Americans’ faith in Trump will decline if he cannot bring the Iran conflict to a sensible conclusion, while the loyalty of congressional Republicans is being tested by his solipsism.
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President Donald Trump delivers remarks before swearing in Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 22, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Let’s not exaggerate: Yeats’s lines do not yet describe the Trump administration and its foreign policy. But the direction now, in the 17th month of his second term, is toward confusion and failure.
About the Author
Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and served in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations.
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Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Let’s not exaggerate: Yeats’s lines do not yet describe the Trump administration and its foreign policy. But the direction now, in the 17th month of his second term, is toward confusion and failure.
About the Author
Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and served in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations.
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