President Donald Trump's second term began with “days of storm.” Now he is dealing with a storm of a different kind.
A year and a half into his second term, Trump's legislative agenda is stalled in Congress, whose authority he himself has undermined. He has not yet managed to end the war he started in Iran, let alone the one between Russia and Ukraine that he has been trying to end for months. A series of court rulings halted the administration's actions on everything from a compensation fund for people Trump said were unfairly prosecuted and treated by the criminal justice system under Joe Biden (the “Anti-Weaponization Fund”), which could be used to pay the president's political allies, to renaming the Kennedy Center.
Even the cultural milieu that Trump has been trying to bend to his will for years is showing signs of resistance, with artists withdrawing from the “Freedom 250” festival, a triumphalist celebration that the president envisioned as one of the highlights of his second term.
Trump's allies describe an atmosphere of burnout in the White House due to the near-total focus on ending the war with Iran, which has been going on twice as long as the president suggested. Privately, they wonder whether personnel changes would break the administration out of this malaise.
“The administration is completely absorbed in this conflict. They are practically at a loss or tired because nothing is happening,” said a source close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “Even if there are some successes, no one talks about them. There is simply no other option – we are stuck in this quicksand of Iran,” he added.
Over the past few weeks, the White House has been negotiating an extension of the ceasefire with Iran that would open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, easing pressure on global oil prices. But Trump has so far failed to reach an agreement, despite promises that the conflict would be short-lived, as well as threats on social media and even a renewed bombing. On Friday, he left a two-hour meeting in the White House Situation Room with no announcements.
US President Donald TrumpROBERTO SCHMIDT/Getty AFP/East News / East News
Trump continues to publicly give the impression that everything is going according to plan. He told NBC News on Monday that he had no objection to Iran's decision to suspend talks with the United States.
“I don't really feel like talking either. We talk too much,” he said.
Meanwhile, Americans continue to be plagued by high gas prices. The average price of a gallon dropped to $4.32 on Monday. from $4.50 a week ago, but it's still down about 37%, according to AAA. higher than a year ago.
“Is this how MAGA ends – with a soft sigh, not a bang?”
Trump's negotiations with Congress on many of his top legislative priorities are not going any better. Despite strengthening its position in the Republican Party by helping unseat incumbent senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the Senate majority is no closer to passing the election-focused SAVE America Act that Trump has made a priority. Congress also failed to heed his call to pass a bipartisan housing bill or to fund his ballroom project, including an underground bunker that he says is necessary for security.
On Monday, the administration withdrew from its plan to create an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” worth $1.8 billion. in the face of Republican opposition and last week's unfavorable court ruling.
Trump supporters say his administration is running at full speed and the failures are because the weak Senate Majority Leader is unwilling to abolish the filibuster or fire the Senate secretary; from the fact that liberal judges thwart the will of the people; and because ungrateful leaders of other countries refused to help the United States ensure that Iran never acquired nuclear weapons.
But as his second term is almost halfway over, the failures are piling up.
“Is this how MAGA ends – with a soft sigh, not a bang?” — said Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist in the White House, adding that “Texas shows that the president still has full power — it must be used, starting with removing Thune.”
White House aides dismissed the criticism as media hype and pointed to several policy successes Trump has had recently, including the addition of generic drugs to the TrumpRx website from which consumers can buy directly, the upcoming launch of “Trump accounts” for millions of children, the rollback of Biden's EPA regulations on refrigeration and air conditioning, and a summer public safety initiative ahead of the country's 250th anniversary.
They noted that much of the president's legislative agenda is moving forward, pointing to conference negotiations on housing legislation, progress on the highway bill and recent bipartisan agreements on cryptocurrency legislation. And recent political successes — from redistricting boundaries to several successful primary challenges, including Cornyn's — show that Trump still has a dominant position in the Republican Party.
That should put to rest any suggestion that Iran has limited the administration's ability to focus on other issues, they said.
“President Trump can do two things at once,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “It's a shame that the media chooses to spread false, pessimistic narratives rather than highlight all that the administration is doing for families across the country, but President Trump remains focused on fulfilling all of his promises to the American people while ensuring Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.”
They doubt Trump. “For the first time I'm starting to wonder.”
But the situation is very different from the beginning of Trump's term — which Bannon called the “days of the storm.” Trump's Project DOGE disrupted the federal bureaucracy as he tried to subdue other institutions, such as corporate law firms and Ivy League universities. Last summer, the military carried out a successful attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. In January, Trump overthrew Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in a covert operation that led to a leadership change in the country.
A second person close to the White House, who was granted anonymity in exchange for disclosing private conversations, said Iran was partially distracting the administration from promoting the achievements of the first year in office.
“You passed a great, great law. Crime is down. The border is secured,” this person said. “They are not in the business of promoting what they did.”
Instead, allies worry that the administration is spending more time deliberating behind closed doors trying to end the war than enacting and promoting the president's agenda.
“For the first time, I'm starting to wonder if maybe he doesn't have as much political capital as I thought, or maybe they're just not using it properly,” said the first close White House aide.
The standoff comes at a delicate time for Trump, who has been planning for months a lavish July 4 celebration to mark the country's 250th anniversary. Although a planned UFC fight on the South Lawn of the White House will go ahead as scheduled later this month, more than a half-dozen artists have withdrawn from performing at Freedom 250's Great American State Fair on the National Mall. In response, Trump announced that he would star in the role himself, which was met with criticism even from some conservatives.
“I'm really pissed at how badly they ruined America's 250th anniversary celebration. First they tried to invite Milli Vanilli and a whole bunch of other ridiculously outdated, outdated one-hit wonder artists. And when that didn't work out, they decided to turn the event into a Trump rally where he'll talk about himself for 90 minutes,” conservative commentator Matt Walsh wrote in an X post over the weekend. “This should be a big, boisterous celebration of the country and its 250-year history. Now it will be a political rally identical to the ten million others we have already seen.”
America's 250th anniversary celebration could be one of the last good days for the administration, a second White House official said, noting a coming avalanche of subpoenas if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.
“Members of Congress who have never been in the minority have no idea how much s*** it can be, and their staffs haven't experienced it either… none of them. And not in the proctological sense. You can only resist a subpoena for so long,” this person said. “I think it's going to be a rude awakening if that happens.”
