President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing behind him, at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026.(Kylie Cooper/Reuters)
The president has struck an obdurate pose in defense of his supposedly war-ending memorandum of understanding with the Islamic Republic. For the most part, at least.
In his extemporaneous riffs into microphones during his trip to a G-7 summit in France this week, however, Donald Trump has occasionally adopted a somber tone. He’ll defend the deal against his critics with more sorrow than anger. He’ll nostalgically reenact the tough guy pose that was once credible. And, in his more nihilistic moments, he’ll throw his subordinates under the bus -- sacrificing their credibility as well as his own.
That’s what Trump did to ...
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