President Trump returned to Washington on Monday in an upbeat mood, Politico says, well-rested after 10 days at his members-only club in Florida, with a big legislative win under his belt — tax reform — as well as historically low approval ratings and historically high White House turnover.
But it's the coming "brain drain" among senior White House officials that "has generated a sense of foreboding among White House aides," and that's just part of their "grim reality of 2018," Politico reports, citing interviews with "more than a dozen current and former officials and outside advisers." The White House is also dealing with the "shadow of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation" and slim hopes for any more big legislation, with Republicans facing stiff headwinds before the 2018 midterms and a slimmer 51-49 margin in the Senate. White House officials blame the difficulty in recruiting top new talent on the Mueller investigation.
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The Senate returns to session on Wednesday and the House next Monday, and regardless of what Trump decides, lawmakers have a very full plate for the next few weeks. You can read more about January's legislative flood at The Washington Post and the White House's concerns at Politico.
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