When Trump Is Bored, He Calls in Hope, Keith, Scavino, John or George.
IN THE FINAL DAYS BEFORE INAUGURATION, DONALD TRUMP’S top aides huddled in hushed meetings in New York City and a cookie-cutter federal building near the White House to struggle over a key unsettled question: Who exactly would have access to the new President once he moves into the White House?
The businessman turned politician spent weeks after the election playing host to a large and diverse set of visitors, from 1980s celebrities to Kanye West to corporate CEOs to politicians of all stripes. At the same time, he has maintained an open-door policy for top aides, resisting efforts by staff and even his wife to curtail phone calls at all hours.
More often than not, this time with Trump is more than just social. Unlike the man he replaces, Trump likes to think out loud and in company, and has been known for years to ask just about everyone he encounters for their advice, whether they be reporters seeking an interview or celebrities looking for a photo op. (On one recent call, he polled a Senator on the performance of his new staff.) Whereas President Obama would retire to the White House residence to read through stacks of briefing materials after his daughters went to bed, Trump has given word that he would rather not have to read any memo longer than a page if it can be helped.
POWER IN THE WHITE HOUSE is traditionally measured by title, with senior aides and the chief of staff filtering access to the President. But the Trump White House is likely to be a more complex operation, given his habits. “What happens is Donald Trump is the hub, everybody else is a spoke,” said one campaign veteran who has been trying to work through the issue. The most valuable staff in Trump’s orbit often get their clout through the boss’ comfort with their presence.
This story is from the January 30,2017 edition of Time.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 30,2017 edition of Time.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
William McRaven The retired admiral who took down Osama bin Laden on why U.S. leadership matters, the AI race, and what he's going to do with $50 million
You recently received the Bezos Courage and Civility Award, with $50 million to give to charities of your choice. How are you planning to use it? Almost all of this is going to be focused on veterans and their families the children who've lost fathers and mothers in combat. And the other area is mental health for servicemen. What don't the VA and the military health care system cover?
The real Carmichael show
JERROD CARMICHAEL HAD BEEN a famous comedian for almost a decade when he dropped his average-dude persona and started being real. In his 2022 special, Rothaniel, he came out as gay, speaking with rueful humor about internalized homophobia and his fractured relationship with his devoutly Christian mother. It was a creative turning point as well as a personal one.
A jumbled parable with a glowing core
EVEN WHEN A MOVIE IS FAR FROM PERFECT, YOU CAN tell when a director has poured his soul into it. Dev Patel's directorial debut Monkey Man-he's also the movie's star-is trying too hard, and for too much. It wants to be a political allegory, a somber study of a man haunted by childhood trauma, a clarion blast of inspiration for downtrodden humans seeking to summon strength, and last but hardly least, a brutally exhilarating action entertainment.
The pacifist gospel of Civil War
OUTSIDE OF ATLANTA, A CREAKY WHITE VAN WEAVED down a highway lined with abandoned cars. A helicopter sat in the parking lot of a charred JCPenney. Armed guards in military fatigues patrolled checkpoints. A death squad dumped corpses into a mass grave. Artillery boomed in the offing.
THE FOG OF WAR
A TV adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer challenges long-held beliefs about the Vietnam War
TIME Earth AWARDS 2024
From the fashion runway to the rainforest, this year's honorees are using their influence to demonstrate leadership in shaping a more sustainable future.
DESERT POWER
The United Arab Emirates-using oil wealth and its citizens' data-is betting on AI to project influence beyond its borders
Operation Save Biden
The President's campaign is in trouble. Will the turnaround plan work?
America: Start here
IF THERE'S ONE THING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME, it's that I'm utterly unsuited for bureaucracy. I don't know my passwords to anything. I have thousands and thousands of unread emails. I don't open mail because I assume it'll be bad news. I've never had a credit card. But it's also something that, as a filmmaker and a writer, deeply fascinates me-how sterile, faceless, and universally isolating it all can be.
Bolsonaro and Trump, apart yet together
A PRESIDENT FACING A TOUGH fight for re-election warns his followers that corrupt elites want to steal power from them. He loses the election and calls on his supporters to defend him. Unable to block the transfer of power, he retreats to Florida.
