On Monday, he laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery. He could not resist taking a swipe at opponents in his Memorial Day Truth Social post: “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the Dumocrats, who disrespect our Military and all of the tremendous success that it has had over the last year.”

Tuesday was a lower-profile day. The president made the short journey to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his six-month checkup. The White House said he met with wounded military personnel while he was there, but a family member said he did not meet any of the 14 wounded in Iran.

In the meantime, Ken Paxton won his bitter primary fight in Texas against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Trump endorsed Paxton last week, and his easy win again underlined Trump’s tight grip on the Republican Party.

Wednesday featured a cabinet meeting. Alongside the usual praise for the president, he added an extra layer to his Middle East strategy, suggesting that any deal with Iran would not be signed unless Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan agreed to join his Abraham Accords framework and establish relations with Israel.

Thursday brought fresh strikes by both Iran and the U.S., even as hopes grew that a “memorandum of understanding” might unlock the next steps in a peace process.

At home, it emerged that the Trump administration opened a criminal investigation linked to writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits against Trump. She accused Trump of sexual assault and defamation, and won two cases. Now the Department of Justice is investigating whether she committed perjury.

Friday featured fresh opportunities for embarrassment with Pam Bondi, the former attorney general, up before the House panel investigating her handling of the Epstein files. Plus, there was a setback for Trump’s $1.8 billion “weaponization” fund, when a federal judge ordered that no money could be transferred into it with legal challenges yet to be resolved.

So what did our two strategists make of the week?

John Zogby – Grade D-

John Zogby Strategies conducted a poll late last week of 1,000 likely voters nationwide, so I will let the people talk. The president’s approval number overall is 44%, while 54% disapprove. He is upside down on most issues — 41% approve of his handling of the war in Iran, 54% disapprove; 40% approval on the economy vs 57% disapproval; only 37% approval on the affordability crisis with 58% disapproving; 41% approve of his diplomacy, while 54% disapprove; and 46% support his dealing with crime, but 48% do not.

Less than two in five (38%) feel their personal financial situation will get better under Trump, while 54% say it will worsen. Forty-three percent agree that the U.S. is stronger in the world, but 51% believe it is weaker under Trump. Thirty-seven percent are proud that he is the president, but 48% are ashamed. And only 40% think that the benefits of the war in Iran outweigh the costs, while 47% say the costs outweigh the benefits.

Looking ahead, the outlook for these “United States of America” is bleak: Only 48% feel that “America will be reunited in 20 years.” Clearly, the public mood is sour.

The U.S. and President Trump are not the only ones suffering from public distrust. In our poll, 50% now believe that Israel is more of a liability than an asset to the U.S., and only 33% feel it is more of an asset. By way of context, 51% say that NATO is more of an asset to the U.S., while 31% say it is a liability.

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should. His podcast with son, managing partner, and pollster Jeremy Zogby, can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.

Jed Babbin – Grade B

This was another “meh” week for President Trump and his team. It could have been a lot better and could have been far worse.

The ayatollahs’ regime in Iran seems to have the president buffaloed. They keep threatening U.S. bases overseas and continue to launch missiles and drones at their neighbors. Their proxy, Hizballah, is highly active in Lebanon and just keeps shooting. (I use “Hizballah” rather than the bowdlerized “Hezbollah” because it is what they call themselves, literally the “party of God.”)

If the Iranians want to make a deal, they’ve had plenty of time to do so. But any sort of deal is going to be anathema (or should be) to Trump & Co. But the way things are going, Trump may end up signing off on a bad deal that doesn’t really take away Iran’s nuclear program. That would be a monumental mistake.

Gasoline prices are going down, but not yet to pre-Iran war levels. It’s going to be a while before they get back down to those levels.

The defeat of Sen. John Cornyn by Ken Paxton in Texas is a huge message to the establishment wing of the Republican Party. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) must be looking over his shoulder and wondering if he should have passed the “Save America” act, which would have ended the voter ID problem. It was one of Trump’s principal demands.

Tourism is down in the U.S. for the first time in decades, but it shouldn’t be. The dollar is weak, and other currencies are strong.  Is it European snobbery or something else? We’ll see.

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X @jedbabbin.

Who’s up and who’s down?

It is only the White House under the microscope here at Secrets. Today, we look at the other winners and losers from the week that just went by.

Winners

Barak Ravid: Another strong week for Axios’ top reporter, who scooped that the U.S. and Iran are close to a deal. Again. Some reporters might be put off by repeating the same story week in week out. But not dogged Ravid. One of these weeks, he might even be right.

Jill Biden: Congratulations to the former first lady, who has a book to sell and has finally come up with a way to explain that awkward business of Joe Biden’s wreck of a 2024 presidential debate. “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke,'” she wrote. Which is a bit different from the original line that he was fine and just had a bit of cold. Funny how the chance of making a bit of money has her revisiting the whole thing. I’m sure fellow Democrats are delighted by her newfound candor.

Bad Week:

JD Vance: The story floating around that the VP is reconsidering plans to run for president is badly sourced and as thin as a ’90s supermodel. But it was picked up, shared, and bloviated upon all week. Which is bad news for Vance. Its spread suggests that the 2028 story taking root in reporters’ minds is that he has lost the initiative before the race has even begun.

Jeff Bezos: It took Bezos more than 12 years to blow up the Washington Post. It took one of his Blue Origin rockets seconds to do much the same thing on Thursday night, going up in a giant fireball and destroying a launchpad at Kennedy Space Center. It is the latest setback for his company as it vies with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for NASA contracts.

Lunchtime reading

Inside Putin’s $26 billion quest for longevity: “From mini-pigs and organ printing to cryotherapy and genetics, Russia’s president has turned antiaging research into a Kremlin priority.”

Trump isn’t abandoning NATO. He’s rebalancing it: Our Tom Rogan argues that any changes to NATO deployment are actually astute realignments rather than a drawdown from Europe.

You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at [email protected] with your comments, story tips, and suggestions. If a friend sent you this and you’d like to sign up, click here.