By James Oliphant, national political correspondent |
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It's the nature of the beast that is the U.S. presidency. Whenever you are flying high, something quickly brings you back down to Earth. So it has gone for President Donald Trump. A week ago, he was taking a victory lap, celebrating the passage of his "big, beautiful bill", basking in positive rulings from the Supreme Court and fresh from hammering out a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Trump didn't have much time to spike the football. First came the horrific Texas floods, which have killed at least 120 people, followed by his biggest financial donor, former tech bro-buddy-benefactor Elon Musk, pledging to build a new political party. (Musk has problems of his own. He's dealing with a rogue, antisemitic chatbot - and yes, that's the most 2025 sentence I have written to date.) To make matters worse, Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored Trump's call for peace and instead escalated his nation's conflict with Ukraine, while some countries like Japan and India have refused so far to bend the knee to Trump and sign trade deals they view as punitive. |
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Trump's frustration over the lagging trade talks pushed him to send a round of letters to allies such as Japan (a country he called "spoiled") and South Korea, threatening to set new tariff levels if they don't play ball by August. He responded to Russia's aggression by approving new weapons shipments to Ukraine, a move that sparked concern among some in Trump's MAGA political base. MAGA also got riled up at Attorney General Pam Bondi for not substantiating long-held conspiracy theories about the death of disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (Bondi says he killed himself). |
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In racking up recent victories, Trump had some advantages: a Republican-dominated Congress and conservative-majority Supreme Court. But the last few days served as another reminder that there are things beyond a president's control, including unforeseen storms, unpredictable tech billionaires and foreign governments with their own economic and national security priorities. That makes for tougher sledding. Trump did get some good news this week again from the high court, which allowed his administration to move forward on the mass firings of federal workers. But as the controversy over whether federal government cuts hobbled the Texas disaster response showed, there is high potential for blowback when it comes to trimming government functions. |
Americans disapprove of Trump more often than not on his key priorities |
Do you approve or disapprove of how the president has handled the following issues? |
Follow Reuters/Ipsos polling on the president's approval ratings here. |
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Tensions between Brazil and the United States flared this week after Trump and the U.S. embassy in Brasilia defended former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial in Brazil for an alleged attempt to mount a coup. The current president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, has also pushed back against Trump's tariff threats, saying, "The world has changed. We don't want an emperor." Trump then hit the country with a new 50% tariff. |
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Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco attends a lunch for African representatives of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque |
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- July 11: Trump assesses damage in flood-ravaged Texas.
- July 13: Trump expected to attend FIFA Club World Cup soccer final in East Rutherford, New Jersey
- July 15: Trump to attend Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh
- August 22: Republican National Committee summer meeting in Atlanta
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