President Trump's summit Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki created a firestorm of controversy. President Trump seemed to be publicly siding with the Russian dictator against the American intelligence agencies.
The initial appearance was so bad that I tweeted: "President Trump must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and Putin. It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected - immediately."
After flying home from Helsinki and reviewing the tape and transcript of his press conference with Putin, President Trump said he has "full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies" and that he accepts "our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place."
In his remarks to members of Congress Tuesday that were televised by the media, President Trump went on to admit that he realized he needed to clarify his statements in Helsinki. The president said: "It should have been obvious - I thought it would be obvious - but I would like to clarify, just in case it wasn't. In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word 'would' instead of "wouldn't." The sentence should have been: I don't see any reason why I wouldn't - or why it wouldn't be Russia. So just to repeat it, I said the word 'would' instead of 'wouldn't' ...
"I have, on numerous occasions, noted our intelligence findings that Russians attempted to interfere in our elections. Unlike previous administrations, my administration has and will continue to move aggressively to repeal any efforts - and repel - we will stop it, we will repel it - any efforts to interfere in our elections. We're doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in 2018."
Anyone who has studied President Trump knows he hates to admit a mistake. His natural pattern is to move forward and ignore mistakes. For him, this was a big correction (and as I noted the day before, it was an absolutely necessary one).
President Trump then reminded everyone of the Obama administration's failures in dealing with Russian meddling in the election. President Trump noted that President Obama and his advisers had information that the Russians had been working to interfere in the election and they ignored it, because they thought Hillary Clinton was going to win.
Yes, you did. Writing it I assumed people's heads would explode. It's about as far as you can can get from today's conventional wisdom (i.e. what David Gergen thinks). Virtually every member of the smart set from Pelosi to McCain to some ninety-five percent of the media, including several cowards on Fox News, to, alas, Lindsey Graham (who should know better) are going out of their minds excoriating Trump for being soft on Putin, even for being "owned" by the neo-Soviet strongman. John Brennan -- once a communist himself, so he should know -- accused Trump of treason.
Okay, time for that familiar cliche -- the thought experiment. Suppose Trump had done the opposite, exactly what these people demanded -- verbally and viciously assaulted Putin for all his totalitarian tropes from annexing the Crimea to humiliating John Podesta for being so dumb as to fall for a phishing attack (all right -- I'll be fair. For invading the computers of Democratic Party operatives, allegedly to elect Trump) and so forth?
What would that have accomplished? The obvious answer is zilch. Again the opposite would most likely have occurred. Things, already bad, would have been set back further. It's human nature. You don't have to be a personal acquaintance of Vladimir Putin to know that. You only have to be breathing.
But... but... then Trump shouldn't have held the summit in the first place.
Oh, really? Although Russia -- the largest nation on the planet -- is in many ways a failing state with an economy barely the size of Texas, it still has a huge percentage of the world's nuclear weapons, about equal with ours, and the capacity to deliver them (and to pass them along to unreliable non-state actors). It behooves us to have a relationship with them for our survival and everybody else's, to keep our friends close and our enemies closer, as the Godfather would put it. The obvious goal in this is to limit nuclear proliferation and even to reduce, or at least stabilize, the nuclear arsenals as agreements come up for renewal.
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President Trump's White House payroll has 374 employees, that's 95 fewer staffers than Barack Obama at the same point in their presidencies. The Trump White House workforce runs 20 percent leaner.
White House staff experienced 39-percent turnover during the last 12-months. Of the 377 employees last year, only 229 remain. Most that left were quickly replaced.
Today, the Trump administration released its annual report to Congress on the White House Office Personnel. The payroll data includes employee name, status, salary, and position title for all 374 White House employees as of June 30, 2018. Search the recent Trump administration (2017 and 2018) and Obama administration (2012 through 2016) payroll data posted at OpenTheBooks.com.
Over the past 12 months, Trump was able to further shrink head count by three employees. Last year, the president employed 377 staffers and we applauded the president's frugality in our editorial at Forbes.
This year, not only did the president maintain a lean staff, he cut the total payroll budget from $35.7 million (2017) to $35.2 million and further honed the books. In FY2015, Barack Obama's payroll was much larger and exceeded $40.9 million with 477 staffers.
Trump's White House payroll has been a leading indicator of his commitment to "do more, with less." In the first few weeks of his presidency, Trump issued an order mandating an executive agency hiring freeze. Trump asked his agency heads to "seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services..."
Leading by example, Trump has already saved taxpayers over $11 million, and projected four-year savings could easily top $22 million. The payroll discounts come from Trump's refusal to take a salary, as well as big reductions in other areas including the absence of czars, expensive "fellows," and spending on First Lady of The United States (FLOTUS) staff.
Here are some key findings:
There are 95 fewer employees on the White House staff under Trump than under Obama at this point in their respective presidencies. (In 2010, Obama had 469 employees for $38.8 million - adjusting for inflation, the payroll cost more than $43 million.)
$5.7 million in annual payroll savings compared to the Obama 2015 payroll. In 2018, the Trump payroll amounts to $35.2 million for 374 employees. In 2015, the Obama payroll amounted to $40.9 million for 476 employees, not adjusting for inflation.
Ten staffers are dedicated to the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS). In 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama paid her 24 staffers $1.6 million collectively.
Overall, 148 employees from Trump's 2017 payroll of 377 employees no longer work at the White House. The employee turnover rate was 39-percent year-over-year
