Washington Post: “By the end of the month, a growing number of blue-collar workers whom Trump saw as part of his political base — including longshoremen and truckers — began warning that tariffs and a near-total cessation of trade with China were hurting them.”

“Behind the scenes, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other aides told Trump that his own voters were in danger if the tariffs did not come down…”

“That gave them a path to initiating negotiations with the Chinese, which culminated this past weekend in Geneva with a partial deal to reduce tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies.“

The New York Post editorial page:

“He’s bragging of winning a $400 million ‘gift’ — a ‘palace in the sky’ Boeing 747-8 jet — from Qatar that, in effect, he’ll eventually own personally.”

“Sorry, this ‘gift’ is far from free; Qatar will surely expect something in return.”

“And the optics are beyond awful, especially as Congress mulls hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts.”

Playbook: “Sixty-one percent of Democrats now have a negative view of Tesla, a survey by the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report found, while only 17 percent view Tesla in a positive light. By contrast, just over half of Republicans (51 percent) have a positive view of Tesla, compared with 17 percent who view the company negatively. There’s little doubt about what — or rather, who — is driving this extraordinary split.”

“To be clear: Views of car manufacturers do not normally split so completely down partisan lines. In the same survey, only 4 percent of Democrats and 7 percent of Republicans had a negative view of Honda. Because — who really hates Honda, right? It’s just … Honda. But Tesla is not like that. Not any more.”

“President Trump has long reveled in his reputation as a maximalist, issuing a huge demand, creating a crisis and setting off a high-pressure negotiation,” the New York Times reports.

“But increasingly often, he ends up backing down and simply declaring a win. His opponents appear to be catching on, sharpening their tactics based on Mr. Trump’s patterns and his unapologetically transactional attitude toward diplomacy.”

“The dynamic has played out repeatedly in recent weeks as Mr. Trump backed off, to varying degrees, on his plans to transform Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East,’ turn Canada into the 51st state and beat China into submission with tariffs.”