President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, New York, September 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
As President Donald Trump grapples with "back-to-back oddities" complicating his agenda, an analyst for MS NOW noted that he has abandoned one of his favorite early boasts as his White House devolves into a "poorly run mess."
Steve Benen is a longtime MS NOW contributor and producer for host Rachel Maddow. In a piece published Friday, he broke down the rough series of incidents that hit the Trump administration this week: the breakdown of his Iran ceasefire terms and First Lady Melania Trump's abrupt statement on Jeffrey Epstein.
On Thursday, the first lady, seemingly out of nowhere, held a press conference in which she distanced herself from deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell, claiming to have only met them sparingly at parties. The remarks took many by surprise, as the Epstein story had largely faded into the background amid other scandals of her husband's, with her connection hardly rising above insinuations in the first place, leaving many with the sense that she was getting out ahead of impending new revelations.
"Just as jarring as the first lady’s remarks were the circumstances under which she made them: Donald Trump told MS NOW he didn’t realize his wife was going to make these remarks, while her spokesperson told The New York Times that the president was informed in advance about her plans to make a public statement," Benen observed.
That mess came in the aftermath of Trump's collapsing ceasefire deal with Iran. After announcing the purported deal to halt the conflict for two weeks and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Israel broke the terms and launched strikes against Lebanon. This, in turn, prompted Iran to close the strait yet again.
Trump had lashed out against Iran in a Truth Social post, saying that it "better not be" charging tolls for oil tankers and other ships trying to pass through the strait.
"The odd online statement made it sound as if he, the chief executive of the world’s preeminent superpower, with unlimited access to a highly sophisticated global intelligence apparatus, simply had no idea whether or not Iran was imposing tolls," Benen wrote. "Just one day earlier, the president told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl largely the opposite, saying his administration was considering a 'joint venture' with Iran that would include tolls through the Strait of Hormuz. The Republican described the possible partnership as 'a beautiful thing.'"
Benen continued: "So it was that, as Thursday came to an end, it wasn’t at all clear what his position was or which of his contradictory positions to take seriously. In a functional West Wing, this sort of thing doesn’t happen."
Benen further highlighted boasts that Trump had made about his new administration early on in his second term, asserting at the time that the White House was "running like a fine-tuned machine." In the face of these two mishaps, he noted that it was appropriate that the president had not made such a claim recently.
"At face value, the back-to-back oddities appeared wholly unrelated — the Epstein scandal and U.S. policy in the Middle East have nothing to do with each other — but the juxtaposition offered a timely reminder that the current White House is a poorly run mess," he concluded. "About a month into his first term, the president boasted that, as far as he was concerned, his White House was 'running like a fine-tuned machine.' Even he no longer makes such claims, which no one is going to believe anyway."