Maggie Haberman

By the end of this year, he is going to have raised almost a billion dollars. It's extraordinary. It's shocking.

By the end of this year, he is going to have raised almost a billion dollars. It's extraordinary. It's shocking.

I think he'd be proud of it. He uses the phrase bend the knee about how people are engaging with him.

I think he'd be proud of it. He uses the phrase bend the knee about how people are engaging with him.

That's fascinating. It was never really a clear agenda. Certainly, if you look at the remarks from Scott Bess and Howard Lautner in the lead up to Election Day, they suggested that this was more just going to be to get better deals. This obviously is not what they were talking about. And now, as Jonathan said, there is no clear off ramp and there is no clear end in sight.

That's fascinating. It was never really a clear agenda. Certainly, if you look at the remarks from Scott Bess and Howard Lautner in the lead up to Election Day, they suggested that this was more just going to be to get better deals. This obviously is not what they were talking about. And now, as Jonathan said, there is no clear off ramp and there is no clear end in sight.

And that is entirely of one man's doing, and that is the president.

And that is entirely of one man's doing, and that is the president.

Yes.

Yes.

I look at it a little differently, Michael. Yes, it's impatience that there's not a deal yet. Trump is now saying that he was kidding when he said that he could solve Ukraine and Russia's war in 24 hours. I think Trump would very much like to have a peace deal that he can hold up and say that he put into place. I do think the administration is pretty close to walking away from all of this.

I look at it a little differently, Michael. Yes, it's impatience that there's not a deal yet. Trump is now saying that he was kidding when he said that he could solve Ukraine and Russia's war in 24 hours. I think Trump would very much like to have a peace deal that he can hold up and say that he put into place. I do think the administration is pretty close to walking away from all of this.

But he offered something that Just he clearly couldn't deliver on and is not going to anytime soon. If you talk to his aides, they will say that peace deals is going to be the focus of the next hundred days. But it was certainly not much in the first. So foreign policy has not been an overwhelming success so far.

But he offered something that Just he clearly couldn't deliver on and is not going to anytime soon. If you talk to his aides, they will say that peace deals is going to be the focus of the next hundred days. But it was certainly not much in the first. So foreign policy has not been an overwhelming success so far.

I think it's the president realizing that he is getting played by Putin as he sort of acknowledged in a post that he did over the weekend on Truth Social. Vladimir's stop was, I think, his effort at looking like he is saying something publicly, but it didn't end up looking particularly strong since Vladimir did not stop.

I think it's the president realizing that he is getting played by Putin as he sort of acknowledged in a post that he did over the weekend on Truth Social. Vladimir's stop was, I think, his effort at looking like he is saying something publicly, but it didn't end up looking particularly strong since Vladimir did not stop.

I think you are seeing a pretty unbridled and confident Donald Trump. And I think that lacking any kind of a change in curtailing his power in a meaningful way, either by the courts or by Congress, you are going to continue to see more of that on a variety of fronts, not the least of which will be the retribution front. Hmm.

I think you are seeing a pretty unbridled and confident Donald Trump. And I think that lacking any kind of a change in curtailing his power in a meaningful way, either by the courts or by Congress, you are going to continue to see more of that on a variety of fronts, not the least of which will be the retribution front. Hmm.

I had one piece to that too, Michael, which is just that, as Jonathan said, they have all been through these various travails with him. And they feel incredibly bonded to him in a way that the folks in the first term, for the most part, just did not. And so it is not only that he must be seeing things on a level that they are not and hearing frequencies that they're not.

I had one piece to that too, Michael, which is just that, as Jonathan said, they have all been through these various travails with him. And they feel incredibly bonded to him in a way that the folks in the first term, for the most part, just did not. And so it is not only that he must be seeing things on a level that they are not and hearing frequencies that they're not.