Cnn
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The rapid rise of the representative Elise Stefanik was a barometer of the power of Trumpism.
But a sudden interruption of its ascent reveals warning signs for the White House and capsizes a difficult week in which the inevitable reverberations of political shock therapy Donald Trump began to threaten his program.
Trump withdrew Stefanik’s appointment To serve as an American ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday, indicating concern about a special election in his headquarters given the already dull republican majority in the room.
It was a bitter blow for the New York Republican who will deprive her of a platform that she could have used to talk about Trump’s “America First” policies and to build her own profile before a possible inclination to an even higher office in the coming years. It was also a bad reward for his loyalty to the president and his journey far from traditional republicanism, that criticisms say the principle abolished for ambition. Trump promised that Stefanik would have returned to the management of the GOP in the Chamber after abandoning his place n ° 3 and suggested that she could obtain an administration position on the road.
But the setback for Stefanik was a rare entry of the president that even his creation and his zeal for uncontrolled power cannot always replace political logic. And his overthrow on Stefanik is a sign of political vulnerability only two months after his second already-turbulent mandate.
Democrats could rush in response to the return of shocks and the absence of Trump in the oval office. And the GOP is always solid rock behind a president who uses intimidation to enforce party loyalty. But it is not immune to political gravity. And he has just undergone a nightmarish week during which several potentially prejudicial political crises were directly attributable to his approach and strategy.
The White House always tries to repress Controversy on secret details of military strikes pending in Yemen Published by the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth On a group cat who wrongly included a journalist. The episode made Trump’s national security team looks like amateurs And highlighted the risks of choosing senior officials who lack experience, but who seem well on television and share the disturbing trends of their boss.
See the text messages from the cat from the Trump administration group discussing strikes in Yemen
There are also signs that Elon Musk’s purge of the federal government is starting to create a confusion that could threaten vital services and cause a political reaction. Social Security Administration back on another reform measurement As the staff reductions imposed by the Government Ministry of Efficiency have caused long expectations in agency offices and the beneficiaries of the scared benefits.
Another initiative by Trump Signature – his wish to quickly end the war in Ukraine – is also a foundation. The White House said she had forged a sea ceasestive in the Black Sea after discussions in Saudi Arabia on Monday. But the agreement came with Russian requests for the lifting of banks and the agricultural sanctions that Europe wants to maintain. Even Trump, who predicted bombed that his friendship with President Vladimir Putin would bring peace, admitted that the Russians could be “drag their feet. “”
The economy is also diclace. New data this week has shown consumer confidence at its lowest level Since January 2021. Americans have been expecting higher inflation this year, and growing figures think that a recession is coming, according to the latest Conference Board survey.
The gloom can reflect the impact of the erratic implementation by the president of pricing policies likely to increase prices and the lack of concentration of Trump on the costs of the grocery and housing, which helped him to win the election.
Economic analysts predicted Thursday that the prices newly imposed on automotive imports – including Canada and Mexico, with which the American automotive industry is deeply integrated – could Push the cost of new vehicles by thousands of dollars. Their warnings have captured the risk that Trump will take with the economy. Its policies create even more pain for short and medium -term money consumers in exchange for an idealized view of a new “golden age” based on a manufacturing renaissance in an unpertified period in the future.
“We are going to charge countries to do business in our country and take our jobs, take our wealth, take a lot of things that they have taken over years,” Trump said in the oval office on Wednesday. “They got out of our country, our friend and our enemy so much. And frankly, a friend has often been much worse than the enemy. ”
The president will take another risk with consumer confidence next week with his reciprocal prices promised for the dollar for foreign countries that impose tasks on American goods. If it makes prices, as many experts await it, all eyes will be on the question of whether Trump is willing to keep the political course.
All this explains an unpredictable political dynamic that convinced Trump not to risk a special election in Stefanik’s siege in the North of New York, which she won by 24 points less than five months ago.
The decision also seems to have been shaped by growing concerns among Republicans in Florida This prompted Trump and GOP leaders to intervene during a special election for the room in a deep district, CNN reported.
The candidate of the GOP and senator of the Randy Fine State should always win Tuesday, but a shorter breed than expected would represent a huge morale for the Democrats and a potential harmful omen for the Republicans before the mid-term elections next year. Ironically, the election is to replace the former representative Mike Waltz, who left to become a national security advisor and who has helped to provoke the biggest scandal so far in the new term of Trump by adding the editor of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, the group cat coordinating the strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Waltz won the siege in November by 33 points, but the Democratic candidate facing the fine, Josh Weil, carried out an aggressive campaign focused on the assault of Musk against the federal government and the risks for Medicaid and Social Security.
The concern about special elections is a reminder of one of the political factors that will do the most to shape the inheritance of Trump’s second mandate – the tiny majority of the GOP in the Congress. This will seriously test the legislative skills of the president of the Mike Johnson Chamber and the Unit of the Republican Coalition while Trump seeks to push complex bills, including the delivery of a massive tax reduction, by the Congress this year.
While facing the political consequences of some of Trump’s own policies and political style, the White House remains tirelessly, describing the last two months as the most successful start to any presidency.
He announced A new US investment of $ 20 billion By Hyundai this week, which includes nearly $ 6 billion to build a new steel factory in Louisiana. Trump announced on Thursday the arrest of a 24-year-old man whom the Ministry of Justice described as a “great chief” of the MS-13 gang.
The White House has accused the media of focusing on the cat scandal of the Yemen group while ignoring what it says is the great success of the American strikes against Houthi activists who have disrupted commercial navigation in the Red Sea for months.
Different stories about Trump’s presidency reflect the country’s net fractions which were only reinforced by the rabbit rabbit in his second term. In many ways, the president honors the promises he made on the campaign track to an extraordinary clip. The video of the deportations of undocumented migrants and alleged members of Venezuelan gangs in Salvador is an important metric of success for many Trump voters, even if they horrible human rights defenders. The defense of the president of American workers with prices is a direct response to the pain felt by his voters. And His assault against the elites – Best universities to the best law firms – with executive action achieves the hopes of many Maga voters for a withdrawal from the Washington Establishment.
In a moment not sold this week, Hegseth insisted, in the midst of the recriminations of the scandal of the thread of the text of Yemen: “I know exactly what I do.” Trump has implicitly told the country the same since the reallowing of the office.
But a tumultuous week leaves many Americans wonder if his determination to make his promises leads the country on a risky road.