Our new book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics
Shelby Talcott, Burgess Everett, and David Weigel at Semafor:
MAGA may be starting to move on from its infighting over Jeffrey Epstein.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who didn’t show up for work on Friday after a fight with Attorney General Pam Bondi and weighed resigning in protest of the administration’s handling of the Epstein case, spoke to President Donald Trump over the weekend. He subsequently returned to the office on Monday — though it remains unclear whether he will stay on at the FBI long term, two sources familiar with the situation told Semafor.
And while several prominent Trump-aligned pundits continued to air frustrations with the Justice Department’s decision to effectively declare the Epstein matter closed, one of them — TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk — said Monday he wouldn’t be commenting further. Notably, he also spoke with Trump this weekend.
The Epstein flap, as of Monday night, now appears to be the latest example of a second Trump term that’s been defined by the president’s ability to bend GOP lawmakers and his base to his will. Trump made clear that he wants to get past the circular firing squad that the conservative movement descended into last week over Epstein documents.
Jonathan Lemire at The Atlantic:
President Donald Trump is finally taking the fight to Vladimir Putin. Sort of. For now.
Trump’s deference to Russia’s authoritarian leader has been one of the most enduring geopolitical subplots of the past decade. But his frustration with Putin has grown. Last week, the president said the United States was taking “a lot of bullshit” from Putin. Today, he authorized a significant shipment of U.S. defensive weapons to Ukraine via NATO and threatened Russia with new tariffs if the war does not end in 50 days.
The change, though, is not reflective of Trump adopting a new strategic worldview, two White House officials and two outside advisers to the president told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Trump did not develop a new fondness for Ukraine or its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. He did not abruptly become a believer in the traditional transatlantic alliances prized by his predecessors as a counterweight to Moscow. Rather, Trump got insulted.
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When Trump recently intensified his calls for a cease-fire—at one point writing on social media, “Vladimir, STOP!”—Putin chose to defy him by escalating attacks on Ukraine yet again. The president was disturbed by his most recent call with Putin, held earlier this month, in which the Russian leader reiterated his goal to “liberate” Ukrainian territory that he believes belongs to Russia, one of the White House officials told me. The conflict’s front line remains largely frozen, but U.S. and European officials believe that Putin is planning a summer offensive and will launch more attacks on civilians in Ukraine’s cities. With Putin continuing to ignore his pleas for a deal, Trump has felt humiliated, fearing that he appears weak, one of the officials and one of the outside advisers told me.
