we were not just spinning our wheels.”

His statement was a gentler way of expressing the quote attributed to (and contested by) former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh in Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” that working with Trump “was like trying to figure out what a child wants.”

The president began the immigration negotiations by telling lawmakers he would sign whatever compromise they worked out, as long as it had a border-security component and a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, component for the Dreamers.

“My positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with,” Trump said, two days before rejecting such a bipartisan compromise.

If McConnell and Kelly have it rough, imagine the poor White House waiter taking Trump’s order:

“And what will you be having, sir?”

“My order is going to be what the people at this table come up with.”

“Well, sir, she’s having the steak — “

“I’ll have that.”

” — and he’s having the fish.”

“I’ll have that.”

“Er, which one, sir?”

“Yes.”

And pity the steward attempting to screen a film for the first family at the White House theater:

Ivanka Trump: “I want to see ‘The Greatest Showman.’”

The president: “I agree.”

Melania Trump: “Ooh, could we watch ‘Paddington 2’?”

The president: “Perfect.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Peter Nicholas and Rebecca Ballhaus this last week offered a “How-To Guide” for winning over a president for whom “no case is ever settled.” When Trump wanted to veto a bill containing sanctions against Russia, aides told him a veto override would make him look weak. He relented. When he was determined to crack down on trade, aides warned that such actions could hurt stock prices. He backed off. Aides have also employed stalling, “hoping he’ll forget what he wanted done and move on to something else.”

My favorite is Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s technique: “He says, ‘Your instincts are absolutely correct,’ and then gets him [Trump] to do the exact opposite of what his instincts say.”

Maybe that’s why the president often seems to be wearing the same red tie. If he had to choose, he might not leave his bedroom all day.

Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

RGB version
Editorial cartoons for Monday, March 18

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Carson gets a chance to sound the horn in an Everett Fire Department engine with the help of captain Jason Brock during a surprise Make-A-Wish sendoff Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Thornton A. Sullivan Park in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Everett voters will set course for city finances

This fall and in coming years, they will be asked how to fund and support the services they use.

Devotees of TikTok, Mona Swain, center, and her sister, Rachel Swain, right, both of Atlanta, monitor voting at the Capitol in Washington, as the House passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app if its China-based owner doesn't sell, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Lawmakers contend the app's owner, ByteDance, is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok's consumers in the U.S. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Editorial: Forced sale of TikTok ignores network of problems

The removal of a Chinese company would still leave concerns for data privacy and the content on apps.

Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, watches the State of the State speech by Gov. Jay Inslee on the second day of the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Editorial: Legislature has its own production of ‘The Holdovers’

What state lawmakers left behind in good ideas that should get more attention and passage next year.

Comment: Measles outbreaks show importance of MMR vaccinations

The highly contagious disease requires a 95 percent vaccination rate to limit the spread of outbreaks.

Harrop: Should ‘affordable’ come at cost of quality of living?

As states push their cities to ignore zoning rules, the YIMBYs are covering for developers.

Saunders: Classified document cases show degrees of guilt

President Biden’s age might protect him, but the special prosecutor didn’t exonerate him either.

Comment: Clearing the internet of misinformation, deep fakes

With social networks’ spotty moderation record, users need to identify and call out problems they see.

Eco-Nomics: Price of gas, fossil fuels higher than you think

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels force unseen costs in climate disasters, illness and more.

Vote against I-2117 to keep best tool to protect climate

We voters will be offered the opportunity to repeal Washington state’s Climate… Continue reading

Lack of maternal health care raises risks of deadly sepsis

In today’s contentious climate, we often hear political debates about maternal health… Continue reading

Trump’s stance on abortion isn’t moderate; it’s dangerous

Voters deserve to know the facts and the truth about what will… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.