Posted originally on CTH on January 14, 2026 | Sundance

During an interview in Detroit with “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, President Trump responded to the accusation that his success in foreign policy is distracting the administration from focusing on domestic policy objectives.

To be clear, I do not assess any reasonable credibility to this type of claim. Factually, the closed border, growth in real wages, containment of inflation, use of tariffs to change corporate behavior to benefit Main Street, expanded growth in GPD and American manufacturing, the shrinking of the trade deficit, a smaller budget deficit, ongoing ICE operations and deportation goals, etc. are all happening at the same time President Trump is delivering on foreign policy issues that tie into all the above.  Economic Security is National Security.

Yes, the Dept of Justice under Pam Bondi, and the FBI under Kash Patel, is not performing at the same level of skill and urgency as other cabinet heads.  This is frustrating.  That said, Bondi and Patel also took over these two agencies following a decade of work by Barack Obama, Eric Holder and their allied Lawfare operation, and they never forcefully took the public position to emphasize the corrupt nature of the institutions they lead. On the domestic agenda DOJ and FBI are the weakest links; they are also the institutions closest to the DC UniParty operation.

That said, nothing about this issue will change as long as Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is setting the day-to-day agenda.  However, I have been told this message has penetrated the membrane constructed around the Oval Office.  Approximately ten days ago, President Trump became aware of scale and scope of the MAGA frustration.  This background is most likely the reason Wiles was unable to block Tucker Carlson’s White House visit on the day of the oil executive roundtable.

President Trump responds to Dokoupil, asking the question about Susie Wiles foreign policy creating a lack of focus on the domestic agenda at 02:11 of the video below (prompted):

.