White House is not a ‘happy environment’ as Trump’s frustration with Iran war grows, reporter claims
The White House is not a “happy environment” as President Trump’s frustration with the Iran War grows, one reporter has claimed.
The war with Iran has now dragged on for six months, with a slew of polls revealing the conflict to be unpopular with voters. With the midterm elections just months away, New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman was blunt about the current mood in the White House.
“It’s not a happy environment, by any of the reporting that we have,” she told CNN’s Laura Coates Live on Thursday. “The president has been in a pretty frustrated mood for a while about Iran, which, again, is of his own making.”
Haberman added, “He does not have the patience for long-term diplomacy or having these lengthy conversations to try to get out of a situation.”
The war with Iran began in February, with a bombing campaign. That led Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route through which much of the world’s oil passes. Six months later, the vital economic passage remains limited as Trump claims to have control of the waterway. The closure has led to a spike in oil prices across the globe.
Both sides have also continued to trade strikes, putting pressure on dwindling U.S. munitions.
Speaking to CNN, Haberman claimed that Trump believed the war would end quickly.
“He believed, as Jonathan and I reported in Regime Change, that this was going to be a quick war,” Haberman said on CNN, referencing Times journalist Jonathan Swan. “This would be over fast, and that is just not how it worked.”
“And now there is a further depletion of munitions, and there are stories about that all the time,” she suggested. “And he is frustrated about leaks and on and on and on.”
Haberman began to conclude, “It is just not a happy environment.”
The midterm elections are set for November 3 and often serve as a referendum on the party in the White House. The midterms determine which party controls the houses of Congress and Republicans’ thin majority in both could change. If Democrats change the majority, it could stall Trump’s agenda for the remainder of his term.
Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, said on one of the network’s programs earlier this month that a July poll had found that just 29 percent of people extremely motivated to vote in the midterms approved of Trump’s handling of the situation with Iran.
In 2024, 53 percent of people extremely motivated to vote in the presidential election believed that he would be able to handle a situation with Iran.
“We’re talking about a 24-point fall in just two years,” Enten said. “What was an advantage for President Trump going into the 2024 election amongst those who really wanted to turn out and vote has turned into a tremendous disadvantage this time around.”
Haberman also appeared on MSNOW Thursday, offering another insight into the mood inside the White House ahead of Karoline Leavitt’s departure as press secretary.
“He is not in a great place with his staff, according to everyone we talked to,” Haberman said, referencing Trump. “He is lashing out a lot, which tends to happen when things are not going well.”
“Most people have decided that they want to go do something else,” she added.
Asked for comment by The Independent, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle claimed that Haberman has an obsession with Trump.
“Maggie Haberman of the Failing New York Times constantly speaks like she’s a Trump psychologist when in reality she just has a creepy obsession with the President and clings onto him for relevance,” he said. “It’s been very sad to watch for years.”
