Donald Trump struts onto the new White House helipad, an 80,000-sq.-ft. expanse of carved granite on the South Lawn.
asserted
Trump → strut → Lawn
“Can you believe this?” he says, taking in the scene, the Washington Monument rising in the distance.
asserted
he → believe → distance
The President lingers over the details of the project with obvious pleasure, pointing out the gray stone imported from Italy and describing how five separate sections were fitted together, with measurements he says are precise to an eighth of an inch.
asserted
he → linger → inch
Behind him rises a bigger renovation project: the new White House ballroom, its concrete skeleton consuming the former East Wing.
asserted
skeleton → rise → Wing
Lawsuits have followed the endeavor, alleging that Trump demolished the historic structure and began building its replacement without congressional authorization or the required federal reviews.
asserted
Trump → follow → authorization
He kept building anyway.
asserted
He → keep → ?
Trump points to the walls, calling them “nuclear concrete” (the sort, he says, used in nuclear facilities), and describes a military complex beneath the ballroom that will plunge six stories underground.
asserted
that → point → stories
There will be five separate floors, he says, with one side made entirely of glass, 6 or 8 in. thick.
asserted
side → say → glass
He holds his hands apart to demonstrate.
asserted
He → hold → hands
“The steel goes up next week.”
asserted
steel → go → ?
As we walk toward the Oval Office, Trump stops several times to inspect his handiwork.
asserted
Trump → walk → handiwork
There are freshly painted doors, new gold doorknobs, the Rose Garden lawn ripped out and replaced with a Mar-a-Lago-style patio, where he now presides over dinners at what he calls the Rose Garden Club.
asserted
he → be → what
“People say, why do you spend so much time on this?” he says.
asserted
he → say → this
“But I find it relaxing.”
asserted
it → find → ?
Later, he returns to the subject again.
asserted
he → return → subject
“It’s what I do best,” he muses aloud.
asserted
he → ’ → what
“I say, am I a better builder or a politician?”
asserted
I → say → ?
One can understand Trump’s fixation on his construction projects.
asserted
One → understand → projects
At one of the lowest points of his presidency, he is absorbed with the physical details of a world he can remake to his liking.
asserted
he → absorb → liking
Here, he can still point to a wall and say how thick it should be, decide where the grass ends and the stone begins, make demands and have them fulfilled.
asserted
them → point → demands
With his presidency seemingly spinning off course, Trump has busied himself with things he can control.
asserted
he → spin → things
Outside these gates, events have become increasingly resistant to Trump’s will.
asserted
events → become → will
The war in Iran, launched without congressional authorization and initially described by Trump as a four-to-six-week undertaking, is seven months old when we meet, with no end in sight.
asserted
end → launch → sight
It has sent oil and gasoline prices soaring and convulsed the global economy.
asserted
prices → send → economy
Inflationary pressures compounded by Trump’s tariffs have pushed the Federal Reserve—now led by his handpicked chairman—to raise interest rates over his objections, with another hike possible before year’s end.
asserted
hike → compound → end
Mortgage rates have climbed to 7.5%, worsening an already punishing housing market.
asserted
rates → climb → market
The political coalition that returned Trump to power has frayed, with signs of discontent among independents, rural voters, and parts of the Latino electorate, even as his GOP base remains substantially loyal.
asserted
base → return → electorate
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in September put his approval at 32%, the lowest of his political career; a recent Wall Street Journal survey recorded the lowest ratings of any President heading into midterm elections since 1990.
asserted
survey → put → 1990
Republican candidates have distanced themselves from his military actions and his deportation campaign.
asserted
candidates → distance → actions
Voters have recoiled at his laissez-faire approach to the artificial intelligence industry and his accumulation of wealth while in office through crypto deals, thousands of disclosed stock trades, and an expanding empire of Trump-branded developments stretching from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to India and Vietnam.
asserted
Voters → recoil → India
Inside the Administration, senior advisers increasingly recognize that he has passed the apogee of his second-term power.
asserted
he → recognize → power
Across the Republican Party, officials are preparing for the likelihood of losing the House—and perhaps the Senate—in the midterms.
asserted
officials → prepare → midterms
After two years spent almost entirely on offense, Trump may soon be forced onto defense.
uncertain
Trump → spend → defense
Democratic control of Congress would bring investigations and subpoenas, hearings, and potentially a third round of impeachment proceedings.
asserted
control → bring → proceedings
Cabinet officials could be hauled before Congress.
uncertain
officials → haul → Congress
Trump describes the prospect in characteristic terms.
asserted
Trump → describe → terms
“They’ll probably go after me,” he says, “and I’ll go after them.”
asserted
I → go → them
Yet with so much at stake—for the country and the world, for his party and his own power—Trump can seem curiously preoccupied.
asserted
Trump → seem → party
During a 75-minute Oval Office interview with TIME, he was discursive and grievance-fueled, veering from the crises of his presidency to resentments old and emerging.
asserted
he → fuel → resentments
He said he regretted appointing Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, after they ruled against him on tariffs, mail ballots, and birthright citizenship.
asserted
they → say → tariffs
…and 145 more, not listed.
The Aporia
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