Whether this softer public image was accurate or not, it is also true that early on in her White House tenure, Ms. Trump cared a great deal about protecting it. At a certain point, however, Ms. Trump seemed to tire of maintaining the pretense of being a responsible stewardess of taxpayer dollars. For many of those ventures, even Ms. Trump herself may have struggled to articulate why her presence was necessary, how her portfolio of women’s economic empowerment bore relevance. “She seems to have endless access to anything and everything that goes on in the White House — she’s actually serving in many ways as a second first lady. We’ve never had that before.”On a policy front, despite early setbacks, Ms. Trump has notched victories such as increasing the child tax credit as part of the president’s tax cuts in 2017.

Source: New York Times August 27, 2020 22:08 UTC