There is a perceptible sea change at the White House as Donald Trump’s fortunes take a turn for the worse, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt is showing visible signs of stress dealing with it.
According to White House correspondent Anushka Asthana writing for The i Paper, the shift is unmistakable. More journalists are cramming into the briefing room daily, sensing that unpredictable chaos could erupt at any moment.
The contrast to six weeks ago is stark, she wrote. In his State of the Union Address, Trump spent a 107-minute speech boasting about falling gas prices — his centerpiece achievement. Iran merited roughly three minutes near the end, almost as an afterthought.
Now the Iran war is all-consuming, along with the dire economic consequences it has unleashed. In a recent Ipsos poll, 66 percent said they wanted the US to end its involvement quickly, even if all goals aren't achieved, compared with just 27 percent who support Trump pushing on.
Trump's mental state is visibly deteriorating under the pressure, according to Asthana.
"There is no question that he has become more erratic in recent weeks; that the frustration and anger he is feeling is bubbling up to the surface and causing him to lash out," she wrote.
"It is not new for Trump to attack his enemies, but he is doing it more intensely and frequently – and there are moments that increasingly dissolve into the bizarre."
"More of us journalists are cramming into the briefing room each day to witness what will happen next. You can see the increasing frustration for Leavitt as she looks to justify what Trump is saying."
The president is carelessly lashing out at longstanding allies, she wrote. "Standing in a pack of journalists by the White House south lawn and under the roar of Marine One," Asthana noted, "I was struck by how casually he flung out criticism of previously allied world leaders."
When pressed about Trump's increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric, Leavitt offered a hollow defense. She claimed his language was a tactic that caused the Iranian regime to "cave to their knees." But the journalist noted Iran is not budging, and said "Trump’s increasingly unpredictable outbursts point instead to a President who isn’t getting his own way – and is struggling to find a way out of the mess he has created."