Big, beautiful blowout

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Politics U.S.

By James Oliphant, national political correspondent

Your correspondent is back from two weeks in Europe, and naturally nearly all anyone wanted to talk to me about was Donald Trump. (I was on vacation, people!)

As is the case in the United States, some liked the president, while others were passionately opposed to him. Some people worried about what they saw as an American retreat from the world stage, while others welcomed such a step-back.

But what hasn't quite broken through to casual followers of Trump's second term is how bogged down his agenda has become.

Latest U.S. politics headlines

Bad News Bearer

Trump's headaches came from every direction this week. Former BFF Elon Musk, now out of government and focusing on selling cars again, turned against Trump's beloved Big Beautiful Bill on tax and spending, now undergoing revision in the U.S. Senate. Trump's tariffs produced new forecasts of economic slowdown and sparked concerns about the availability of steel products and rare earth minerals. And Ukraine's daring attack on Russia's strategic bomber fleet escalated a war that Trump has been seeking to end.

Also, federal courts still are scrutinizing many of Trump's government reform plans to see if they violate the law.

But back to Musk. To veteran Trump-watchers, it wasn't necessarily surprising that his relationship with Trump went sour (Anyone recall Anthony Scaramucci?). It was how quickly it turned and how vitriolic Musk has been of late.

In a series of social media posts, he blasted the Republican bill passed last month by the U.S. House that would extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, boost border-security and military spending and cut Medicaid benefits, as a "disgusting abomination" that would blow out the federal budget deficit. Musk's critique tracked the concerns of Senate Republican budget hawks such as Rand Paul and Mike Lee, who oppose the mammoth measure. One White House official called Musk's attacks "infuriating."

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will add about $2.4 trillion to the $36.2 trillion U.S. debt pile. Another forecaster, the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, said the toll could be as high as $5 trillion over the next decade if all the cuts are made permanent and you factor in the cost of interest payments.

Because Senate Republicans plan to use a process known as reconciliation to pass the bill by simple majority vote, they can afford four defectors – but no more than that. Trump invited senators to the White House on Wednesday for some old-fashioned presidential arm-twisting.

Meanwhile, Trump's new steeper tariffs on steel and aluminum threw that market into disarray and resulted in Canada threatening to retaliate. The European Union, however, is still hoping to strike a deal. And, because of Trump's trade war, China is pulling back on shipping rare earth metals, which poses a threat to the auto and semiconductor industries, among others.

At the same time, the CBO said that U.S. economic output will fall because of Trump's tariffs on foreign goods that were in place as of May 13, which means more bad news could be in store.

So, when someone asks you, "How's Trump doing?" tell them, "It's complicated."

Poll of the week

Follow Reuters/Ipsos polling on the president's approval ratings here.

The view from Copenhagen

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday said Denmark would not yield to "unacceptable" pressure from the United States to surrender mineral-rich Greenland. Leaders of Denmark and Greenland have said only Greenlanders can decide the territory's future, and the Danish constitution gives the island the right to seek independence. "But we don't bend. We Danes are not like that," she said.

Photo of the week

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WYO) and U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) speak to members of the news media after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump about his sweeping tax-cut and spending bill at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

What to watch for

June 5: Trump meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at White House.
June 14: Large-scale military parade scheduled in Washington to celebrate 250th anniversary of the US Army (It's also Trump's 79th birthday).
June 15-17: G7 summit in Canada.

The who, what and when

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