Last year’s high-stakes meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imploded in real time. Cameras rolling, Zelenskyy audaciously contradicted President Donald Trump — only to be berated at length and then ejected from the White House before a planned ceremonial lunch.
Now, those reality TV moments that were a defining feature of year one have stopped. Trump has not staged one public Oval Office spectacle with a foreign leader this year.
But that could change when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meets with Trump on Tuesday. Initially, the two had been expected to meet almost entirely behind closed doors, according to two people familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it.
However, the Iran strikes that began over the weekend could have changed the initial decision. Merz has been far more supportive of the strikes than other European leaders and could serve as a useful validator for the president if he opts to add a press availability during what is being called a “working visit.”
But before Iran scrambled Washington’s routine, the shift away from public sprays appeared in part to be an acknowledgement that foreign leaders simply don’t want to perform statecraft in front of live cameras. And, it seems that Trump may be tiring of the format, too.
Most heads of state prepared assiduously for their encounters, aware that taking part in the show — and laying it on thick — was the price of the ticket. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer showed up with a letter from King Charles III to break the ice. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who brought two PGA Tour pros to impress Trump, watched as aides dimmed the lights and played a video the president said proved genocide against white South Africans.
In recent months, though, several leaders arranging visits to the White House have requested that they not be subjected to such a lengthy press inquisition in the Oval Office, according to three people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive diplomatic conversations.
“Foreign leaders don’t like them,” said one of the people. “It’s too easy for something to go wrong.”
Trump, according to a senior White House official, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, has had no problem granting the request. “The leaders have asked not to do it, and he’s like, ‘Okay. Fine,’” the official said, adding that the president may have also grown a bit bored with the whole routine.
But there is also a sense inside the White House that the appearances alongside visiting leaders were not always serving the president’s best interests.
As humiliating as the rolling press conferences could be for heads of state forced to play to Trump’s vanity or to bite their tongue following inaccurate or insulting remarks, they may also have inadvertently reinforced public perceptions that the White House is working hard to erase in the face of flagging poll numbers and an approaching election. In part, that’s the portrait of a president too cloistered inside the White House and too focused on foreign policy.
A person close to the White House, also granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation, suggested that the president’s team has “overplayed” its reliance on the gold-encrusted Oval Office as the primary backdrop for Trump’s daily activities.
“The Oval Office is an extremely significant place for people who watch cable news, but a majority of Americans don’t watch cable news and they don’t see the president in the Oval Office for the 12 media engagements he does in a week,” the person said. “And while the bullhorn of the Oval Office is extremely loud, it is just not piercing through.”
The president continues to frequently take questions from the press, especially when departing from the White House and traveling aboard Air Force One. But last week, most of Trump’s Oval Office meetings — with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, GOP congressional leaders and the CEO of Netflix — stayed closed to the White House press corps.
That’s a change from last year, when the press was frequently summoned to the Oval Office multiple times in a day, sometimes with little warning, for events that weren’t listed on the president’s public schedule. Executive order signings often morphed into hour-long press conferences, with Trump taking questions on any and all matters, sometimes as Cabinet members, lawmakers or other guests stood patiently behind him.
Last year, he hosted 46 different world leaders at the White House, several of them more than once. Ultimately, it prompted former MAGA-firebrand-turned-Trump-critic Marjorie Taylor Greene to publicly bash the president for what she said was veering away from an America First agenda. She specifically called out Trump for hosting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in November, saying, “I am against bringing any foreign leader that is a terrorist or oversees killing innocent people into our country and into the Oval Office.”
Greene’s criticism came just days after Republicans got drubbed in several off-year election contests that offered an ominous taste of what may be coming in this year’s midterm contests.
While dismissing the attack and lashing out at his long-time ally, Trump opted to keep al-Sharaa’s visit behind closed doors – but a week later hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, inviting the press in for a lengthy, televised question-and-answer session.
The president’s warm welcomes for several autocrats, from El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to bin Salman, who he defended from questions about his role in the 2019 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and later hosted at a lavish East Room dinner, stood in sharp contrast to more contentious meetings with Zelenskyy and Ramaphosa. That has drawn significant criticism, mostly from Democrats upset by the president’s general indifference to America’s traditional alliances.
But even the leaders who have emerged unscathed from their White House meetings have grown reluctant to repeat the experience. “There is now a template for how to survive the experience,” said one European official. “But having so much of the meeting be in front of the cameras, it doesn’t leave much time for the substance. And in many cases, there are important things to discuss that you can’t, or shouldn’t get into when there are reporters in the room.”
Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.
