Politics
In One Swing District, Guarded Optimism After Trump’s First Six Weeks
Keith Mann, a self-described independent voter, sat out the 2024 election, dismayed by both candidates for president.
He still does not care for President Trump’s character. But more than a month into Mr. Trump’s second term, Mr. Mann, a 41-year-old Phoenix resident, said he was cautiously optimistic about what he had seen so far.
“He’s doing what he said he would do,” Mr. Mann said. He was encouraged by reports of fewer migrants crossing the border, in favor of reducing aid to Ukraine and hopeful that Elon Musk would root out excessive government spending and, “like Robin Hood,” deliver the savings to citizens in the form of $5,000 dividend checks.
“I’m just waiting to see how it pans out,” Mr. Mann said. “At the end of the day, he’s our president — you can’t just wish him bad.”
As Mr. Trump prepares to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening — a stand-in for the State of the Union during a president’s first year in office — voters in battleground districts around the country are trying to make sense of the frenzy of executive orders and other actions that have so far defined Mr. Trump’s second term.
In Arizona’s First Congressional District, around the swingy suburbs of Phoenix and Scottsdale — areas that helped flip Arizona blue in 2020 before shifting rightward again last year — reactions to Mr. Trump ranged from elation among Republicans to disgust among Democrats, with a few wary independents wedged in between.
The partisan rancor in this competitive district remains high, but, in conversations with several dozen voters across the political spectrum, many seemed willing to give Mr. Trump the runway he needs to execute his “America First” vision of the country.
“I feel great,” said Rashad Davis, 33, a Republican who was particularly enthused about the import tariffs Mr. Trump has announced. “He’s sticking to his word — everything he said.”
Many voters singled out the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting effort, as a major driver of their open-mindedness toward the Trump administration — at least, to a point.
Maureen Wielgus, 69, said that she had voted for Mr. Trump in each of the last two elections and that she was pleased with his performance so far, though she added that he needed “to soften his approach a bit sometimes.”
Ms. Wielgus had similarly qualified praise for Mr. Musk’s initiative, which has fired thousands of workers and boasted of tremendous government savings, often only to backtrack and delete its mistakes.
“They’re going in like a bulldozer, a little firm,” she said. “But they’re finding the corruption and the fraud.”
Around the state, Arizonans seemed to be split on Mr. Trump. Recent polling there has found that roughly half of the state’s residents at least somewhat approve of his handling of the job. Rich Thau, the president of the nonpartisan research firm Engagious, said that, in a recent focus group of a dozen Arizona residents who voted for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020 before switching their support to Mr. Trump last year, all of the people gave Mr. Trump high marks for his performance.
“They want somebody who’s a strong leader, who takes command, does what he says, and that’s what they feel like they’re getting when they see Trump in action,” Mr. Thau said. But, he added, “they are very concerned about his getting distracted.”
Dan Hylen, 39, an independent who did not vote last November, said he had seen “some good and some bad” from Mr. Trump so far.
“Some of the government efficiency stuff I feel like is maybe going in the right direction,” he said. “I like the idea of cutting the fat.”
But he disliked Mr. Musk’s “willy-nilly, shoot-from-the-hip attitude,” and was not in favor of Mr. Trump’s approach to Ukraine. “I don’t want to be in every single war in the world,” Mr. Hylen said, “but I think we have to help some people out sometimes.”
Some voters said Mr. Trump’s combative showdown with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday, in which he angrily rebuked Mr. Zelensky for not showing sufficient gratitude for the United States’ support of Ukraine in its war against Russia, was a shameful display.
“It’s an embarrassment,” said Greg Wise, 53, who votes Democratic. “Throwing away decades of good will with neighbors.”
Others saw it as the perfect representation of a foreign policy agenda that prioritizes American interests.
“He’s showing that we’re not messing around,” said Tasha K., a Republican from Scottsdale who declined to give her last name out of fear that her husband, who is a federal employee, would face retribution. “He put America first, and that’s what we hired him to do.”
The First Congressional District’s ambivalence toward Mr. Trump could be seen recently in moments beyond conversations with voters.
On Monday, Democratic groups organized a protest on a busy street corner in the district, accusing Mr. Trump and the district’s Republican representative, David Schweikert, who voted for a budget resolution last month that calls for deep cuts to government spending, of neglecting their interests. Protesters held up signs reading “Fire Musk,” as well as images of a “missing” Mr. Schweikert on a milk carton. Many passing drivers honked in support, while others rolled down their windows to voice their dissent.
Still, in a purple district where voters of different political stripes frequently brush up against one another, even some of the president’s steadfast opponents were willing to look for silver linings.
Nina Meixner, 71, said she was a conservative who had backed former Vice President Kamala Harris last year because she disliked Mr. Trump’s personality. But she was encouraged by his tough stance on immigration and the tariffs he was putting into effect.
Ms. Meixner cringed at the chaos that she said was Mr. Trump’s “business model.” But, she added, “there’s things that I am happy for.”
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Gilad Thaler, Jon Miller, Stephanie Swart, Rafaela Balster, Whitney Shefte and Nikolay Nikolov
May 29, 2026
Politics
Federal judge orders Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center, says only Congress can rename it
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A federal judge on Friday ordered that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, said the iconic venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress, ruling that the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees overstepped its “statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming” the building.
As part of his ruling, the Trump administration will be required to take down all physical signage bearing Trump’s name and eliminate any references to a “Trump-Kennedy Center” from official materials.
TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER’S BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO APPROVE $257M RENOVATIONS AND TWO-YEAR CLOSURE
A sign is displayed on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts building. (Getty Images)
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper wrote. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
Roma Daravi, the Trump Kennedy Center vice president of public relations, said the board plans to appeal the decision.
“We will review the decision carefully though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration – a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges,” Daravi said. “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”
The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BOARD VOTES KENNEDY CENTER TO BE RENAMED ‘TRUMP-KENNEDY CENTER,’ LEAVITT SAYS
President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box during a tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2025. On Friday, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from he iconic venue. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Cooper previously denied a request for a preliminary injunction filed by a preservation group to block the planned two-year closure of the Kennedy Center for a rehabilitation project.
Trump secured $257 million from Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to address disrepair and deferred maintenance of the Kennedy Center, which critics say has been neglected and mismanaged before Trump intervened.
The funds appropriated by Congress are spent on maintenance, repairs, security, and capital projects related to the building and site.
Beatty, who serves as an ex officio member of the board, praised Friday’s ruling.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”
Workers install Donald J. Trump signage above the existing Kennedy Center sign in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
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Trump’s name was added to the venue last December following a unanimous decision by the board. In February 2025, Trump was elected chairman of the Kennedy Center board after removing 18 trustees appointed by former President Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON — A framework agreement to end the U.S. war with Iran is all but settled, pending sign-off from the presidents of the two warring sides, President Trump said Friday, projecting optimism that a deal could finally be at hand.
Yet doubt cast a shadow over the diplomatic process entering the weekend as Trump faced a politically fraught decision to enter an agreement that would invariably require significant concessions to Tehran.
The negotiations have faced severe headwinds in recent days, with both sides accusing the other of violating a fragile ceasefire that has largely stopped the fighting since April.
On his Truth Social site, Trump said he had summoned his top aides to the White House Situation Room to decide on the deal.
The agreement would see an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports and the removal of Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway through which 20% of the world’s energy supply passes each day. The strait, Trump wrote, will reopen with “no tolls” for “unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions.”
And “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote, noting that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the key ingredient for nuclear weapons, “will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED.”
“No money will be exchanged, until further notice,” he added.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said the deal would require Iran to disavow the continuation of its domestic nuclear program — a diplomatic feat never before achieved throughout a quarter-century of international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear work.
It is unclear whether Tehran would go that far. And Iran’s negotiators expressed defiance on Friday, stating that there was “no trust in guarantees or words” from the American side.
“No step will be taken before the other side acts first,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament. “We do not gain concessions through dialogue, but through missiles.”
It remains unclear when the Trump administration would ease sanctions on Iran, how extensive that relief would be, or what form it would take — questions that fueled Republican criticism of the Obama-era nuclear deal more than a decade ago.
The working diplomatic document would formally extend the existing ceasefire for 60 days, allowing for a more detailed negotiation to take place over Iran’s nuclear program. But the truce as it currently stands is on perilous ground. Iran launched a ballistic missile on Thursday at Kuwait, a close U.S. ally, after American forces took “defensive” actions against Iranian missile launchers and mine-laying boats it had launched in the strait.
The war has proved historically unpopular with the American public, and has seen oil prices soar since the U.S. military, in partnership with Israel, launched its first strikes against Iran in February.
Bessent said he is hopeful that oil prices would drop quickly once an agreement is signed. But industry analysts say the effects of the war on the oil market could last for months, if not years, with the stability of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz now in question for commercial shippers.
While oil has dropped to under $100 a barrel, markets appeared skittish on Friday over the prospects for a deal, with mixed messages appearing to emerge out of the region.
It is also unclear whether a U.S. agreement with Iran would in any way bind Israel’s hands in its military operations, either in Iran or in Lebanon, where an Iranian proxy militia, Hezbollah, has vowed to keep up the fight.
Israel has ramped up strikes against Hezbollah targets in recent days, jeopardizing a delicate ceasefire negotiated with the Lebanese government, a deal encouraged by the Trump administration in order to grease the wheels for its talks with Tehran.
Trump has been uncharacteristically silent on the prospects of an agreement in recent days, expressing cautious optimism in limited exchanges with reporters.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign,” Vice President JD Vance, who has led the U.S. diplomatic team, told reporters, noting that “the nuclear stuff” is still subject to negotiation. “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”
“I do think that we’ve made a lot of progress here,” Vance added. “Hopefully we’ll continue to make progress, and the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement. But obviously, that’s still TBD.”
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