President Trump repeatedly talked up a future announcement, “one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject,” during an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada.
He never said what he could be talking about, or what “very important” subject he is referring to, only suggesting it would be made before he leaves for a trip to the Middle East next week. But even the timing of the big announcement wandered, with Mr. Trump saying it “will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday.”
“We will have a very, very big announcement to make. Like as big as it gets. And I won’t tell you on what,” Mr. Trump said, before adding “it is really, really positive.”
The curious episode was a particularly pronounced example of Mr. Trump’s showmanship, which he has wielded in his campaigns and presidency to grab and hold the media’s attention without actually providing substantive news.
From the very beginning of his first term, Mr. Trump would, for example, tease plans, policies and deadlines coming in “the next two weeks.” And a month ago, Mr. Trump said that tariffs on foreign pharmaceutical products would be announced “very shortly.” On Monday, Mr. Trump revised that timeline to “over the next two weeks.”
Mr. Trump has a habit of teasing news and then delaying it — such as his administration’s promises of new trade deals — or repeatedly raising a possible announcement before pivoting to a new subject or simply never mentioning it again. “Infrastructure Week,” an event in the first Trump administration aimed at securing funding for building roads and bridges, became a running joke in the nation’s capital, and the effort went nowhere before President Biden later pushed through a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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