"There was a lot of the usual Trump palaver about how windmills are "ruining our country" and about the transformative power of his tariffs, which, he insisted, will completely revitalize the American economy. "It's going to happen like magic," he vowed. "It's going to happen without question." Standard stuff, at least for Trump 2.0, with the President's top advisers gazing adoringly as Trump vamps for the cameras."
"But, in hindsight, the warning signs were there. For starters, it was more than seventeen minutes before anyone else said a word at the meeting, and, even then, the speaker-Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent-only managed a "Yes, sir" before Trump resumed speaking. No one else said anything of substance after that for another fifteen minutes, at which point the President called not on a member of the Cabinet but on Iris Tao, a reporter for the Epoch Times."
""I heard you were very savagely mugged in the city," he said, inviting her to recount the episode. She did so, recalling a terrifying incident of a man in a ski mask striking her in the face with the butt of a gun, and concluded with profuse thanks to the President for his decision to send in federal troops to fight crime in Washington. "Thank you for now making D.C. safer," Tao said."
Donald Trump dominated a televised Cabinet meeting, speaking at length while top advisers largely remained silent. The meeting included extended praise of tariffs and derision of windmills, with Trump promising economic revival "like magic." It took over seventeen minutes before anyone else spoke, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered only a "Yes, sir" before Trump continued. The President called on Iris Tao of the Epoch Times to recount a personal mugging and she thanked him for sending federal troops to reduce crime in Washington. White House staff began controlling press access, selecting friendly outlets for presidential interactions.
Read at The New Yorker
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