🌊 Trump’s Most Popular Moment?

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By Max Frost

If you want to stay on this email list, please reply with a list of five things you did this week.

Just kidding. But we couldn’t think of another way to begin reviewing a week that began with DOGE demanding all government workers list five things they accomplished last week.

On Saturday, DOGE sends that email, giving government employees until Monday to respond. On Monday, chaos reigns as department and agency heads tell their staff to ignore it.

On Wednesday, Musk says that his goal is to get “ghost” workers off the payroll, alleging that many “government employees” don’t actually exist. In his first cabinet meeting, Trump sides with Musk and says that everyone must respond to the DOGE email. Those who don’t are “on the bubble,” he warns.

Meanwhile, Germany elects a new leader, Friedrich Merz. He vows to make Germany “independent” from the US. Yet the parade of European leaders through Washington, DC shows just how dependent Europe remains.

First, French President Macron comes to the White House, where Trump declines to greet him. In a meeting, Macron insists that Europe has pulled its weight in supporting Ukraine. Trump doesn’t seem convinced.

On Thursday, UK PM Keir Starmer arrives, hoping to secure Trump’s commitment to a “backstop” in Ukraine. That means he wants Trump to commit US troops in Ukraine, so Russia will be less likely to invade again. Trump declines but gives Starmer a consolation prize: Trump calls him “a very tough negotiator” and a “very, very special person.”

A day later, Ukraine’s President Zelensky arrives at the White House. This should have been a small headline for the week: “Trump and Zelensky Finalize Mineral Deal.”

Instead, it may become the biggest story of the year so far, as today’s deep dive will show.

What happened in the Oval Office yesterday needs to be put in context, and thankfully the below MSNBC headline lets us do so.

Last week, we saw this prime-time headline: “Trump getting all his ideas from the rich and extremists.”

Maybe that’s true about some things, but regarding Ukraine, it’s false. We know this because perhaps the most widely shared sentiment we heard from working-class voters across the US this election season was: “Stop sending money to Ukraine.”

The voters who told us this were in the north, midwest, and southeast; the cities and country. They were white, black, Hispanic, male, female, Democrat, and Republican. We aren’t saying we agree with them or that they are right – but that opposing support for Ukraine is neither an idea of the rich nor the fringe.

So given that, let’s look at what happened on Friday – and why Zelensky’s Oval Office crisis may yet prove one of Trump’s most popular moments.

Editor’s Note

What do you think of the situation? Is Trump handling this well or terribly? How about Zelensky? What will happen next? Send us your thoughts by replying to this email. 

We’ll be back tomorrow with our next report from Sierra Leone. Also, here are our last five stories, in case you missed any:

• How Trump turned on Zelensky

• How the APA lost society’s trust

• How DOGE threatens DC’s economy

• What happens when the Pope dies

• Why Trump wants Ft. Knox’s gold

See you soon.

–Max and Max