Uncoordinated, unyielding, unclear - Trump between Ukraine, agriculture, and ideology

Washington, July 8, 2025 – It was one of those meetings that, in the Trump era, are more than just routine government business: a political stage play, a display of power, a balancing act between improvised strategy and ideological rigidity. For 1 hour and 45 minutes, the Cabinet convened – shorter than last time, but long enough to expose new conflicts, contradictions, and statements that say more than any press release.

At the center: the abrupt policy shift on Ukraine. According to several people familiar with the matter, Donald Trump was caught off guard when the Pentagon publicly announced last week that it would pause the delivery of certain weapons to Ukraine – including air defense missiles and precision-guided artillery systems. The justification: US stockpiles had dangerously shrunk. But the decision, orchestrated by Elbridge Colby, the chief strategist at the Department of Defense, was apparently not coordinated with the White House. "Trump was caught flat-footed," one source said. And that despite significant internal opposition to the delivery pause. Two informants spoke of a real split at the top of the Pentagon – between strategic caution and political loyalty. Trump responded quickly. On Monday, he publicly announced the opposite: the US would have to send "more weapons to Ukraine" – effectively reversing the Pentagon’s move. It was not the first time the president had overturned a decision from within his own ranks, but it was one of the clearest signs yet of the internal unrest within the security architecture of his second term. So while foreign policy direction remains unanswered, the ideological grip on domestic issues tightens – especially on his favorite topic: immigration.

During the Cabinet meeting, Trump made clear that his administration was launching a "work program" that would allow foreign farm workers to remain temporarily in the US – but without any prospect of permanent status. "This is not amnesty," he emphasized. A formulation that served less as a political explanation than as a boundary marker: for Trump, any form of integration remains a red line, even if economic reality and agricultural demand suggest otherwise. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins added that deportations would "strategically" continue – a phrase that sums up the political double standard in a single sentence. On the one hand, the agricultural sector is being provided with the labor it needs, while on the other, the ideal line of deportation policy is being maintained. She spoke of "automation" and "strengthening the US workforce" – terms that sound like visions of the future but are primarily meant to obscure the current dependence on migrant labor. Trump himself demonstratively interrupted her: "The farmers need workers. But we’re not talking about amnesty." What remains is a picture of institutional fragmentation. A government that contradicts itself but wants to project strength to the outside world. A president who feels bypassed by his own apparatus of power, and Cabinet members who navigate between loyalty and reality. The Ukraine decision shows: the direction of American foreign policy no longer lies within a system – but within the whims of the president. And immigration policy remains a minefield where economic reason and ideological rhetoric collide on a daily basis. At the end of these 105 minutes of Cabinet meeting, there is little clarity – but many traces of a state that, under Trump, does not govern itself, but continuously reorganizes against itself. Decisions are not made through deliberation, but through reaction. Power is not exercised, but performed. And those at the table know: tomorrow, everything could be different again.