POLITICAL FIGURES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s sudden decision on Monday [12-4-17] to endorse Roy S. Moore and direct the Republican National Committee to restore funding for the embattled Senate candidate in Alabama undercut party officials who have disavowed him.
But it did not surprise them.
Mr. Trump’s improvisational, and often impulsive, political decision making has become so routine that Republican leaders now accept that there will be days when he suddenly endorses and telephones candidates, including one accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.
On Tuesday, Senate leaders appeared dismayed about — but also resigned to — being linked to Mr. Moore’s candidacy…
While the Republican National Committee resumed financial assistance to Mr. Moore, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has more direct responsibility for such campaigns, noticeably did not.”
-Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman, “Trump’s Endorsement of Roy Moore Points Up a G.O.P. Problem: Chaos,” The New York Times online, Dec. 5, 2017