During a speech to Congress on March 4, 2025, President Donald Trump was seen making hand gestures while speaking in the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, political analyst Steve Benen from MSNBC didn’t hold back in his criticism of Trump’s struggles in office. In an opinion article, Benen described Trump as shocked and unprepared when it came to handling foreign affairs.
Benen said he was surprised at how surprised Trump himself seemed to be about how hard governing actually is. Trump had promised during his campaign that he would quickly end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but now reports suggest he’s frustrated because those promises are proving much harder to keep.
According to Benen, Trump believed he could take office, use basic instincts, give a few commands, and everything would magically fall into place. Instead, he’s been met with difficult situations and has repeatedly failed to fix them, leaving him embarrassed.
Benen compared Trump’s current struggle to a moment from 2017, during his first term, when Trump said, “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” Benen pointed out that many people already knew health care policy was complex, and now it seems Trump is making the same mistake with international conflicts.
Trump made bold and unrealistic promises, likely without fully understanding how complicated things really are. Now, as those promises fall apart, he’s frustrated. Benen suggested that Trump still hasn’t caught up to the level of understanding expected of a president — even after being in the job for years. He even went as far as saying Trump might be the slowest learner of any president in U.S. history.
