President Donald Trump appears more at ease in his second term, according to a panel of journalists who cover his administration. The reporters spoke Thursday at The Atlantic’s annual festival, held at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City, about what it is like to cover the White House and other powerful institutions.
Atlantic reporters Jonathan Lemire, Ashley Parker, Missy Ryan, and Michael Scherer took part in the discussion, which was moderated by staff writer Vivian Salama.
A More Unfettered Trump
Lemire described a president who has consolidated his instincts and shed the constraints of the old Republican establishment. “We’re seeing someone who completed, arguably, the greatest comeback in American political history, he trusts his instincts and very few others, and is sort of an unfettered version of himself,” Lemire said.
He noted that Trump’s second administration is staffed with “true believers” and “loyalists,” while remnants of the “old Republican establishment” are gone. “He also is just more comfortable with the job and how to use the levers of power,” Lemire said. “That also includes the relationship with the press and how he dictated change in terms of that relationship.”
Staff and Structure
Parker pointed to the presence of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as a stabilizing factor. She also said Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller spent the four years out of power “plotting and planning” how to run a “bigger, stronger, faster, better, more ruthless” White House the second time around.
Scherer agreed, saying Trump returned with a clearer sense of what he can accomplish and how it will shape his legacy. “I was in Dallas last week when he did the midterm convention. His message was, ‘Vote for me one more time,'” Scherer said. “There’s sort of a different, almost nostalgic approach he’s taking to things,” he continued. “But it is really about like, ‘This is my last chance to do what I can to get to make my mark.'”
Press Access and Discipline
Ryan, who covers national security and foreign policy, expressed frustration that the Pentagon has not held a formal press briefing for months. Salama said it is harder for journalists to get scoops this time around.
Scherer said the lack of leaks from inside the White House showed how it “operates as a unified body” under Wiles. “The people under her are loyal to her. They’re loyal to the president also, but it operates as a functioning organization,” Scherer said.
He contrasted that with the first Trump term, which he described as having three or four camps in the same space that were “often warring with each other and stabbing each other in the back and competing for the president.” “It’s harder now. It’s harder to get inside the room details than it was in the first term, but it can still be done,” Scherer said.
While the second Trump administration has been tighter-lipped than the first, Scherer said the Obama and Biden administrations operated like bureaucratic law firms. “We still have more access here, I think, than we had in recent Democratic administrations, just because they had so much discipline. They had a different ethos about them,” Scherer said.
