White House Trump struggles to shake his erratic campaign habits ‘He's off to the worst start of a presidency in a very long time,’ according to one presidential historian.

That Donald Trump chose to spend the first 48 hours of his presidency feuding with the news media over crowd sizes, crowing about his win in front of a wall of killed CIA agents, spreading inaccurate information and firing off tweets didn't shock his supporters or critics.

But it showed two likely hallmarks of the Trump administration, according to interviews with people involved in and close to his government.


First, his team will be very combative, even when the facts are not on their side, trusting that their political base dislikes the news media and will believe them no matter what. Sometimes, they are likely to muddy the water or throw a hand grenade into a political debate just to change the headlines.

"What you're seeing with the press secretary is what the administration is going to do, they are going to challenge the press," said Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican on Trump's executive committee. "A lot of people in the Beltway forget that the news media doesn't have much credibility. This is the way he ran his campaign, and it worked."

And second, when Trump grows angry, he will usually want the strongest response possible, unless he is told no, and that he will often govern or make decisions based off news coverage.

"Most of the people around him are new to him. One of the things they don't understand about him is he likes pushback. They are not giving him the pushback he needs when he's giving advice. He's a strong guy. He's intimidating to a lot of people," said Christopher Ruddy, a Trump friend who talks to him often and is the CEO of Newsmax. "If he doesn't have people who can tell him no, this is not going to go very well."

He added: "They got off to a very rocky start because they see everyone as adversaries. They haven't moved out of campaign mode into White House mode."

Trump's inauguration was largely an as-expected affair, and he sounded many of the right notes, said political observers, historians and people close to him. But news coverage soon fixated on the protesters across the country Saturday that far outnumbered his supporters the day before. Trump was increasingly angered by it, sending his press secretary out to fuzz up the situation and to brag about Trump’s support, in the face of knowable facts that contradicted what he said about record crowd sizes.

"The truth of the matter is he had a successful inauguration with a respectful crowd. The transition of power went off without a hitch. His supporters were amiable by and large," said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian. "But then he can never let go and stop watching cable TV. Now he's off to the worst start of a presidency in a very long time."

That Trump wanted Sean Spicer, the press secretary, to go out with props in the White House briefing room — two large pictures of the crowd — was trademark, people who know him say. Trump loves props.

One person who frequently talks to Trump said aides have to push back privately against his worst impulses in the White House, like the news conference idea, and have to control information that may infuriate him. He gets bored and likes to watch TV, this person said, so it is important to minimize that.

This person said that a number of people close to him don't like saying no — but that it has to be done.

"You can't do it in front of everyone," this person said. "He's never going to admit he's wrong in front of everyone. You have to pull him aside and tell him why he's wrong, and then you can get him to go along with you. These people don't know how to get him to do what they need him to do."

Several people who are close to Trump were aghast by the briefing. "It's surreal. We finally have the White House, and it's this," one GOP strategist close to Trump's top aides said.

"The president has a modus operandi: He hits back, he strikes back, he's very impulsive at times. He likes to be authentic. It's worked for him for decades, his reputation, his brand, his candidacy," Ruddy said. "The problem is he's moved into a different position and that hasn't fully sank in yet. He's not speaking for Donald Trump and his company. He's speaking as the leader of the free world."

Among his more conservative backers, they said Trump still had done plenty of good things. Ruddy said he was heartened by the tone of the speech, which he called "a terrific start and a very high bar." Reed, the New York congressman, said he was pleased with the early executive orders, freezing regulations and beginning the reversal of the Affordable Care Act.

Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers-backed group, said he was pleased with the administration's alignment on corporate tax reform and health care — and he expects them to make drastic changes soon. "There just isn't much daylight between us," he said.

Phillips added "the details matter" and that the group wants to see a "clear plan on comprehensive tax reform that we can support."

Like Sen. John McCain did earlier in the day, Phillips shrugged off the chaos. "I don't have any opinion on it," he said.

Some mocked the Central Intelligence Agency speech, where Trump bragged on Saturday about his own prowess in front of a wall of dead CIA employees — former director John Brennan said he was “deeply saddened and angered” by the remarks, and Brinkley, the presidential historian, said it was "a disgrace to himself and his country." But his supporters noted that the agents cheered, and that his political base likely loved it.

"One thing we know about Donald Trump is he generally does not use prepared notes. He does digress from time to time. It makes it a little more folksy. I love it, and many of his supporters do," said Rep. Chris Collins, a New York Republican.

Rep. Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican, said Trump had assembled a strong Cabinet, filled with conservatives. But whether his aides can contain Trump — and whether he can control his worst impulses to get things done — remains unclear.

"It's unconventional at best and disastrous at worst," Sanford said of Trump's tactics. "These distractions have the capacity to sink his entire administration, and they're not representative of the quite serious people he's assembled."

He added: "If he's responding to one reporter's view of crowd size every time, this is going to be the most unusual four years."