Donald Trump Notches His Best Week Yet

Miami Herald

17 hours ago

President Donald Trump is coming off what may be his most successful week in office — perhaps of both terms — with a string of victories that reinforced the speed at which his administration is moving to radically reshape American policy, both foreign and domestic, ahead of a critical summer stretch.
A landmark Supreme Court ruling, a successful NATO summit, a ceasefire that appears to be holding in the Middle East, another peace deal in Africa, a stock market back to setting records, a key trade breakthrough with China — capped off with the surprise emergence of a new political foil — all combined to shift the narrative in his favor, even as polls show him underwater on some of his signature issues.
In a pivotal decision Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the power of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions, a ruling that Trump hailed as "a monumental victory" that clears the way for his administration to reintroduce contested policies such as ending automatic birthright citizenship.
"We can now promptly file to proceed with these numerous policies," a jubilant Trump said from the White House. "Even the Birthright Citizenship Hoax has been, indirectly, hit hard," he posted on Truth Social, describing citizenship by birth as "a scam" on the U.S. immigration system.
The court's 6-3 ruling marks a significant shift in how legal challenges to executive power may proceed, reinforcing Trump's long-standing criticism that district judges were overstepping their roles. The ruling did not address the constitutionality of Trump's proposed order to end birthright citizenship, which remains blocked, but it opens the door for narrower challenges that could now proceed on a case-by-case basis.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, Trump hosted leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda at the White House to sign the framework of a peace deal between the African neighbors intended to end a long-running and bloody conflict.
In the Middle East, the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, personally brokered by Trump, held through the week, and U.S. officials offered new details to support the president's claim that American strikes had crippled key parts of Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
"This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop," Trump said at a NATO summit at The Hague, dismissing initial intelligence suggesting a limited impact.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe echoed Trump's confidence, with Ratcliffe claiming "several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years." Meanwhile, Iran's own foreign ministry acknowledged "significant damage," though observers warned that full assessments could take weeks.
"The bombing rendered the enrichment facility inoperable," said a joint statement by the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.
Although some lawmakers, like Democratic Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, criticized the administration for not consulting Congress, the ceasefire and lack of immediate retaliation gave Trump a short-term diplomatic win.
Financial markets responded positively to Trump's string of policy wins and signs of economic stabilization. The S&P 500 closed at a new high on Friday, driven by investor optimism over the administration's trade and tax proposals.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that negotiations over new reciprocal tariffs are proceeding and could stretch beyond Trump's July 8 deadline. He told Fox Business that talks with 10 to 12 major trading partners might wrap by Labor Day.
"If you can't get to a deal," Bessent said, "Trump is happy to go back to the high April 2 tariffs."
Meanwhile, the administration's fiscal package, which includes steep cuts to SNAP benefits and other government programs, gained traction in the Senate following overnight revisions, clearing procedural hurdles and staying on pace for a vote as soon as this week.
Trump also announced that the U.S. had finalized a long-sought agreement with China to resume the export of rare earth minerals crucial to American technology manufacturing.
"We just signed with China the other day," Trump said, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that the deal was "signed and sealed."
Bessent elaborated on the agreement, saying that Trump had "set the table with a very important phone call" with Chinese President Xi Jinping which had led to the U.S. securing the deal.
"In dealing with the world's second largest economy, we approached each other with mutual respect," he added, adding that part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the U.S.
"They formed the core of a lot of our industrial base," he said.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry confirmed it would approve export applications for "controlled items" and in turn, the U.S. would remove several restrictive measures on Chinese technologies. The agreement is a step toward easing a two-year trade standoff that had disrupted global supply chains .
Back home, the rapid ascent of Zohran Mamdani—a Democratic Socialist who upset Andrew Cuomo in New York City's mayoral primary—has given Trump a fresh political foil. Trump-allied media and political surrogates seized on Mamdani's win as a sign of rising extremism within the Democratic Party.
"They're going to run the most radical candidate in the country in the biggest city in the country," Vice President JD Vance said in an interview Friday. "That contrast is perfect."
Conservative groups have already begun circulating clips of Mamdani's past remarks, and Trump hinted at plans to use the young lawmaker's views to frame Democrats nationally in 2026.
"The Democrats now belong to the socialists and the scammers," Trump said at a rally in Ohio earlier in the week. "This guy Mamdani—he's like the AOC of mayors. If you like riots and sanctuary cities, you'll love him."
Trump spent part of the week jetting to and from a summit of NATO leaders in The Netherlands, where he claimed another major foreign policy victory as alliance members agreed to dramatically increase their defense spending targets. Under the deal, nearly all NATO countries committed to raising military investment from 2 to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 — an increase Trump has been calling for since he started his political career a decade ago.
"Without the support and without the leadership of Donald Trump, it would be impossible," said Polish President Andrzej Duda, according to a White House statement summarizing reactions from leaders across Europe.
The agreement, hailed by analysts and politicians as a breakthrough in transatlantic burden-sharing, was described as a "rebirth of NATO" by Dutch media. Even some longtime skeptics praised the result, including Finnish President Alexander Stubb who called it "a big win for Trump" and for Europe.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch said: "NATO's commitment to raise defense spending to 5 percent is a tremendous achievement. New investments in defense and industrial cooperation will strengthen the core pillar of NATO."
The summit closed with Trump declaring that America's allies had finally begun to shoulder their "fair share" of the burden. House Speaker Mike Johnson added, "No more free rides for the rest of the world. No more using the American taxpayer as their own personal piggy banks. THIS is the Trump effect."
While Trump marked a week of substantial wins on trade, his administration also faced sharp criticism and legal controversy on several domestic and foreign fronts.
A federal judge in Newark released Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal U.S. resident, who had spent 104 days in detention. The Trump administration accused him of spreading antisemitism through pro-Palestinian activism and moved to deport him. Judge Michael E. Farbiarz granted bail, citing evidence that the detention was politically motivated.
In another courtroom loss, a Nashville judge ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported back in March. Judge Barbara D. Holmes dismissed claims that Abrego was a gang member or trafficker, saying prosecutors had exaggerated their case. "Abrego has no reported criminal history of any kind," she wrote.
A leaked U.S. intelligence report also contradicted Trump's public statements about the impact of recent airstrikes on Iran. The Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in a low-confidence initial assessment that the strikes caused only limited delays to Iran's nuclear program and failed to destroy key underground sites. Trump had described the attacks as having "obliterated" the country's nuclear capacity.
Still, the IAEA acknowledged the centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment facility had been destroyed, and Israeli intelligence contradicted the claims that the strikes were only partially successful.
Poll numbers from Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin added to the mounting pressure. Net approval for Trump on inflation is now at -22.6 percent, with trade at -14.7 percent and the economy at -13.4 percent. Immigration, once a Trump strength, has dropped to -3.7 percent, following backlash to aggressive ICE operations and high-profile deportation cases.
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