.@jeffreygoldberg.bsky.social: "Only a small number of politicians seem capable of leveling with their fellow Americans. ... Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I do believe that we used to hold public servants to a higher standard."

"When members of Congress are asked to fund billions and billions of dollars when their constituents are the ones who are being put on the line for this, patience obviously wears quite thin. But I will say it is not manifesting in a rebuke to the president," said @lacaldwelldc.bsky.social.

"On top of the typical cost that we would associate with [the Iran war] ... the deaths to troops, the deaths to civilians who are caught in the crossfire, you have this economic shock that Americans are starting to experience in a more granular way right now," said @adamhsays.com.

"[President Trump] is looking at possibly ordering a level of attacks similar to what we saw at the very beginning of Operation Epic Fury, maybe even more so. What I can't figure out at this point is what the objective is," said @jonathankarl.bsky.social.

What is the U.S. strategy for Iran going forward? "It's really hard to say at this point, ... because if you don't have much of a strategy going in. It's hard to develop one in the middle of a war," said @sangernyt.bsky.social.

"Democrats wanted to support [Jay Clayton] and move him along quickly because they want to replace the acting director in there, but that hurt him. That hearing hurt him with Democrats, and he's not going to get the Democratic votes that he would have before," said Carl Hulse.

"The speech itself wasn't the main thing last night. ... I think it was all about what's to come, and I think it sets up what we could see from this president going forward," said Stephen Hayes.

"There's a series of institutions that have been created, going back decades actually, that are designed to prevent foreign interference and other interference, and actually the Trump administration [has] pretty systematically dismantled them," said @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu.

"President Trump — for him, this was about personal vindication. This was about him trying to again just convince the public that his lie about the 2020 election being stolen is true," said ‪@lbarronlopez.bsky.social

With Graham Platner’s exit from the Maine Senate race, @adamhsays.com told Jeffrey Goldberg that part of the issue is that Democrats were “learning the wrong lesson from 2020 and 2024,” looking for the “prototypical candidate” who could win back isolated white male voters ...

"For the previous 15 years, just the mere thought of the United States striking Iran, even in a single bout of airstrikes, was considered to be one of the major debates that engaged foreign policy over and over again," said @sbg1.bsky.social.

"Graham Platner was found by these political operatives, young political operatives, who did very little vetting, and he was connected with an agency that focuses on these progressive candidates," said @lacaldwelldc.bsky.social. "But how he gained so much support is he is charismatic."

"It's a sign of where politics is today, right? We are willing to accept all kinds of things on our side, because we don't like the other side so much. And where do you draw that line?" said @peterbakernyt.bsky.social.

“America … has made lots of mistakes over its period, but the fact that it pretended to care about democracy, and sometimes did, mattered a lot,” Idrees Kahloon said.

“We are living through this epistemological crisis right now and it is … really, really dangerous,” Tim Alberta said. Referring to Americans outside of Washington, D.C., Alberta added, “These are people who have reached the conclusion that no one is looking out for them.”

"We are the most erratic and unstable force in the globe because of our disproportionate, both economic and military, power," @sbg1.bsky.social said. “The entire world is dependent upon a kind of uncertainty and a kind of superpower crisis of conscience that they don’t get a vote in.”

“The way that the founders built the structures of the United States and its government were to constrain its powers,” said Stephen Hayes. “It’s those structures at its core that have allowed us to have the success that we’ve had.”

What does Trump understand about the American people that elites don't? "This sense of grievance. ... People feel like no one is looking out for them, and he is going to take that grievance and channel it and sort of cast himself as the martyr on their behalf," ‪@ashleyrparker.bsky.social said.

"Peter, small question for you: Is the post-World War II international liberal order created and maintained by the United States over?" Jeffrey Goldberg asked @peterbakernyt.bsky.social. "Yes," Baker said. "Our understanding of what we thought the world order was for the last 80 years is over."

How has Iran used its control of the Strait of Hormuz as leverage, even after its preliminary agreement with the U.S. to end the war?

The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall has a new role these days, according to moderator Jeffrey Goldberg. He called it the place "where metaphor goes to die" because President Donald Trump's renovation of the pool "turned it into an actual swamp in desperate need of draining."

Compared to other issues, such as the economy, energy prices, housing, war in the Middle East and U.S. relations with Europe, President Donald Trump's efforts to remake Washington, D.C., don't matter all that much.

"[Iran] brought the strait into the war," said ‪@nancyayoussef.bsky.social. "The U.S. then was unable to make the regime fall, but what the regime learned was that by using that leverage, it gave itself a strategic advantage in not only the war but then subsequently the talks."

"The president decided an hour before he was supposed to sign [the bipartisan housing bill] that he is not going to sign it. The reason is because of the SAVE America Act," @lacaldwelldc.bsky.social said. "He has really paralyzed Washington over this."

"[Trump] is a hobbyist who happens to be president," @michaelscherer.bsky.social told @jeffreygoldberg.bsky.social. "He's getting to do his hobby with public taxpayer dollars to whatever extent he wants. Part of this is also that he conflates national greatness with what he can do."

On President Donald Trump's recent "obsession" with the Reflecting Pool, "I think the president wanted to boast about what he's done to clean up Washington," Stephen Hayes said.

Are America's issues terminal or recoverable? Stephen Hayes of The Dispatch told moderator Jeffrey Goldberg that the nation has endured "hard moments" in the past. At this moment, he said, he "wouldn't pronounce the country dead."

If you could travel back in time and speak with America's founders, what warning would you offer them about the nation's future? That was the question Washington Week moderator Jeffrey Goldberg posed to the panel during the show's "America: The Next 250" special.

What does Trump understand about the American people that 'elites' don't? "This sense of grievance,” said @ashleyrparker.bsky.social "That people feel like no one is looking out for them, and he is going to take that grievance and channel it and sort of cast himself as the martyr on their behalf."

"We are the most erratic and unstable force in the globe because of our disproportionate, both economic and military, power," @sbg1.bsky.social said. "The uncertainty that we have ourselves ... is a source of global instability."