Image: watson/getty/keystone
analysis
The US President is at an impasse.
June 2, 2026, 7:56 p.mJune 2, 2026, 7:56 p.m
The midterms? “I don’t think about it for a second.” Skyrocketing gasoline prices? “Peanuts.” Donald Trump currently seems to be a man who cannot be harmed, who can even afford to say that he doesn’t care about the financial situation of Americans, and who supports candidates in the primaries who could cost his party its seat.
On the surface, the president’s arrogance may be justified, as he has managed to tighten his grip on the Republican Party in recent weeks. In the states of Louisiana, Kentucky and Indiana, representatives of the Grand Old Party (GOP) who dared to express even the slightest criticism of him were punished in the primaries. In Texas, Trump is supporting Ken Paxton, a candidate who is so corrupt that he was impeached by the Republicans.
DOPE stands for: stupidest and oldest president of all time.Image: Reddit
You can’t get more of a middle finger. “Trump’s imperial posturing, his blasé asides and his complacent decisions (…) create the impression of a president who cannot be shaken by anything and who ignores the concerns of his voters,” notes Frank Bruni in the New York Times.
However, there is also a completely different Trump these days, a man who complains and doesn’t know what to do, especially when it comes to the war against Iran that he started. “Iran wants a deal that would be good for the USA and everyone who is with us,” the president posted on his Truth Social platform. “But why don’t the Dummorats (that’s what he’s recently called the Democrats) and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans understand that it’s MUCH harder for me to do my job well and negotiate when political onlookers are constantly making negative comments on a scale never before?”
When it comes to the Iran war, Trump is caught in an endless spiral. For months he has been announcing at regular intervals that a deal is imminent, and a much better deal than President Barack Obama had concluded at the time, which he had canceled for no reason, only to have to sheepishly admit a little later that unfortunately it wasn’t that far after all.
Nevertheless, the president continues to spread optimism. «Sit down and relax. In the end everything will be okay – as it always is,” he recently posted.
Devastated: the White House.Image: keystone
In general, whining Trump posts like a madman. Over the weekend he posted around 60 posts twice, in which he insulted God and the world, but especially judges, Democrats and renegade Republicans. An older family member who behaves like this is sent for an Alzheimer’s test as a precaution. This is now considered normal for the American president.
But all the posts in the world neither open the Strait of Hormuz nor prevent political damage on the home front. It is precisely there that Trump has suffered severe defeats in the last few days. Here is an incomplete list of the most important ones:
- Nothing will likely come of the planned bribe fund of around $1.8 billion. The resistance is too strong even within the GOP. In addition, two judges have put this unspeakable work on hold for the time being with their orders.
- Trump’s 80th birthday celebration has a bad star. A huge cage in which UFC fighters are supposed to fight each other is laying waste to the lawn in front of the White House, or what remains of it after the East Wing was demolished. Experts warn that these fights are too dangerous in Washington’s humid summer heat, and spectator interest also appears to be limited. As an emergency, tickets were distributed to soldiers, but for visual reasons only to those who were not fat.
- Things are even worse around the 250th anniversary. Almost all the stars who were scheduled for the opening concert canceled. Now Trump wants to hold a MAGA rally instead.
- At a closed hearing, former Justice Secretary Pam Bondi responded “I don’t know” when asked whether Trump knew about Epstein’s crimes. This is not necessarily taken as evidence of the president’s innocence.
- The government is pulling out all the stops to avoid having to pay back $166 billion in illegally collected customs revenue. However, she is obliged to do so following a ruling by the Supreme Court.
- Trump’s Board of Peace, his alternative UN, is bankrupt because the few members promised billions in contributions but did not deliver. The once celebrated peace plan for Gaza has now become a vague memory. Hamas keeps its weapons and the Israelis continue to bomb.
- Finally, American farmers – fundamentally committed Trump voters – are getting angry. Because of the tariff dispute, the Chinese buy their soybeans in Brazil, and because of the Iran war, the cost of fertilizers has increased massively. Last year, farmers lost around $35 billion because of this. Around 15,000 farmers have filed for bankruptcy. So much for “Make Our Farmers Great Again.”
Trump’s haughty behavior is therefore not proof that everything is going according to plan, it is whistling in the dark forest, or as Frank Bruni puts it: “It sounds like desperation. (…) Trump is becoming more and more distant from reality, but he has not yet fallen into a coma. Under this mask of arrogance he sweats like a madman.”