These days, the last thing you want is to be known as a Friend of Trump. He’s
doing great — he’s president, for heaven’s sake. His kids are getting
jobs, his hotels are getting promoted 24/7. He goes golfing more than
your average Palm Beach retiree. Meanwhile, the people he hangs around
with are watching their reputations crumble into smithereens.
This
has an impact on congressional politics. If you’re a swing vote in the
House or the Senate, the idea of getting a hug in the Oval Office might
seem more like a threat than an opportunity. Let’s consider some of the
F.O.T.s who’ve already been undone:
Devin Nunes
Nunes
is now famous as the guy who was sneaking around the White House lawn
in the middle of the night. He says it was still daylight, which will
have no bearing whatsoever on the legend. There’s a lot of stuff on his
résumé — eight-term congressman, father of three, chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee. But wherever he goes for the rest of his life,
people are going to say, “Oh yeah, he was the one sneaking around the
White House lawn in the middle of the night.” It’ll be the lead in his
obituary.
Paul Ryan
Until
recently, Ryan was regarded as the Republican idea man, whose riff on
cutting entitlements made conservative intellectuals swoon. When Trump
came along Ryan was leery at first, then thrilled with his party’s total
control of the government. Finally he could take the knife to Medicaid!
“We’ve
been dreaming of this since you and I were drinking out of a keg,” Ryan
told National Review editor Rich Lowry in an onstage interview. Lowry
immediately protested that he had not been fantasizing about health care
for the poor when he was chugging beer in college. It was a preview of
all that was to come. Ryan was not only going to lose the big health
care battle, he was going to look like an idiot doing it.
Continue reading the main story
He’ll
go down in history as the first big congressional power to get rolled
over by the Trump bus. Maybe with a footnote about his passion for
pulling catfish out of the water with his bare hands.
Reince Priebus
Not
too long ago, Priebus was laboring in happy obscurity. Now he’s chief
of staff at a White House where everything is a mess. “Reince doesn’t
have a magic wand,” one Republican National Committee apparatchik told
The Associated Press. Nobody wants to get to the point where the best
argument in your favor is wand shortage.
Chris Christie
Chris
(Still the Governor) Christie was at the White House this week in his
new role as head of a commission on drug addiction. How could anything
bad happen? Well, just as Christie was being photographed grasping the
president’s hand, two of his former associates were sentenced to jail
for their roles in the famous bridge-jamming episode. Not Trump’s fault,
but he did seem to mess with Christie’s karma when he kept treating him
like a well-dressed fast-food clerk during the campaign.
Coal Miners
Trump
recently signed an executive order trashing the Obama initiatives to
combat global warming. He was surrounded by happy-looking men from coal
country, helping continue the grand new White House tradition of
male-only photo sessions.
“You’re
going back to work,” the president told them gleefully. In reality, the
guys in the room already had jobs, some as coal company executives. And
Trump’s order won’t fix their region’s unemployment problems. However,
the administration has indeed changed the world for some residents of
Appalachia, greatly improving their chances of living near a stream
filled with mining debris.
Jeanine Pirro
Unless
you are a very serious fan of Fox News, you probably never heard of
“Judge Jeanine,” a talk-show host with a scary vocal range. Until the
other day, when Trump urged his Twitter followers to watch Pirro’s show,
which featured a manic denunciation of Paul Ryan. Late-night comedians
had a field day and New Yorkers were reminded that this was the woman
who ran for New York State attorney general and got taped talking about
wiretapping the family boat to see if her husband was having an affair
with the wife of his defense lawyer.
Sean Spicer
Oh my God, poor Sean Spicer. You wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
Russia
Russians
worked hard to get Donald Trump elected president. And what did they
get out of it? Multiple high-level investigations. Enormous rancor in
Congress. Plus a drought of free food — no sane politician is going to
want to be seen having dinner with a Russian diplomat.
Really, these days in Washington you’d be much better off being a Mexican.
Michael Flynn
Of
all the American influence-peddlers who’ve been on the payroll of
Russian oligarchs, only one is currently seeking immunity before he
testifies at a congressional hearing. Remember when Flynn kept yelling
“Lock her up!” during the Republican convention? Hehehehehe.
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