By August 20, Trump’s team had not found a way to stop the Charlottesville story from dominating the administration. The more aides tried to reframe the episode as a misunderstanding or a media overreaction, the more the backlash exposed deeper doubts about Trump’s judgment. That made the episode bigger than a bad headline: it was becoming a sustained argument about whether the White House could still govern through crisis. The damage was compounded by the sense that the administration was choosing combat over repair.
First recorded Aug 20, 2017·Meaningfully updated Aug 20, 2017
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The White House can’t find an off-ramp
By August 20, Trump’s team had not found a way to stop the Charlottesville story from dominating the administration. The more aides tried to reframe the episode as a misunderstanding or a media overreaction, the more the backlash exposed deeper doubts about Trump’s judgment. That made the episode bigger than a bad headline: it was becoming a sustained argument about whether the White House could still govern through crisis. The damage was compounded by the sense that the administration was choo…
By August 20, Trump’s team had not found a way to stop the Charlottesville story from dominating the administration. The more aides tried to reframe the episode as a misunderstanding or a media overreaction, the more the backlash exposed deeper doubts about Trump’s judgment. That made the episode bigger than a bad headline: it was becoming a sustained argument about whether the White House could still govern through…
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