Politics

Trump expressed frustration that Stitt, the Republican chairman of the National Governors Association, was defending a pair of Democratic governors whom the president wanted to bar from a coming event at the White House. “This is the White House,” Trump told the governor, according to people familiar with the exchange. “I can invite whomever I want.”

Trump’s tense exchange with Stitt, which was followed by critical social-media posts about the governor, is emblematic of the tightrope Stitt has been walking as the head of the bipartisan organization of governors. Stitt has gently pushed back on some of Trump’s actions, raising concerns that the president’s muscular use of federal power is stepping on states’ rights. But he is also trying to avoid making an enemy of the president, who maintains a tight grip on the Republican Party