Things Aren't Going Trump's Way He hasn't ended the wars in Ukraine & Gaza. His economy looks shaky...then there's Epst [View all]

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Things Aren’t Going Donald Trump’s Way

He hasn’t ended the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. His economy looks shaky. And then there’s Jeffrey Epstein.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/08/trump-ukraine-gaza-economy/683786/

August 7, 2025, 1:40 PM ET
Donald Trump has almost certainly complained more about journalists than any of his predecessors have, maybe more than all of them combined. So when Trump deemed a query “the nastiest question” he’s ever gotten from a member of the press, it was notable.

The moment came in May, when CNBC’s Megan Cassella asked Trump about “TACO,” an acronym for “Trump always chickens out.” The phrase had gained popularity in the financial sector as a derisive shorthand for the president’s penchant for backing down from his tariff threats. During an otherwise routine Oval Office event, Trump sputtered angrily at Cassella, claiming that his shifting tariff timelines were “part of negotiations” and admonishing, “Don’t ever say what you said.”

Trump’s appetite for confrontation is being tested again this week, with the arrival of two of the most important self-imposed deadlines of his second term, related to the tariffs and the conflict in Ukraine. Both present fraught decisions for Trump, and they come at a time when he faces a confluence of crises. A president who, less than a year ago, staged a historic political comeback and moved to quickly conquer Washington and the world now confronts more obstacles than at any point since his inauguration. Some of his central campaign promises—that he would end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and boost the economy—are in peril. And for the first time in his 200 days back in office, the White House has begun to worry about members of the president’s own party defying him....................................