The New York Times' Maggie Haberman explained on Twitter Monday how Republicans manipulate Donald Trump into listening to them -- in spite of often being against him during the 2016 election season.
Linking to an article she wrote over the weekend about Trump meeting with Ginni Thomas, the hard-right activist wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Haberman noted that the advocate who recently had the president's ear once referred to him as an "asshat."
"Ginni Thomas and others who backed [Ted] Cruz or strongly opposed Trump during the primaries met with him and presented themselves as strong supporters of his to argue for allies of [theirs'] getting jobs," the reporter tweeted.
Haberman and her colleague Annie Karni wrote in the Saturday article that Thomas and her group "denounced transgender people and women serving in the military" last week -- all while Trump "listened quietly."
"Folks in some GOP circles have come to realize that telling Trump that people in the White House aren't pro-Trump," the reporter wrote, "regardless of whether it's true, is a way to make him listen to what they're saying."
In the article, the reporters noted that according to three sources familiar with the meeting, Trump appeared to be "taken aback" as Thomas and her group claimed that White House aides were "blocking Trump supporters from getting jobs in the administration.
"Except...many of these folks making that allegation said really negative things about Trump themselves during the 2016 campaign," Haberman added. "Ginni Thomas was a Cruz delegate and self-professed "troublemaker" during efforts to unbind delegates. Connie Hair called Trump an 'asshat' on Twitter."
Haberman and Karni noted that such a meeting between the president and the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court Justice is "unusual" and that some close to Trump "said it was inappropriate for Ms. Thomas to have asked to meet with the head of a different branch of government."