Not even the Senate pages are scared of Trump

(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

published 20 July 2017

Fear can be an effective tool for a political leader — and, per The New York Times, it's one President Trump totally lacks:

Fear is perhaps the most powerful motivating force in politics, and fear of a powerful president is the surest lever to move a lawmaker from a "no" to a "yes" on a presidential priority. But over the past month, Mr. Trump scared no one into supporting the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. He has proved simply too unpopular nationally — polling at 36 to 40 percent approval this week — too weak in many senators' home states, too erratic, and too disengaged from the details of governing to harness his party, as other new presidents have. [The New York Times]

Rob Jesmer, the former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a former aide to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), told The New York Times the total lack of fear is "a real problem," and one Trump "hasn't really tried" to remedy. "I don't get why he hasn't been more engaged," Jesmer said, wondering why Trump hasn't, for instance, appeared on local talk radio or made a trip to Kansas.

And it's not just senators who are totally unafraid of the man in the Oval Office: A Republican senator told The New York Times that Trump "scares no one in the Senate, not even the pages."