'Sobering reality' for Trump as he rages at night to friends about negative press: report

Seventy days after his return to the Oval Office, Donald Trump is finding his second presidential term honeymoon collapsing as the administration officials make embarrassing mistakes, key allies turn on him and more Republicans are publicly balking at some policies.

According to a report from Jonathan Lemire at The Atlantic, the president is increasingly calling friends late at night to snarl about how things are going as he realizes the "sobering reality" he is now facing.

As Lemire points out, close aides to Trump admit that the president has been "knocked off his stride" as the "Signalgate" scandal put the White House in an awkward position combined with key Republicans balking at his tariff plans -- both of which have left him furious with people who are supposed to be his allies.

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That, in turn, had led to late-night angry phone calls.

According to Lemire, "Trump has recently taken to phoning allies late at night to complain about a series of negative stories, according to the outside ally and another person who has received such calls. He remains angry at National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for inadvertently adding Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, to a Signal chat about attack plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen. He has resisted firing Waltz so as not to be seen as giving in to the media, though he has fumed about Waltz having Goldberg’s number in his phone."

Add to that, he is angry that his bold move to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine have floundered as attacks have increased instead of tailing off, with the report specifically noting, "Trump has watched as a cease-fire in Gaza has been shattered and as Vladimir Putin has refused to agree to American terms to bring a temporary halt to the fighting in Europe."

The report adds that Trump was initially pleased with reports on his showy deportations of immigrants to El Salvador but, "he was annoyed that friendly media voices including Joe Rogan questioned a lack of due process, and that the right-wing pundit Ann Coulter openly balked at the arrest of a Columbia University graduate student who led pro-Palestine protests."

While the White House is hoping Trump's "Liberation Day" will get the administration back on track, one GOP strategist told Lemire, "But recessions and inflation are politically devastating for any president. Trump is risking both with his trade wars, so it’s understandably making his allies extremely nervous.”

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