Things are changing in Washington… and not just at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Political newbies watched the fireworks at the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday night. Elderly women prepared for their first inauguration. One family had brought their daughter to Washington to witness the moment that Donald Trump was sworn in.
And Washington regulars – the politicos, party hacks and think tankers who are here all year round – are feeling unsettled. In part this is the natural response to a change of party at the top. But it is also the result of Trump’s extraordinary style of politics, which is sowing fear among lobbyists who must try to navigate his impetuous manner and Twitter rants.
For the time being, many Democrats have left town altogether, unwilling to be any party to celebrations. Others face an uncertain future. ‘It feels like it is the turn of someone else now,’ said a veteran observer at a launch party for Axios, a new media venture dreamed up by Politico founder Jim VandeHei. Much of the talk among lobbyists was about finessing the tactics they will need in Trump’s aggressive world.
Trump has scored a series of extraordinary successes by hectoring big businesses into promising to keep jobs in America. It started with the attack on the Carrier Plant in Indiana, which planned to transfer 2,000 jobs to Mexico.
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