THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

When you have spent your life golfing, bragging in front of cameras and signing your name to deals that other people put together, it stands to reason you would know nothing about a very different field you want to get into. Which brings us to Donald Trump, The Orange Humperdoo. Having entered politics, he moves from one disaster to another because he knows nothing about politics and how the world works. As a result he is unaware of the impending disaste of the upcoming election.

Republicans who support President Donald Trump have grown fearful that the White House is unprepared for the onslaught that may await them in January.

If a “blue wave” succeeds in giving the Democrats control at least of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections in November, Democrats will have the power to subpoena documents and force administration officials to testify about a slew of scandals, including aides using private email for government business, agencies spending taxpayer money at Trump resorts and sexual assault allegations involving his recent Supreme Court appointment, Brett Kavanaugh.

Five Republicans with close ties to the White House said that instead of preparing for what could be a years-long attack by a newly emboldened Democratic-run Congress, Trump aides are wasting time trying to respond to non-stop controversies, Trump tweets and the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Most spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

“You have take it seriously. It’s going to be all-out warfare,” said Scott Jennings, who was subpoenaed by the Senate when he worked for Republican George W. Bush and the Democrats took control of Congress. “It grinds the administration to a halt.”

The White House should be hiring more staff to handle the congressional inquiries, advising administration officials to retain their own attorneys and researching potential areas of vulnerabilities, ranging from the death of four U.S. soldiers in Africa to the sluggish response to Hurricane Maria, according to people who worked for Presidents Bill Clinton, Bush and Barack Obama, all presidents who faced an opposition-party Congress after their midterm elections.

And the White House should warn individual agencies — which have engaged in lavish spending and contentious policies, such as separating immigrant children from their parents — to do the same.

The White House would not respond to an inquiry about how many staff it had working in the White House counsel’s office, in the press operation or in legislative affairs.

“It’s the beginning of a nightmare,” said a former Trump adviser who remains close to the White House and is familiar with the process. “The harassment, the hearings, the requests.”

One investigation will lead to another — and another, thrusting Trump into a new phase of his presidency. He will no longer be able to govern. He will just have to try to survive, according to the aides to former presidents.

That’s why Republicans had urged Trump to tap Emmet Flood, who served as Bush’s lead lawyer in responding to congressional investigations, as White House counsel after Don McGahn leaves. Flood, who returned to the White House in the spring to represent Trump in the Russia inquiry, would have been likely to attract other much-needed lawyers.

“They are having trouble getting lawyers in because Trump shoots his mouth off and expects personal loyalty,” said Richard Painter, who worked in Bush’s White House counsel’s office and ran unsuccessfully for Senate as a Democrat this year. “He’s an impossible client.”

But Trump may have taken the advice of others who wanted Flood to remain focused on the Russia investigation when he picked Washington lawyer Pat Cipollone, who worked in the Bush Justice Department, to replace McGahn.

As the midterm elections loom, the White House is short-staffed and unprepared.

And so OH approaches the upcoming election disaster as if it were just another Big Mac. This time it could be one that chokes him.