'Serious threats': Trump pardons threatened in court as judge's DOJ probe explodes
President Donald Trump’s White House is sinking into gloom after Republicans’ midterm drubbing, as aides look toward the exits and consider lawyering up.
“There is no holding back on the desire to leave now,” one former White House official told MS NOW. “Some are making calls to try and jump ship.”
Others are being advised to seek legal counsel as a “precaution,” the former official added. They described the mood inside in a single word – “pain.”
“Everybody’s gonna start infighting,” the former official predicted.
Tuesday’s results were what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called a near “extinction-level” event as Democrats won Senate races even in Texas, South Carolina and Kansas. One White House official called the outcome “the worst-case scenario.”
Trump has blamed bad candidates, even though he handpicked many of them.
According to current and former officials, staffers are exasperated, though not surprised, that he won’t take responsibility. They’re also fed up that, with his party headed for a rout, his attention was on construction projects. The day before the election, Trump held an event at the Reflecting Pool, and the day after, he gave reporters an update from the site of his White House ballroom. Each project costs more than $600 million.
“In this current trajectory, there’s no shot this is salvageable,” one former official said of the MAGA agenda. “What is the president’s focus these last two years? It’s probably renovations.”
Another former official close to the administration described a president who can’t stay on track.
“The president’s attention is all over the place,” that official said. “How many people are preparing briefs on what marble to pick for X project?”
The same source said the “glitz and glam of the White House is wearing off.”
Replacing anyone who leaves won’t be easy either.
“It’s going to be hell,” said a person close to the White House operation. “No one is going to work there — you have to be independently wealthy.”
“A lot of people think he’s not going to be able to do anything. He’s a lame duck,” a former official added.
According to the person close to the operation, nobody on staff speaks frankly to Trump about staying focused on policy, because they feel they won’t be heard.
At the ballroom site Wednesday, Trump spoke for nearly 20 minutes and never mentioned the GOP losses. “That’s not how he thinks, he doesn’t see that the same way the rest of us do,” a current White House official said.
One longtime adviser said Trump was back in “his happy place.”
“His skyscraper just got cut down by 30 percent, and he is gonna find a way to rebuild,” the adviser said.
The White House did not respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
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