Entrapment

Oval Office meeting, anyone?

Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now. Politics U.S. Politics U.S. By Jeff Mason, White House correspondent It seemed like an innocuous answer. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, taking queries from children during a take-your-child-to-work day briefing this week, was asked by one would-be journalist to identify President Donald Trump's favorite room at the White House. The Oval Office, she replied. And no wonder. Trump shows off the Oval, which he has bedecked with gold in Mar-a-Lago style, like a treasured jewel. He also uses it like a cudgel. Just ask South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who faced an onslaught there on Wednesday from Trump with false accusations of white genocide in his country. It's not the first time Trump has used the prestigious setting to attack another world leader, and it likely won't be the last. Favorite room indeed.      Latest U.S. politics headlines Musk, Republican Party's biggest donor, says he will cut political spending  Second Oval Office ambush by Trump could make foreign leaders think twice US judge blocks Trump administration plan to gut Education Department US House narrowly passes Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill, sends on to Senate  Trump draws global crypto investors with $148 million meme coin dinner  Unorthodox reception There was a time when an invitation for a foreign head of state or government to visit the White House was a coveted prize, a sign of the strength of their relationship with the United States. During Trump's second tenure it has sometimes been a trap. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy learned that the hard way in February when his Oval Office meeting with the U.S. president and Vice President JD Vance devolved into a near shouting match, prompting him to leave early.   Other leaders have learned from that example. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney remained cordial but firm when his Oval meeting included a "never say never" admonition from Trump about Canada becoming a U.S. state. (Carney said his country was not for sale.) And Ramaphosa, whose invitation came as the Trump administration welcomed white South Africans to the United States under a U.S. refugee plan, arrived prepared, too. Not only did he bring a golf book for Trump, he brought along two South African golfers, both of whom are white, to help prove his case that South Africa was not the genocidal country for Afrikaners that Trump described. The president was ready too, of course, playing a video montage to make his case on a television strategically brought in for an ambush and comparing his claims to the apartheid system that violently suppressed Black South Africans for decades. It was not the kind of Oval Office reception you would see from other U.S. presidents.  Trump exerted pressure outside of the Oval Office this week, too. On the domestic policy front, he traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican lawmakers and urged them to unite behind his "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill. Though he didn't seem to have sealed the deal at first, the House of Representatives passed it on Thursday by a single vote. Back in the Oval, Trump announced he had selected a design for his $175-billion Golden Dome missile defense shield, a program that faces both political scrutiny and funding uncertainty.  So it has not been a touchy-feely week, despite how it started at the White House. Leavitt was asked by one child whether Trump liked to give hugs. He did, she said. She was also asked how many people he had fired.   Americans are not impressed with Trump's handling of the economy Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the following issues?   Follow Reuters/Ipsos polling on the president's approval ratings here. The view from Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his heart ached for the families of the victims of two Israeli Embassy staffers who were shot and killed in Washington by a lone gunman on Wednesday night. The suspect chanted "Free Palestine" after he was taken into custody, officials said.  Photo of the week   U.S. President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque What to watch for May 23: Vance delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy  May 24: Trump gives the commencement address at West Point Military Academy  June 14: The U.S. Army celebrates its 250th birthday with a military parade down the streets of Washington. On the same day, Trump celebrates his 79th birthday.  The who, what and when The Republican tax and spending plan: What's in it and what will it cost and save  What is the Golden Dome missile defense shield?  What we know about the Army anniversary parade on Trump's birthday  Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website Reuters Politics U.S. is sent once a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. 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