A disciplined, well-managed presidential administration shouldn’t regularly find itself in the position of having to walk back things said by its most senior officials. We rightly mocked the frequency with which Biden administration officials had to clean up things that fell out of the president’s mouth. That said, the only thing worse than making shambolic, ill-considered pronouncements is deciding to dig in and defend them simply because somebody important said them. In that light, we have two examples this week of the Trump administration belatedly choosing the better part of valor:
- Trump cleared up concerns about defying court orders raised by an ambiguous JD Vance tweet, reassuring the press in an Oval Office event that “I always abide by the courts and then I’ll have to appeal it. . . . The answer is I always abide by the courts, always abide by them. And we’ll appeal.”
- Pete Hegseth, after negotiating against ourselves in public by conceding both that Ukraine would lose territory and that it wouldn’t join NATO, walked back those remarks and emphasized that “these negotiations are led by President Trump — everything is on the table” and he’s not going to announce what Trump will or won’t demand in negotiations with Russia.
Whatever the “never apologize, never give an inch” voices on the MAGA right may tell you, Donald Trump hasn’t repealed the First Rule of Holes: When you’re in one, stop digging. It’s an encouraging sign that Trump and his team at least are not committing themselves to marrying all of their errors.