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In ordinary times, a post from President Trump saying that a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went well would be duly noted and quickly forgotten.
After all, the nations are the closest of allies and their leaders have been joined at the hip on defeating Hamas and defanging Iran, so an agreeable call wouldn’t be news.
But with trouble erupting on all sides of the White House, nothing can be taken for granted, even a call with an ally.
Which is why the president’s post served as a reprieve from the impression that he is engulfed by trouble and strife.
“I’ve just spoken to Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, relative to numerous subjects including trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump wrote.
“The call went very well — We are on the same side of every issue.”
Whew!
Now, back to our regularly scheduled turbulence.
It’s hard to remember now, but Trump got off to such a terrific start that Democrats and the media — two sides of the same coin — were reduced to sullen spectators.
Major business leaders from America and around the world trekked to Mar-a-Lago before the inauguration to show their support and pledge hundreds of billions of investments in America.
Off to a great start
In contrast to his first term, where he was the antsy new kid in Washington, the president was calm and focused as he took office and quickly rolled out a series of executive orders and policies.
He knew what he wanted and while some Cabinet choices were on the margins, he managed to get confirmed everyone he nominated.
By any measure, it was a substantive, successful start.
The addition of Elon Musk added an exciting dimension to the dreary business of cutting costs.
Yet a mere three months later, those happy days seem long ago as the president faces major tests of his leadership.
The biggest problem is self-inflicted, in that an admitted agent of chaos has overindulged.
The sheer number of balls in the air is one thing, but most important is Trump’s hyper-aggressive move to impose tariffs on nearly every country as a way to fix trade imbalances.
It has shocked numerous economies, including our own.
The impact is roiling Wall Street and sparking fears of both a recession and inflation.
Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell sent markets into a tailspin Monday that put the Dow Jones on course for an unhappy distinction — the worst April since the Great Depression.
Although the market reversed course and soared Tuesday, there are no signs of lasting calm.
A delegation from Japan wanted a quick deal on reciprocal tariffs, but reportedly left Washington empty-handed amid complaints that Trump’s negotiators kept changing demands.
What starts on Wall Street doesn’t stay there, and with millions of retirement funds shrinking and household budgets pinched, polls suddenly show declining support for Trump’s handling of the economy.
Given that the previous administration’s failures on that front were key to Trump’s victory, he runs the risk of squandering public confidence on a bedrock issue.
Another open sore is the rocky tenure of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the most beleaguered member of the Cabinet.
His botched Signal app message to officials about a pending attack on the Houthis last month accidentally included a journalist, and new reports say there was a second leak of the same secret information to his wife, brother and private lawyer, among others.
Although Hegseth responded by ripping “disgruntled former employees,” the clear impression is that he has not found his footing and has shrinking space for error.
Botched deport
Sealing the border is an area where the president has made remarkable gains, with the difference between the number of illegal crossers under him and Joe Biden the difference between night and day.
Yet stopping the invasion was only the first step, which candidate Trump promised would be followed by deporting criminal migrants Biden waved in.
The effort and commitment are there, but federal courts are blocking the president’s agenda, and the administration seems to have botched a test case.
It sent Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador even though there was a judicial order that he could be deported to any place other than his home country because of death threats.
Unfortunately, officials muddied the waters by mounting two contrasting defenses.
First they claimed he was sent after an “administrative error,” but then argued he was sent to El Salvador legally.
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Which is it?
Although Dems and their media handmaidens are rallying around the case as if the deportation of a known criminal migrant is the civil-rights issue of the era, there is little chance the outcome will undercut Trump’s standing on the border.
Rather, it shows the White House needs a tighter focus and must speak consistently to prevail.
A similar pattern is developing in Trump’s important effort to hold elite universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.
He made fast progress with his crackdown on Columbia University, where he canceled $400 million in grants and contracts pending the university’s agreement to make major changes.
Columbia said yes, setting a precedent for the president’s plan to make similar arrangements with as many as 60 elite schools.
But then the White House hit a roadblock of its own making.
A letter the administration sent to Harvard outlining expansive demands it must meet was sent prematurely and retracted.
Harvard seized the initiative and sued the administration, making it a hero to a resistance movement looking for leadership.
Openings for attacks
Even with Israel, Trump’s report that he and Netanyahu “are on the same side of every issue” marks a change when it comes to Iran.
Trump gave Netanyahu an unhappy surprise recently by telling him the US was starting talks with Iran.
The Israeli leader had hoped they would undertake joint military action to stop the mad mullahs from building nuclear weapons.
Trump not only rejected the idea, but he also added a further complication by starting the talks and offering conflicting versions of his bottom line.
He said publicly Iran would be bombed if it did not yield on the nuke issue, and said privately that if Iran didn’t destroy its nuclear facilities, the US and Israel would.
But at the initial talks, his envoy, Steve Witkoff, stressed compromise and discussed to what degree Iran could continue enriching uranium.
That echoed the 2015 deal Barack Obama made, which Trump correctly saw as unworkable and withdrew from in 2018.
Although Witkoff later walked back his comments about enrichment, the waters are now muddied and the president’s bottom line remains unclear.
None of the administration’s missteps is fatal, but they are serious enough to give opponents openings for attacks that, if not countered, could cost the GOP control of the House in the midterms.
The question is whether Trump is concerned enough to tighten the ship of state and demand more discipline from his team — and from himself.