President Donald Trump’s second term began with a bang, with a wave of executive orders and other actions imposing tariffs; targeting law firms, universities, and individuals he believed abused him while he was out of office; and reshaping the US immigration system.
About a year and a half into his second term, the White House seems to be losing momentum. Much of Trump’s legislative agenda stalled in CongressThe war with Iran has dragged on longer than the administration seems to expect, and Trump’s proposal “anti-arms bag”” was on fire after that an unusual push from Republican lawmakers.
To understand the current state of the Trump White House, Today, It’s Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram spoke with Megan Messerly, White House correspondent at Politico, who recently wrote about “Funk” Trump and his crew are in.
Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s a lot more in the full podcast, so take a listen Today, It’s Explained wherever you find podcasts, incl Apple Podcasts, Pandoraand Spotify.
You recently wrote for Politico about how the president and his administration are doing interesting things — and not just about money laundering. Remind us of how others see this funk, for those who are separated.
We are now more than three months into the Iran war, and this is not going anywhere anytime soon. We have seen the president for the past week and a half now saying that he is close to a plan to extend the ceasefire with Iran which is not yet complete. There was this two hour Situation Room meeting on Friday. Nothing came from there after two hours.
Talking to people in and around the White House, they just want to find a way to save face from this war, but they have failed to do so. They have failed to get Iran to agree to something that would open the Strait of Hormuz. And at the same time, everyone is very much on it.
According to my information, they include the staff inside the White House; one of my sources said that almost everyone is in a funk and explained that they are stuck in this quicksand of Iran.
Is there a legal funk with this administration? Because it doesn’t feel like the Trump administration is doing anything.
That was one of the big things that I was talking to people about this story – this idea that Iran has actually taken up so much of the president’s time that it’s somehow distracting from some of these other priorities. And that includes the president’s legislative agenda.
Other partners I spoke with also blamed that the Majority Leader in the Senate John Thune and said, Thune is too busy with the institution, to protect the filibuster. The president has he called for the dismissal of the member of the Senate. And so you have a very frustrated Trump, but a frustrated Trump who has turned the screws a little bit on Thune, but he hasn’t really put full force of pressure on Thune to get his legislative agenda going.
That includes things like the president has talked a lot about this America’s Savings Actthe article of law that focuses on elections. That is one of his top legislative priorities. There is this house bill that includes this ban on investment institutions that he wants to see end. And then of course he wants to see security funding for his ballroom/bedroom.
It feels like (Trump) doesn’t care about the middle ground. But then there’s all the gimmicks he’s pushing, which means he really cares about the midterms and his candidate endorsements. What do you read about what’s going on with the president when it comes to the midterms?
Yes, it feels like the two things are different.
I think the way White House allies see it is the president needs to be able to say, I don’t care about the midterms. I don’t care high gas prices because that language is Iranian.
He says, I’m willing to take this gamble because he needs Iran to believe that it will take a higher stance, that it will allow gas prices to rise however they need to rise to reach a deal. White House allies would say that is a negotiating tactic. So what might help diplomatically with Iran doesn’t help diplomatically with Republicans as they battle it out in these crucial midterm races.
It feels like it’s such a complicated place that even the things that should be simple win – like the annual festival on the National Mall. What is going on with this festival?
What we see are some of those people now get out and said, “Hey, we wanted to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, but this is too political for us. This is not what we wanted. This is not what we signed up for.”
And to me, and a lot of people that I talked to, this is such a departure from where we were at the beginning of the president’s term last year when he was taking the culture by storm. He was just running these law firms and Ivy League Institutionsand you’ve seen other pop culture figures pop up on the president’s agenda like Nick Minaj.
This is a time when the president wants to take a chance on victory and is still stuck in this mess that is Iran, which he is desperate to get out of.
And Trump even lost his name at the Kennedy Center?
This has been one that has been close to the president’s heart for months now – his battle to rename the Trump-Kennedy Center and this major planned renovation of the center, both have been stopped by a federal court. last week. We saw the president take Truth Social to express his sincere displeasure with that decision.
Do they have any victories they should celebrate now that they can march in front of the American people?
The White House retracted my story and said we have things we are doing.
For example, their efforts to reduce the cost of prescription drugs through TrumpRx and the upcoming launch of “Trump accounts” for millions of children. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on the road last week in California and elsewhere to advertise these investment accounts that are supposed to create wealth from one generation to the next generation. But all of that is being overshadowed right now by Iran.
But ultimately, I think the challenge, and this is what I’m hearing when I talk to the average voter, is, “Okay, these Trump accounts are great, but I’m stuck right now with the cost of gas, and the cost of my groceries when I buy beef and it’s $9, $10 a pound.”
So this win is great, but when the biggest concern is putting food on the table and making ends meet and paying the bills, that’s been cold comfort and it kind of reveals some of the challenges of the White House’s efforts to send a message here.
You think look at some half-naked men brutally beating the living daylights out of each other on the South Lawn will make the president feel good – and on his birthday, no less?
The president is a long-time fan of (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and we certainly see him celebrating his 80th birthday, which is the day of UFC Fight. According to that, the president is this kind of ruthless person and something like that can raise his emotions and give honest policy results, because he has been stuck for a long time.
Talking to allies, I think they think that if the president wins, that can get them back on track to pass the president’s agenda. And that could be a policy victory or it could just be a UFC victory at the White House.
