Welcome to Friday’s Washington Secrets, where we are ready for another weekend filled with World Cup soccer. Once again, we unleash our two strategists to review the president’s week, and — spoiler alert — it’s not good. Where can I get a copy of The Mayor of Casterbridge?What a week that was. Even by the extraordinary standards of Donald Trump, that was an all-timer.It began on Sunday with cage fighting on the South Lawn of the White House to mark the president’s birthday, or maybe to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation. Fighters warmed up in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and some emerged from the Oval Office for their bouts. We later learned that law enforcement agencies thwarted a plot to attack the event with drones.
Trump arrived Monday in the French Alps to meet fellow world leaders at the G7 summit. He arrived with the wind at his back after announcing that a deal had been reached with Iran about the next phase of talks.Through the week, details emerged of a memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire with Iran and set a course for 60 days of negotiations to end the war completely. On Monday, an official said the MOU had been electronically signed a day earlier.In France, G7 leaders worked to put Ukraine back on the agenda and even managed to get Trump’s sign-off on a new push for peace there, even if he said it was a European problem rather than an American one.The president then stirred up a hornet’s nest back home with an overnight social media post Wednesday that he was delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to become director of national intelligence, just hours before his confirmation hearing. It was all part of a complicated game that is driving a wedge between the White House and Senate Republicans, as Trump said that he would not “approve” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act unless the SAVE America Act, mandating photo ID and proof of citizenship to vote, was included.In the meantime, the text of the MOU was released, raising more questions than it answered. It came out at the same time as Trump was giving a meandering press conference at the G7. The president seemed enthused by his time with world leaders, who praised the MOU. “We found a great deal of unity here at the G7,” Trump said.Trump was back at the White House on Thursday for a Medal of Honor ceremony. He left it to his vice president to defend the deal with Iran. JD Vance said consumers were already seeing the benefits, with gas prices falling and oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz.The biggest losers? Is it the Israelis? Vance sent them a warning to get on board with the MOU and fast, saying, “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”The president is due to spend the weekend at Camp David.So what do our two strategists make of it all?Jed Babbin: Grade F
