Post-Barr, Trump is waking up to a world of pain

But every victory lap has a finish line—and Trump appears to be approaching his. “Donald gets oversold on things. This is just another example of that,” said a Republican close to the White House. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted to authorize subpoenas to obtain a copy of Mueller’s report, catalyzing fears among Trump aides that the legal siege isn’t over. “The White House realizes the report may have a lot of shit in it,” the Republican said. A former West Wing official told me Trump’s “response to the Barr letter was overplayed.”

The prospect of damaging Mueller revelations is particularly alarming to advisers who worry the president’s 2020 re-election campaign is in “disarray,” according to three Republicans close to the White House. “There’s no brain trust,” a former West Wing official said. Campaign manager Brad Parscale, a social-media consultant with no political experience prior to Trump’s 2016 campaign, is struggling to exert control over the operation and reverse Trump’s upside-down poll numbers with women voters, sources said. “The polling is very bad. They’re going to have a big problem with female voters,” a Republican who’s been briefed on the internal numbers said. According to a source, Parscale told Trump over the weekend of March 16 that he could improve his standing with women if he dialed back the tweeting. Trump responded with a tweetstorm the following day that included an attack on the late Senator John McCain and a retweet of a user who had promoted the QAnon conspiracy. “Brad went to him and Trump’s response was like 40 tweets,” the source said.