Kathrine Frich
Several strategist have grown frustrated over it.
Keeping a massive political machine in line requires an iron grip.
Behind closed doors in Washington, top strategists spend their days making sure nobody steps out of formation.
Sometimes, though, the biggest obstacle to strict party discipline is the boss himself.
Too quick to forgive
That surprising dynamic sits at the heart of Regime Change, a new book by journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman. According to the Irish Star and Mirror US, veteran Republican strategist Chris LaCivita grew frustrated with how easily Donald Trump went easy on politicians he personally liked.
LaCivita helped run Trump’s winning 2024 campaign alongside campaign manager Susie Wiles and top pollster Tony Fabrizio. While the trio worked to keep lawmakers in line, the president often let friendly Republicans off the hook with a simple five-word phrase.
As quoted by the Mirror US, Swan and Haberman wrote:
“LaCivita told associates he thought Trump could sometimes be too forgiving of members he liked, where he could unexpectedly go soft. Trump would say things like ‘Ah, cut him some slack.’ Other advisors felt Trump could sometimes be too understanding of lawmakers’ points of view, too willing to let them off the hook if they explained how certain votes might hurt their constituents.”
Iron grip in Milwaukee
That soft spot worried his inner circle. Haunted by the late senator John McCain’s 2017 vote that sank the repeal of Obamacare, Wiles and LaCivita acted as “enforcers” so that “the fear of political death was never far from Republicans’ minds,” the book notes, according to the Irish Star.
And their operation was tight. “Starting in 2021, Susie Wiles had stitched together a tight-knit inner circle and Trump would keep them all in place for the duration,” the authors wrote, adding that staffers leaned on the motto “In Tony We Trust” whenever polling looked rough.
At the 2024 Milwaukee convention, the team confiscated phones from platform committee members, banned debate, and handed down a pre-written party platform that reduced delegates to “nothing more than rubber stamps,” the Irish Star reported.
Yet that strict control could not save the party in the November 3 midterm elections. Driven by voter anger over the Iran war and high living costs, Democrats flipped seats in Republican strongholds like Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, and South Carolina to take both chambers of Congress, according to the Irish Star.
Wiles stepped down as chief of staff after the rout. Meanwhile, the president appeared stunned by the scale of the defeat, telling Fox News: “I thought they’d do better. We had tremendous rallies.”
