Dem
51
GOP
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Donald Trump constantly chafed at the restraints placed on him as president. For example, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone was constantly telling him: "I'm sorry Mr. President, but you can't do that. It is illegal." Cipollone wasn't the only one. Trump also often wanted to do things that weren't illegal, just that he had no authority to order. For example, he wanted to spend money to build a wall on the Mexican border. It is perfectly legal for the government to build a wall wherever it wants to but only if Congress has appropriated funds to do it. In many cases he tried to do these things anyway and got pushback from other people in the Executive Branch telling him he didn't have the authority to do what he wanted to do. He frequently got angry when people told him he couldn't do something he wanted to do.
Once he was out of office, most of his power vanished, but so did the rules and, especially, so did the people who kept saying: 'no." What also vanished was his staff of people who told him—however gently and informally—that doing something he wanted to do would be a very bad idea, even if it didn't violate any law or other rule. A recent example is dining with antisemites and Nazis. That is not illegal, but the political fallout hurt him much more than it helped him.
In the almost 2 years since leaving the White House, Trump has created the conditions he wanted in the White House and couldn't have. There is chaos, no rules, and no minders telling him what he can and cannot do, or even what would be unwise to do even if it there are no legal problems with it. He thrives in such an environment, but some of the things he has done with no one to stop him (like keeping Top Secret documents all over his house and in storage lockers in West Palm Beach) may end up being his undoing.
What Trump has (foolishly) done is replace his initial staff of people at Mar-a-Lago exclusively with sycophants who never say "no" to him and cater to his every whim. At first his staff consisted of people with some political experience who could gently suggest to him that something he wanted to do wouldn't look so good. They are all gone now.
Trump wants to hear good news about himself all day long, so he has employed Natalie Harp, a former OAN host, to drive around Mar-a-Lago with him in a golf car equipped with a laptop computer and printer so she can find, print, and feed him a steady stream of flattering news stories about himself. What Trump actually needs is someone who can tell him that what he wants to do is a bad idea and will ultimately hurt him. He doesn't have that.
Worse yet, he has no senior aide living full time anywhere in the state of Florida. When he feels he needs to talk to someone, he can call them or have them fly in for a meeting. In reality, he needs someone around all the time to check his worst impulses. David Urban, a long-time Trump adviser, said: "He needs someone there to say, 'Here's a really bad idea, and this is why.' I don't think he has that kind of crowd around him right now. Nor does the president want anybody like that."
For example, Trump is always looking for ways to make money. He tried to get the General Services Administration to pay him rent for his own office space at Mar-a-Lago. They said "no." So he started selling digital trading cards, a project that was almost universally panned by his own high-profile supporters. He made around $4 million on that, but it looked cheap and unpresidential. And there was no one around to say: "Sir, that is a terrible idea."
The Post article linked to above was based on interviews with 23 people who have observed him post-presidency. Most presidents have crafted a new life focused on something after leaving the White House. Some worked on their presidential library. Jimmy Carter worked for world peace and built houses for the poor. George H.W. Bush took up skydiving. Bill Clinton started a charitable foundation. George W. Bush began painting. Barack Obama makes movies and podcasts. Trump took up whining.
The transition to Joe Biden was typical Trump: completely chaotic. Gifts that a president receives from foreign leaders are property of the U.S. government, not of the president. In the final days of his administration, trucks drove daily from the White House to a NARA facility in Maryland to store boxes of random stuff. But at the same time, Trump himself was taking boxes of stuff upstairs to the president's private residence, many of which ultimately made it to Mar-a-Lago. In the chaos of the last few days, no one seemed to notice what Trump was doing. That chaos and lack of oversight may ultimately cost him dearly. (V)