President Donald Trump's White House has become increasingly divided in record time, according to MSNBC's Steve Benen.
In a new piece for MaddowBlog, Benen wrote, "Throughout American history, there have been administrations with rival factions, but those divisions usually take time. On Team Trump, the cracks are bursting into view just three months after Inauguration Day."
Benen cited a recent Wall Street Journal report about Trump cabinet secretaries going to extraordinary lengths to subvert trade advisor Peter Navarro in order to convince Trump to pause his tariffs and allow the stock markets to rebound.
"If the Journal's account is accurate, it tells us quite a bit about conditions inside the Trump administration," Benen wrote.
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He continued, "For one thing, functional White Houses are not supposed to work this way, with Cabinet secretaries quietly scheming to work around a misguided anti-trade trade adviser. For another, if the Journal’s report is correct, it reflects an implicit acknowledgement that Trump has no real understanding of his own policy agenda, which in turn creates an environment in which Cabinet secretaries, confident in the knowledge that the president will agree with the last person he spoke to, have to engage in skullduggery to prevent global economic ruin."
Benen also cited the division between DOGE chief Elon Musk and Navarro -- Musk called the trade adviser a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks" -- and the apparent anti-Navarro alliance between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard LutnickLutnick.
"In theory, a strong president could intervene, resolve differences, unite his or her own team and establish a clear vision for his or administration to follow," Benen concluded. "In practice, however, Trump appears content to play the role of President Bystander, watching these divisions get even worse."
Read the MaddowBlog story here.