'Not an easy transition': Inside Trump's unconventional first months out of office [View all]

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https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/politics/trump-post-presidency/index.html

But almost immediately, an assortment of other advisers were invited by Trump to oversee construction of his new political operation -- one he hoped would guard his rank as de facto leader of the Republican Party and lend support to allies in local, state and federal races who could advance his agenda. Among them were Trump campaign lawyer Justin Clark and attorney Alex Cannon, former Trump campaign managers Bill Stepien and Brad Parscale, senior adviser Jason Miller, former White House social media director Dan Scavino and longtime allies Corey Lewandowski and Dave Bossie.

Occasionally, the 45th President has invited candidates to meet with him at Mar-a-Lago who he has no intention of endorsing. One Trump aide said he enjoys the lavish praise and frequently crows to guests at the club about the weight his support carries. He has similarly hosted incumbent Republicans who have echoed his false claims about the January 6 insurrection and are already widely expected to receive his endorsement.

"He hates being off the A block," said a person close to Trump, using a term that refers to the lead segment in a cable news program. "He's really thinking of running again in 2024 just to get back to that."

The person close to Trump's operation said that while his TV consumption has declined since he left office -- a byproduct of him no longer being surrounded by televisions in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One -- he still reads The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post each morning and regularly marks up articles about his achievements or policies to send to aides and advisers.


Once a prolific over-sharer on social media, with frequent video posts about everything from the child tax credit to workforce campaigns and hundreds of photographs of herself, Ivanka Trump, like her dad, has spent the past 100 days in relative online silence. Kushner, meanwhile, has popped in and out of his father-in-law's orbit as he devotes much of his time to writing a book about his tenure inside the West Wing and preserving the Middle East peace treaties he helped negotiate during the Trump presidency.