How Frank Luntz went from Trump enemy to White House insider

After Trump’s election, Luntz seemed likely to be shut out of the White House — a painful fate for a lover of the presidency who built replicas of the Oval Office and Lincoln Bedroom in his Los Angeles home.

But Luntz has now found a key way into the Trump White House. Thanks to his longtime friend and Trump’s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Luntz has provided advice of late about the political messaging of major issues like immigration and the budget.

Luntz made his name by advising Republicans to repackage their policies with language designed to play more to emotion than intellect. He convinced conservatives to say they oppose a “death tax” rather than an “estate tax” on the inheritances of the wealthy, and urged the Bush administration to call global warming “climate change.” Critics said such tactics only obscure and muddy the truth.