ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The Trump administration is moving so fast that by Friday, it can be hard to remember what happened on Monday. So before we plunge into the weekend, let's just take four minutes to make sense of the week - once again dominated by the trade war, stock market swings and the war in Ukraine. It all appears to be taking a toll on President Trump's political standing. NPR's senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro is here. Hi, Domenico.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey there. That's right. Give us four minutes, we'll give you the world or something like that.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) OK, the world. Let's begin with the war in Ukraine. This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President Vance both said the U.S. might walk away from talks if they can't get a deal done soon. What's going on?
MONTANARO: Yeah. Trump's been frustrated by his inability to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine, and that's, you know, not what he expected or said he could do when he was running for president.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours.
I would get a settlement in 24 hours.
If I were president - and I say this - I will end that war in one day. It'll take 24 hours.
SHAPIRO: One day.
MONTANARO: You got that. Twenty-four hours - that was Trump on GBN (ph) News out of the U.K. and on town halls on Fox News and CNN earlier in the campaign. After actually dealing with this, though, as president for a couple months, a decidedly different tone when asked about his promise to settle the war in 24 hours.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that. I would - what I really mean is I'd like to get it settled.
MONTANARO: That was Trump on Sinclair Broadcasting last month. And just yesterday, after being asked whether the U.S. would pull funding from Ukraine if no deal is reached soon, he was back to a familiar time frame.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Let's see what happens. I think we're going to make a deal. And if we make a deal, that'll be wonderful. We won't have to worry about your question. You can ask that question in two weeks.
SHAPIRO: It seems like with Ukraine, as with so many other negotiations, it's proved harder than he thought it would be.
MONTANARO: Yes, and most experts knew that would be the case. The bigger issue here, though, is how the president has changed the American foreign policy position away from standing up for democracy abroad and towards strong men like Putin - or at least drawing an equivalency, not, quote, "taking sides" when U.S. allies are standing with Ukraine.
SHAPIRO: Well, in another part of the world, the other big story this week was the trade war with China, where Trump seemed to be taking a softer tone. Why the shift?
MONTANARO: Yeah, the administration definitely seems to be trying to take the temperature down. Here's what Trump had to say.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: I'm not going to say, oh, I'm going to play hardball with China. I'm going to play hardball with you, President Xi. No, no. We're going to be very nice. They're going to be very nice.
MONTANARO: So everyone's going to be very nice, but Trump still says that there's going to be 145% tariffs on China that are going to stay in effect, but he'd like to see a fair deal made. He said talks are active with the Chinese. But whether that's even happening at all is a sticking point. Beijing says there are no talks at this point and that they are not backing down. Trump, meanwhile, said in an interview with Time magazine that President Xi had called him, but asked about it today, Trump declined to say when or if that actually happened.
SHAPIRO: Trump's also taking a softer tone with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which is a big shift from a week ago.
MONTANARO: Yeah. Trump said that he has no intention of firing Powell. That came after saying last week that he's not happy with him, that he wants him out, and earlier this week called him a major loser on social media before doing his about-face. So Trump, clearly responding to the markets - Wall Street liked the softer tone, but something tells me it's not the end of this here because Trump wants Powell to turn the dials down on interest rates to help him politically 'cause, frankly, it's not going that great for him politically right now when it comes to public opinion.
SHAPIRO: Tell us more about that. What do the polls show?
MONTANARO: Yeah. All of them are pointing to - in a downward direction for Trump. In particular, his economic numbers have plunged into the 30s, and his numbers on foreign policy, even immigration, are down, too. Not great news as the president approaches a hundred days in office next week - but is potentially even worse for Republican members of Congress who have to run for reelection next year. Trump, of course, on the other hand, is constitutionally barred from running for a third term, though that hasn't stopped the Trump Store from going up this week with Trump 2028 hats and T-shirts.
SHAPIRO: The world in four minutes from Domenico Montanaro.
MONTANARO: (Laughter).
SHAPIRO: Thank you.
MONTANARO: You got it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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