'It doesn't matter': Trump looked very much like a second-term president this week

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had himself a week, just not the kind political observers have become accustomed to, spending much of it behind closed doors while unable to broker a deal with Senate Democrats.

He dissed a Republican icon over trade policy. He backed down on plans to exclude Democratic governors from an annual gathering of state chief executives. His border czar ended a contentious immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis that left two American citizens dead. And a typically friendly pollster delivered a stinging rebuke.

Trump was also noticeably subdued during an energy deregulation event Wednesday in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, where coal industry leaders presented him with a trophy featuring a coal miner statue for being the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal.” The president spoke in a tone that was lower than normal and took at least a half-dozen friendly questions from right-leaning outlets. And he appeared to have little regard for statistics as he tried to downplay the power of the office to force down consumer prices.

“In my third year, first term, I actually got prices down one-quarter or one-eighth of a percent. And I was so proud of myself because they were like that for years and years. And since under (Joe) Biden, they went up very, very substantially,” he said. “And now they’re coming down by, depending on, you could say 500, 600, 700 percent, depending on the way you want to, or you could say 80 percent — it doesn’t matter.”

Then on Friday, Trump left town to spend the long Presidents Day holiday weekend at his South Florida resort and golf club just when a major part of the sprawling Department of Homeland Security was hours away from shutting down with the administration unable so far to reach a deal with Democratic senators.

While Trump did not meet with any Senate Democrats before both chambers left town, he made a stop in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, during his Friday travels and was joined by four North Carolina Republicans: Sen. Ted Budd and Reps. Richard Hudson, Brad Knott and David Rouzer.

As he departed, Trump told reporters over the loud idling engines of Marine One that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy risked missing a “great opportunity,” adding: “Russia wants to make a deal, and Zelenskyy is going to have to get moving.” But his latest example of toggling between the warring sides only underscored anew his inability to make good on his vow to end the conflict on “Day One” of his second term, some 389 days ago.

White House aides have spent the past two weeks contending that the president did not want any federal offices to shutter. On Monday, the line out of the West Wing was, as one official put it in a statement: “President Trump has been consistent, he wants the government open and the Administration has been working with both parties to ensure the American people don’t have to endure another drawn out, senseless, and hurtful shutdown.”

But by week’s end, White House officials were mum on whether Trump was fine with DHS shutting down while the House and Senate take next week off. Multiple queries to that end to the White House press office went unanswered.

One Trump ally in the House, South Dakota Republican Dusty Johnson, cautioned against making too much of a relatively flat week from team Trump.

“I think with life in D.C., there are lots of ups and downs, there’s a lot of give-and-take. And I think one of the mistakes we make is that assuming that just because the roller coaster went down the valley, that it’s never coming back up,” he said in a brief interview Thursday.

Some Democratic lawmakers in recent weeks have called on the president to dismiss certain aides involved in his mass deportation program. But Johnson, who is running for governor, said he was not ready to suggest Trump shake up his Cabinet or West Wing staff.

“I’m not inclined raise any particular concerns about staffing,” he said. “Ultimately, whoever’s got the job has to have the confidence of the president. That’s the most important thing.”

Still, Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said in a Friday email that “Trump just had a dreadful week: Bad Bunny scored bigly, ‘Melania’ the movie tanked deeply and support for ICE melted quickly.”

One GOP senator facing a tough reelection battle said the president and other Republicans “have got to do something about these prices.”

“It’s what I hear about most when I’m back home. They’re just too high,” said the senator, who requested anonymity to be candid.

To that end, Trump’s public remarks on the high prices have largely been dismissive. Political analysts have said that tone could hinder Republicans in November. The president told former aide-turned-Fox Business host Larry Kudlow this week that he intends to campaign for GOP candidates — but again suggested his party was headed for big losses.

“The problem is that, historically … the president’s won, in 50 years, two times,” he said of voters typically punishing the president’s party in midterm elections. “I don’t know what that is. There’s something down, deep, psychological. And some of them were good presidents, and they still lost.”

“We’re going to change that, I hope. We’re trying very hard,” he added.

During the same interview, Trump committed what would have been a stumble for any other Republican when he declared that the late Ronald Reagan was “bad on trade.” That prompted Kudlow, who also worked in the 40th president’s White House, to push back, saying, “Reagan was tougher than … you think.”

Trump also raised eyebrows and drew criticism when the White House moved to not invite Democratic governors to an annual meeting between state chief executives and the president at the executive mansion, slated for Feb. 20. Under pressure, the White House relented, with the National Governors Association saying all governors would be able to attend. But two Democratic governors — Maryland’s Wes Moore and Colorado’s Jared Polis — have reportedly been excluded from a separate White House dinner.

While Trump and his aides have teased a busier campaign schedule for him this year, the president didn’t leave the White House this week until his Friday departure for North Carolina and Florida.

Trump began the first 12 months of his second term by spending hundreds of hours in front of reporters and television cameras. Notably, that changed this week with White House press corps members remarking about barely seeing the president all week.

Perhaps for the first time since he returned to office, Trump this week looked and sounded like a second-term president. The president and his inner circle have been eager to avoid him slipping into lame-duck status.

But a list of recent moves led Bannon, the Democratic strategist, to question Trump’s motivation, with control of Congress on the line this year.

“Congressional Republicans rightly obsess over Donald Trump’s bad numbers and the devastating impact they have for their shaky political fortunes this November. He couldn’t care less,” Bannon said.

In one blow to Trump, a Rasmussen Reports survey — which typically delivers more favorable results for Republicans — found more respondents thought Joe Biden (48%) was better at performing the tasks of the presidency than Trump in his second term (40%), Axios reported.

Analysts at Morning Consult pointed to data showing Trump’s sliding approval numbers could be dragging down Republican candidates.

“Republicans began Trump’s second presidency with significant advantages over their Democratic counterparts in voter trust to handle most of the 12 issues we track on a weekly basis. However, that’s no longer the case,” a summary of the group’s latest survey read. “Republicans now hold a significant advantage over Democrats on just two issues: immigration and national security.”