On the heels of what seemed to be the ultimate insult - the voters' rejection of the political class via the election of Donald Trump - it apparently now gets even worse for the Beltway crowd. We've already heard that Melania and Barron Trump will not move into the White House immediately because the Trumps don't want to disrupt Barron's schooling in New York. That's got a few people out of sorts, but for the most part people don't begrudge a decision based on what's best for a kid.
But now we're hearing rumblings that Trump himself may prefer to operate out of Trump Tower and other preferred locations, rather than the White House, whenever he can. It's as bad as it gets: The new president isn't excited about spending time in D.C.:
He continues to discuss with the Secret Service how much he can return on weekends to Trump Tower, and still expects to use the Bedminister golf club and his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., as vacation retreats.
The Trump International Hotel in Washington, just five blocks from the White House, could also take on an outsize role in the Trump administration. His children may stay there when they come to the nation’s capital, and there is chatter that it may supplant Blair House, which traditionally hosts foreign dignitaries visiting the president.
But for now, Mr. Trump seems most comfortable running the show from Trump Tower.
I'm sure Trump will have to spend substantial time in the White House whether he likes it or not. His entire national security team will be there, as will the White House staff, and he won't be able to operate entirely independent of them. I'm all about working remotely - I do it and I'm a big believe in it - but it gets a lot more difficult when you have a team of direct reports that are in one place and you're almost never there. Trump won't be able to make that work.
But it's entirely plausible that he could operate during lengthy periods from Trump Tower if he wants to, at least in terms of the administration of the executive branch. Whether Trump Tower can be made secure enough to house the operations of the president is another matter, but that's for the Secret Service to work out. I'm sure it's not easy even now for a random person to just wander into Trump's office.
And it's very telling that Trump doesn't appear to crave the atmosphere of Washington D.C., nor buy into the nonsense that everything in the nation should revolve around Washington. I've heard Washington described as a town with no manufacturing, no technology and no real wealth creation - but lots of government. I guess I can see why that atmosphere would appeal to you if you're a political junkie. But Trump is not, which is one of the reasons the political class finds him so distasteful. He is not impressed by them and does not consider them more important than the average American.
In other words, he doesn't see them the way they see themselves.
If the new president has no particular desire to be a creature of Washington, and intends to spend time there only when he needs to . . . good. Washington's self-importance doesn't need any more affirmation, and I like the idea that a man ran for president so he could do the people's work and not preen for the D.C. media or the Beltway glitterati.
And if they don't like it, they can just add it to all the other reasons they're feeling butthurt right now. That's not a situation that needs to get better any time soon.
