Biden Aides Amazed That Trump Can Get Things Done

Trump is getting some grudging respect from, of all people, Biden foreign policy aides. 

Who’d have thunk it? For that matter, should we be worried about this startling fact?

President Trump’s recent series of audacious foreign policy moves have astounded even some of his harshest critics.

One Biden administration veteran tells @DavidLawler10: “Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly.” https://t.co/wi1poKRZU7

— Axios (@axios) May 15, 2025

Well, probably not, because, for the most part, their “awe” at Trump’s accomplishments has more to do with Trump’s ability to get things done than at what he is doing, although they concede that much of what Trump is doing in the Middle East is pretty good. 

President Trump’s recent series of audacious foreign policy moves have astounded even some of his harshest critics.

The big picture: Just in the Middle East and just in the past week, Trump has met with a leader the U.S. officially considers a terrorist, announced he’ll lift all sanctions on Syria, and cut a truce with the Houthis plus a hostage deal with Hamas, both of which excluded Israel.

What they’re saying: Biden administration veterans who spoke with Axios raised questions about Trump’s motivations but grudgingly saluted his boldness.

• “Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly,” one admitted.
• “He does all this, and it’s kind of silence, it’s met with a shrug,” says Ned Price, a former senior State Department official under President Biden. “He has the ability to do things politically that previous presidents did not, because he has complete unquestioned authority over the Republican caucus.”
• “It’s hard not to be simultaneously terrified at the thought of the damage he can cause with such power, and awed by his willingness to brazenly shatter so many harmful taboos,” says Rob Malley, who held senior posts in three Democratic administrations, including handling Iran talks under Presidents Obama and Biden.

For all the talk about the dangers of Trump’s norm-breaking, even they have to concede that the norms he is breaking have been an obstacle to reshaping a world that has been going to hell. 

It turns out that doing the same thing over and over and not getting the results you want–ever–is a pretty good indicator that the way you have been doing things is not going to work. 

Trump is magic. Seriously. You may or may not always like Trump’s goals, but when he sets them, he tends to bend the world to his will. 

Top House Intel Dem @jahimes: “I’m not in the habit of praising Donald Trump but … I think the president has, in this last week or so, played the Middle East pretty darn well.”

More from his chat with @jmart at our @POLITICOLive Security Summit👇 pic.twitter.com/WdMawOg4wZ

— POLITICO (@politico) May 15, 2025

One thing that is striking is how ill-understood Trump’s methods are, despite the fact that they really aren’t as opaque as the Democrats and the media make them out to be. Trump doesn’t reach out to our adversaries because he likes them; he does so because, if we need something from them, it doesn’t make sense to keep insulting them. 

Trump doesn’t insult our allies because he hates them; he does so because they have felt comfortable taking advantage of us, because that is how it has always been. 

President Trump gave a momentous, epoch defining speech yesterday in Saudi Arabia, which repudiated both Democratic and Republican foreign policy and paved a new way forward. What does Trump’s approach mean for the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Israel? My @TheFP column: https://t.co/M9JbtcfWjr

— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) May 14, 2025

It’s pretty hard to deny that the world went to hell under Biden, and at least one of the reasons is that his team felt bound to use tactics that were bound to fail. Trump’s team doesn’t care about the norms; they care about results. 

Unfortunately, we have yet to see results from Trump’s attempt at peacemaking in Ukraine. While the Biden strategy on the Ukraine war was manifestly awful, Trump’s strategy to end it hasn’t worked yet. It’s early days, but so far, the interaction between Trump and Putin has been an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. 

Still, you have to be amazed at his Middle East successes. Presidents have been trying to move the ball forward for decades there, but only Trump has had any success. 

Even Biden’s folks concede that. Interesting.