For those who work for or who have worked for Trump the one successful tactic in dissuading him from doing something stupid is to credibly threaten to resign. McGahn told him if he fired Mueller he would resign.
You cannot convince the man with facts or with argument. He may go along with you temporarily--e.g. on Twitter use, on the Wall, on tariffs--but once he has his mind set he will revert back.
It is all about Trump to Trump. Whatever he thinks makes him look good he does; whatever not, he doesn't.
Resignations by senior staff, especially by cabinet members, make Trump look very bad. He will not do the thing that he wants to do if you threaten to resign. Gary Cohn threatened to resign over Charlottesville. Trump got Cohn to stay on until the tax bill was done. That was a mistake by Cohn. When he finally did resign Charlottesville did not have proximate cause about it.
"Fear" is replete with fed up-ness. Virtually everybody who works, or who did work, for Trump has had his or her fed up moments. They cannot let those pass. Charlottesville was the moment. Rob Porter saw it as the moment. After Trump gave his third speech he walked past Porter and said "Get away from me. I don't want to talk to you." But Porter did not resign. Cohn did not resign. Did anyone resign? Helsinki was another moment. Nobody resigned.
Trump fears resignations. He knows they make him look bad. He also knows that mass resignations would end his presidency. Remember when it was rumored that Kelly and Tillerson and Mattis would resign if...I forget the reason. If they had, that would have been it for Trump. Those who resign (or credibly threaten to) effect change. It is the one thing that has proved effective. Those who stay become enablers.
You cannot convince the man with facts or with argument. He may go along with you temporarily--e.g. on Twitter use, on the Wall, on tariffs--but once he has his mind set he will revert back.
It is all about Trump to Trump. Whatever he thinks makes him look good he does; whatever not, he doesn't.
Resignations by senior staff, especially by cabinet members, make Trump look very bad. He will not do the thing that he wants to do if you threaten to resign. Gary Cohn threatened to resign over Charlottesville. Trump got Cohn to stay on until the tax bill was done. That was a mistake by Cohn. When he finally did resign Charlottesville did not have proximate cause about it.
"Fear" is replete with fed up-ness. Virtually everybody who works, or who did work, for Trump has had his or her fed up moments. They cannot let those pass. Charlottesville was the moment. Rob Porter saw it as the moment. After Trump gave his third speech he walked past Porter and said "Get away from me. I don't want to talk to you." But Porter did not resign. Cohn did not resign. Did anyone resign? Helsinki was another moment. Nobody resigned.
Trump fears resignations. He knows they make him look bad. He also knows that mass resignations would end his presidency. Remember when it was rumored that Kelly and Tillerson and Mattis would resign if...I forget the reason. If they had, that would have been it for Trump. Those who resign (or credibly threaten to) effect change. It is the one thing that has proved effective. Those who stay become enablers.
