Welcome to Friday’s edition of Washington Secrets, your guide to power and politics in the nation’s capital. As usual, we review the president’s week with the help of our political strategists.
That was a week of two halves for Donald Trump. He was barely spotted last weekend, and from Monday to Wednesday, his daily public schedule was composed entirely of private events, policy meetings, executive time, and dinners.
It made for seven straight days without a chance for the White House press corps to lob questions his way.
Then, just as headlines and social media posts began asking what was going on and why the president had disappeared behind White House walls, it all changed. The 20 or so members of the press pool were summoned to the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon for an executive order signing ceremony.
The president spoke to reporters for 38 minutes, answering questions about whether his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund had been closed or paused — “I’d have to ask the lawyers” — the status of the stalled memorandum of understanding with Iran — “In theory they’re pretty close to signing a paper — and found time to attack CNN’s Kaitlan Collins — “I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
The questions were a reminder that he has suffered a string of recent setbacks, including later on Wednesday when he watched four Republicans help pass a House resolution to block him from launching more strikes on Iran.
On Thursday, it was back to business as usual. He announced plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to revive the U.S. coal industry, using wartime powers.
“So today we’re taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal,” Trump said.
On Friday, he was due to travel to Wisconsin for a roundtable on farming before heading to his New Jersey golf club for the weekend.
There was good news ahead of his departure. The U.S. economy posted another month of employment gains in May. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 172,000 jobs last month after rising by an upwardly revised 179,000 in April.
So what do our strategists make of it all?
Jed Babbin: Grade B
President Trump lost two big votes in the House this week and won one in the Senate. It’s been a confusing week for Congress and the rest of us.
The confusion was generated by Trump’s loss on a War Powers Resolution aimed at cutting off the Iran war, and on a new arms package for Ukraine. It’s not clear how much Trump worked either issue, but he lost them both. He later won a huge package, in a Senate vote, for brandishing his anti-illegal immigration cudgel. Is anyone paying attention? House members seem to keep losing their bids for higher office. Maybe someone is paying attention.
Meanwhile, Iran is dancing around the Trump negotiators again (still). Iran clearly doesn’t want to open the Strait of Hormuz and will resist any effort Trump makes to do so. It now poses a condition for the war in Lebanon to end at the same time the Iran war ends. These guys don’t want peace. They want the war to continue.
Trump’s economy seems to be holding up under all the pressure from the Iran war and its heightening of gasoline prices. The Ukraine war is not coming to a close any time soon, nor is the Lebanon war. I won’t apologize for saying so, but at this point, the normal state of the world is war.
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.
John Zogby: Grade D+
House Republicans were unsuccessful in blocking an effort to put a stop to the Iran war. Just four members of the president’s own party, but just enough, were ready to challenge him, leaving open the possibility of an independent streak among GOP representatives.
Senate Republicans, who already helped push back against Trump on the Iran war in an initial vote, had also rejected the president’s $1 billion proposal to aid his ballroom project and a Justice Department fund to compensate presidential allies he claims have been unfairly prosecuted. Just stop and absorb what we are talking about.
Then, late Thursday, 18 GOP House members joined the Democrats to approve an aid package to Ukraine over the president’s opposition. An unapproved and unpopular Iran war — whose approval numbers reflect those at the END of the Vietnam War, not the beginning — a universally panned destruction of history and an unnecessary addition to the White House, and a slush fund for many convicted criminals.
A federal judge has banned the Kennedy Center board from adding Trump’s name to the cultural institution and from closing it for renovations.
The president’s big bash concert to honor the 250th anniversary of this nation has been canceled because the leading participants pulled out.
Every Friday night, so it seems, there is an announcement (or leak) of an imminent Iran deal, which evaporates by Saturday morning. The latest iteration has been said to include a $300 billion investment to help build back Iran, which is even more generous than Obama’s Iran deal, which Trump 45 scuttled.
And more Americans are behind on their credit cards due to higher interest rates, inflation, and higher numbers of delinquencies.
Meanwhile, Trump is sending out almost incoherent messages on Truth Social, which are increasingly bizarre. But he keeps winning primaries with the MAGA candidates for governor of California and mayor of Los Angeles scoring well and heading to runoffs.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should. His podcast with son, managing partner, and pollster Jeremy Zogby, can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.
Lunchtime reading
‘Like two cats circling’: Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom weigh a 2028 showdown: The pair had parallel careers in California politics, and insiders expect a gloves-off brawl if they both decide to run for president.
‘Unbelievable how accurate’: How paid influencers hype Polymarket’s odds: A Polymarket executive used a personal PayPal account to send at least $350,000 to Nick Shirley and other content creators between January 2025 and February 2026, an analysis of the transactions shows.
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