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

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Trump says he might let Russia and Ukraine fight it out a while longer

President Trump compared Russia and Ukraine with "children fighting in the park" on Thursday and suggested it might be better to let them keep on fighting for a while.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/05/trump-russia-ukraine-fighting-school-children?

ps:What does he mean he's going to let them fight a little longer????? He couldn't do it on day one, because Ukraine wouldn't cave in to his stupid demand of letting Russia take whatever they wanted. As long as Ukraine won't play ball this is going to go on and on.

‘Absolute sh*tshow’

NASA scientists are in limbo after the Trump administration proposed eliminating the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Closing the lab could jeopardize the country’s leadership role in global climate science. Travel ban President Donald Trump announced a sweeping crackdown that prevents citizens from a dozen nations from entering the US — and seven more face partial restrictions. Here’s what we know about the countries on the list. All about stablecoins They’re a type of crypto asset that is tied to the value of another currency, such as the US dollar or gold. The coins have grown in popularity in recent years for use in digital payments, and now Congress is debating how to regulate them.

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MAGA's mutually assured destruction

Photo illustration: Maura Losch/Axios. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

To honor the end of Elon Musk's "incredible" government service, President Trump presented his friend, adviser and billionaire benefactor with a golden key to the White House. Six days later, Musk lit the place on fire, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: The most powerful civilian ever has effectively declared war on the president of the United States, incinerating their relationship — at least for now — in one of history's most extraordinary political meltdowns. The long-predicted rupture built over months, but exploded in hours — unfolding in real time in the Oval Office, on Truth Social and above all, on X. The consequences were tectonic, shaking the foundations of a MAGA-tech coalition that has mapped out grand ambitions for Trump's second term. ? Zoom in: Tensions have simmered all week over Musk's scathing criticism of Trump's budget-busting tax bill, which is projected to add trillions to the national debt. Yesterday, Trump claimed the Tesla CEO was lashing out over the bill's rollback of electric vehicle credits — and suggested he was suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Musk responded by committing what can only be described as an unforgivable sin in Trumpworld: claiming credit for the president's 2024 election victory and arguing that his political power would far outlast Trump's. Via X Trump fired back by threatening to terminate Musk's billions of dollars in government subsidies and contracts, and declaring that his former adviser had gone "crazy." Over the next few hours, Musk would call for Trump's impeachment, claim the president is implicated in unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files, and float the creation of a new political party. He also announced that SpaceX would "begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately" — a move that would disrupt NASA operations and sever a core link between his empire and the federal government. Between the lines: Musk later walked back that threat and opened the door to a thaw with Trump. He responded positively ("You're not wrong") to a plea by financier Bill Ackman that they make peace. White House aides scheduled a call with Musk for today, Politico reported. The episode underscored the extraordinary leverage the billionaire holds over critical government functions — and how easily that power can be politicized. Today's front pages. ?️ The big picture: Musk, who spent nearly $300 million to support Trump and GOP candidates in 2024, views the swelling deficit as an existential threat, and has promised to target any Republican who votes for the bill. GOP lawmakers, many of whom have spent years terrified by the prospect of a Trump-backed primary threat, are now praying the president's endorsement is worth more than Musk's war chest.

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? Inside the West Wing as bromance soured

Shortly after President Trump unexpectedly withdrew Elon Musk's pick to lead NASA last weekend, one name quickly surfaced as a major force behind the surprise decision: White House personnel director Sergio Gor, Axios' Marc Caputo, Alex Isenstadt and Stef W. Kight write.

• Why it matters: Trump acknowledged yesterday that canceling Jared Isaacman's NASA nomination had "upset" Musk, who's close to Isaacman.

Some presidential advisers were angry at Gor, who had a tense relationship with Musk. Some Senate Republicans also said Gor helped undermine the NASA nomination to settle a score with Musk, who'd been critical of Gor.

• On the "All-In" podcast," Isaacman said he believes his fate was linked to Musk's deteriorating standing in the White House and "an influential adviser coming in and saying [to Trump]: 'Look, here's the facts and I think we should kill this guy.'''
• Gor declined to comment. White House communications director Steven Cheung said Gor "is a vital member of the team and he has helped President Trump put together an administration that is second to none."

? Zoom in: Gor is one of the most influential Trump advisers in the White House, and co-founded Winning Team Publishing with Don Jr. The imprint publishes books by Trump and his allies, and put much-needed cash in Trump's pocket during his isolation after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

• Gor, a frequent presence at Mar-a-Lago, has a close relationship with former Marvel executive Ike Perlmutter, one of Trump's closest friends and a major donor.
• Gor was a top fundraising official on Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, and founded a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2024 campaign that spent nearly $72 million.

? Behind the scenes: Gor has told others that GOP senators triggered Isaacman's demise, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which oversees NASA.

• Cruz raised objections in December — when Musk persuaded Trump to nominate Isaacman — including past donations to Democrats.
• Cruz's concerns were allayed, and the committee he chairs approved Isaacman's nomination by a big margin in April, with Cruz voting in support.

Gor recently "spun up the president by just constantly mentioning the donations," a Trump adviser said.

• On May 30, before a joint press conference with Musk to announce his departure from the White House, Gor dropped off a background file on Isaacman at the Oval Office. Musk later entered the room and Trump asked him about Isaacman.

"This guy gave to Democrats," Trump said to Musk, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

• "It's not like Elon really defended him," the source said. "He said: 'He's really competent. But yeah, he gave to Democrats.'"

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? Investors sell the Trump-Musk feud

Data: Financial Modeling Prep. Chart: Axios Visuals The breakdown of President Trump's relationship with Elon Musk yesterday cost both men significant sums of money — about $21 billion combined, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. Why it matters: Both have vast business empires. But they each have one public company that investors dumped as the social media war spiraled into personal attacks. ? By the numbers: Tesla shares dropped 14.3%, costing Musk just under $20 billion. The 8% decline in Trump Media & Technology Group cost the president about $202 million. The bigger hit to Trump's bottom line was the roughly 10% decline of his Official Trump meme coin, potentially costing him nearly $900 million.

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?️ How Trump remade the map

This memorable map shows how President Trump remade America's political divide, demographically and geographically, as reported by the N.Y. Times' Shane Goldmacher, June Kim and Christine Zhang: In the past three elections, Trump increased the Republican Party's share of the presidential vote in 46% of America's counties — 1,433 out of 3,143. Democrats grew their vote in each of the past three elections in only 57 counties — under 2%. Why it matters: "The steady march to the right at the county level reveals not just the extent of the nation's transformation in the Trump era but also the degree to which the United States now resembles two countries charging in opposite directions," The Times reports. The Times podcast "The Daily" calls it a "1,400-County Crisis for Democrats." ? By the numbers: "435 counties voted more Democratic in 2024 than did so in 2012, by an average improved margin of 8.8 percentage points," The Times found. "2,678 counties became more Republican, by an average of 13.3 percentage points. That's six times as many counties moving toward the G.O.P. than toward the Democratic Party — and by a substantially wider margin." ? Latino gains: "The biggest swing in the nation since 2012, moving 89 percentage points in Mr. Trump's favor, occurred in Starr County, which includes Rio Grande City and borders Mexico," the four-election analysis found. "It is also the nation's most predominantly Latino county, with a 96 percent Hispanic voting-age population." "Trump steadily improved his vote share over the three campaigns by more than 50 percentage points in seven heavily Hispanic counties in South Texas." ? Other findings: "Republicans are overwhelmingly making gains in working-class counties." "Democrats are improving almost exclusively in wealthier areas." "Republicans are running up the score in counties where fewer people have attended college." "Democrats are gaining ground in a small sliver of the best-educated enclaves." ? Stunning stat: Only one of the 1,500 counties with the smallest proportion of college graduates (less educated counties) "voted steadily more Democratic over the last three elections. Republicans steadily grew their vote share in more than two-thirds of those less-educated counties." That one county was Barrow County, Ga. — in Atlanta's fast-growing exurbs. More maps, data (gift link).

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Musk-Trump feud

Two billionaires engaged in a war of words on their own social media sites and in the Oval Office on Thursday, an online version of a reality TV show that kept many utterly transfixed to their screens. But because the individuals in question were tech mogul Elon Musk and the president of the United States, the increasingly heated exchange about Trump’s massive tax and domestic policy bill affected stock prices, worried politicians, prompted calls for impeachment and renewed interest in the controversial Epstein files. The pair had been close allies ever since Musk gave Trump's campaign a boost by donating over $290 million to Trump and other Republicans during the 2024 election cycle. After Trump’s return to office, the world’s richest man was a trusted adviser and frequent visitor to the White House. Musk also helmed the Department of Government Efficiency, which took a chainsaw to the federal workforce. But following Musk’s recent departure from the administration, tensions have been growing between the two, and their vitriol was on full display for all to read.    Harvard A federal judge has halted President Trump’s latest attempt to prevent international students from attending Harvard University. Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday to suspend international visas for new students at the school and directed the secretary of state to consider revoking visas for current Harvard students who meet the proclamation’s “criteria.” The temporary restraining order, issued late Thursday by US District Judge Allison Burroughs, came just hours after the university requested that she block the proclamation. Burroughs’ order said that if she didn’t intervene now, the school would “sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties.” A hearing has been set for mid-June.

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Trump and Musk break up, and Washington holds its breath Elon Musk has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of betraying promises to cut federal spending, shared a suggestion that the president should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about Trump’s association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has hit back, threatening to cancel government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies. Read more.

What to know: The question now is whether Trump and Musk find some way to step back from a battle that is tearing apart one of the most consequential relationships in modern American politics. “It’s like India and Pakistan,” said Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana. “It just escalates and neither one of them seem to back down and understand the strength of each other.”     At stake are the future of Musk’s companies, including electric automaker Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX; government programs that rely on the billionaire entrepreneur’s technology; legislation for advancing tax cuts and Trump’s other priorities in Congress; Republican chances in next year’s midterm elections; and an entire political ecosystem that has orbited around Trump and Musk’s deteriorating partnership.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Supreme Court sides with Catholic Charities in religious-rights case over unemployment taxes   Supreme Court blocks Mexico’s $10B lawsuit alleging US gunmakers have fueled cartel violence   Peruvian migrant acquitted in the first trial over the new militarized zone at US-Mexico border   Judge puts temporary hold on Trump's latest ban on Harvard's foreign students   Detained Columbia graduate claims ‘irreparable harm’ to career and family as he pleads for release   WATCH: A Massachusetts student arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice has been released   Governments denounce Trump's travel ban and vow to push back against US   AmeriCorps must restore grant funding and members to states that sued over cuts, federal judge rules   Judge and lawmakers question the Trump administration’s plan to gut Job Corps centers   A judge tells federal agencies they can’t enforce anti-trans bias policies against Catholic groups   Trump’s surgeon general pick criticizes others’ conflicts but profits from wellness product sales   Trump EPA moves to roll back rules projected to save billions of dollars and thousands of lives   What Trump ordering an investigation into Biden’s actions might mean legally and politically   Musk's threat to withdraw Dragon capsule would leave NASA with 1 option: Russia   CDC’s leadership ‘crisis’ apparent amid new COVID-19 vaccine guidance   Jury awards California prosecutor $3 million after she says she was forced out of her position   Diver convicted of freeing sharks off Florida coast says he was surprised by presidential pardon   WATCH: German Chancellor presents gilt-framed copy of Donald Trump's grandfather's birth certificate   Can democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani become the next mayor of NYC?

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Elon Musk pulls back on threat to withdraw Dragon spacecraft

Elon Musk is dialing back his threat to decommission a capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station for NASA, as President Donald Trump and Musk argued on social media on Thursday. Read More.

Migrants and ICE officers contend with heat, smog and illness after detoured South Sudan flight

The Trump administration says migrants placed on a deportation flight originally bound for South Sudan are now being held in a converted shipping container on a U.S. naval base in Djibouti, where the men and their guards are contending with baking hot temperatures, smoke from nearby burn pits and the looming threat of rocket attacks. Read More.

Planet-warming emissions dropped when companies had to report them. EPA wants to end that

The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency is taking aim at dozens of rules aimed at protecting the environment, including one that requires big polluters to report greenhouse gas emissions. Read More.   Metals that matter  The US heavily relies on China’s exports of rare earth minerals. In fact, they’ve been a major sticking point in President Donald Trump’s trade war. Here’s a breakdown of what rare earth minerals are and what they are used for.

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Abrego Garcia returned to U.S. for trial

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back on U.S. soil, where he will stand trial on criminal charges, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this afternoon.

• Why it matters: Abrego Garcia's case has become a flashpoint in President Trump's immigration crackdown as well as his administration's showdown with the courts.

⚖️ What they're saying: A grand jury indicted Abrego Garcia on charges that he helped transport undocumented migrants within the U.S., Bondi said.

• She said during a news conference that his "full-time job" was trafficking people, drugs and weapons, and accused him of abusing undocumented women.
• Bondi said she anticipates that Abrego Garcia will be deported to El Salvador again after serving his sentence, if he's convicted, calling him "a danger to our community."

✈️ The administration is finally doing what the Supreme Court told it to do in April — take steps to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. and make a formal, legal case for deporting him.

• The courts haven't said Abrego Garcia is innocent — only that the administration needs to provide some form of due process before shipping people off to a Salvadorian prison. A trial would meet that standard.

"This is what American justice looks like," Bondi said.

ps:So what was it called until now????? Aren't you one of the many from this administration to say he will never be returned?? So now he can go on trial like he should've to start with!!!!! It's amazing that they need to be reminded of what the law should look like!!!!!!!!!!

? President Trump is considering selling his Tesla amid his falling out with Elon Musk. He bought a red Model S after promoting Tesla on the White House lawn in March. Go deeper.

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Brain drain begins

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

The Trump administration's spending cuts and restrictions on foreign students are triggering a brain drain — and American scientists are panicking, Axios' Erica Pandey reports. Why it matters: U.S. researchers' fears are coming true. America's science pipeline is drying up, and countries like China are seizing the opportunity to surge ahead. "This is such a race for being the science powerhouse that you never fully recover," says Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences. "You might accelerate back up to 60, but you can't make up for those years when you were at a standstill while the competition was racing ahead." ? Driving the news: The National Science Foundation, which funds much of America's fundamental science research, is already doling out grants at its slowest pace in 35 years, The New York Times reports. More cuts to science could come with the "big, beautiful bill." The Trump administration also says it will "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students studying in "critical fields." ? By the numbers: While American universities are rescinding offers to incoming PhD students, other countries are recruiting heavily — setting aside cash for U.S. scientists and even sending personal emails. The journal Nature analyzed data from its jobs platform to track where scientists are looking for work. In the first few months of the Trump administration, there were jumps in the the number of U.S. applicants looking for jobs in Canada (+41%), Europe (+32%), China (+20%) and other Asian countries (+39%), compared with the same period in 2024. "This is a once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity," the Australian Strategic Policy Institute wrote in a brief. ? Case in point: France's Aix-Marseille University, which made headlines for earmarking millions of dollars for U.S. scientists, closed its application window after receiving a flood of apps. After American Nobel laureate Ardem Patapoutian's federal grant was frozen, he got an email from China offering 20 years of funding if he relocates his lab, The New York Times' Kate Zernike writes. He declined. The other side: The White House argues that its changes to the system will usher in a golden age of science and rebuild public trust. President Trump has also suggested that spots freed up by rejecting international students could be filled by American applicants. But professors say this isn't entirely realistic."In hard sciences, in astronomy and physics and computer science, for example, there's no way you would fill that hole with local applicants of comparable quality," says Chris Impey, an astronomer at the University of Arizona.

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Trump's Army parade

A U.S. Army tank in the National Memorial Day Parade on Constitution Avenue in D.C. Photo: Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images Army officials are preparing to display rocket launchers and missiles along with more than a hundred military aircraft and vehicles next weekend at the D.C. parade celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary, Axios' Alex Isenstadt reports. Why it matters: President Trump has envisioned the June 14 parade — which is scheduled on his 79th birthday — as a show of U.S. military might. ? Zoom in: Such a display of military equipment is rare in the United States, and critics of the event have expressed concerns about that imagery as well as the damage that heavy military vehicles could pose to the city's streets. But officials are eager to showcase U.S. weaponry such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which is used to launch rockets and has been used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. There also will be a static display of precision-guided missiles, the officials said, and a flyover by F-22 fighter jets. About 7,000 military personnel will be involved in the parade, which will run along Constitution Avenue NW. It's projected to cost about $45 million — roughly one-third of that for post-parade street repairs.

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MAGA base waits for payoff

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

President Trump's second term has been a payday for the powerful, exposing a disconnect in his promise to deliver for "the forgotten man" of America's working class. Why it matters: The populist paradox at the heart of MAGA — a movement fueled by economic grievance and championed by a New York billionaire — has never been more pronounced, Axios' Tal Axelrod and Zachary Basu report. ⚡ Trump's blue-collar base remains fiercely loyal, energized by his hardline stances on immigration, trade and culture — and patient that his economic "Golden Age" will materialize. But so far, the clearest financial rewards of Trump's tenure are flowing upward — to wealthy donors, family members, insiders, and the president himself. The big picture: Trump's inner circle has shattered norms around profiting from the presidency, dulling public outrage to the point where even the most brazen access schemes draw only fleeting scrutiny. ? Take crypto: The top holders of Trump's meme coin were granted an exclusive dinner last month at the president's Virginia golf club, where some paid millions for access. The White House refused to release the guest list, but wealthy foreigners — including a Chinese billionaire who faced SEC charges under the Biden administration — were among those revealed to be in attendance. Trump's sons, meanwhile, are spearheading a family crypto venture that has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, is raising $2.5 billion to buy Bitcoin. All of this — plus a flurry of lucrative real estate deals overseas — is playing out as Trump presides over U.S. foreign policy and the fate of crypto regulation. ? Now take Trump's relationship with his donors. His Cabinet is the wealthiest in American history, stocked with mega-donors whose combined net worth reaches well into the billions — even discounting estranged former adviser Elon Musk. Trump has granted pardons or clemency to a stream of white-collar criminals and wealthy tax cheats, many of whom hired lobbyists, donated to the president, or raised money on his behalf. The Wall Street Journal found that the biggest corporate and individual donors to Trump's inauguration later received relief from investigations, U.S. market access and plum postings in his administration. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung tweeted this photo of President Trump celebrating with Kayla Harrison, "Queen of the Cage," after she won gold last night at UFC 316 in Newark, N.J. Via X The other side: Trump officials wholly reject the premise that the administration's policies don't benefit the working-class Americans who voted for the president en masse. White House officials point to cooling inflation, plummeting border crossings and the tariff-driven re-shoring of manufacturing as evidence of Trump delivering on his core promises. They frame his crypto push, AI acceleration and deregulatory agenda as driving forces behind a pro-growth tide that will lift all boats — including for middle- and working-class Americans. Reality check: Inflation may remain benign for now, but there are growing signs businesses are experiencing higher prices and passing some or all of those costs directly through to consumers, Axios managing editor for business Ben Berkowitz notes. While companies have made encouraging public statements about re-shoring, in almost all of those cases it's too soon for any shovels to be in the ground. ? What to watch: Trump's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" is packed with populist red meat, including the extension of his first-term tax cuts, the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime, and $1,000 "Trump Accounts" for newborns. "All his hopes and dreams on that front are pinned to that reconciliation bill," one MAGA operative told Axios, characterizing it as "the bulk" of Trump's legislative agenda for the middle class. Keep reading.

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? Trump deploys Guard in LA

A third day of protests is expected in LA today as President Trump moves to deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to quell demonstrations over the administration's immigration crackdown.

• LA is now the epicenter of national unrest surrounding Trump's aggressive deportation push.

Trump warned that any protest or violence blocking government personnel would be seen as "a form of rebellion."

A car burns during a protest in Compton, Calif., yesterday, after federal immigration authorities conducted operations. Photo: Eric Thayer/AP

It's the first time since 1965 — when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent forces to Alabama to guard civil rights demonstrators — that a president has mobilized a state's National Guard without the governor's request, The New York Times reports.

• "That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said yesterday.

? The backstory: "Trump and his aides have often lamented that not enough was done by Minnesota's governor to quell protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020," the N.Y. Times' Maggie Haberman notes (gift link).

• During a campaign rally in Iowa in 2023, Trump made clear he wouldn't hold back in a second term: "You look at any Democrat-run state, and it's just not the same — it doesn't work ... We cannot let it happen any longer. And one of the other things I'll do — because, you know, you're supposed to not be involved in that. You just have to be asked by the governor or the mayor to come in. The next time, I'm not waiting."

Protesters kick a Border Patrol vehicle in Paramount, Calif., yesterday. Photo: Eric Thayer/AP

Catch up quick: Confrontations broke out yesterday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby, AP reports.

• Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles.

A series of immigration sweeps pushed the weeklong total of arrests in the city past 100, heightening unease among residents.

 

National Guard troops arrive in Los Angeles on Trump’s orders to quell immigration protests

National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles early Sunday on orders from President Donald Trump in response to clashes in recent days between federal immigration authorities and protesters seeking to block them from carrying out deportations. Trump says he is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles — over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Read more.

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? "Very serious consequences" for Musk

President Trump answered "no" when asked by NBC News' Kristen Welker if he'd like to repair his relationship with Elon Musk. "I think it's a shame that he's so depressed and so heartbroken," Trump said of the billionaire.

• Why it matters: This alliance between two of the most powerful men in the world has crumbled in just days, with seemingly little hope for reconciliation.

Trump said he has no plans to speak to Musk during the phone interview with Welker for "Meet the Press."

• He said he hasn't given any thought to canceling Musk's companies' government contracts — a move he threatened to make in a Truth Social post Thursday.

?️ Musk will "have to pay very serious consequences" if he funds Democrats to run against Republicans who vote for the "big, beautiful bill," Trump told Welker.

• The billionaire — and biggest GOP donor of '24 — posted this past week that any lawmaker who backs the bill should be voted out in the midterms.

More from the interview.

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? Hotline to Trump

President Trump might be the most accessible president ever — for spies or scammers, Axios Future of Cybersecurity author Sam Sabin writes.

• He has been known to pick up when his cell rings, even if he doesn't know who's calling. Senior members of his team also love chatting on their personal devices.

Why it matters: If Trump is willing to answer unknown numbers, as The Atlantic reported this week, there's no guarantee a scammer, impersonator, or even a foreign intelligence operative couldn't have a chat with the president.

? Federal authorities are investigating a scheme where someone spoofed the phone number of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to impersonate her in calls to senators, governors and CEOs, per The Wall Street Journal.

• Meanwhile, Chinese hackers reportedly penetrated U.S. telecom networks as early as summer 2023, according to Bloomberg — a year earlier than previously known.
• That access has been used by a China-backed group, Salt Typhoon, to spy on Trump, Vice President Vance, and other officials, the N.Y. Times reported.

White House communications director Steven Cheung told Axios: "President Trump is the most transparent and accessible President in American history. World leaders, heads of state, elected officials, and business titans all reach out to him because they know America is back under President Trump's leadership."

• Keep reading.

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Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences’ if he backs Democratic candidates

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump is not backing off his battle with Elon Musk, saying Saturday that he has no desire to repair their relationship and warning that his former ally and campaign benefactor could face “serious consequences” if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections.

https://apnews.com/article/vance-elon-musk-theo-von-fd6f6af0b147d129836c243df31a7fc2?

ps:So it's OK for him to fund republicans, but not democrats????????

Trump Could Use Sacred Native Land for a Monument to… Christopher Columbus

Trump’s plan for a national statue garden could get built on sacred Native land currently held by a wealthy South Dakota mining family.

https://theintercept.com/2025/06/06/trump-south-dakota-native-land-statue-garden/?

Trump Travel Ban Punishes Victims of the U.S. War Machine

Trump’s latest travel ban hits Afghans who aided the U.S. in its failed 20-year war.

https://theintercept.com/2025/06/05/trump-travel-ban-afghanistan/?

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Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Read more.

Why this matters: Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly. Sunday’s protests in Los Angeles were centered in several blocks of downtown. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents.     Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom requested Trump remove the guard members in a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a "serious breach of state sovereignty." The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump’s new travel ban takes effect as tensions escalate over immigration enforcement   AP PHOTOS: Protesters clash with law enforcement in Los Angeles   WATCH: Law enforcement in Los Angeles uses tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control protests

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The 911 presidency: Trump flexes emergency powers in his second term Despite insisting that the United States is rebounding from calamity under his watch, President Donald Trump is harnessing emergency powers unlike any of his predecessors. Whether it’s leveling punishing tariffs, deploying troops to the border or sidelining environmental regulations, Trump has relied on rules and laws intended only for use in extraordinary circumstances like war and invasion. Read more.

Why this matters: An analysis by The Associated Press shows that 30 of Trump’s 150 executive orders have cited some kind of emergency power or authority, a rate that far outpaces his recent predecessors. The result is a redefinition of how presidents can wield power.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Supreme Court rejects Republican bid to bar some provisional ballots in Pennsylvania   Judge says administration can dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services   Trump administration asks Supreme Court to leave mass layoffs at Education Department in place   Supreme Court will hear Alabama appeal in bid to execute man found to be intellectually disabled   Federal vs. state power at issue in a hearing over Trump’s election overhaul executive order   Under Patel, FBI heightens focus on violent crime and illegal immigration. Other threats abound, too   Mike Johnson downplays Musk’s influence and says Republicans will pass Trump’s tax and budget bill   Trump’s big bill also seeks to undo the big bills of Biden and Obama   Republican senators to watch in the maneuvering over Trump’s big bill   Transportation chief seeks to weaken fuel economy standards, calls Biden-era rule ‘illegal’   Sheetz racial discrimination case is on the chopping block as Trump rewrites civil rights   5 Proud Boys sue US government over Jan. 6 prosecutions   Former DC police officer sentenced to 18 months for lying about leaking info to Proud Boys leader   Trump’s new drone orders aim to counter threats while encouraging flying cars and supersonic flights   What it would take to convert a jet from Qatar into Air Force One to safely fly Trump   Transgender troops face a deadline and a difficult decision: Stay or go?   World Pride celebrations end with defiant politics on display   New Jersey governor’s race tests Democrats’ efforts to win back Latinos

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? Big Coal, big costs. After the Trump administration issued a last-minute order to keep a Michigan coal-powered electricity plant open, the Department of Energy website has removed an internal memo detailing “challenges” with keeping the plant open. The department’s fossil fuel-soaked secretary, Chris Wright, claims the J.H. Campbell plant needs to stay operational to meet electricity demand even though Consumer Energy — the plant’s utility owner — says it’s already purchased a natural gas-powered facility to supply the region with power.

• If J.H. Campbell keeps operating, Consumer Energy expects customers in 15-plus states will pay more than $600 million to keep it open for the next 20 years. 

ps:So we will pay to let these "coal mines" to run?? Why???? So more coal miners can die young with one of the worse lung diseases????? Unreal!!!!!

 

?️ Show me the drilling money. Despite its controversy, fossil fuel drilling on public lands yields some of the largest nontax revenue for the government, delivering nearly $14 billion in lease-payment revenue in 2024. But a recent federal report found that companies possibly aren’t paying their fair share, in part because they could be misreporting drilling revenues. The last time regulators scrutinized the matter, they found these companies had skipped out on paying $100 million to the feds for two consecutive years — and that was roughly 15 years ago.

ps:Another disaster in the making!!!!!

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Corruption’s “opportunity zones.” A Trump-era tax gift pitched in 2017 as a way to spark economic development in struggling neighborhoods turned out to be a loophole for private equity and wealthy investors — and now, thanks to Republicans, the scheme is set to expand. A new report reveals just how lucrative that loophole has been: According to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, the “opportunity zone” tax initiative has made more than $16 billion for about 200 private investment firms with little evidence it’s helping communities.

Tax loopholes for me. The tax incentive works like this: Investors who put their profits into special funds — which must then invest in designated “opportunity zones” — can defer paying federal capital gains tax on those profits until 2027 or they sell their investment, whichever comes first. If investors keep their money in an opportunity zone fund for at least seven years, they’ll see a significant tax break. If they keep it in the fund for 10 years, they won’t pay any federal capital gains tax on the profits generated from the opportunity zone investment. 

• Meanwhile, with fewer capital gains taxes filling government coffers, taxpayers are left to foot the bill — to the tune of $8.2 billion for fiscal years 2020 to 2024.  

But not for thee. The Trump administration touted that these lowered capital gains taxes would help “rebuild homes, schools, businesses, and communities that need it the most” (another form of trickle-down economics). However, there are no requirements that opportunity zone investments actually help communities. That means investors can get a tax break for developments including luxury hotels and corporate headquarters, as long as they show a “substantial improvement.” Consequently, a vast majority of these investments are in real estate and market-rate rental housing — generating profit for the rich with varying results for local communities.

Trickle-up economics. This program is set to expand through the Trump administration’s One Big, Beautiful Bill. The legislation, which is being taken up by the Senate this month, opens the door to even more opportunity zones, particularly in rural America. Additionally, profits invested in opportunity zone funds between 2027 and 2034 will not be subject to the capital gains tax until 2034 — so investors' $16 billion windfall is likely just the beginning.

Reporting contributed by Helen Santoro.

NIH scientists go public to criticize Trump's deep cuts in public health research

Scores of National Institutes of Health researchers and staffers have come forward to send their Trump-appointed leader a letter challenging policies they say undermine the NIH mission. The signers went public in the face of a “culture of fear and suppression” they say has been spread through the federal civil service by Trump's administration. Read More.   Live updates: California AG announces lawsuit against Trump for deploying National Guard in LA California Attorney General Rob Bonta says the state’s sovereignty was “trampled” by President Donald Trump when he ordered National Guard troops to the immigration protests in Los Angeles. Bonta announced plans Monday to sue the Trump administration. Read More.

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Trump, Newsom dig in

A protestor stands on a vandalized Waymo car during a protest against immigration raids yesterday in Los Angeles. Photo: Nick Ut/Getty Images

No one's backing down in the bitter political feud between California and the Trump administration. California sued the Trump administration today, as promised, for deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles over the state's objections. Thousands of protesters gathered again today outside of L.A. City Hall to protest the arrest of union leader David Huerta, and similar protests were planned for other cities. ? Republicans are urging their colleagues to press what they believe is a clear political advantage in light of yesterday's tensions. President Trump said California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be arrested. "Look, I like Gavin Newsom. He's a nice guy. But he's grossly incompetent," he said. And Trump has given no indication that he plans to withdraw the National Guard. Go deeper.

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A One-Way Street (Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Getty; Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty)

View in browser Under Donald Trump, the federal government is like a bad parent: never there when you need him but eager to stick his nose in your business when you don’t want him to. The relationship between Trump and California has always been bad, but the past few days represent a new low. On Friday, CNN reported that the White House was seeking to cut off as much federal funding to the Golden State as possible, especially to state universities. That afternoon, protests broke out in Los Angeles as ICE agents sought to make arrests. By Saturday, Trump had announced that he was federalizing members of the National Guard and deploying them to L.A., over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Americans have seen the National Guard called out to deal with the aftermath of riots in the past, but its involvement over the weekend represents a dramatic escalation. The National Guard was deployed to L.A. in 1992, during riots after the acquittal of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King. The scale of the destruction in that instance, compared with scattered violence in L.A. this weekend, helps show why Trump’s order was disproportionate. (National Guard troops were also deployed in Minneapolis during protests after the murder of George Floyd, at the request of Governor Tim Walz. Trump has falsely claimed that he deployed the troops when Walz wouldn’t.) In all of these recent cases, however, governors have made the call to bring out the National Guard. A president has not done so since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson took control of the Alabama National Guard from the arch-segregationist Governor George Wallace and ordered it to protect civil-rights leaders’ third attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery. The situations aren’t even closely analogous. Johnson acted only after local leaders had demonstrated that law enforcement would violently attack the peaceful marchers. By contrast, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have plenty of experience and sufficient man power to deal with protests of the weekend’s size, and military forces are a riskier choice because they aren’t trained as police. This morning, Newsom said he will sue the administration over the deployment. Elizabeth Goitein, a scholar at the Brennan Center for Justice who has written extensively in The Atlantic about the abuse of presidential emergency powers, told The Washington Post that Trump’s order “is completely unprecedented under any legal authority.” “The use of the military to quell civil unrest is supposed to be an absolute last resort,” she added. Trump is doing this, as my colleague Tom Nichols writes, because he wants to provoke a confrontation with California. The president sees tough immigration enforcement as a political winner, but he also wants to use the face-off to expand the federal government’s power to control states. Trump’s vision is federalism as a one-way street: If states need help, they might be on their own, but if states believe that federal intervention is unnecessary or even harmful, too bad. If the president wants to shut off funds to states for nothing more than political retribution or personal animus, he believes that he can do that. (A White House spokesperson told CNN that decisions about potential cuts were not final but said that “no taxpayer should be forced to fund the demise of our country,” a laughably vague and overheated rationale.) If states have been struck by major disasters, however, they’d better hope they voted for Trump, or that their governors have a good relationship with him. Some of these attempts to strong-arm states are likely illegal, and will be successfully challenged in court. Others are in gray areas, and still others are plainly legal—manifestations of what I call “total politics,” in which officials wield powers that are legal but improper or unwise. This is a marked shift from the traditional American conservative defense of states’ rights. Although that argument has often been deployed to defend racist policies, such as slavery and segregation, the right has also argued for the prerogative of local people to stave off an overweaning federal government. Conservatives also tended to view Lyndon Johnson as a boogeyman, not a role model. Kristi Noem, now the secretary of Homeland Security, bristled at the idea of federalizing the National Guard just last year, when she was serving as governor of South Dakota. But Trump’s entire approach is to centralize control. He has pursued Project 2025’s plan to seize new powers for the executive branch and to establish right-wing Big Government, flexing the coercive capacity of the federal government over citizens’ lives. Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, has suggested that he wouldn’t hesitate to arrest Newsom, and Trump endorsed the idea today. And Trump allies have proposed all sorts of other ways to force state governments to comply, such as cutting off Justice Department grants or FEMA assistance for states that don’t sign up to enforce Trump’s immigration policies, an issue where state governments do not traditionally have a role. This duress is not limited to blue states. Just last week, under pressure from the DOJ, Texas agreed to trash a 24-year-old law (signed by then-Governor Rick Perry, who later became Trump’s secretary of energy) that gives in-state college tuition to some undocumented immigrants. If nothing else, the Trump era has given progressives a new appreciation for states’ rights. Democrat attorneys general have become some of the most effective opponents of the Trump White House, just as Republican ones battled the Obama and Biden administrations. On Friday, Newsom mused about California withholding federal taxes. This is plainly illegal, but you can see where he’s coming from: In fiscal year 2022, the state contributed $83 billion dollars more to the federal government than it received. If California is not getting disaster aid but is getting hostile deployments of federal troops, Californians might find it harder to see what’s in it for them. No wonder one poll commissioned by an advocacy group earlier this year found that 61 percent of the state’s residents thought California would be better off as a separate nation. Secession isn’t going to happen: As journalists writing about aspiring red-state secessionists in recent years have noted, leaving the Union is unconstitutional. But the fact that these questions keep coming up is a testament to the fraying relationship between the federal government and the states. Trump’s recent actions toward California show why tensions between Washington and the states are likely to get worse as long as he’s president. Related: David Frum: For Trump, this is a dress rehearsal. Tom Nichols: Trump is using the National Guard as bait.

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Trump flirts with Insurrection Act

Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photo: Jason Armond/Getty Images

President Trump is edging closer than ever to invoking the Insurrection Act, driven by a vision of executive power free from the guardrails, governors and generals who stifled him in 2020, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: The Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the deployment of U.S. troops to quell domestic unrest, is among the most extreme emergency powers available to a sitting president. Trump has already broken decades of precedent by federalizing California's National Guard without the state's consent, aiming to crush the escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by his administration's immigration raids. He's now openly telegraphing his willingness — even eagerness — to invoke the law, telling reporters yesterday: "The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists." ⚡ State of play: More than 700 Marines were mobilized yesterday to respond to the protests in LA, joining up to 4,000 National Guardsmen. Without the Insurrection Act, the troops' mission is legally limited to protecting federal agents and property. California Gov. Gavin Newsom — whom Trump suggested yesterday should be arrested — has accused the administration of manufacturing a crisis and illegally militarizing the city. Newsom, who is suing Trump to reverse the National Guard order, posted on X: "This is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic. We cannot let it stand." ? The latest: The NYPD arrested two dozen protesters who swarmed the lobby of Trump Tower as protests against ICE raids spread across the country. Go deeper. Protests broke out in Santa Ana and San Francisco in California, plus Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio in Texas. Waymo, which had self-driving cars set ablaze over the weekend, suspended service in downtown LA and curtailed service in San Francisco. Via Truth Social ? Flashback: For years, the Insurrection Act has loomed large in the minds of Trump and his conservative allies. In the summer of 2020, as Trump privately fumed over nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, White House aides drafted a proclamation to send thousands of active-duty U.S. troops into the streets. Trump ultimately was talked down by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, but he has publicly expressed regret over not acting more forcefully. Top Trump allies, including the architects of the far-right roadmap "Project 2025," have at various points called for using the Insurrection Act to secure the border, preempt Inauguration Day protests, and even subvert the 2020 election. The big picture: For Trump, the LA protests represent the perfect opportunity to fuse power, politics and spectacle. Immigration is Trump's home turf — his best-polling issue and the political anchor of his 2024 campaign, which promised mass deportations beginning on "day one." Newsom, his primary Democratic foil in the escalating showdown, is the ultimate MAGA bogeyman and a likely 2028 presidential candidate. California, to many conservatives, embodies the chaos of Democratic rule: a sanctuary state that they claim is being overrun by migrants and destroyed by crime.

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? Unrest fuels "Big Beautiful Bill" push

Workers remove a charred Waymo self-driving car yesterday that was burned during protests in downtown LA. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images President Trump and his allies have a new message for wobbly Republicans in Congress: Support his "Big Beautiful Bill" — or get bashed for backing the LA protesters waving Mexican flags atop burning cars, Axios' Marc Caputo writes. Why it matters: It's a sign of the political hardball Trump is playing within his own party. At the same time, he's squeezing California's Democratic leaders with what critics call an over-the-top response to protests fueled by his immigration crackdown. As California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass accuse Trump of escalating tensions, the White House sees a chance to attack sanctuary city policies, embarrass Democrats and show the need for the immigration funding in the mammoth bill that most Republicans strongly support. ? Zoom in: To Trump's team, Newsom's opposition, the televised images of vandalized cars, and protesters throwing rocks and waving foreign flags to oppose U.S. immigration arrests did more to boost Trump's bill than any of its recent talking points. "We see the riots in LA laden with political opportunity," a senior White House adviser said. "It's a fight between what Republicans say they want vs. the radical left and protesters waving the Mexican flag in front of burning cars." ?️ Andrew Kolvet, spokesman for Turning Point USA, a major voice in Republican advocacy, said: "It's the best BBB marketing ever. It has brought the critical nature of increased border funding and immigration enforcement to the fore." "Everyone we're talking to in the Senate says this put it over the top." Keep reading ... Alex Isenstadt and Stef Kight contributed reporting.

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? RFK's CDC shocker

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted all 17 members of the expert panel that makes vaccine policy recommendations to the CDC yesterday, Axios' Tina Reed writes.

• Why it matters: RFK's replacements are expected to introduce anti-vaccine ideology to the influential panel.

The panel evaluates vaccine data at public meetings and was due to meet later this month to discuss COVID vaccines, among other topics.

• Thirteen of the panelists were appointed by the Biden administration in 2024 with terms that end in 2028.

Keep reading.

ps:Oh no I have no problem with people wanting to get vaccinated!!!!!

? Trump bumps "Trump accounts" for babies

Infants may soon be the newest stock market investors if President Trump gets his way, Axios' Nathan Bomey writes.

• Why it matters: The president gathered a roomful of CEOs in the State Dining Room yesterday to tout his proposal to give every U.S. baby money in an investment account — a plan earlier reported by Axios' Dan Primack.

? How it works: The program would deliver a one-time $1,000 government contribution for every U.S. citizen born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.

• The Trump accounts would be privately held, tax-deferred and set up to track a U.S. stock index fund. They'd be open to additional private contributions from sources including families, employers and religious institutions.
• Funds would be eligible for distribution when the beneficiary turns 18.

High-profile execs in attendance included Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Dell CEO Michael Dell, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.

• Keep reading ... White House statement.

ps:What an amazing administration!!!!!