BORDER/DEMS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WALL: “At the beginning of the government shutdown, Bill Shine was about as far away from the capital as President Trump’s most senior communications official could get. While the president was complaining about sitting alone in the White House trying to force Democrats to accept a wall on the Mexican border, Mr. Shine was on a Hawaiian vacation. As the shutdown presented Mr. Trump with an ever-expanding political challenge, Mr. Shine, who joined the White House staff with the expectation that he would deliver on his promise to satisfy Mr. Trump’s hunger for positive news coverage, stayed on vacation, keeping in contact with colleagues by phone. Eventually, Mr. Shine came home early to help manage the administration’s response. But any expectation that he would be by the president’s side crafting a cohesive message would be a miscalculation of the role he has actually come to play as Mr. Trump’s latest communications director, according to interviews with over a dozen former and current administration officials.”
–Katie Rogers and Maggie Haberman, “Trump Thinks He’s His Own Best Messenger. Where Does That Leave Bill Shine?,” The New York Times online, January 9, 2019