Subject: Re: An Early Test of Trump's Presidenting Ability
The first few weeks will start to tell the tale. Susie Wiles has made it clear that things will be different this time.

It's not her call. She's certainly an extremely competent political operator who can perform the functions of her office well - but the same was true of Reince Priebus. This isn't a question of whether the President has staff around him that can help him translate his policy goals into actual outcomes - it's about his own choices in what direction he gives his staff.

I'm sure Wiles will have advice on whether Trump should weigh in and decide the "one vs. two bills" question for Congress. But ultimately it's his choice. He's the only one that will decide whether he will weigh in decisively on that question - and the only one that will decide whether he will stick with what he decides.

The spending bill/debt ceiling issue is not a great early sign for him getting better at Presidenting. One of the skills of Presidenting is making sure that everyone knows what your priorities are on big important bills. The spending bill was the big bill going on at the time, and it's pretty clear that Johnson was blindsided by Trump's eventual demand to include the debt ceiling raise and his general opposition to the original negotiated bill. Part of that is on Johnson, and it will severely hinder his Speakership - no one will trust that he's not out over his skis again. But part of that is on Trump - there's no way he should have let a big bill get that far without letting the Speaker or Majority Leader know he's got a problem with it, either with what's in it or what's left out of it.