Trump’s WashingtonHow President Trump is changing government, the country and its politics.Good evening. I’m Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent, filling in for Jess Bidgood. Tonight, I’m looking at the president’s knack for changing the subject, as well as his enthusiasm for a new White House ballroom and for apex predators. I’ll start with the news.
The channel-changer in chiefThe newly elected chancellor of Germany had patiently waited on Thursday as President Trump took questions from reporters about a range of topics, including an explosive war of words with Elon Musk that was just erupting online. Finally, the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, saw a chance to get back to his own top priority: Ukraine. “We are on the side of Ukraine,” Merz said flatly, adding, “We are trying to get them stronger and stronger just to make Putin stop this war.” And he exalted Trump as “the key person in the world” to help end the conflict. Merz had Trump — briefly. For a few seconds, Trump murmured in agreement. He described having seen gruesome battlefield footage and acknowledged that the war was “a terrible, terrible thing.” But then, like a sports fan who had accidentally found himself watching PBS, he changed the channel. “Did I hear the word autopen?” Trump said, returning to a topic he had already expounded upon: former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen to sign legislation. “I think it’s the biggest scandal maybe in the last 100 years in this country,” he said. The moment crystallized Trump’s approach in recent weeks to some of the more challenging issues facing the administration and the world. As wars and conflicts overseas become only more intractable, Trump has frequently sought to pivot to the red-meat domestic topics that he knows will fire up his base. It is a far cry from Trump’s hyperbolic bravado during the presidential campaign, when he promised to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and to bring “hell” to Hamas if it didn’t release all the hostages it held in Gaza. Having kept a breakneck, action-packed pace during his first four months, Trump is running up against problems that defy quick solutions. His administration is struggling to broker long-term cease-fires in Ukraine and Gaza. So Trump keeps reaching for the remote. Last Saturday, the day that Hamas rejected an Israeli-backed cease-fire proposed by Trump, the president made no public remarks about the negotiations. He did, however, share a ludicrous conspiracy theory on social media saying that Biden had been “executed in 2020” and replaced by a robotic clone. Of course, every president has the ability to redirect the national conversation by making news, and Trump has proved himself a virtuoso at doing so. On Wednesday, the White House was dodging questions about Musk’s denunciation of Trump’s signature legislative package, Ukraine’s audacious weekend drone attack on Russia and whether Trump was considering imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin of Russia. That night, Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, imposing a sweeping travel ban on mostly African and Middle Eastern nations, cutting off Harvard from educating international students and ordering his administration to investigate Biden’s use of the autopen. But substantive announcements aren’t always at hand. During Thursday’s meeting with Merz, the German chancellor, Trump acknowledged that no one had uncovered any evidence yet that Biden’s team had acted illegally in using the autopen. (Trump, too, has acknowledged that his own team has occasionally used the device.) Merz sat patiently by, waiting for Trump to finish. Then Trump pivoted again. Not back to Ukraine, however, but to the granddaddy of debunked Biden conspiracy theories. “He didn’t get elected, either,” Trump said of Biden, the winner of the 2020 election.
IN HIS WORDS Coming soon: a White House ballroomPresident Trump has a lot to say. My colleague Chris Cameron, a reporter in the Washington bureau, breaks down one of his Truth Social posts. The president’s feud with Elon Musk wasn’t so all-consuming that he couldn’t post on Friday about something he is clearly more fond of: a project to build a ballroom for the White House. Big state dinners have been held in tents in recent years, something that Trump has wanted to correct. On Friday, just before departing Washington for his property in Bedminster, N.J., for the weekend, Trump announced that he had “just inspected the site” of a planned ballroom, which, he added, would be built “compliments of a man known as Donald J. Trump.” “For 150 years, presidents, and many others, have wanted a beautiful ballroom, but it never got built because nobody previously had any knowledge or experience in doing such things,” he wrote. “But I do, like maybe nobody else, and it will go up quickly, and be a wonderful addition, very much in keeping with the magnificent White House itself.” Got a tip?
THE MOMENT Gratitude, in both directionsWe try to use this space to spend a moment with a striking picture captured by a Times photographer. This one was taken on Wednesday, when the White House staged what it called a “summer soiree” to show its appreciation for hundreds of political appointees and interns. The guests, many of whom had worked on Trump’s campaign, gathered on the South Lawn at about 5 p.m., according to Doug Mills, The Times’s senior photographer in Washington, who arrived around 7 p.m. The refreshments included the president’s favorite: Quarter Pounders with cheese. The caterer: McDonald’s. “It was not your normal event at the White House these days,” Doug said. “It seemed very festive. Everybody seemed to be in a really good mood.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, the overwhelmingly young crowd — also heavily white and heavily male — included more than a few men in dark blue suits and red ties. Only a few sported red MAGA hats. Trump spoke for about 15 minutes from the balcony of the White House’s Blue Room. His audience couldn’t have been more pleased. “As I looked out into the crowd and saw all the people who work for him, I just realized that they don’t get to see him every day,” Doug said. “So when they do get to come out, and not only see each other, but see the president, it’s quite a treat for them.”
ONE LAST THING A new predator is coming to WashingtonPresident Trump marked his trip to Saudi Arabia last month by celebrating new deals for weapons sales and investments in artificial intelligence. You might have missed the one about the Arabian leopards. Not to worry. My fellow White House correspondent Shawn McCreesh dug into a deal in which the Saudis will send two leopards to the National Zoo. Trump does not own any pets, but he is fascinated with animals at the top of the food chain, Shawn writes. And don’t miss the commentary from the passionate Trump supporter best known as Joe Exotic, or the “Tiger King” — a former Oklahoma zoo owner who was recently sentenced to 21 years in prison over a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting an animal-rights activist. Chris Cameron contributed reporting to this newsletter. Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have feedback? Ideas for coverage? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.
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