Silent...

Trump unusually silent after aides challenge him

Some close to the president, who has seen his approval ratings plummet, say he needs Tillerson and Cohn more than they need him.

By JOSH DAWSEY, BEN WHITE and ELIANA JOHNSON

President Donald Trump is not happy with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, for publicly criticizing his response to violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. But it appears there is little he is planning to do about it, according to people who have spoken to him.

The unusually direct challenges from a Cabinet secretary and senior administration official seemed to make little more than a surface ripple in the swirling melodrama of the Trump White House, even as the president fumed privately about it.

Tillerson, when asked over the weekend whether Trump represented American values with his comments, gave a succinct response: “The president speaks for himself.” When asked whether he was separating himself from the president’s comments, Tillerson noted that he gave a speech to the State Department denouncing hate.

Cohn’s comments last week, saying the president could do better, came after several days of weighing whether to leave his position, including writing draft resignation letters.

The repudiations by Tillerson and Cohn were not nearly as sharp as some other criticisms of the president, who publicly waffled for days on how to respond to neo-Nazis and white supremacists who marched in the streets of Charlottesville and clashed with opposition protesters.

Still, said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, “In the normal course of things, a secretary of state would be fired an hour after saying such a thing on national TV.”

The president, whose approval ratings have dropped into the 30-percent range and who has lost a raft of senior staff members, is loath to get rid of anyone right now, one adviser said. Some close to Trump note that he needs Cohn and Tillerson, seen as stabilizing forces in his administration, more than they need him at this point.

But he has stewed, this person said, as the comments from his own staff have dominated the news. Trump has repeatedly said that he doesn’t feel that others on his staff and Republicans on Capitol Hill are defending him enough.

“He feels like when you back down, people will just keep coming at you,” the adviser said. “Even if he knew he was wrong, I don’t think he’d back down.”

Longtime observers of Trump say he makes it difficult for others to defend him. He often makes incendiary comments, only to ratchet up the rhetoric after coming under criticism. Advisers and aides are then in an untenable position — having to decide whether to agree with him and face the backlash, or to artfully distance themselves, dodge or deny.

The president could still lash out and publicly criticize Cohn or Tillerson, something Cohn told others wouldn’t have surprised him in the immediate aftermath of his interview last week.

Tillerson visited the White House early Monday, and several senior administration advisers said he was involved in responding to the hurricane in Texas, his home state. He was seen in the front row of a news conference at the White House on Monday afternoon and laughing with Vice President Mike Pence afterward. And Cohn told associates that he hadn’t heard a word from the president about his supposed anger — and that he didn’t regret one bit having made his comments.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday, “The president has confidence in his team, and we are working hard to accomplish our goals and make America great again.”

A State Department spokesman declined to comment.

Matt Schlapp, a conservative activist close to the White House, said that Tillerson’s comments were “perfectly valid” and that some were reading too much into his words. “They came from the heart,” he said.

“‘The president speaks for himself’ is a response I’ve given multiple times,” Schlapp said. “The president is his own best spokesperson.”

Tillerson has told people he has no plans to depart the administration immediately. Cohn is working on a tax-reform speech that Trump is expected to give Wednesday. “If Trump wants to fire him, he will, or he won’t,” one person familiar with the president’s thinking said. Or, this person said, Trump will say something “crazy” and Cohn will quit.

Cohn has told people he will have plenty of options should he leave the White House.

Ryan Williams, a GOP consultant who worked for Mitt Romney, said: “It’s highly unusual for senior aides and Cabinet officials to openly critique the president. To some degree, they were likely fed up with the current situation and don’t fear the consequences. What’s the worst that can happen? He fires you.”