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| FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump smiles as he arrives to speak at an election night rally, Wednesday in New York. Donald Trump enters the White House on Jan. 20 just as he entered the race for president: defiant, unfiltered, unbound by tradition and utterly confident in his chosen course. In the 10 weeks since his surprise election as the nation’s 45th president, Trump has violated decades of established diplomatic protocol, sent shockwaves through business boardrooms, tested long-standing ethics rules and continued his combative style of replying to any slight with a personal attack _ on Twitter and in person. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Donald Trump enters the White House on Friday just as he
entered the race for president: defiant, unfiltered, unbound by
tradition and utterly confident in his chosen course.
In
the 10 weeks since his surprise election as the nation's 45th
president, Trump has violated decades of established diplomatic
protocol, sent shockwaves through business boardrooms, tested
long-standing ethics rules and continued his combative style of replying
to any slight with a personal attack - on Twitter and in person.
Past
presidents have described walking into the Oval Office for the first
time as a humbling experience, one that in an instant makes clear the
weight of their new role as caretaker of American democracy. Trump spent
much of his transition making clear he sees things differently: Rather
than change for the office, he argues, the office will change for him.
"They
say it's not presidential to call up these massive leaders of
business," Trump told a crowd in Indianapolis in December. That was
after he negotiated a deal with an air conditioning company to keep jobs
in the state, a move many economists derided as unworkable national
economic policy.
"I think it's very
presidential," he declared. "And if it's not presidential, that's OK.
That's OK. Because I actually like doing it."
Even
before he takes the oath of office, Trump has changed the very nature
of presidency, breaking conventions and upending expectations for the
leader of the free world.
Advisers who've
spoken with Trump say the billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV
star is aware of the historic nature of his new job. He's told friends
that he's drawn to the ambition of Ronald Reagan, a Republican, and John
F. Kennedy, a Democrat. He's thinking of spending his first night in
the White House sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, according to some who
dined with him recently in Florida.
But Trump
also views himself as a kind of "sui generis" president, beholden to no
one for his success and modeling himself after no leader who's come
before. Trump has said he's read no biographies of former presidents.
When asked to name his personal heroes in a recent interview, he
mentioned his father before replying that he didn't "like the concept of
heroes."
"I don't think Trump has a great
sense of the history of the White House. When you don't know your
history, it's hard to fully respect the traditions," said historian
Douglas Brinkley, who recently dined with Trump and other guests at his
South Florida club. "This is not somebody who brags about how many
history biographies he's read."
"He's somebody who brags about it as this is a big event and he's the maestro," he said.
That's
a shift that thrills his supporters, who elected Trump to shake up what
they see as an unresponsive and corrupt federal government in the
"swamp" of Washington.
"I don't want him to
change" said Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun, one of Trump's earliest backers.
"One of the reasons that I supported him is that he told it the way it
was. He didn't beat around the bush. He didn't do the standard political
talking points."
Trump won election with that
approach, but he's yet to win over the country. His Electoral College
victory was tempered by a loss in the popular vote to Democrat Hillary
Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots. The protests planned for the day
after his inauguration threaten to draw more people to the National Mall
than his official events.
Polls over the past
week show that Trump is poised to enter the White House as the least
popular president in four decades. Democrats remain staunchly opposed to
him, independents have not rallied behind him and even Republicans are
less enthusiastic than might be expected, according to the surveys.
In his typical reaction to poll results he doesn't like, Trump dismissed them as "rigged" in a Tuesday tweet.
It's
exactly that kind of tweet that worries governing experts, lawmakers
and other critics, who argue that traditional practices of the
presidency protect the health of the American democracy.
"With
notable exceptions, we've had a political culture in which presidents
largely respect a series of unwritten rules that help democracy and the
rule of law flourish," said Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at
Dartmouth College. "What's striking about Trump is he flouts norms that
have previously been respected by both parties on a daily basis. He
calls things into question that have never been questioned before."
Since
winning the election, Trump has attacked Hollywood celebrities, civil
rights icons and political rivals alike. He's moved markets by going
after some companies, while praising others.
He's
questioned the legitimacy of American institutions - appearing to trust
the word of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the intelligence
agencies he'll soon oversee, engaging in personal fights with
journalists as he assails the free press and questioning the results of
the election, even though it put him in office.
And
he's lambasted the leaders of longstanding allied nations as he
questions the post-World War II international order that won the Cold
War and maintained peace in Europe for generations.
For
Trump supporters, that no-holds-barred style is the very reason he won
their votes. But for others in the country, it's a type of leadership
they've seen before and fear will spread.
They
point to Maine, where a Trump-like governor has roiled the state's
government with offensive statements, a combative style and little
respect for the Legislature, as a warning of what the nation might
expect during a Trump administration.
Gov.
Paul LePage's confrontational brand of politics has made it harder to
pass legislation, build political coalitions or even conduct the basic
workings of state government, say legislators and political consultants
in the traditionally centrist state. He's created rifts with would-be
Republican allies, demonized the media and tightly controlled basic
information. At times, he's banned the heads of state agencies from
appearing before legislative committees, making state budgeting and
oversight difficult.
"What I'm concerned about
nationally is what we've seen up here - that the checks and balances we
take for granted disappear," said Lance Dutson, a Republican political
strategist who worked to get LePage elected before later speaking out
against him. "There are things that are happening up here that I really
thought just couldn't happen."
There are signs
that Trump's actions are already changing the traditions of government
in Washington, freeing lawmakers and other officials from long-respected
practices of federal politics.
More than 50
House Democrats plan to boycott Trump's inauguration ceremony, an
unprecedented break with the bipartisan tradition of celebrating the
peaceful transfer of power. While many Democrats were furious with the
outcome of the 2000 election in which Republican George W. Bush defeated
Al Gore after recounts and a Supreme Court ruling, they generally
attended Bush's inauguration ceremony.
"I will
not celebrate a man who preaches a politics of division and hate,"
tweeted Keith Ellison, a Minnesota congressman who's bidding to head the
Democratic National Committee.
Those who know
Trump say the billionaire mogul delights in confounding establishment
expectations, even as he craves approval from powerbrokers in New York
and Washington.
"He was born with a chip on
his shoulder, and he is very much the guy from Queens who looked across
at Manhattan and envied but also to some degree hated the elites who
occupied Manhattan," said Michael D'Antonio, author of "Never Enough," a
Trump biography. "The way that he wants to disrupt institutions
reflects this idea that the institutions haven't embraced him."
That's
a style that may work better for a CEO of a family corporation - who
has little oversight from corporate boards or shareholders - than a
president constrained by a system of checks and balances. Former Cabinet
officials say the layers of government bureaucracy, myriad regulations
and intricacies of Congress will challenge Trump's style.
"A
president doesn't have sweeping, universal authority. It is a very
different operation than being a CEO who can fire people and hire people
at will," said Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat and former health and
human services secretary. "He's never been part of any organization with
a framework where institutional rules are in place."
President
Barack Obama, who's offered Trump advice both publicly and privately,
said he's urged the president-elect to hold onto some of the traditions
of the office.
"The one thing I've said to him
directly, and I would advise my Republican friends in Congress and
supporters around the country, is just make sure that as we go forward
certain norms, certain institutional traditions don't get eroded,
because there's a reason they're in place," said Obama, in a recent
interview with CBS' "60 Minutes."
But Trump's supporters say it's the institutions and Washington - and not the next president - that must change.
"Trump
believes that he has a better understanding of how things work in the
modern world than all of these so-called critics," said Newt Gingrich, a
Trump adviser and former Republican House speaker, who has spoken with
the president-elect about his presidency. "That's who he is.
"The rest of us are going to have to learn how to think through that."
