2026-08-03T04:00:25.335Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/politics/trump-iran-war-reflecting-pool-blanche
唐纳德·特朗普总统正试图通过改造华盛顿的纪念碑、官方建筑和草坪公园，以及他高尔夫俱乐部的荣誉榜，来塑造自己的历史形象。
但随着忙碌的夏日继续推进，他的遗产反而可能被美国在伊朗的战略僵局、数百万美国人未得到解决的经济焦虑，以及由他个人执念引发的共和党分裂所主导。
这种不同寻常的政治两极分化意味着特朗普既要应对现代总统面临的一些最严峻的问题，比如战争，也要处理一些最琐碎的事务，包括围绕华盛顿反思池的争端。这也有助于解释CNN和其他媒体在中期选举三个月前开展的民调结果：民调显示特朗普支持率低迷，选民对其最关心的议题感到不满。
无论以何种传统标准衡量，这都是一个陷入困境的总统任期。传统的应对方式会是更专注地开展工作。但特朗普与大多数总统不同。他会变本加厉；他挑起旨在取悦政治基础的争端；并且突然改变方针。
在整个动荡的周末，特朗普在重大与荒唐的议题之间摇摆不定，而在他看来，这些议题似乎都值得同等重视。
他威胁要对伊朗动用“二战以来未见的最恐怖、最强大的武力”。但在同一条社交媒体帖子中，他又暂停了美国的军事行动。总统周日告诉记者，他听取了海湾盟国的意见，有关协议的谈判将于周一下午开始。他的举动典型地体现了这场战争的恐吓威胁与突然逆转：特朗普曾声称几天内就打赢了这场战争，但如今战争已进入第六个月，看不到结束的迹象。
总统还对其他不符合选民首要关切的个人追求大发雷霆。他拒绝放弃为包括2021年1月6日国会大厦骚乱定罪的支持者在内的人群提供18亿美元补偿基金的想法，这一举措危及了他提名的司法部长人选托德·布兰奇的提名。他还就未能通过其联邦选举改革法案与参议院共和党人发生争执——尽管该法案缺乏必要的支持票数。
正当总统试图重塑中东局势时，他也在对华盛顿做同样的事。
在华盛顿特区检察官吉恩·皮罗驳回一起针对一名被控损坏反思池男子的案件后，特朗普大发雷霆。该反思池因总统拙劣的翻新工程不得不被排空。但他在其他大型项目上运气更好。他的宴会厅正在白宫东翼的废墟上拔地而起，他曾以令人震惊的、 questionable的总统职权下令拆除了东翼。南草坪上一个新的直升机停机坪正在成型。他还计划开展大规模的草坪翻新工程。“我们要更换所有公园的草坪，”他上周说道，“草就像人类一样。草也有生命。”
但选民真的关心这些吗？周日特朗普在赢得一场高尔夫俱乐部锦标赛后发表的评论，同样让人发出这样的疑问。“这叫作天赋，”总统在社交媒体上谈及自己的胜利时写道。他的自夸语气似乎与当前艰难的国家局势格格不入。
众议院司法委员会主席吉姆·乔丹众议员周日在CNN的《国情咨声》节目中告诉达纳·巴什：“特朗普总统专注于让美国再次伟大，也专注于让华盛顿再次变得美丽。”
然而，民主党正在打造一种忽视现状的叙事，将战争和其他议题上选民的担忧归咎于特朗普。
“他说一套，做一套，”参议员马克·凯利在哥伦比亚广播公司的《面向全国》节目中说道，他指的是伊朗战争。
亚利桑那州的这位民主党参议员说：“有很多退役军人买不起汽油，买不起日用品。房租在上涨。而这位总统并没有处理美国人民需要他解决的问题。”
特朗普的选择反映在令共和党人感到气馁的民调结果中：共和党人正请求选民再给他们两年时间，让他们垄断华盛顿的权力，而民主党人则在努力克服民众对其党派的不信任，并在自身身份认同问题上陷入意识形态缠斗。
上周发布的CNN/SSRS民调显示，特朗普关注的议题并不正确。创纪录的73%的美国成年人表示，他没有充分关注国家最重要的问题，仅有27%的人认为他的优先事项是正确的。约四分之三的人表示，总统没有体察普通美国人日常生活中面临的问题。
他当然完全可以更好地讲述自己的故事——例如，宣传那些贴合选民关切的政策，比如旨在降低处方药价格的TrumpRx网站；今年让许多民众受益的、超出预期的退税；以及旨在让新生儿在美国梦之路上抢占先机的“特朗普账户”计划。
我们有理由质疑特朗普是否了解自己的政治困境。他一贯将显示其低支持率的民调斥为造假。他声称美国是世界上“最热门”的国家。他在周五的内阁会议上说：“本届政府18个月来所做的工作，比大多数政府8年做的还要多。这是美国的黄金时代。”
中期选举不太可能缓解美国的极化现象。但它们或许能解开一个谜题：特朗普是否还有东山再起的余力。
As he wrestles with the monumental and the absurd, Trump forgets what voters want
2026-08-03T04:00:25.335Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/politics/trump-iran-war-reflecting-pool-blanche
President Donald Trump is trying to shape how he’s remembered through his transformations of Washington’s monuments, official buildings and grassy parks — and the honors boards at his golf clubs.
But as a frenetic summer rolls on, his legacy instead risks being dominated by a US strategic stalemate in Iran, the unaddressed economic anxieties of millions of Americans, and Republican Party schisms caused by his personal obsessions.
This unusual political bifurcation means Trump is juggling some of the gravest issues confronted by a modern president, like the war, and some of most trivial, including a dispute over Washington’s Reflecting Pool. It helps explain polling by CNN and other outlets three months before midterm elections that reveal low approval ratings and dissatisfaction on issues voters care about most.
By any conventional measure, this is a presidency in trouble. The traditional response would be to behave in a more focused way. But Trump is different from most presidents. He doubles down; he picks fights designed to please his political base; and he engineers sudden changes of course.
Throughout a turbulent weekend, Trump oscillated between profound and preposterous issues that all seem to merit equal time in his mind.
He threatened to deploy the worst “terror, strength, and power not seen since World War II” against Iran. But in the same social media post he put US military action on hold. The president told reporters Sunday that he listened to Gulf allies and that talks on a deal would begin Monday afternoon. His move was typical of the chilling threats and sudden reversals of a war that Trump claimed he’d won after a few days and that is now heading into its sixth month with no end in sight.
The president also fulminated about other personal quests that don’t match top voter concerns. He’s refusing to give up his idea for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate — among others — supporters convicted after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which is imperiling the nomination of his attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche. He’s also feuding with Senate Republicans over the failure to pass his measure to overhaul federal elections — despite the package lacking the necessary votes.
As the president tries to remake the Middle East, he’s doing the same to Washington.
Trump lashed out after DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped a case against a man accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool, which had to be drained after the president’s botched renovation. He’s having better luck with other grand projects. His ballroom is rising from the ruins of the White House East Wing, which he knocked down in a stunning show of questionable presidential authority. A new helicopter pad is taking shape on the South Lawn.And he’s planning a huge turfing effort. “We’re changing all the grass in all the parks,” he said last week. “Grass is like human beings. Grass has a life also.”
But do voters really care about this? The same question could be asked of Trump’s comment Sunday after another victory in one of his golf club championships. “It’s called TALENT,” the president wrote on social media of his win. His tone of self-congratulation seemed a little out of tune with a tough national moment.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” on Sunday that “President Trump is focused on making America great and focused on making Washington beautiful again.”
Democrats, however, are creating a narrative of neglect that saddles Trump with responsibility for voters’ concerns on the war and other issues.
“He says one thing, he does another thing,” Sen. Mark Kelly said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to the war.
There are “a lot of retired service members that can’t afford to put gas in their car, can’t afford groceries. Rent is going up. And this president is not dealing with the issues that the American people need him to deal with,” the Arizona Democrat said.
Trump’s choices are reflected in polling that is daunting for Republicans who are asking voters for another two years for their monopoly on Washington power, even as Democrats struggle to overcome the country’s distrust with their brand and remain locked in an ideological tussle over their identity.
A CNN/SSRS poll released last week suggests Trump has his eye on the wrong issues. A record 73% of US adults said he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, with just 27% saying he’s had the right priorities. Around three-quarters said the president isn’t in touch with the problems ordinary Americans face in their daily lives.
He could certainly be doing a far better job of telling his own story — for instance, highlighting programs that connect with the voters’ concerns, such as the TrumpRx website designed to lower prescription drug costs; higher-than-expected tax refunds that benefited many citizens this year; and “Trump Accounts” designed to give newborns a head start on the American dream.
It’s fair to question whether Trump understands his political plight. He routinely describes polls charting his low approval as fake. He claims the US is the “hottest” country in the world. “The administration has done more in 18 months than most administrations have done in eight years,” he said at a Cabinet meeting Friday. “This is the golden age of America.”
The midterm elections are unlikely to mend America’s polarization. But they may solve one puzzle: whether Trump has another comeback left in him.