Trump Eyes Summit With Putin And Xi Before Power Shifts

President Trump has ten days left before midterm elections expected to cost Republicans their majority in the House, according to an Oct. 24 opinion column by Guardian writer Steve Bloomfield. Once Congress changes hands, Bloomfield writes, Trump's ability to pass domestic legislation will mostly disappear — but his power to reshape US foreign policy will not.

Presidents in their final two years have used that remaining authority before, Bloomfield notes. George H.W. Bush sent 28,000 American troops to Somalia in late 1992 to help end a famine. Bill Clinton spent his last months in office trying to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, traveled to Havana and pushed through the Iran nuclear deal before leaving the White House.

Bloomfield argues Trump's final stretch will look different from those three. "In 10 days, Donald Trump will enter his own twilight zone," he writes, adding that "unlike Bush senior, Clinton and Obama, his ambitions won't be peaceful."

What happens to Trump's power after the midterms?

Trump is "almost certain" to lose control of the House, Bloomfield writes, and "it's not impossible he will face a Democratic Senate too." That outcome would end any near-term hope of passing domestic policy and open the door to congressional investigations that Bloomfield says could lead "once again" to an impeachment effort. Foreign policy, he writes, is the one lever a weakened president still controls no matter who holds Congress.

Is the US preparing for a new conflict with Iran?

Once midterm results are final, the United States is "understood to be planning to restart its unwinnable war with Iran," according to Bloomfield's column. The piece reports that American forces are already carrying out military exercises alongside Israel's armed forces and that US diplomats have been withdrawn from the region. The published portion of the column does not give a start date or describe the scope of any planned operation, and those details have not been independently verified by this desk.

What is changing in Trump's approach to Ukraine?

Bloomfield writes that "Trump's sellout of Ukraine is well under way." In the past week, Trump said "Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine," according to the column. Around the same time, Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and praised him in public remarks, the column reports. The excerpt made available does not include the full text of those remarks.

Why are Trump, Putin and Xi reportedly planning a summit?

The Guardian frames its column around a proposed summit between Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, warning that such a meeting "could crystallise" long-running fears about the end of Western-led diplomacy and the start of a world split into three competing power centers instead of one. Bloomfield does not specify a date, location or formal agenda for the summit in the material published so far. Readers looking for logistics — when and where leaders might meet — will not find them in the column as published.

How does this compare with past presidents' final two years?

Bloomfield's historical comparisons — Bush in Somalia, Clinton in the Middle East, Obama in Cuba and on the Iran deal — all involved presidents using their last window of authority to pursue settlements or reconciliation abroad. His column argues Trump is using the same late-term latitude toward a different end: aligning US policy more closely with Moscow on Ukraine while preparing military options against Iran. "The first two years of his second term have been catastrophic," Bloomfield writes; "the final two could be even worse."

What changes for readers after the midterms?

For voters, the immediate change is procedural: a House under Democratic control would stall Trump's domestic agenda and could launch new investigations, Bloomfield writes. For allies in Kyiv, Brussels and Jerusalem, and for officials in Tehran, Moscow and Beijing, the column suggests the bigger changes happen off Capitol Hill — in troop postures, envoy meetings and the makeup of any Trump-Putin-Xi summit. None of the specific figures in Bloomfield's account beyond the Somalia deployment were independently verified by this desk; readers can review the original column, published Oct. 24 in The Guardian, for the writer's full argument and sourcing.

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