唐纳德·特朗普总统周一在镀金的椭圆形办公室猛烈抨击了石油公司和他自己的美国检察官，因为他的言辞触及了现实世界。
这进一步证明了特朗普2．0正在失去一些影响力。
总统表示，石油高管们正在利用特朗普对伊朗的战争，并“赚了太多钱”。他特别点名了雪佛龙，并警告其要让汽油更便宜，尽管他说自己是“大自由企业派——没有人比他更厉害”。
特朗普说，他亲自挑选的华盛顿特区美国检察官珍妮·皮罗“哽咽了”，当她在法庭文件中转口承认导致倒影池翻新受挫的是内政部的一次失败修复，而非破坏行为时，她“哽咽了”，而这正是特朗普将该项目视为宠儿项目的对象。他周一说，正是他提出了将用于游泳池的材料应用于这座百年以上历史地标的想法。
“她像伞一样折叠了，”特朗普补充道，谈及他长期盟友。
CNN周一报道，他现在正在考虑将这位前福克斯新闻主持人免职。
在特朗普眼中，皮罗的过错在于她被迫承认，他在公众面前推动的叙事无法在法庭上被起诉。
特朗普本周开局获胜，赢得了足够支持，使他的前私人律师托德·布兰奇得以确认出任司法部长。
但这笔交易的细则中存在一个损失。现任代理司法部长的布兰奇不得不正式且永久地压制这笔18亿美元的基金，该基金被广泛视为支付特朗普政治支持者的资金。
布兰奇认输了。特朗普会签字吗？
在特朗普的世界里，这笔基金——他与司法部之间的和解协议——是纠正对盟友不公的一种方式。还有人认为这是道德雷区，会让纳税人的钱流入特朗普之前赦免过的人的口袋。
布兰奇承诺不追讨该基金，但参议员约翰·科宁和汤姆·蒂利斯仍要求书面撤销该资金。
美国司法部长提名人托德·布兰奇将于7月29日在国会山结束会议。 凯文·迪奇／盖蒂图片社
尽管CNN周一报道白宫深度参与了撤销和解协议的决定，CNN高级法律分析师埃利·霍尼格指出，特朗普及其律师尚未签署撤回协议的文件。这意味着理论上，特朗普或他的律师可以起诉要求恢复该法。
“尽管托德·布兰奇的这份书面文件引发了诸多戏剧性，但它在法律层面上实际上几乎没有任何成效，”他周一在CNN的《情势室》节目中说。
“拯救美国法案”仍未获得足够票数
同样坚持让布兰奇书面否决和解协议的两位共和党人，也公开主张共和党应暂时放弃特朗普的投票限制法案，该法案将增加新的公民身份证明要求，并要求在各州进行选民身份证明。
几个月来，特朗普一直主张该法案是为了应对大规模选民欺诈的威胁。正如CNN的丹尼尔·戴尔多次记录的那样，现实世界中没有这种欺诈的证据，但这仍是特朗普总统任期的核心原则。来自特朗普或共和党MAGA阵营的政治压力都未能推动立法获得足够选票。而且在中期选举前也没有足够的时间实施。
蒂利斯和科宁都不会出现在11月的选票上。蒂利斯是长期但选择性的特朗普批评者，他不再寻求连任。他的北卡罗来纳席位被政治分析者认为是民主党的强有力争夺机会。
科宁在初选决选中输给了一位更支持MAGA的对手，后者获得了特朗普的晚期背书。民主党人对今年让德克萨斯更具竞争力充满期待。
暂停将更多权力交给特朗普的政治任命者
另一位共和党人、缅因州参议员苏珊·柯林斯在共和党领导人公布的一项拨款法案中悄悄加入了措辞，该法案暂时阻止了特朗普管理与预算办公室提出的一项规则，该规则将赋予政治任命人员而非学科专家对联邦拨款拥有更大权力。柯林斯是唯一一位在特朗普2024年赢得的州寻求连任的共和党人，目前正陷入一场激烈的连任战。
与此同时，特朗普的支持率正跌至历史最低点——在SSRS进行并上周发布的CNN民调中，约有三分之一的美国人认可他担任总统的职位。上一次美国总统获得如此低的支持率是在特朗普第一任期末期，2021年1月其支持者冲击国会大厦之后。
他受欢迎程度的两大拖累是他对经济的处理和他对伊朗发动的战争。在特朗普的说法中，战争最多只会持续几个月，美国因此对全球石油市场拥有更多控制权。
周一从阿曼穆桑达姆看到霍尔木兹海峡的船只。 斯特林／路透社
事情并没有按计划发展。然而，尽管特朗普多次声称伊朗极力希望谈判结束战争，霍尔木兹海峡实际上已关闭，谈判进展不明。
中东石油供应的中断，加上特朗普下令将时任总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗从床上拉回，导致委内瑞拉市场开放，导致美国石油公司受益的幅度超过了自2022年通胀危机以来的最低水平。
对于那些需要唤醒记忆的人来说，拜登政府拒绝或无法承认当时美国人所感受到的经济痛苦，削弱了乔·拜登总统任期的大部分活力。
Trump lashes out as political losses pile up
President Donald Trump lashed out at oil companies and his own US attorney in the gilded Oval Office on Monday as his spin ran into the real world．
It was more evidence that Trump 2．0 is losing some of its juice．
Oil executives are capitalizing on Trump’s war against Iran and “making too much money，”the president said． He singled out Chevron and warned it to make gasoline cheaper even though， he said， he’s a “big free enterprise guy — nobody bigger．”
Jeanine Pirro， his handpicked US attorney for Washington， DC， “choked，” Trump said， when she about-faced in court papers andadmitted it was a botched rehabby the Interior Department and not vandalism that caused setbacks in the renovation of theReflecting Pool， which Trump has taken on as a pet project． It was he， he said Monday， who had the idea of applying material meant for swimming pools to the 100-plus-year-old landmark．
“She folded like an umbrella，” Trump added of his longtime ally．
CNN reported Monday that he is now consideringremoving the former Fox News personality from her position．
Pirro’s transgression， in Trump’s eyes， is that she was forced to admit that the narrative he’s pushed in public is not one that can be prosecuted in court．
Trump’s victory to open the week iswinning enough support for Todd Blanche， his former personal attorney， to be confirmed as attorney general．
But there’s a loss in the fine print of that deal． Blanche， currently acting attorney general， had to officially and permanently squelch the$1．8 billion fundwidely seen as a way to pay Trump’s political supporters．
Blanche admits defeat． Will Trump sign on？
In Trump’s world， the fund — part of a settlement between him and his own Department of Justice — was a way to right wrongs against his allies． Other people saw it as an ethical minefield that would put taxpayer money in the pockets of people Trump previously pardoned．
Blanche’s promise not to pursue the fund wasn’t enough for Sens． John Cornyn and Thom Thillis， who wanted it rescinded in writing．
US Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche leaves a meeting on Capitol Hill on July 29． Kevin Dietsch／Getty Images
While CNN reported Mondaythat the White House was deeply involved in the decision to rescind the settlement， CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig noted that Trump and his lawyers have not signed the document clawing back the agreement． That means Trump or his attorneyscould， in theory， sue to have it reinstated．
“For all the drama around this written document from Todd Blanche， it really accomplishes essentially nothing as a legal matter，” he said Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room．”
The ‘SAVE America Act’ still doesn’t have the votes
Those same two Republicans who insisted on having Blanche kill the settlement in writing have also been vocal in arguing the GOP should move on， for now， from Trump’svoting restrictions bill， which would impose new proof-of-citizenship requirements in addition to voter ID conducted in the states．
For months， Trump has argued the bill is required to address the threat of mass voter fraud． There’s no evidence for that kind of fraud in the real world， as CNN’s Daniel Dale hasrepeatedly documented， but it remains ananimating principleof Trump’s presidency． None of the political pressure from Trump or from the MAGA side of the GOP has created momentum to get enough votes for the legislation． And there wouldn’t be enough time to implement it before the midterm elections．
Neither Tillis nor Cornyn will be on the ballot in November． Tillis， a longtime but selective Trump critic， is not running for reelection． His North Carolina seat is considered a strong pickup opportunity for Democrats by political handicappers．
Cornyn losta primary election runoff against a more MAGA opponent who won Trump’s late endorsement． Democrats are salivating over the prospect of making Texas competitive this year．
A pause on handing more power to Trump’s political appointees
Another Republican， Sen． Susan Collins of Maine， slipped language into a spending bill unveiled by Republican leaders toblock， for now， a rule proposed by Trump’s Office of Management and Budget that would give political appointees， rather than subject experts， more power over federal grants． Collins， the only Republican running for reelection in a state Trump won in 2024， is locked in a tight reelection battle．
Meanwhile， Trump’s approval rating is dipping to record lows — about one-third of Americans approved of his job as president in a CNN Poll conducted by SSRS and released last week． The last time a US president drew approval that low was at the tail end of Trump’s first term， after the storming of the Capitol by his supporters in January 2021．
Two major drags on his popularity have been his handling of the economy and the war he launched on Iran． InTrump’s telling，the war would last at most a couple of months and the US would have more control over worldwide oil markets as a result．
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz， as seen from Musandam， Oman， on Monday． Stringer／Reuters
Things have not worked out that way． Instead， despite Trump’s repeated claims that Iran wants badly to negotiate an end to the war， theStrait of Hormuzis effectively closed， and the status of talks is unclear．
Disruptions to oil from the Middle East， paired with the opening of markets in Venezuela thanks to Trump’s order to snatch then-President Nicolás Maduro from his bed， have created a situation where US oil companies are benefiting more than they have since the 2022 inflation crisis．
For those who need their memories jogged， the Biden administration’s refusal or inability to acknowledge the economic pain Americans were feeling then sapped much of the juice from Joe Biden’s presidency．
