Nov. 15, 2016
Mark Schmitt wrote for the New York Times about President-elect Trump's lack of formal relationships with members of Congress:
When thinking about any new president, and the harm or good he might do, we usually begin with his legislative agenda. The achievements that define a presidency often come early, so in the traditional model, a president rides the momentum of electoral success by quickly moving an ambitious agenda through Congress.
It won’t all happen in 100 days as in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time, but typically there’s only a short window for a president to get his proposals passed before attention shifts to the midterm campaigns.
It’s doubtful that Donald J. Trump has even a grade-school civics class idea of how a bill becomes a law, so it’s long been assumed that his legislative agenda will be House Speaker Paul Ryan’s. The speaker will get his bills passed, with Republican control of both houses of Congress, and Mr. Trump will sign them.