The deep end

Hello,

With Fox News playing on its inflight TVs, Air Force One was three minutes from landing when we were told Donald Trump was coming to talk to us. Reporters with microphones and cameras scrambled into position. The US president duly appeared just a foot or two from where I was standing.

“We’re in the process of landing,” observed Trump, his face flaming orange, his eyes arctic blue, his manner disconcertingly genial. “I didn’t realise. Quite late. Is everything good?”

Someone asked about his phone call with the new Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney. Trump insisted it had been a “very good” conversation and, most notably, referred to Carney as “prime minister” rather than “governor”, an insult he often hurled at Justin Trudeau.

Soon the flight got bumpy as the runway at Palm Beach airport in Florida approached. Reporters clung on for dear life, not wanting to be that person who inadvertently shoves a fluffy mic up the president’s nose.

“Sit down,” he told everyone. “I don’t want you to get hurt because I love the fake news. Oh, oh, we’re landing right now.”

This is how it was last Friday afternoon for the White House press pool, or whatever it’s called now that the Trump administration has usurped the White House Correspondents’ Association and handpicks who can take part.

At first glance the system seems to operate in similar fashion. But the Associated Press (AP) news agency was not on the plane. And when on Saturday and Sunday an AP reporter and photographer showed up for the 7am meet-up, they were denied access to the press vans.

Then as the “pool” whiled away long hours in the boardroom of the Palm Beach public library, the AP reporter sat alone in the main section of the library like a student in detention, surrounded by books and members of the public.

Last month one pool report stated: “The AP could be spotted in the parking lot directly across from the entrance to the club, continuing Schrödinger’s Pool Duty at a safe remove from we the official ones.”

All this is because the AP declined to follow Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in its style guidance to clients around the world. The AP is suing the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, and two other administration officials, demanding reinstatement.

Trump, for his part, was out of sight at his luxury golf club. Golf explains a lot about politics. Former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il once shot 38 under par, including 11 holes-in-one, in the first round of his life – according to North Korean state media. Trump, who mocked Joe Biden’s swing, loves to boast about his prowess, too.

He wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday: “I just played a round of Golf with Alexander Stubb, President of Finland. He is a very good player, and we won the Men’s Member-Guest Golf Tournament at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach County, with the Legendary Gary Player, Senator Lindsey Graham, and former Congressman and highly successful Television Host, Trey Gowdy.”

Trump retired to his Mar-a-Lago estate – the White Potus – for the evening; the media were not invited. He was back on the golf course the following day before heading back to Air Force One.

This time he spoke to the media for 11 minutes, extolled the virtues of tariffs. Asked if he worries about stagflation, he offered a less than reassuring answer: “I haven’t heard that term in years. No, I don’t know anything about it.”

There was also the question of whether he might blow through the constitution he swore on oath to defend by seeking a third term as president. “We have almost four years to go, and that’s a long time, but despite that, so many people are saying you’ve got to run again,” he reasoned. “Most importantly, they love the job we’re doing.”

Do they? In fact opinion polls show little appetite for Trump 3.0. But that is not likely to curb his authoritarian impulses. He has turned Elon Musk’s chainsaw on the federal government; he has attacked the media, universities, judges and law firms; his administration is “disappearing” people off the streets and detaining or deporting them without due process; he is regarding Canada, Gaza, Greenland and the Panama Canal with envious eyes.

Does that sound like a man ready to give up Air Force One?

For weeks Trump bestrode the narrow world like a colossus, leaving hapless Democrats scrambling for cover. But newly elected leaders always seem invincible for a while, only for the balloon to go pop.

Last week Trump faced the biggest scandal of his administration so far with “Signalgate”, when it was revealed that senior officials had inadvertently included the Atlantic magazine’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, in a group chat discussing plans to attack Yemen.

Then they made matters worse when Trump initially denied all knowledge and the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, made the absurd claim that Goldberg’s contact was “sucked in” to his phone via “somebody else’s contact”. No one resigned or was fired.

Meanwhile consumer confidence slumped to a 12-year low, driven by rising anxiety over tariffs and inflation. As for the stock market, the S&P 500 ended March with its steepest monthly decline in more than two years.

The White House suffered another setback when it withdrew the nomination of Trump loyalist Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN so she could retain her seat in the House of Representatives. It feared that her New York district might be vulnerable to Democrats in a special election.

That concern was borne out by Trump’s first major electoral test since taking office. On Tuesday Susan Crawford, a Democratic-supported judge, beat Republican Brad Schimel to win a seat on Wisconsin’s state supreme court. It was a humilating blow for Elon Musk, who had poured millions into the race and danced around on stage wearing a cheesehead hat.

Although Republicans clung on to two congressional seats in Florida, Democrats reduced Trump’s margin in one district by 22 percentage points and in another by 16 percentage points.

The results coincided by Democratic senator Cory Booker setting a record for the longest floor speech in Senate history at more than 25 hours. Booker delivered a devastating takedown of Trump and Musk’s assault on democracy, decency and the fabric of society. Like a boxing cornerman, he also yelled at Democrats to wake up, drag themselves off the canvas and start fighting back.

“This is not right or left; it is right or wrong,” Booker said as he neared the record. “This is not a partisan moment; it is a moral moment. Where do you stand?”