Welcome to Friday’s edition of Washington Secrets, when we hand over proceedings to two strategists for their take on the president’s week and what it all means.
Donald Trump’s week has been dominated by the war in Iran (or “excursion” if you like), questions about who knew what about the strike that destroyed a school where children were sheltering, and what to do about the Strait of Hormuz.
And on Saturday, he saw for himself the human cost when he attended what the armed forces call a “dignified transfer” and the return of the bodies of six service personnel who died in the war.
On Monday, the president held his first press conference since the conflict began, even as he continued answering the telephone for reporters. In a phone call with CBS News, he said, “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” while at a separate event with GOP lawmakers, he struck a more open-ended tone. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” he said.
A day later, worries about supplies of oil surfaced. The United States began bombing Iranian minelayers, and Trump demanded that it remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz.
On Wednesday, Trump turned his attention to domestic matters with a visit to Ohio and Kentucky, where his domestic message gave way to an attack on Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), but he still had time to hint that the “excursion” in Iran could come to an end soon.
Oil went on a wild ride on Thursday. The price of Brent Crude, the global standard, went past $100 as the new supreme leader of Iran promised that the Strait of Hormuz would remain shut as a “tool of pressure.” Trump responded by offering U.S. escorts to help tankers keep oil flowing.
So what did our tame Republican and Democratic strategists make of it all?
Jed Babbin: Grade B minus
The war in Iran is now in its second week. Earlier this week, Trump said of the Iran war, “We took a little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil. And, I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.” Later this week, he said, “We’ve won, let me tell you, we’ve won.” Nothing in those statements is true or correct.
The war in Iran is going relatively well, but our aims are still unclear. Is our goal to overthrow the ayatollahs’ regime? Are we just trying to knock out their nuclear program or their missile program or both? The president isn’t saying. As casualties mount — a KC-135 crew of four was lost over Iraq a day ago — questions also continue to grow.
At home, things are much quieter. Inflation is low, 2.4% at last reading, and the stock market, while losing some points due to the war, isn’t panicking. Oil prices are going higher, up to $100 per barrel, but everything else seems fine except the three terrorist attacks America has suffered this week.
Democrats are still refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes airport security (TSA), the Coast Guard, and a lot of other law enforcement protections. This, while three apparent terrorist attacks that may be connected to the Iran war — in New York City, at a Michigan synagogue, and at Old Dominion University in Virginia — represent a huge surge in terrorism in just the past week. Chuck Schumer and Co. aren’t compromising. Shame on them.
John Zogby: Grade F
Last Friday brought the release of a transcript of four interviews of a woman the FBI interviewed about an alleged sexual assault by Donald Trump when she was 13. At the same time, there was a weak jobs report with 92,000 jobs lost.
Oil prices are up a lot this week, and so is the price of gas at the pump, and probably everything else.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply transits, is shut down. Bahrain has already stopped production of crude.
The war in Iran, which a majority of Americans oppose, has expanded throughout the Middle East and beyond, shows no sign of slowing down.
The American objectives are unclear, and the emphasis keeps changing. It has endangered and alienated U.S. allies, brought Russia closer to Iran, and launched an oil crisis that is even greater than the disaster of the 1970s. And the president wore a baseball cap during a somber and dignified service for American military personnel killed in action. And, yes, that is a big deal — perhaps going against what tens of millions of mothers have taught their sons not to do at moments like that.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book, Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should, was just released. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.
Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X @jedbabbin.
Chris Wright’s emotional reactions
Last weekend, Chris Wright, Trump’s energy secretary, played down worries that the war in Iran would force up oil prices, calling for calm.
“What you are seeing is emotional reactions and fear that this is a long-term war,” Wright said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
This must be a different Chris Wright from the one who was chief executive of Liberty Energy in 2024, when its Bettering Human Lives report warned that, erm, war in Iran would drive up oil prices.
“Should the current war in Israel expand to include Iran directly, as opposed to only supporting militant proxy groups, global oil supplies would be at risk,” it warned. “A loss of Iranian oil exports would significantly escalate global oil prices and the myriad products that flow from oil.”
Calm down, Chris, calm down.
The White House has had it with your anonymous sources
Dan Scavino, who rose from caddie to White House deputy chief of staff, is going viral on X with this post:
“A highly placed source close to someone who once retweeted a source has confirmed—via two layers of anonymous sourcing, that our original source, who was briefed exclusively by a friend of a source who heard it from ‘people familiar with the matter,’ is in fact telling the literal truth.”
Lunchtime reading
Trump leaned toward endorsing Cornyn. Then the leaks started — and Paxton made a ‘genius move’: Perhaps the most inside baseball thing you will read this week, about the SAVE America Act, Pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), and why Trump is in no hurry to endorse in Texas.
Iran war will lower energy prices: Trump’s trade expert, Peter Navarro, writes in the Wall Street Journal that worries about the Middle East conflict had long been baked into oil prices. By removing Iran’s destabilizing influence, energy will become cheaper, he says.
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