This week Trump continued his inexplicable targeting of what were formerly some of the strongest U.S. allies, while coddling and cozying up to former adversaries. In what the WSJ Editorial Board dubbed “the dumbest trade war,” Trump escalated tensions with Canada, including threats to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, while Vice President JD Vance mused that “Canada is a state.” Unlike during his first regime and earlier in his second, now countries are pushing back against his antics rather than being bullied into submission.
Speaking of pushing back, the Iran war, now in its sixth month, is at a standstill. Americans’ approval of the war hit a low point of 31%, as support even from Trump’s Republican base faltered. Experts questioned the efficacy of Trump’s new tactic of imposing an “economic D-Day” on Iran, which had previously faced decades of sanctions to little avail, other than pushing Iran to sign the JCPOA, which Trump exited. Trump and Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth’s strategy back home continued to be to silence dissent.
Meanwhile, Trump kept his focus this week on his pet projects and targeting his perceived enemies. Trump enjoyed two Supreme Court wins on his ballroom and mail-in voting, with midterms approaching. In a sign that Trump knows what is coming with midterms, he sent Jared Kushner to meet with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, likely to become the House Speaker after midterms.
On Wednesday, Trump took reporters on a 40-minute tour of the White House grounds to show off his pet projects, telling reporters, “One thing I know how to do is build,” and adding he found the projects “very exciting,” and that they “will be here long after we’re gone.”
Trump showed off his helipad site, bragged about the ballroom he was building, and for the first time revealed that he had replaced the walkway from the White House’s diplomatic entrance and a portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with “flawless granite.”
Trump bragged about the grass replanting after his UFC fight had destroyed it, saying, “we put top soil, brand new earth on top…a lot of good ingredients in that earth for grass,” adding, “it was given, free of charge, by Scotts Miracle-Gro…I wanna thank Scotts Miracle-Gro.”
After, Trump hosted an event to honor a California teen lifeguard who had rescued a 10 year-old boy, telling the boy in front of reporters, “I probably wouldn’t have jumped into the water to rescue you. You’re lucky I wasn’t on duty.”
On Wednesday, NBC News reported that according to a court filing, a National Park Service engineer warned the Trump regime in early June about the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool peeling due to the renovation process, weeks before Trump started blaming vandals.
On Friday, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts allowed work to continue on Trump’s ballroom temporarily, hours before a lower court ruling would have halted above-ground construction, as the court considered Trump’s emergency request to intervene in lawsuits.
WAPO reported Trump’s claims of needing an underground bunker under his ballroom for himself and future presidents was undercut by the fact the White House complex already had one, which former officials said was built under the Obama administration.
On Tuesday, WAPO reported that according to confidential documents, while ticket sales and fundraising at the Kennedy Center had declined in the 10 months after Trump took control of the center, both plunged after the Trump appointed board voted to add his name to the center.
Documents revealed that while the Trump appointed leaders publicly portrayed his involvement as a financial rescue, including in June court filings in an effort to keep his name on the building, they knew that revenue from the center was on track to be $100 million below target.
On Tuesday, Trump’s DOJ threatened in a court filing to demolish the Kennedy Center if the court blocked its renovation plans, which included adding Trump’s name, writing, “Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure.”
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