In a break from past administrations, President Trump is using brass knuckles to personally cut deals on trade, military burden sharing, diplomacy, domestic energy production and regulations that aides describe as unprecedented and propelling an economic boom.
In several detailed to Secrets, Trump has confronted world leaders in Oval Office meetings to demand better treatment and pushed his Cabinet secretaries to weigh decisions in favor of taxpayers, according to officials.
“Everything that the American people hoped for when they cast that ballot for change for a new kind of leadership in Washington, everything that they hoped they would get, I am telling you that they not only received it, but they’ve gotten it times 10,” said senior aide Stephen Miller.
“Donald Trump is the lobbyist for every hard working American,” he said, eager to counter some bad press to describe Trump’s hands-on style.
Trade negotiations are continuing with China. They have been making hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the U.S., for many years. Stay tuned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 15, 2018
“They can have 100 percent confidence that when their interests are on the line and the president is in the room whether he’s negotiation with Congress, whether he’s negotiating with foreign governments, whether he is negotiating with international organizations, whatever the engagement may be, that his first and last consideration is what’s good for America and the citizens of this country and he is unwavering in fighting for the things that the people of this country care about,” he added.
Aides described the behind-the-scenes Trump as in intense negotiator armed with details and who takes the lead in talks.
On trade, for example, they have said he is quick to challenge world leaders and demand better deals.
On military burden, he’s prompted some NATO nations to pay a bigger share and has questioned some allies on why U.S. taxpayers should be paying to station troops in their countries.
“When he goes into these meetings, he is America’s negotiator-in-chief. And he is looking at every single item in every single negotiation,” Miller said in an interview.
Aides said that Trump’s style, honed in Manhattan real estate negotiations, is part of a long-ago formed view that past administration’s were too quick to roll over in world talks. In fact, he presented that view in a full-page 1987 newspaper ad that said, “Let’s not let our great country be laughed at any more.”
.@realDonaldTrump speech on drug costs pays immediate dividends. New @Amgen drug lists at 30% less than expected. Middlemen like Pharmacy Benefit Managers, insurers & hospitals would do well by passing discounts on to patients. @SecAzar @SGottliebFDA https://t.co/mfRQ5COtev
— Steve Forbes (@SteveForbesCEO) May 18, 2018
Miller has a unique perspective as Trump’s go-to aide on a wide range of issues dating back to the 2016 campaign.
“The president has been office now for a little more than a year and America First, which the president campaigned on, is delivering even more than anybody could have possibly hoped for,” he said in an interview.
While the media often focus on Trump’s political problems and the Russia probe, the president in private meetings and public rallies highlights the economic impact of his actions so far, especially low unemployment, and a booming economy. He also thinks that the stock market is poised for a new surge.
Just a year into office, his White House produced a list of 81 accomplishments, and Trump has been heard to say that his achievements to date match any other president.
Since that list came out in December, he has made good on promises to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, ordered a cut in funds to Planned Parenthood, boosted military spending, eliminated regulations, ended former President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, worked with Democrats on prison reform, and won historic concessions from North Korea.
“Achievement after achievement after achievement,” said Miller. “We’re in a situation where we’ve had an unprecedentedly successful year-plus of the Trump presidency and again, heading into the midterms with incredible economic success, enormous optimism, and at the heart of it, you have a president who is putting America first,” he added.
Democrats scoff and believe they will be able to take back the House and maybe the Senate in the midterm elections. But the White House believes that they’ve overplayed their hand in criticizing the president and even talking up impeachment should they win in November.
Rep. @MaxineWaters calls for #Trump’s impeachment, slams the House Intel Committee report as “nothing” https://t.co/BIuUkHLMaJ via @amjoyshow
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) April 30, 2018
“They are running on negativity and they are running on a platform of defeatism,” said Miller.
“Our poll numbers are better today than they were on Election Day. In today’s country with the nonstop negativity in the media and everything else the political success that we’re having in what you’re seeing in the numbers, the generic ballot and everything else, is all enormously positive,” he added.
And, said Miller, who often led the cheers for candidate Trump in the 2016 election defeat of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, “When you step outside the Washington swamp and you talk to normal everyday Americans the level of excitement is just extraordinary…and the enthusiasm hasn’t dipped at all since the election and that is not what the norm is in politics at all.”
