Trump team rivalries spark infighting
Veterans of the Trump campaign see many of the same old patterns emerging again.
By KENNETH P. VOGEL, NANCY COOK and ALEX ISENSTADT
11/11/16 11:44 PM EST
politico.com
excerpt:
A handful of sources in and around the Trump transition team said there was no evidence that the president-elect had even reviewed any of the binders of policy and personnel proposals produced by the team. Trump’s only contact with the transition staff, the sources said, had come through Christie, the New Jersey governor and transition team chief who was demoted on Friday from transition team chairman to being one of several vice chairs.
Meanwhile, some campaign officials, fresh off months in the trenches, are dismissive of the transition team, viewing its members as paper-pushers with no buy-in from Trump.
And even within the Washington transition team, there are distinct factions that sometimes appeared to be at odds.
A group of social and fiscal conservatives on the team, including many from the Heritage Foundation and both administrations, regarded Christie and his allies as big-business-backing centrists who were insufficiently conservative on cultural issues.
The conservatives’ influence on the transition team figures to increase with the elevation of Vice President-elect Pence, whose tax-slashing, anti-abortion record as governor of Indiana made him a conservative favorite.
Some of the personnel moves proposed by Christie’s team drew the ire of both conservatives and early Trump loyalists, who viewed them as rewarding, instead of punishing, Republicans who were less than fully supportive of — if not downright hostile to — Trump during the primary.
A third faction on the transition team is aligned with Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, an early Trump backer whose allies on the transition team handle congressional outreach and immigration policy.
But perhaps the biggest power base is Trump’s own family. His adult children and especially his son-in-law Kushner have unrivaled clout with the president-elect, and have not shied away from using it to spur personnel changes.
[....]
"This is like the Oklahoma landgrab,” said the operative. “It's gonna get vicious the next 70 days as people try to place their people where they want them. And Christie's people ain't the same as Bannon's people ain't the same as Sessions' people."
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