Late-Night Phone Calls From the Oval Office - How Donald Trump Turned His Commerce Secretary Into a Hotline for Vanity and Self-Regard

It’s just past one in the morning when the phone rings at Howard Lutnick’s home. Not every night, but often enough for it to have become a ritual. On the other end of the line: the President of the United States. Donald J. Trump, 79 years old, tireless in his self-reflection, needs no intelligence briefing or national security council at this hour - only a conversation about himself. About his television appearances. About a baseball player. About poll numbers. Or simply to be heard. What sounds like a caricature has now been confirmed by Lutnick himself, sketching the bizarre relationship between the Commerce Secretary and the President. Lutnick, who has been known for decades as the CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was surprisingly appointed to the Cabinet in 2024 - a man with Wall Street roots, aggressive negotiating rhetoric, and deep personal loyalty to Trump. He came into the public spotlight after September 11, 2001, when he lost almost all his employees in the attacks and later stood out with brash statements and a ruthless business approach. Today, he is Trump’s most important voice for economic nationalism - and apparently also his preferred midnight contact.

Multiple sources from within the White House describe Lutnick as an “errand boy,” a “non-stop talker,” and someone who intellectually falls short of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Nevertheless, Lutnick has dialed his way into becoming one of the President’s closest confidants - quite literally. He is said to be always available. And Trump, who enjoys surrounding himself with successful businessmen, seems to delight in having constant access to Lutnick. A modern-day court jester, an echo of himself, who doesn't fall silent even after midnight. The conversations, it is reported, rarely concern political strategy. Instead, they revolve around anecdotes, media reactions, praise, criticism, ratings. In one instance, Trump is said to have ranted for several minutes because Morning Joe didn’t compliment his outfit. Another time, he wanted to know if Lutnick had watched his speech at the G7 summit live. And again and again: the question of how he came across. It’s not the content that matters, but the image. The mirror he needs, because the applause out there is no longer enough. Morning Joe sein Outfit nicht gelobt hatte. Ein anderes Mal wollte er wissen, ob Lutnick seine Rede beim G7-Gipfel live verfolgt habe. Und immer wieder: die Frage, wie er angekommen sei. Nicht die Inhalte stehen im Zentrum, sondern das Bild. Der Spiegel, den er braucht, weil der Applaus draußen längst nicht mehr reicht.

For Lutnick, this role is a double-edged sword. Publicly, he presents himself as loyal, emphasizes the strength of the US economy, and defends Trump’s tariff policies. But the profile also reveals a man increasingly under pressure - overworked, overwhelmed, and trapped in a political system that offers him a stage but no direction. Between personal ambition and the endless allegiance to a president who knows only himself, there is little room for substance. Trump, in turn, seems to seek exactly this kind of relationship - asymmetric, compliant, always on call. His Cabinet members are not advisors, but extras in a narrative that is rewritten every day: with him at the center, as victim, as genius. Those who contradict him are dismissed. Those who listen remain. And those who still pick up the phone at one in the morning get to be part of this world for a few minutes - a world in which politics has become a show, and closeness to the President is defined less by competence than by availability. The story of the late-night phone calls once again casts a spotlight on the dysfunctional structures of this administration. That the Commerce Secretary - a central figure for economic decisions, international trade agreements, and industrial policy - sees his primary task in applauding the President while the country debates inflation, tariffs, and supply chains, is more than just a curiosity. It is symptomatic of a presidency that has decoupled itself from substance. The question of how long this system will last remains open. But the picture is clear: while the world sleeps, Donald Trump prefers to reach for the phone. Not to lead. But to hear how great he is. Again and again. Night after night.

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