Moderates Run Policy When Presidents Falter

When a president is less active or impaired, a compact inner circle of seasoned, moderate operatives can end up steering major policy choices, producing coherent short‑term playbooking but potential drift or muddle on contested issues (immigration in this account). The problem is hard to assess because modern White House secrecy and lack of tick‑tock reporting prevent clear attribution of who decided what. — If true, this pattern shifts accountability away from elected leaders onto informal adviser networks, altering electoral responsibility, internal party politics, and how the media should report on administrations.