NPR Topics: News
Trump appoints housing official as acting director of national intelligence
Bill Pulte has shown a willingness to go after the president's perceived enemies.
Center
Alternet.org
Trump is 'all-consumed' by one thing — and allies fear it’s 'the end of MAGA'
Left
President Donald Trump's administration has become "all-consumed" by one pressing issue, according to a new Politico report, distracting them from vital legislative wins and causing allies to fret about "the end of MAGA."On Tuesday morning, Politico released an extensive new report on the massive political headwinds buffeting Trump. Not so long after his earth-shaking return to power, he is now struggling to get anything done at a time when the GOP desperately needs a win to sell in the midterms."A year and a half into his second term, Trump’s legislative agenda is stalled in a Congress he has undermined," the report explained. "He has yet to end the war he started in Iran, let alone the one he’s spent months trying to end between Russia and Ukraine. A series of court rulings has stopped the administration in its tracks on everything from an 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' that could have been used to compensate the president’s political allies to renaming the Kennedy Center."Allies close to Trump described the White House as being in a state of "burnout," now driven largely by its "nearly all-encompassing focus on ending the Iran war." As Politico noted, the conflict has now lasted over twice as long as Trump once predicted, and shows no signs of a clean resolution anytime soon.“The administration is all-consumed by this conflict. They’re pretty much in a funk with it — or fatigue — in that there’s nothing happening,” one anonymous source close to the situation told Politico. “Even if there are wins, no one’s communicating them. There’s just no other play outside of — we are stuck in this quicksand of Iran.”In turn, Trump is also failing to see any gains from Congress, with his much-demanded SAVE Act voting reform stalled out and the funding for his White House ballroom becoming mired in controversy. As Politico noted, many MAGA allies insist that Trump is being failed by those around him, as opposed to failing because of his own inadequacies, with some demanding new GOP leadership in Congress.“Is this how MAGA ends — with a whimper not a bang?” Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief strategist, said. “Texas shows that the President still has all the juice — it needs to be applied starting with [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune’s removal.”Meanwhile, others are worried "that the administration is spending more time huddling behind closed doors trying to end a war than passing — and selling — the president’s agenda."“This is the first time that I’m even questioning, maybe he doesn’t have as much political capital as I thought he did, or they’re just not using it right in the right way,” the anonymous source added.A second anonymous source close to the White House added that the impending 250th anniversary festivities might be "among the last of the good days for the administration," amid fears that Democrats will regain power in the midterms and make life miserable for Trump in the remainder of his term.“Members of Congress that have never been in the minority don’t know how s—— it is — and staff hasn’t been through this, which none of them have… not in the proctological exam kind of way. You can only defy a subpoena for so long,” the source said. “I think there’s a rude awakening that will come if that happens.”
