Trump's First 100 Days: A 'Normal' First Working Day

The weather Monday in Washington was windy, rainy, and messy—but those were hardly the conditions inside the West Wing on what the Trump administration was calling its first "working day." President Trump had an early meeting with CEOs of some of the country's largest manufacturers, a phone call with the president of Egypt, and signed a few executive orders—all before lunch with Vice President Pence. After a tumultuous post-inaugural weekend, something resembling a normal workday occurred at the White House.

(Normal, that is, until the president reportedly said at a meeting with congressional leaders Monday night that 3 to 5 million illegally cast votes cost him the popular vote—a fantastic charge that's never been proven. Expect this to dominate the news cycle for the next day or so.)

Spicer Meets the Press

This normal workday began for the senior communications staff with a morning meeting in the office of press secretary Sean Spicer that included White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, director of strategic communications Hope Hicks, and assistant communications director Boris Epshteyn, among others. Conway showed up again for Spicer's first official press briefing that afternoon, joined by a bevy of communications staff and Omarosa Manigault, who is running communications at the White House's office of the Public Liaison.

Spicer's first briefing for the media avoided the controversy of his Saturday evening statement. Dressed in a sharp suit, the 45-year-old press secretary smiled often and took question after question—at one point, making what he seemed to realize was a foolish promise: "I'm going to stay out here as long as you want." The gathered press let out a collective laugh. (There were still plenty of hands in the air when Spicer left the podium after about an hour and a half.)

The small briefing room was packed full of reporters. One White House press corps veteran told me he had not seen it that full even at the height of the lead-up to the Iraq War in the early George W. Bush administration. Much was made of the fact that Spicer did not call on the Associated Press first, as is tradition, instead calling on the Trump-endorsing New York Post and its Washington bureau chief, my friend and former WEEKLY STANDARD colleague Daniel Halper. But the AP's White House correspondent Julie Pace eventually got a question, as did many from around the room. If President Trump is going to be overturning Washington traditions and norms, this one's as good a candidate as any. Here's a suggestion for the next briefing, Sean: Call on TWS first!