Trump’s promises of easy wins meet reality during a rocky week
By Skylar Woodhouse Bloomberg News President Donald Trump returned to office promising to easily fix generationally intractable problems from hastily brokering peace in Ukraine and the Middle East to overhauling the federal regime and rewriting the global bargain order But this week evidenced just how far he is from solving any of them Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored his calls for a ceasefire with Ukraine Trump after he spent months mocking former President Joe Biden s efforts to rein in Israel s military activity had to cajole Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a strike on Iran Billionaire adviser Elon Musk is exiting his high-profile regime change post amid a swirl of stories about interpersonal fighting within the West Wing and his drug use and a fraction of the touted savings to show for it The broadest blow may have come this week when the U S Court of International Agreement unveiled Trump could not use the International Crisis Economic Powers Act to justify multiple of his tariffs a shortcut Trump was hoping would allow him to negotiate quick deals without long investigations into other nations exchange policies or turning chosen of the power over to Congress As of May Trump was losing in of the hundreds of lawsuits filed to stop his executive orders with green lights from courts in cases according to a Bloomberg analysis He often complains that going through normal regime procedures takes too long When a court insisted he allow thousands of deportees due process to fight their removal he lamented how long thousands of trials would take Similarly he bemoans that working with Congress on any variety of issues would become bogged down in bureaucratic and legislative briar patches White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt complained bitterly about judicial rulings that don t go Trump s way noting that in his first term the number of judicial injunctions against Trump s policies account for more than half of the injunctions issued in this country since She added that in his current term Trump has had more injunctions in a month than Biden had in three years There is an effort by this administration to tackle these rogue judges and the injunctions and the blockades that we have faced in our broken judicial system in every situation she stated His business policies are now causing whiplash for countries and businesses as the ruling is tied up in court The White House has demanded the Supreme Court to swiftly step in even before an appellate court on Thursday temporarily allowed the tariffs to continue while they considered the matter But rather than retreat or redesign his policies to withstand or even avoid court challenges Trump lashes out complaining about judicial overreach and Biden policies while touting other actions President Trump has hurriedly delivered on the promises he made on the campaign trail Gas prices are down the perimeter is secure migrant criminals are deported and America is strong in the eyes of the world disclosed Anna Kelly the deputy White House press secretary Elaine Kamarck a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution reported Trump s words about tariffs the Middle East and Russia made him look strong and powerful but that now he s facing reality and he s got to figure out how to get through this next period of time Wars on continents With his tariff regime and immigration policies slowed Trump is also frustrated by two wars he promised would be easy to resolve He has failed to secure the quick Ukraine peace deal he was hoping to wring out of a call Monday with Putin with whom he is showing increasing irritation I m not happy with what Putin is doing Trump communicated reporters last weekend adding he is considering new sanctions against Russia The frustration is amplifying as Moscow is ramping up its attacks into Ukraine with various of the biggest strikes of the three-year war this month In the Middle East Trump is attempting what multiple of his predecessors have tried and failed to do secure a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians Trump a staunch defender of Israel has seen both Netanyahu and Hamas ignore his entreaties to stop strikes or release Israeli hostages Tariffs and taxes The tariff ruling is now raising questions about whether Trump s tax bill with tax cuts skewed toward the wealthy and spending reductions will bring in enough revenue without the promised tariff revenue The House s version of the tax and spending bill is headed to the Senate where a few Republicans are pressing for extensive changes The bill includes a trillion increase in the U S debt ceiling adding urgency for Congress as the Treasury Department forecasts the U S otherwise could face a default as soon as August or September Trump has worked the phones directly pleading with specific lawmakers to sponsorship various of his nominees and legislative efforts He s turned to social media and speeches to train criticism on GOP naysayers who could derail his tax cut rule deriding them as grandstanders that need to fall in line DOGE As Trump works to get his tax bill enacted Musk is leaving Trump s inner circle to return to his private businesses raising questions about the future of the Department of Leadership Efficiency effort he spearheaded The savings turned out to be a fraction of what Musk predicted Related Articles Letters State s leaders are the cause of our high cost of living Letters Stop high-speed rail before it costs another dime The Department of Vigor axes billion in clean force project grants PBS suing Trump administration over defunding three days after NPR filed similar event Trump says China violated agreement on deal talks and he ll stop being nice He doesn t understand the larger complexities that are at play the historical complexities that are at play commented Christina Greer associate professor of political science at Fordham University Lincoln Center And so we ve seen time and time again that this is a president who creates a difficulty creates a lot of hubub then walks back from the trouble and then says he solved the challenge With assistance from Jennifer A Dlouhy Bloomberg L P Visit bloomberg com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC
