Republicans have been begging Donald Trump to spend more time on domestic politics as president, and his party’s approval ratings have plummeted due to high prices, worsening inflation, and economic conditions.
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Instead, Trump is obsessed with winning a Nobel Peace Prize, so he has spent a large amount of time during the first year of his second administration focused on foreign affairs.
The trend has continued through the 2025 holiday week, as on Sunday, Trump held a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, which was another pressure session intended to force Ukraine to accept Russia’s conditions for surrender, and on Monday, he is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, supposedly about the next phase of peace in Gaza. However, phase one of the plan has fallen apart as Israel continues to attack Palestinians.
It is not uncommon for presidents facing lame-duck status, as Trump is, to turn their attention abroad. As a president’s domestic influence shrinks, they often try to build a foreign policy legacy.
What is unusual is for a president to become less popular internationally, the more they spend attention on foreign policy, but that is exactly what is happening to Trump.
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