James' World 2

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With Twitter as his Excalibur, the president takes on his doubters, powered by long spells of cable news and a dozen Diet Cokes. But if Mr. Trump has yet to bend the presidency to his will, he is at least wrestling it to a draw.

Around 5:30 each morning, President Trump wakes and tunes into the television in the White House’s master bedroom. He flips to CNN for news, moves to “Fox & Friends” for comfort and messaging ideas, and sometimes watches MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” because, friends suspect, it fires him up for the day.

Energized, infuriated — often a gumbo of both — Mr. Trump grabs his iPhone. Sometimes he tweets while propped on his pillow, according to aides. Other times he tweets from the den next door, watching another television. Less frequently, he makes his way up the hall to the ornate Treaty Room, sometimes dressed for the day, sometimes still in night clothes, where he begins his official and unofficial calls.

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President Trump during a news conference in the Rose Garden last month. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Inside Trump’s Hour-by-Hour Battle for Self-Preservation

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Senate Republicans got what they so desperately needed early Saturday when an ugly process and a series of last-minute concessions put them within reach of a significant legislative victory in the form of major tax legislation.

But it remained to be seen whether the result — a convoluted measure that would cut corporate taxes and have mixed benefits for individual taxpayers — will spare Republicans from an emerging political backlash that was evident in Democratic election victories around the country last month.

Democrats said Republicans were sacrificing their core claim as the party of lower taxes for middle income Americans, while populist voters allied with President Trump may be unimpressed with deep cuts to the corporate tax rate, added protections for multimillion-dollar inheritances and other breaks for the rich.

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Protesters opposed to the Republican tax plan rallied outside the Capitol on Thursday.CreditZach Gibson for The New York Times

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https://www.nytimes.com

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President Trump tweeted on Friday that reports he would soon fire Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson were “fake news,” and that “I call the final shots.”

The tweet came just hours after Mr. Tillerson called reports that the White House wants him to resign “laughable,” even as one of his closest aides planned to leave the department.

In his tweet, Mr. Trump wrote, “He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!”

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Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson spoke during a meeting with the the prime minister of Libya, Fayez al-Sarraj, on Friday.CreditAlex Wong/Getty Images

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https://www.nytimes.com

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