Beltway Insider: Trump Distractions Cost, Iran, Ukraine/Russia, China Flexes, IOC, Wally Funk

Details

Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Saturday, 11 July 2026 16:26

Written by Janet Walker

President Trump, a building developer in his pre-presidency years, has once again become distracted with renovating Washington DC, as his newest planned development, a pillared arch along Memorial circle, was conceived over a century ago, but never realized.

The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending July 11, 2026, of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President remained consistent at 38% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president has decreased by 1% to 58%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

Beltway Insider: Trump, Venezuelan Earthquake, Death Toll Rises, European Heat Wave, Etan Patz, Independence Day

Trump's Distractions Cost The Nation

President Trump, in his pre-presidency years, has seen his share of building developments, his towering structure, Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City, the Trump Hotel at Columbus Circle and Central Park West, and during his reality star days, profits from The Apprentice enabled him to buy up the entire West Side of Manhattan and renovate what was once an eyesore into a collection of luxury apartments.

Those where the good ole' days, pre-president, pre-MAGA leader, and probably the most loathed and detested Republican politician in modern history, when nearly every project the developer Trump built was welcomed, a shimmering, towering, testament to his ingenuity.

Today, President Trump is hoping to use those same skills to renovate Washington, DC, adding his newfound MAGA loyalties, which may actually be the issue, to rebuild the White House, which is on loan to him, as it is the home to every president, the reflecting pool, and now the Memorial Arch.

The pre-president Trump, with only developing on his mind would be well capable of creating monuments and modernizing the Washington Monument's reflecting pool effortlessly. President Trump, however, has appeared to lose his developing savvy as each project he undertakes becomes and eyesore, and worse a reflection of his apparent inability to be both.

Trump is unable to compartmentalize his duties as president and his passion as a developer. One usually suffers, in this case both the nation and his efforts, to rebuild Washington, DC into a destination of his imagination, teeming with glorious structures, is also suffering.

And the bloated redundancies for shoddy work would make the common man seek redress and coming so close to the mid-term elections citizens are poised to seek redress also. Even with the egregious slip-ups splashed across the headlines in the past week, democrats appear to be gaining strength, especially in solid red states, and seem likely to regain control of both the house and the senate.

Pre-presidency Trump built skyscrapers, towers, and when he takes on a Washington project, it balloons to match his vision for a city of shimmering, grand structures and monuments, projecting a homecourt advantage, without realizing the United States already has the advantage, as it is the strength of the man, not the building, that gives the nation its strength.

World News: Le Pen Will Run, Bardella Assured Prime Minister Position

Trump, Iran Exchange Air Strikes

The cease-fire agreement has officially ended as President Trump retaliated against Tehran, with a series of air strikes, after the Islamic state fired upon cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

"Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said early Thursday that in response to the latest U.S. strikes, it had launched drones and missiles at American bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. The statement, published by Iranian state media, said U.S. forces had also targeted two bridges in eastern Iran, and warned that if there were more strikes on Iran, the retaliation would expand to other American bases in the region," The New York Times reported.

Attacking Iran always held the potential of a widening Middle East war, and Tehran, fresh from the six day public show of support by millions of its citizens as the state funeral of the former leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family members, who were killed in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, traveled through the streets.

Even as President Trump has said the U.S. has not retaliated with full strength, Iran is moving to control the Hormuz Strait and to create a block, once again causing U.S. gasoline prices to spike. The Hormuz Strait continues to be questionable, and the International Maritime Organization has cautioned corporations against using the seaway for passage as the stability of the region remains in question.

World News: Heat Domes, Disease, and The Melting Permafrost

Ukraine Gains Trump Support

President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again fell into favor with President Trump, who spoke highly of the Ukrainian president, during the recent NATO summit.

"Zelensky has "done an amazing job," Trump told reporters before the pair's bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit. "Look, he's been very effective, and he's had the best equipment because he's had our equipment," The Washington Post reported.

Zelensky, who over the past year has felt both the sting of rebuke from Washington and the warmth of acceptance, has in recent months taken the war from the Ukrainian borders, a safe distance from any disruption to daily life in Moscow, to repeated airstrikes in the heart of the Russian capital.

The bi-lateral meeting with the president wasn't a photo-op or the opportunity to gauge the temperature of Washington's desire to continue to provide aid to the determined Zelensky to fight against the advancement of tyranny, especially as President Trump has often appeared to be charmed with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but more to receive a commitment to receive the Patriot Interceptor missiles, which from all accounts are in short supply.

Trump announced he would allow Zelensky to manufacture the Patriot Interceptor. Pundits have downplayed the significance of the commitment, as manufacturing, they have said, will take some time. In the United States, under peace time, manufacturing could take a year.

For Zelensky, where the protection of his nation depends on the Patriot Missiles being operational quickly, fast-tracking production and manufacturing could have the Missiles ready in half the time, as he has a vested interest in the outcome. In order to avoid detection, and become a target of Putin's air assaults, camouflaging the factory is critical.

Utilizing long range drone missiles Zelensky has constantly, throughout the spring and summer, launched air assaults targeting, some 500KM away, Russian oil refineries, oil tankers, communications, and transportation systems.

Russian President Putin, in retaliation launched a series of drones strikes on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv, and its dense population center. The death toll, for both civilian and military deaths for both nations, is upwards of 2millon, with 1.4 Russian causalities, dead and wounded, military deaths and 625,000 total Ukrainian causalities, dead and wounded.

World News: France Swelters Under Early Summer Heatwave

China Tests Long Range Missiles

Chinese President Xi-Jinping flexed the strength of his militaries capabilities this week by firing a long range missile from a nuclear powered submarine deep in the Pacific, a move that caused concern among regional nations and the United States.

Even as those nations close to the testing site where notified of the exercise, the proof of China's increasing military strength, and its determined effort to become a dominating force in global power shifts, has created uneasiness, with most nations condemning the test as saber-rattling.

"At a time when the United States is working harder than ever to prevent nuclear proliferation, China is doing the opposite," said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott. He declined to say whether Beijing notified Washington of the test launch but said the U.S. urged China to commit to a regularized notification system," reported The Washington Post.

Current Trump CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who held the position of Director of National Security wrote in the Wall Street Journal in December 2020, that China was the number one security threat to the United States. Throughout the article he explained the areas in which China expects to dominate the United States and the rest of the world through a process of "rob, replicate, repeat."

The recent long range weapons testing is proof of Xi-Jinping's determination.

World News: Peace Accord Signed, Zero Gains

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from each new variants.

For the 14 days ending July 11, 2026, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 6.947 to 779,242,408. The total worldwide death toll did not increase over the past seven days increased by 438 to 7,115,819 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated June 21, 2026, from the World Health Organization).

Hollywood Week: Primetime Emmys Announced, LA Production Recession, Television City Sale, LA Olympics/Warner Ranch

IOC Lifts Russian Ban

The International Olympic Committee has lifted the ban on the Russian Olympic Committee, paving the way for participation of Russian athletes in the Los Angeles Summer 2028 Olympics.  In making the announcement the IOC reiterated its support of Ukraine, and also stated Russian athletes would need to comply with all anti-doping testing, along with every athlete.

Wally Funk, Astronaut, Dies

Mary Wallace Funk, a member of NASA's original Mercury 13 astronauts, and one-time record holder for the oldest person to fly in space, died this week in Grapevine, Texas. She was 87.

Known affectionately as 'Wally,' Ms. Funk, who joined the space program before women were permitted to participate in space flight, and even though she flew jets for the Air Force, she was never accepted to the NASA astronaut program.

At 22, she set a goal for herself, to one day fly in space. It would be sixty years before she accomplished that goal. "Ms. Funk, who never flew for NASA, set her age record for space travel in July 2021, when she took part in a trip that lasted 10 minutes and 19 seconds, aboard New Shepard, a rocket built by Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos. Mr. Bezos was a passenger on the flight, along with his brother, Mark, and a teenage physics student," The Washington Post reported.

An aviation pioneer, throughout her career, which never deviated from Aviation, she taught aviation privately, worked for both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Ms. Funk, who never married, has no known immediate survivors.

World News: Middle East War A Millstone For Trump

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five award-winning screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," a non-fiction narrative, "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," and "Songs of Freedom: A Collection of Biblical Teachings," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.