Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Trump administration uses rare authority to claw back nearly $1B in spending approved by Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1 billion in spending approved by Congress, the White House announced on Friday, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-rescissions-fundind-46b356590699e6225f783c74e7ee3597?

ps:Pathetic

‘Let’s tell the truth’: Smithsonian head given standing ovation as he hits back at Trump attacks

Outgoing secretary Lonnie Bunch rejects claims the institution is unpatriotic, telling audience ‘You cannot understand all without illuminating the dark corners’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/26/lets-tell-the-truth-smithsonian-head-given-standing-ovation-as-he-hits-back-at-trump-attacks?

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Trump asked Xi to stop supporting Iran

President Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to halt any assistance to Iran when the two spoke during the state visit, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue told CNBC's "Squawk Box" yesterday.

• Why it matters: China's economic, intelligence and military support for Iran has undermined Trump's effort to isolate the country amid the ongoing war. The U.S. is conducting a massive economic pressure campaign against Iran. But without Chinese cooperation, it'll only be partially effective, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

The other side: According to Chinese state media, Xi urged Trump to de-escalate with Iran by returning to the June memorandum of understanding and reaching a nuclear deal.

• Read on.

Via Truth Social

Trump last night posted a map of the Middle East with the Strait of Hormuz relabeled as "TRUMP STRAIT," joining a presidential fantasy map collection that this month has included New Mexico as "New America" plus all of North America as part of the U.S. (extending to Greenland and Iceland).

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As work requirements kick in for Medicaid, some states are taking a tougher stance

Work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries begin across the U.S. in January, the result of President Donald Trump's big 2025 tax cut and policy law, and a handful of Republican-led states are imposing tougher rules than the law requires. Read More.

CNN says it was left off Air Force One for Trump's Saturday trip to a college football game

The White House left CNN off Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s trip Saturday to a college football game in Tennessee, marking the latest media restriction from the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications. Read More.

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• 🚗 President Trump said he has approved plans to scale back fuel-efficiency rules for new cars and light trucks, gutting the Biden administration's EV push. A formal announcement comes tomorrow. (NYT gift link)
• ⚾ Major League Baseball asked the Trump administration if it's possible to host a game in a national park, similar to the recurring Field of Dreams game in Iowa. Locations have been scouted in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, but the White House said it's not a priority. (WashPost gift link)
• 📺 TV networks plan to resume pool coverage of President Trump today, even though the White House blocked CNN from Air Force One yesterday. (NYT gift link)

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Trump’s Wild Offer to Chinese Leader Revealed

The president’s ambassador to China made the stunning admission in a Fox News interview.

President Donald Trump offered China the chance to buy U.S. weapons in an astonishing proposal.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, Trump at one point asked him if he would be interested in buying American weapons, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue admitted.

The U.S. last approved $11 billion in sales of U.S. arms to Taiwan in December 2025, as China has been flirting with the idea of invading the small island to take it over.

When asked by Fox News on Sunday about the administration’s stance on Taiwan’s independence, Perdue made the stunning admission that Trump had actually offered Xi weapons.

“President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world.’ He actually asked President Xi if he would like to buy some, at one point,” Perdue said.

That confession received no further inquiry or pushback from Fox host Shannon Bream. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for more information.

Trump’s offer to Xi marks a stunning departure from decades of U.S. foreign policy that outright bans China from purchasing U.S. arms.

U.S. law strictly prohibits the export of defense articles and defense services to China. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, the U.S. and European countries imposed arms embargoes on China that still exist today.

The U.S. does sell weapons to Taiwan, much to the dismay of Beijing, which claims the country as its territory.

Trump has delayed a more recent $14 billion arms package for Taiwan for several months, as he has dismissed bipartisan calls from Congress to advance it, describing it as a “very good negotiating chip” in his discussions with China.

Following Perdue’s bombshell comments, a U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration has no plans to sell weapons to China, while a second U.S. official pointed out that federal law bars weapons sales to China, adding that no plans or offers have been put on the table for Beijing.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-wild-offer-to-chinese-leader-xi-jinping-revealed-by-david-perdue/?

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MAGA Revolts Over Wild White House Champagne-Spraying Video

Dan Scavino is catching heat for a “shameful” video he posted partying it up.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino has sparked an uproar with a tacky flex on social media.

Scavino, 50, posted what appears to be an AI-generated video on Instagram showing him popping champagne with what seems to be his second wife, Erin Elmore, and the president’s son Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump. The video is set to the tune of Pitbull’s hit song “Don’t Stop the Party.”

In the caption of the video, he wrote, “This is not an intended for the Dems heads to explode—Being some of the post State Dinner party has gotten out, I felt inclined to share mine as well, in complete transparency, with the American People. GOD BLESS THE USA!!!♥️🤍💙🇺🇸🦅🚀”

It’s not the Democrats Scavino needed to watch out for, however, as the video infuriated prominent conservatives. Especially as Republicans look to hone in on their messaging strategy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, which, if polling holds, will be a disaster for the GOP at the ballot box.

Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the center-right outlet The Dispatch, responded, sarcastically saying, “This is precisely the midterm messaging the GOP needs from the Deputy White House Chief of Staff.”

“You really have no shame, do you? Many Americans can’t afford groceries, gas or their mortgage payment, and you post a tone deaf AI video of you and your buddies partying at the People’s House,” Conservative activist Carrie Prejean Boller wrote.

Conservative commentator Meghan McCain responded to Scavino’s post with some anecdotal economic observations, writing: “One of my friends couldn’t afford air conditioner this summer.”

Never-Trump Republican Sarah Longwell wrote, “Real fall of Rome sh-t.”

Other self-described MAGA accounts also weighed in on the luxurious display of wealth from Scavino.

“Wow...This is really going to resonate with everyday Americans. They are so out of touch. It’s astonishing,” one person wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Scavino appeared to acknowledge the backlash on Sunday afternoon by reposting yet another AI-generated video depicting the imagined afterparty, this time through the supposed lens of Xi Jinping’s “lost camera roll.”

“…as the typical nutters are losing their s--t over AI created content, well done! It is AI, correct?😂🎯” he wrote on X.

If Republicans’ concerns about the first video’s opulence amid Americans’ cost-of-living struggles reached Scavino, he apparently did not care.

The AI video opens with Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, flipping through photos from the purported party. The images show Trump galloping through the White House on horseback; Vance and Musk holding his feet as Xi helps him do a keg stand; Trump jet-skiing on the Reflecting Pool; and Melania eating a lavish cake off his stomach, among other scenes.

Republican concerns ahead of the November elections come as polling shows the GOP is headed towards a wipeout at the ballot box.

President Donald Trump’s advisers have tried to tell him to focus more on affordability going into the 2026 midterms, especially after Republicans suffered serious losses in the off-year 2025 elections.

Rank-and-file Republicans, meanwhile, are distancing themselves from Trump entirely. A growing number of Republicans, including those who represent safe Republican districts, have also deleted references to Trump on their campaign websites, including candidates whom Trump has endorsed.

Trump, whose approval rating has sunk to one of the lowest of any president, has insisted that his administration has a winning record, and has doubled down on tying the midterms to his own record. He has told his MAGA base to just vote as though he is on the ballot.

“Pretend that I am on the ballot,” Trump declared during the Republican midterm conference earlier this month. “I’m on the ballot.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-revolts-over-tone-deaf-white-house-video-from-dan-scavino/?

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Trump Rages at Supreme Court for Ruining His Latest ‘Victory’

Checks and balances are for other presidents, apparently.

Donald Trump, 80, has lashed out at his hand-picked Supreme Court justices after they handed him another defeat.

In a rant on Truth Social Sunday morning, Trump raged about how the court had again refused to allow a new voting map in Missouri.

“The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory. They continuously, three times now, overrule Judges who came to the correct decisions,” the president wrote.

With the midterms looming, Republicans in Missouri want to use a newly drafted electoral map that gives Republican candidates a leg up in races across the state and would potentially see them gaining a seat from the Democrats.

The new map was created last year at the behest of Trump, who has been pushing Republican-controlled state houses to redraw boundaries and lock out Democrats.

It divided Kansas City into several districts in an attempt to unseat long-time Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

The president’s push to redraw districts began in Texas and has since spread to other states, including North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee.

Democrats in California and Virginia also joined in the redistricting fight with maps favoring their party, but the Supreme Court blocked Virginia’s effort in a ruling that delighted the president.

The Missouri map, however, has been knocked back by Trump’s own justices twice before, once by Brett Kavanaugh, and then unanimously by the full bench. On Friday, the justices shut it down a third time, issuing an unsigned ruling with no dissenters.

The state’s 2022 map, which includes six seats currently held by Republicans and two by Democrats, will be used in November.

“The election is not merely upcoming; it has already started. Ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed. Absentee voting has already begun, as has military and overseas voting,” the decision said.

Trump, furious that the highest court in the land did not do what he wanted, said the people of Missouri were “fighting so hard for Fairness and Election Security.”

“Such tremendous Spirit and Love of our Country. I won Missouri BIG, all three times, and I couldn’t be more proud of doing so. A great place — I love you all! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he continued.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The GOP is struggling to hold back a predicted blue wave in November, as Trump’s approval rating has tanked over the cost of living and his hugely unpopular Iran war.

The redistricting is part of their attempt to maintain control of the House, which currently has 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats serving.

For control to change hands, Democrats would just need to flip a handful of seats.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-rages-at-supreme-court-for-ruining-his-latest-victory/?

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🇮🇷 Trump expects Iran negotiations this week

The day after rejecting an Iranian proposal to end the war, President Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid in a phone interview that U.S. negotiators will engage in more talks with the country this week:

Qatar and other regional mediators are trying to revive negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, but the two sides are far apart on the key issues, Barak writes.

• While Iran wants to focus any talks on the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. naval blockade, the Trump administration is demanding that Iran agree to nuclear concessions.

"I expect more talks with Iran [this week]," Trump said. "They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand."

• Asked if he is considering resuming strikes against Iran, Trump said: "I am always thinking about it."

Keep reading.