Trump loyalists fear White House 'purge'
by W. James Antle III
| September 08, 2018 12:00 AM
President Trump’s allies are increasingly concerned that they are underrepresented in his own White House, to the detriment of both the president and his party as the midterm elections approach.
“We’ve been purged,†said a former White House official. “That’s the bottom line. And the people who have stayed behind are not at all loyal to our president.â€
All this has come under greater scrutiny after three specific events: the publication of Bob Woodward’s new book about the Trump administration, implicitly anti-Trump remarks at the funeral of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and the New York Times op-ed alleging “the Resistance†has representatives close to the White House, at the highest levels of the executive branch. But it has implications going forward as Republicans battle to maintain control of Congress.
“I consider this a coup,†said former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo. “What kind of coup? I don’t know. But it’s a kind of coup. It’s an administrative coup at the very least.â€
Trump loyalists were split on reactions to the McCain funeral. Some wanted to see the president push back, even if just on Twitter, while others were relieved that he didn’t. There were staffers who had wanted Trump to be more magnanimous following the longtime Arizona senator’s death, acknowledging his heroism during the Vietnam war.
At the same time, there was a sense that the Washington elite was using recent events to slam Trump. The anonymous New York Times op-ed alleging an anti-Trump actor on the inside was a particular sore point for his supporters.
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