Trump's silent public outing belies White House in tumult

Donald Trump has spent 10 minutes in public houring America's war veterans, a veneer of rmalcy for a White House that's frozen by a defeated president mulling his options, mostly forgoing mechanics of governing and blocking his inevitable successor.

Trump's appearance at annual Veterans Day commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday was his first public outing for official business in more than a week. He's spent past few days in private tweeting angry, unsupported claims of voter fraud. president has me comments in person since Democrat Joe Biden clinched 270 electoral votes on Saturday needed to win presidency.

All while, his aides grow more certain that legal challenges won't change outcome of election, according to seven campaign and White House officials who spoke on condition of anymity to discuss thinking of president and ors in executive mansion.

Before setting off for solemn commemoration at Arlington, Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to slam “fake pollsters" and grouse that a Republican city commissioner who defended vote tabulation in Philelphia wasn't a true Republican. He also sought to draw attention to a Pennsylvania poll worker who recanted allegations of voter fraud on Tuesday before reasserting his allegations on Wednesday. Trump later posted a debunked video that h purported to show poll workers collecting ballots too late.

“You are looking at BALLOTS! Is this what our Country has come to?" Trump fumed.

Although his official schedule has been bare of public events, Trump has me several personnel moves — firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper and installing three staunch loyalists in top defense jobs. His pick as acting defence secretary, Christopher Miller, was among Pentagon brass that joined him at Arlington. Some supporters pushed back against tion that Trump is shirking his presidential duties.

“ president is out re as much as he's ever been on Twitter, and White House team are moving ahe with budget and staffing priorities,” said Dan Eberhart, a prominent Republican dor and Trump backer.

He ded, “ president is understandably focused on ballot counting, but at some point soon he needs to turn his attention back to lame duck session and putting a capstone on his first four years.” However, few senior staffers have been around president in recent days, with many eir in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 or in insolation after a confirmed exposure or simply t wanting to be near Oval Office, according to White House staffers and campaign officials.

Staff working from White House thinned out after chief of staff Mark Meows confirmed last week that he h tested positive for virus. Some staffers still believe election outcome can change with litigation and recounts. But re is a growing recognition among most that election is lost and building will be vacated by January 20.

Trump's moods have vacillated over recent days. At times, he has seed with anger, fuming that he lost to a candidate he doesn't respect and believing that media –- including what he views as typically friendly Fox News -- worked against him. In dition to misdoings with mail-in ballots.

But aides say he has been calmer than his tweets suggest, showing greater understanding of his predicament and believing that he needs to keep fighting almost as performance, as a show to 70 million people who voted for him that he is still battling. In recent days, some aides, including his daughter Ivanka, have started to talk to him about an endgame, questioning how much longer he wants to fight. Outside White House, one prominent former ally turned Trump critic warned that president was doing potentially irreparable dam to Republican Party.

“ real issue is grievous harm he is causing to public trust in America's constitutional system," former Trump national security viser John Bolton wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Wednesday.

Though he has been in Oval Office late two nights this week, president has done little in way of governing and has inste been working phones. He has called friendly goverrs — in red states like Arizona, Texas and Florida — and influential confidants in conservative media, like Sean Hannity. But he has t been as responsive to Republican lawmakers as before election. Always an obsessive cable news viewer, he has been watching even more TV than usual in recent weeks, often from his private dining room just off Oval Office.

Trump's approach to two crucial Senate run-off elections in Georgia remains an open question: He has t yet signalled if he will campaign re, and aides have started to worry that extended legal battle could sap support for GOP candidates. Trump has also begun talking about his own future upon leaving office. He has mused about declaring he will run again in 2024,and aides believe that he will at least openly flirt with idea to enhance his relevance and raise interest in whatever money-making efforts he pursues.

While he ponders his options, his involvement in day-to-day governing of nation has nearly stopped: According to his schedule, he has t attended an intelligence briefing in weeks, and White House has done little of late to man pandemic that has surged to record highs in many states. 

(Im Credits: AP)