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

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Trump plans 100% tariff on computer chips, unless companies build in US

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will impose a 100% tariff on computer chips, raising the specter of higher prices for electronics, autos, household appliances and other essential products dependent on the processors powering the digital age.

https://apnews.com/article/apple-trump-computer-tariff-c01b5ce0265b0d294dd10b8966be4436?

Cash infusion

President Donald Trump’s tariffs are bringing in tons of revenue — nearly $30 billion last month, according to the Treasury Department. Trump has floated the idea of “rebate checks,” but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. So what exactly is the government doing with all this money?   Epstein cover-up? For years, Republicans and MAGA influencers have been keen to rip the lid off a supposed conspiracy to hide information related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and alleged associates. A growing chorus of his victims and their allies suggests a cover-up is happening now — under Trump.

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Live updates: US import taxes hit levels not seen in nearly 100 years

President Donald Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage for the U.S. economy. But while U.S. stocks are drifting lower, the moves are modest and stocks rose in much of the rest of the world.

https://apnews.com/live/trump-tariff-news-updates-8-7-2025?

Trump’s historic new tariffs are now in effect. Here’s what you need to know

President Donald Trump just enacted a new wave of tariffs on dozens of America’s trading partners, marking a substantial escalation in ongoing trade tensions that could constitute the biggest change to the global economy in nearly a century.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/06/business/trump-tariffs-in-effect?

Putin says he hopes to meet with Trump as the White House presses for a Ukraine peace deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he hopes to meet next week with U.S. President Donald Trump, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, although a White House official cast doubt on the summit occurring unless the Kremlin leader also agreed to a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-poll-trump-sanctions-deadline-7cefb2df66f494f58a16b684a2c76687?

FBI forces out more leaders, including ex-director who fought Trump demand for Jan. 6 agents’ names

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is forcing out more senior officials, including a former acting director who resisted Trump administration demands to turn over the names of agents who participated in Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigations and the head of the bureau’s Washington field office, according to people familiar with the matter and internal communications seen by The Associated Press.

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-jan-6-patel-driscoll-f4bd75766307f558dfdbdea736e026e8?

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Scoop: Cabinet megabill tour

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

The White House is sending nine Cabinet secretaries across the country to try to sell President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" to skeptical voters — a move underscoring the administration's increasing urgency as it pivots toward the 2026 midterms, Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes. Why it matters: The stakes are huge. Top Republicans believe the Trump team's ability to make the massive tax-and-spending bill more palatable to voters will go a long way toward determining the GOP's prospects in next year's elections. It won't be easy: A recent Wall Street Journal poll found 52% of voters oppose the package, while 42% supported it. The administration has touted the bill as a boon to the working class. But polls indicate that most Americans see it as favoring the wealthy and big companies, ballooning federal deficits, and hurting lower-income people through measures such as cuts to Medicaid. The WSJ poll did show public support for parts of the bill, including its limited "no tax on tips" provision. ? Zoom in: Nine Cabinet members — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler — will be hitting the road over the next few weeks, sources tell Axios. Several of their appearances will be in key political battlegrounds: Loeffler will visit Lansing, Mich., at an event with swing-district GOP Rep. Tom Barrett. Michigan will have competitive Senate and governor races next year. Wright will visit the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Va., which focuses on nuclear physics. He'll highlight AI funding included in the bill for science research. Virginia will hold its governor race in November. Chavez-DeRemer and Duffy will be in Minnesota, where a vacant Senate seat is up for grabs and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz may run for reelection. Duffy will travel to an air traffic control tower in Duluth, Minn., to highlight the bill's investments in air traffic control. The administration sees that as a political winner at a time when controller shortages are complicating travel across the U.S. ? What we're watching: Trump and Vice President Vance also will hit the road. Vance visits Indiana today to discuss redistricting and headline a GOP fundraiser. More from Axios Indianapolis.

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Tariffs

President Donald Trump’s new tariffs are now in effect. Before today, most countries’ goods were subject to a minimum 10% tariff. But moving forward, rates will vary from nation to nation. The highest rates were imposed on goods from Brazil (50%), Laos (40%), Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%), Iraq (35%) and Serbia (35%). An additional 21 countries — including Vietnam (20%), India (25%), Taiwan (20%) and Thailand (19%) — face levies greater than 15%. And goods from 39 countries — as well as members of the EU — will now be subject to 15% tariffs. Economists fear these more aggressive tariffs could exacerbate economic problems, including rising inflation and slowing job growth. See the full list of tariffs here. The historic trade policy follows months of false starts to the president’s so-called “reciprocal” tariff rollout and countless bilateral trade negotiations. Although Trump has announced eight trade agreements, only deals with the UK and China have been formalized.   ICE At the direction of President Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been arresting hundreds of immigrants every day in the US. But a CNN analysis of data from the agency found very different arrest tactics being used in red and blue states. Detentions that occurred in states that voted for Trump were far more likely to take place in prisons and jails. In Democratic-leaning states, ICE focused on arresting immigrants at worksites, on the street and in mass roundups. The divide was especially dramatic in Massachusetts, where 94% of immigrants arrested by ICE were apprehended in the community — and 78% had no criminal record. Trump officials say the differing tactics are simply a downstream effect of sanctuary policies in many Democratic-controlled states and large cities, which can limit prisons and jails from cooperating with ICE.   DC The Trump administration is making plans to increase the federal law enforcement presence in Washington, DC, this week, three sources familiar with the plan told CNN. Officers from ICE, the FBI, the National Guard and local Homeland Security agents will participate, one of the sources said. The move comes after a former Department of Government Efficiency employee was assaulted in an attempted carjacking on Sunday. DC police said two 15-year-olds were later arrested and charged with unarmed carjacking. On Wednesday, Trump said he was considering having his administration take over the DC Police Department, and that he might deploy the National Guard due to recent crime in the district. However, DC police said 2025 crime numbers are lower than last year’s, and violent crime is down 26%.

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Trump Rants About Countries Laughing at America in All-Caps Late-Night Meltdown

In a series of social media posts, the president counted down to midnight, when his sweeping tariffs took effect.

President Donald Trump marked the highly anticipated start of his massive tariffs with a classic all-caps social media rant against the rest of the world.

After several delays, products from nearly 70 countries were hit with tariffs of 10 to 41 percent starting Thursday, risking price increases for everyday goods ranging from food and clothing to toys and electronics, ABC News reported.

“RECIPROCAL TARIFFS TAKE EFFECT AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, LARGELY FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR MANY YEARS, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY, WILL START FLOWING INTO THE USA,” Trump wrote on a Truth Social post.

This is not at all how tariffs work. The duties are an import tax paid by American companies—not foreign countries—with the costs typically passed on to consumers. The tariffs will cost the average American household an additional $2,400 this year, the Yale Budget Lab found this week.

That didn’t stop the president from celebrating with a follow-up post saying, “IT’S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!”

The tariffs that took effect Thursday were similar to the devastating “reciprocal” tariffs—which aren’t really reciprocal because they’re not based on other countries’ import duties—that were originally unveiled on the president’s “Liberation Day” on April 2.

Products from Canada, a top U.S. trade partner, will be taxed at 35 percent, while goods from Brazil—which the U.S. relies on heavily for coffee—are now facing a 40 percent duty. Products from India were hit with a 25 percent tariff that is expected to climb to 50 percent later this month.

Those are on top of a pre-existing 10 percent universal tariff and huge sector-specific tariffs of 50 percent on imported aluminum, copper and steel.

Trump had originally delayed the most severe “reciprocal” tariffs and vowed to strike 90 deals in 90 days.

In early July, he set a new deadline of August 1, and then finally August 7. Of the promised trade deals, the White House has announced agreements with just the U.K., Vietnam, and Indonesia, and a preliminary accord with China.

Last week, the Trump administration said the tariffs were part of a “new system of trade” that aims to prioritize “fair and balanced trade” over efficiency at all costs, according to ABC News.

Administration officials have alternated between warning American companies that they’d better eat the costs of the tariffs, telling American consumers they need to tighten their belts for a while, and assuring voters they will find savings in other areas—even when the math doesn’t add up.

For example, in the long run, The Budget Lab predicted that U.S. manufacturing could expand by 2.1 percent as a result of the tariffs. But those gains are projected to be “more than crowded out” by losses in other sectors, such as construction and agriculture.

The original “Liberation Day” tariffs have been challenged in court but remain in effect while the legal proceedings continue. Some Republicans are secretly hoping the president loses in court because the tariffs are deeply unpopular among the public.

“THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA’S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-rants-about-countries-laughing-at-america-as-sweeping-tariffs-take-effect/?

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JD Vance Ordered a River’s Water Level Raised for His Family Boat Trip

The Army Corps of Engineers changed the outflow of an Ohio lake during the vacation.

Vice President JD Vance’s team made the extraordinary decision to raise the water level of an Ohio river during a Vance family boating excursion.

The request was made by the U.S. Secret Service in order to support the safe navigation of Vance’s security detail down the Little Miami River, where Vance and his family recently spent his 41st birthday, according to an exclusive in The Guardian Wednesday.

Vance and his family were spotted going down the river by locals over the weekend, the report noted, citing social media posts. Vance was said to be seen canoeing on the river. One Reddit user specifically noted the presence of Secret Service agents.

“Bridge and traffic were disrupted in Milford because someone wanted to canoe down the Little Miami River this morning,” the Saturday post read.

A spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers told The Guardian that their Louisville office had received “a request to temporarily increase outflows from Caesar Creek Lake to support safe navigation of U.S. Secret Service personnel.”

An anonymous source alleged that the request was also made in order to create “ideal kayaking conditions” for the vice president and his family. The Guardian could not independently confirm the claim.

Requests for comment by the Daily Beast to Vance’s office, the Secret Service, and USACE were not returned by the time of publication. The vice president’s office also did not respond to a request for comment from The Guardian.

Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, told the newspaper that while he received a lot of “unusual” requests during his time with President Barack Obama, “I never got one to increase the outflow of a waterway as part of a government official going kayaking.”

“My nickname was ‘Mr No’ and I certainly would have lived up to it in this situation. I never would have permitted this kind of a thing because whether it technically violates the rules or not, it creates the appearance that the vice president of the United States is getting special treatment that’s not available to the average person who wants to utilize that body of water for recreational purposes.”

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data for Caesar Creek Lake shows a sharp increase in water surface elevation followed by a sudden drop around early August, during the time the Vance family was vacationing in the area.

Graphs on the USGS website show an increase followed by a sudden drop in the lake's water levels in early August. USGS

In a statement to The Guardian, the Secret Service said that it had worked with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and USACE to plan the safe passage of motorized boats during a recent visit, but that it could not discuss specifics.

As The Guardian notes, USACE has modified water levels before upon request, including for community events or when training emergency responders, but their anonymous source also notes that requests designed to accommodate individuals are incredibly rare.

In response to an enquiry from The Guardian about whether the decision to alter the water levels was properly documented, a spokesperson for USACE said that the request from the Secret Service “met the operational criteria outlined in the Water Control Manual for Caesar Creek Lake and did not require a deviation from normal procedures”.

“It was determined that the operations would not adversely affect downstream or upstream water levels,” the spokesperson added.

Vance’s family vacations have become online fodder since the 41-year-old took office alongside Trump.

A Vance family trip to Disneyland last month drew crowds of protesters already incensed by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles. California Governor Gavin Newsom even weighed in, tweeting, “Hope you enjoy your family time, @JDVance. The families you’re tearing apart certainly won’t.”

Vance was also confronted by protesters during a family ski vacation in Vermont earlier this year, with many expressing their frustrations at the administration’s handling of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Lest Vance consider overseas vacations a quieter alternative, protestors in the U.K. have announced plans to disrupt the Vance family’s upcoming vacation to the Cotswolds later this month.

A spokesperson for the Stop Trump coalition, which also protested President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Scotland, told The Telegraph that even in the countryside, Vance “will find the resistance waiting.”

“J.D. Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the U.K. as Donald Trump,” they added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vances-team-made-unusual-request-during-family-boat-trip-in-ohio/?

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Trump Twists the Knife as Howard Stern Cancellation Rumors Swirl

The president has taken aim at another former friend.

Donald Trump shaded former pal Howard Stern as the rumor mill rages over the radio host’s contract negotiations.

The president was speaking following a U.S. Sun report that circulated this week suggesting the shock jock will not return to his SiriusXM show.

The rumor came from an anonymous source on Wednesday that claimed the network would cut ties with Stern when his contract expires this year. SiriusXM and Stern have made no direct comment.

The radio host, however, told his SiriusXM audience on Wednesday that he would return: “We will back though, very soon. We’ll be back on the air, live. I’ve been refueling, so to speak.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump was asked about the report by a reporter claiming it to be fact.

“Howard Stern announced that he and SiriusXM radio are parting ways. Do you think the ‘Hate Trump’ business model that’s been in the entertainment business is going out of business because it’s not popular with the American people?”

Trump used the opportunity to fire off a catty remark about Stern.

“Uh, Howard Stern... it’s a name I haven’t heard... I used to do his show, used to have fun, but I haven’t heard that name in a long time. What happened? He got terminated?”

The reporter noted, “They’re going separate ways because I think what they’re offering salary-wise is real low than what he’s getting.”

Trump retorted, “You know when he went down?” He added, “Before... when he endorsed Hillary Clinton, he lost his audience. People said, ‘Give me a break.’ He went down when he endorsed Hillary Clinton.”

CNN media analyst Brian Stelter was quick to debunk the question on X: “Nothing’s been ‘announced.’ This is a vivid display of how MAGA media literally misinforms the president.”

The two men used to be close, with Stern inviting Trump onto his radio show many times, claiming he was one of his “best guests ever.”

In 2019, the radio host told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “Whenever you put him on the air, and this was before he was running for president, he was an open book, he would say anything. This is why he was so great, there was no filter.”

In the interview Stern said he “absolutely” helped Trump become president.

“I did not vote for Donald Trump,” Stern said. “I wanted to see Hillary Clinton win. The way I helped Donald was I let him come on and be a personality. Whether you liked him or not, people related to him as a human being. I wanted to do that for Hillary.”

The SiriusXM host also singled out the point where his relationship with the now-president soured, after he declined Trump’s offer to speak at a Republican National Convention because he was supporting Clinton’s run for president.

“It’s a weird relationship I have with Donald,” Stern said in 2019. “Donald was at my wedding, I remember having very warm feelings towards Donald, he was always very nice to me. I’ve had dinner at Mar-a-Lago many times.”

He added, “And that’s why I couldn’t even believe that Donald really even wanted this all to work out for him because if you go to Mar-a-Lago it’s like a piece of heaven... I remember thinking why would a guy want to leave this place? Golf every day, you know, I don’t think he wants that life.”

Trump had previously lashed out at Stern last October, following a Kamala Harris interview on his show.

“BETA MALE Howard Stern made a fool of himself on his low rated radio show when he ‘interviewed’ Lyin’ Kamala Harris, and hit her with so many SOFTBALL questions that even she was embarrassed,” the president posted on Truth Social.

In September last year, Trump stated of Stern’s popularity, “Since he’s gone woke, his ratings have gone down the tubes.”

The president on Wednesday also took aim at his usual late-night TV targets.

“[Stephen] Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here, I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that do just as well or better. They’d get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent.

“[Jimmy] Fallon has no talent. [Jimmy] Kimmel has no talent. They’re next. They’re going to be going. I hear they’re going to be going. I don’t know. But I would imagine because they get, you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-twists-knife-as-howard-stern-cancellation-rumors-swirl/?

ps:So Who's next?

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Trump Blasts Musk’s ‘Really Bad Moment’ After Humiliating Unpopularity Poll

A survey of Americans found the Tesla boss is the public figure Americans have the lowest opinion of.

President Donald Trump took a shot at Elon Musk for having a “really bad moment” in response to polling that found his former first buddy is the most disliked public figure in the U.S.

Just 33 percent of respondents to the Gallup poll had a positive opinion of Musk, while 61 percent had an unfavorable opinion of the billionaire.

Asked by a reporter about the poll on Wednesday—which prompted a laugh from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick— Trump responded, “I don’t know if the poll’s accurate. I think he’s a good person, and I think he had a bad moment, a really bad moment, but he’s a good person. I believe that.”

 

Trump failed to mention his own place high on the list of unpopular people, where he scored a net favorability rating of -16.

Key Trump officials also ranked poorly with the public in the Gallup poll. All of the Trump administration figures were less popular than Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The Gallup poll found Americans have a lower opinion of Musk than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—and that Trump has a worse favorability rating than other members of his administration. Gallup

Musk and Trump’s tumultuous relationship has been on public display since Musk’s departure from the Department of Government Efficiency in May, with Musk recently making waves by joining the chorus of voices asking Trump to follow through on his promise to release the Epstein files.

In response to Trump’s plea for his supporters to stop criticizing Attorney General Pam Bondi, Musk tweeted, “He said ‘Epstein’ half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein,” adding, ”Just release the files as promised.”

Musk also questioned the theory, being advanced by Trump and others in his administration, that the Epstein files are a Democrat “hoax.”

After Trump doubled down on the hoax claim, Musk replied to a video of the president on X, “Wow, amazing that Epstein killed himself and Ghislaine is in federal prison for a hoax.”

Musk has also criticized the fact that “so many powerful people want that list suppressed,” and made a particularly big splash when he tweeted that Trump himself was in the Epstein files, and that was “the real reason they have not been made public.” Musk later deleted the post.

Trump had previously offered another olive branch to Musk late last month when he posted on Truth Social, “I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before!”

A month earlier, Musk made $15 million in donations to several Trump-related super PACs. Two days later, he tweeted that Trump’s budget bill would “destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!”

In a follow-up tweet, he pointed to polling that showed that the bill would be “political suicide” for the Republican Party.

Trump’s latest comments about Musk being a good person are a stark contrast from comments the president made in early June after Musk floated the idea of establishing his own political party.

In a Truth Social post, the president said he was “saddened” to see his former friend go “completely off the rails,” adding that Musk was “essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-blasts-musks-really-bad-moment-after-humiliating-unpopularity-poll/?

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Trump's broad tariffs go into effect, just as economic pain is surfacing President Donald Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage to the U.S. economy. Read more.

Why this matters: Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%.   Trump has promoted the tariffs as a way to reduce the persistent trade deficit. But importers sought to avoid the taxes by importing more goods before the taxes went into effect. As a result, the $582.7 billion trade imbalance for the first half of the year was 38% higher than in 2024.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump plans 100% tariff on computer chips, unless companies build in US Trump announces Apple investing another $100 billion in US manufacturing   Ontario premier says he doesn’t trust Trump and warns the US president could reopen trade pact   After deep DOGE cuts, National Weather Service gets OK to fill up to 450 jobs   Trump moves to shut down NASA missions that measure carbon dioxide and plant health   Trump administration reverses Biden approval of major wind farm in Idaho   Restoration of torn-down Confederate monument will cost $10 million over 2 years, military says   Judge issues temporary injunction against Trump administration cancellation of humanities grants   UCLA says Trump administration has suspended $584 million in grants, threatening research   The Voting Rights Act marks its 60th anniversary as its core provisions are being eroded   A new immigrant detention partnership nicknamed after Indiana's iconic racetrack inspires backlash   Trump administration sanctions a Mexican rapper over allegations of cartel ties   Federal agents hid in back of rental truck at start of raid outside LA Home Depot   Trump mulls bringing National Guard to the nation’s capital   Trump wields influence over GOP and keeps potential successors vying for his favor   Texas Democrats plea for donations to extend their walkout and block Trump’s redistricting plan   Judge rules officials in Georgia’s Fulton County must appoint rejected Republicans to election board   Democrat Michael Thurmond launches 2026 run for Georgia governor   Victims feeling exhausted and anxious about wrangling over Epstein files   Trump says he donated his salary to the White House Historical Association

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Trump to meet Putin soon, the Kremlin says as a White House deadline looms on Ukraine A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump has been agreed, a Kremlin official said Thursday, the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. Read more.

Why this matters: A meeting between Putin and Trump would be their first since Trump returned to office this year. It would be a significant milestone, though there’s no promise that it would lead to the end of the fighting, since Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on their demands.   “At the suggestion of the American side, it has been agreed in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days," Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters. Next week is the target date for a summit, he said.    A new Gallup poll found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement that ends the fight against Russia’s invasion. About seven in 10 Ukrainians said in early July that their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. It’s a sharp reversal from 2022 — the year the war began — when Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians wanted to keep fighting until victory.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ With only one nuclear arms pact left between the US and Russia, a new arms race is possible   US is auctioning a seized $325M Russian yacht with 8 state rooms, a helipad, a gym and a spa   Russia asks Central African Republic to replace Wagner with state-run Africa Corps and pay for it

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Trump Orders New Census in Election Power Grab

The move could dramatically shake up future elections.

President Donald Trump has ordered his Commerce Department to change the U.S. Census in a move critics fear could dramatically bolster his chances at the next election.

After pushing to redraw maps in Texas to advantage Republicans, the president announced on Thursday that he had instructed his department to work on a new census that does not take into account undocumented immigrants.

“I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The move has already proved contentious, with critics describing it as a power grab to rig future elections.

“The next part of the plan to steal the midterms and/or the 2028 election - an attempt to do a mid-decade census to take seats and electoral votes away from blue states,” former Republican turned anti-Trumper Ron Filipkowski wrote on X.

“I knew this was coming.”

At present, the U.S. Census currently counts all residents, regardless of immigration status. This means congressional seats and Electoral College votes are allocated based on the total population, not just citizens.

In theory, if Trump can change the system, states with larger numbers of undocumented immigrants, such as California, could lose representation. Meanwhile, power could shift to states with fewer immigrants, which tend to be more white, rural and Republican.

But the Census is currently conducted every 10 years and the last one was in 2020, so a mid-term count would likely require congressional authorization and face constitutional challenges.

And while federal law allows mid-decade censuses in certain circumstances, the law also states that such information can not be used to prescribe congressional districts.

Trump’s announcement on Thursday is also not the first time he has sought to alter the Census.

During his first term, his administration sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, which asked: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” with several response options covering birthplace and naturalization.

However, this was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court, which found that it constituted an “egregious” violation of federal law.

While critics have hit out at the latest move, MAGA Republicans, who have long argued that Democrats are using undocumented immigrants to prop up their own votes, praised the president.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene reposted Trump’s announcement on her own account, while touting her own proposed bill to shake the system: a “Making American Elections Great Again Act,” which she said “not only orders a new census counting American citizens only, it also orders reapportionment by the new U.S. citizen.”

Trump’s announcement comes as the White House pushes Republican states to draw new Congressional maps that favor the GOP ahead of the 2026 midterms.

However, this has set off an election arms race, with Democrats warning that they would also be willing to redraw districts to stave off Trump and the GOP.

“Would the state of California move forward in kind? Fighting? Yes, fire with fire,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Tensions escalated this week when than fifty Texas House Democrats skipped town on Sunday in an effort to block a vote as Republicans sought to redraw their Congressional map.

“We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats,” Trump said of the state’s redistricting attempts.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-orders-new-census-in-election-power-grab/?

ps:So what happen to all this talk that the Democratic party being dead????? Seems the maga party is afraid of losing!!!!!

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Trump Goes Crawling to Putin as His Peace Promise Goes Up in Flames

The American president’s attempts to rein in his Russian counterpart have failed miserably so far.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to meet with Donald Trump, a Kremlin aide said, as the American president scrambles to make good on his long-overdue promise to end the war in Ukraine.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, said the agreement was for a meeting “in the coming days” and could take place as soon as next week. Trump, who promised to end Putin’s war in “24 hours“ of returning to office, has spent the first seven months of his second term unsuccessfully attempting to sway the Russian leader with both shifting threats and public pronouncements of trust in him.

A White House official told the Associated Press that no location has yet been determined for the meeting, and that Washington is still expected to impose sanctions on Russia on Friday in accordance with the deadline Trump set. Trump gave Putin an ultimatum to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine by then, or face new penalties.

The upcoming meeting will be the first between the Russian and American presidents in four years, the last being Joe Biden’s meeting with Putin in Geneva.

But despite the breakthrough, Putin has so far refused to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the pair still yet to meet face-to-face since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ushakov confirmed that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, had “raised the idea of a trilateral meeting between Putin, Trump, and Zelensky.”

Although Moscow is yet to formally comment on the proposals, a White House official told the Daily Beast that Putin must agree to meet with Zelensky for the meeting between Trump and Putin to occur.

Zelensky, meanwhile, has expressed that he wants to personally engage in peace talks with the Russian leader, saying the war must be ended “as soon as possible with a dignified peace.”

“Yesterday, various potential formats for leader-level meetings to bring peace were also discussed – two bilateral and one trilateral,” Zelensky posted on X on Thursday. “Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side. It is time we ended the war. Thank you to everyone who is helping.”

Trump has repeatedly tried to insert himself into the Russia-Ukraine conflict since the start of his second term, bragging on the campaign trail about his supposed ability to bring the fighting to a conclusion quickly.

His efforts have so far been unsuccessful, though, with Trump growing increasingly irate as Putin continues to defy his threats. Zelensky, who Trump berated in an Oval Office ambush in February, has also expressed dismay at some of Trump’s attempts to pressure Putin.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for further comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-goes-crawling-to-vladimir-putin-as-his-ukraine-peace-promise-goes-up-in-flames/?

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ICE Barbie Now Begging Teenagers to Become Agents

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the removal of ICE’s age limits on Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will waive age limits for new applicants, opening applications up to people as young as 18.

Previously, applicants had to be at least 21 and no older than 37 or 40 depending on the position, but the department now hopes that by removing existing age requirements, “even more patriots will qualify to join ICE in its mission to arrest murderers, pedophiles, gang members, rapists, and other criminal illegal aliens from America’s streets.” Applicants will still be required to pass medical screenings and a physical fitness test.

The announcement comes one week after DHS launched its “Defend the Homeland” recruitment initiative aimed at encouraging “brave and heroic Americans” to join the agency.

“Your country is calling you to serve at ICE,” Noem said of the initiative in a statement. “In the wake of the Biden administration’s failed immigration policies, your country needs dedicated men and women of ICE to get the worst of the worst criminals out of our country.”

“This is a defining moment in our nation’s history. Your skills, your experience, and your courage have never been more essential. Together, we must defend the homeland.”

In a Wednesday appearance on Fox News, Noem said that the department’s recruitment efforts have been “incredibly successful“ so far, claiming that it has received over 80,000 applications for 10,000 open positions.

Some of the incentives designed to entice people to apply to work for ICE include a $50,000 signing bonus, student loan forgiveness, and enhanced retirement benefits.

The offerings are the result of Trump’s recent spending bill, which increased funding for ICE from $10 billion to more than $76 billion over the next three and a half years.

DHS has already begun making posts on social media designed to appeal to potential new recruits affected by the removal of the agency’s age limits, with one X post on the official DHS account reading, “We’re taking father/son bonding to a whole new level,” accompanied by a poster featuring two men designed to look like father and son.

Another post used an image of ICE officers from this week’s South Park episode despite being called out by the show itself.

The department has also turned to celebrity endorsements to try and boost recruitment numbers. Former Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman actor Dean Cain made a post on Tuesday encouraging people to join ICE.

“They need your help, we need your help, to protect our homeland for families,” Cain said, echoing the rhetoric used in the department’s ‘Defend the Homeland’ campaign.

“Join today if it’s something that tickles your fancy because we can use you.”

He later appeared on Fox’s Jesse Watters program confirming, “I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbie-now-begging-teenagers-to-become-agents/?

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Trump seeks to change how census collects data and wants to exclude immigrants in US illegally

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has instructed the Commerce Department to change the way the U.S. Census Bureau collects data, seeking to exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally, he said Thursday.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-census-immigration-illegal-165fe1c52cfc930521bc7e65d4b1ff41?

US Air Force to deny retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from the service

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without retirement benefits. One Air Force sergeant said he was “betrayed and devastated” by the move.

https://apnews.com/article/air-force-transgender-no-early-retirement-e6a4da806f2cc2bdc05f49438cbd26fd?

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Trump's trade war is only just beginning

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images Anyone who thought President Trump's Aug. 1 tariff deadline was the final word on the trade war is about to learn a hard lesson, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. ? Trump's trade negotiations are not a process with a start and finish that aim for a long-lasting agreement. Rather, they're an ongoing process in which the U.S. can implement tariffs on any country, at any time, for any reason. Consider the news over the last couple of days, well after Trump's deadline passed: ?? After saying for months that an India trade deal was imminent, Trump imposed a 25% levy on the long-standing ally — then doubled it. ? Trump announced a 100% tariff on semiconductors, before a long-anticipated investigation of the matter had been released. But in the next breath, he promised carve-outs for companies building in the U.S. ?? Japanese media reported that their government's understanding of tariff calculations appears to be very different than the Trump administration's, comparing their deal to one struck with Europe. ?? Germany's finance minister reportedly blasted that EU deal and set off for Washington to try to renegotiate parts of it. The Swiss president also went to Washington to deal with her own surprisingly heavy tariffs, but left empty-handed. More tariffs may come soon: ? Investigation results are expected soon on lumber and pharmaceuticals, with heavy tariffs possible. ?? Sanctions are looming on Russia, with an approaching deadline that could lead to higher tariffs for multiple countries. ?? Washington's trade truce with China ends Aug. 12. Beijing says it will be extended, but Trump hasn't acted yet. ?️ A dozen decisions are expected in the next couple of months about targeted anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on products from fiberglass door panels to paprika. Go deeper ... How the tariffs may affect you.

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Trump to nominate top economic aide Stephen Miran to Federal Reserve board August 07, 2025 President Donald Trump said he will nominate a top economic adviser to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors for four months, temporarily filling a vacancy while continuing his search for a longer-term appointment.

Read more

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Devilish and Self-Perpetuating (Brandon Bell / Getty)

View in browser Activists and organizers like to say that the world is run by those who show up, so the fact that what Texas’s Democratic legislators need to do to further their agenda is not show up is inauspicious for them. Those lawmakers, most of whom are currently holed up in Illinois, are seeking to prevent Republicans from drawing new, gerrymandered districts that would help them expand Texas’s GOP delegation in the U.S. House—and perhaps give the party a better shot at holding the House in the midterms, when the sitting president’s party tends to suffer (even with presidents far more popular than Donald Trump is currently). Democrats hope to deprive the legislature of quorum, thus blocking the passage of any new map. Traditionally, states redistrict after the decennial Census, and those maps endure for a decade, unless courts order changes, as they sometimes do. Texas’s current maps were drawn by Republicans, and in the most recent election, they produced 25 GOP seats and 13 Democratic ones. That’s 66 percent of districts with 58 percent of the total House vote for Republicans—not bad. But under pressure from the White House, Texas Republicans are now trying to squeeze out a little more juice. The attempt to redistrict is an unusual, brazen, and questionable move, though not entirely without precedent. In 2003, Texas Republicans redrew maps so as to give themselves a majority of the state’s House seats. Democrats, dubbed the “Killer Ds,” fled the state to prevent a quorum. They were initially successful, but a later attempt to prevent a quorum failed when a member broke ranks, and a new map passed. Texas Democrats are hoping they can learn the lessons of that attempt and win this time. They have a strategy, they have support from governors out of state, and, as Politico notes, they have the chance to run out the clock on a new map before a December deadline. Still, if Democrats had any better options, they’d take them. Maintaining caucus discipline for the next four months will be no easy task. And that’s assuming some of the more draconian ideas offered to break them fail. State Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to have the Democrats removed from office for their absence. (Experts say this is legally dubious, and the idea of Paxton enforcing rectitude and duty is grimly hilarious.) U.S. Senator John Cornyn, whose reelection hopes are teetering precariously in a GOP primary against Paxton, tried to one-up that by requesting that the FBI help locate the Democratic fugitives. (Never mind that they haven’t obviously committed any crimes.) All things being equal, legislators skipping sessions to prevent a state government from accomplishing business isn’t a good thing. Oregon Democrats were so sick of state GOP legislators doing so that they enacted a law blocking chronic absentees from running for reelection in the next term. Then again, opportunistic mid-decade redistricting isn’t a good thing, either. Gerrymanders produce worse governance because they are less representative; they also feed polarization by making elected officials dependent less on the general electorate and more on primary voters. And what’s happening in Texas has already spread further. As soon as Republicans began talking about a Texas redistricting effort, Democrats in states including California and New York threatened to redraw maps to retaliate and push out Republicans. Now the GOP is looking at other red states, including Indiana and Missouri, to gain more seats. This is a disheartening example of what I’ve called total politics, in which officials try to use every legal tool to gain any advantage, no matter the long-term consequences. In this worldview, what matters is what’s possible, not what’s wise. How successful these efforts outside Texas will be is not clear. Hoosier State Republicans appear unenthusiastic about redistricting, though the White House seems to believe it can twist their arm. Democrats, meanwhile, have challenges of their own. By some measures, the U.S.House map over the past two elections has had a slight Democratic advantage. Moreover, as my colleague Russell Berman reports, Democrats have spent the past decade pushing good-government reforms such as independent redistricting commissions that are designed to make extreme gerrymandering more difficult. People such as former Attorney General Eric Holder, who has been the leader of Democratic advocacy for fairer districts, are now embracing the tactics they shunned and trying, somewhat painfully, to rationalize them. The explanations really come down to this: Democrats believe that they are losing an existential battle and must do whatever they can. But what they can do is limited. Gerrymanders that use race as a basis are unconstitutional, but gerrymanders that use partisanship are not—although, in the South, Democratic affiliation is often a good proxy for Black voters. Chief Justice John Roberts has written that partisan gerrymanders are unfair, but the Supreme Court ruled that it has no authority to do anything about them. Roberts recommended that states handle the issue on their own. This is where gerrymandering becomes a devilish, self-perpetuating problem. Voters who want to stop gerrymanders at the state level find their path blocked by … gerrymandering. Take North Carolina, which went from a 7–7 split in the U.S. House to a 10–4 GOP edge under a new map enacted ahead of last year’s elections. State legislators have also gerrymandered their own maps, so that although Democrats won narrow majorities of all the votes cast for both the state House and state Senate, they hold only two-fifths of the seats in both chambers. For decades, the Voting Rights Act has provided a path by which Black voters are guaranteed representation, through the drawing of majority-minority districts that would be otherwise considered unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. (Texas has one of the highest proportions of Black voters among states.) Yet as the law professor Richard Hasen writes in Slate, the Supreme Court now appears to be considering throwing out majority-minority districts as unconstitutional. This week marks the 60th anniversary of the VRA, but after years of hollowing out by the Roberts Court, the VRA seems to be nearing irrelevance. The Trump administration has indicated that the Justice Department will move away from prosecuting racial discrimination in voting and toward pursuing bogus allegations of voter fraud, while the Court may soon eliminate the ability of individuals and outside groups to bring claims under the law. President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Texan who signed the VRA into law, once said, “This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless.” If the shameless use of total politics to game districts is successful, it threatens to strip the meaning from that right. Related: How Democrats tied their own hands on redistricting Republicans want to redraw America’s political map.

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? "MAGA justice" comes to Washington

Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

The MAGA movement has spent the past 10 years demanding the arrests of President Trump's political enemies. Now, for the first time, the levers of power are aligned to pursue that goal from inside the federal government, Axios' Tal Axelrod and Zachary Basu write. Why it matters: Attorney General Pam Bondi's decision to order a grand jury investigation into Obama-era intelligence officials is a watershed moment in the history of MAGA retribution. The probe, focused on the origins of the 2016 Russia investigation, is the culmination of a yearslong campaign to criminalize the officials and agencies Trump claims undermined his first term. Trump's longtime enemies, including former FBI director James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan, now face the very real threat of criminal charges. ? The big picture: Trump loyalists are consolidating control over federal law enforcement, and becoming more aggressive in their targeting of the president's foes. The FBI agreed yesterday to help track down Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas in an effort to block an audacious redistricting plan demanded by Trump, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The FBI fired senior officials this week who resisted the Trump administration's demands to turn over the names of agents who worked on the Jan. 6 investigation. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who led efforts to impeach Trump during his first term, is under criminal investigation for mortgage fraud, Fox News reported Tuesday. Former special counsel Jack Smith, who prosecuted Trump in two criminal cases, is also under investigation by a federal ethics watchdog.

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? Trump's new Rose Garden

Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images President Trump has completed his Rose Garden revamp, paving over the famous lawn for a Mar-a-Lago-esque patio, Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel writes. The garden's new striped yellow umbrellas strongly resemble the ones found at Trump's Palm Beach club. Detail of the surface, photographed July 29. Photo: Bonnie Cash/UPI via Getty Images Trump rationalized the greenery-to-granite swap as practical, saying well-heeled women were "going crazy" sinking into the lawn on wet days. It was funded by the Trust for the National Mall and private donors, according to trust spokespersons, and is designed to make the garden more event-friendly. Keep reading ... ps:I guess he thinks the white house is a country club?? Why not just have a golf course put in around the white house??

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? Carping over carp

The White House is conceding that a major project it has undertaken to keep an invasive fish out of the Great Lakes has stalled — and is pointing its finger squarely at an archenemy: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes.

• Why it matters: The flare-up highlights how tensions between President Trump and Pritzker — a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate who regularly savages the administration — are boiling over.

It comes days after Pritzker welcomed to Illinois dozens of Democratic legislators from Texas who fled the state to try to stop a Trump-backed redistricting push to create more GOP seats in Congress.

• Pritzker has called Trump a "cheater" over the remap effort — and accused him of trying to "steal" seats in the U.S. House, where Republicans have a slim majority heading into the 2026 midterms.
• Trump has called Pritzker "probably the worst [governor] in the country," and ripped him for opposing the president's hardline immigration measures.

? Zoom in: Trump signed a memorandum in May offering his support for a $1 billion effort — involving Illinois, Michigan and the federal government — that's aimed at preventing invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — another potential Democratic presidential contender — is an outspoken proponent of the project and lobbied Trump to support it.
• White House officials say they haven't received the same cooperation from Pritzker or his team. They say their calls to Pritzker haven't been returned.

Keep reading.

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⚖️ Trump targets protections for migrant kids

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer; Photos: Michael M. Santiago and Spencer Platt/Getty Images

As it ramps up mass deportations, the Trump administration is pushing to become its own watchdog on the well-being of children in immigrant detention, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes. Why it matters: Trump officials are attempting to end a decades-old legal settlement that guarantees extra protections for young detainees. Legal advocates say the oversight is needed more than ever. The Flores Settlement Agreement was drawn up to limit the time children spend in detention, improve the conditions for children in the system and allow lawyers to inspect detention facilities. The Trump administration submitted a court motion to end the agreement in May. The next hearing is today. The other side: In sworn declarations to the court, children and their parents (with their identities redacted) described subpar conditions. "We have to fight for water. We don't get enough water," a 16-year-old said in March about the Karnes detention facility in Texas. Keep reading.

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Trump removes Billy Long as IRS commisioner less than 2 months after his confirmation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has removed former U.S. Rep. Billy Long as IRS commissioner less than two months after his confirmation, a White House official said Friday.

https://apnews.com/article/billy-long-out-as-irs-commissioner-3dbf8315a69a320b91ae629dab41b159

Trump illegally froze 1,800 NIH medical research grants, Congress’ watchdog says

President Donald Trump’s freeze on $8 billion of congressionally appropriated funding to the National Institutes of Health was illegal, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/08/06/repub/trump-illegally-froze-1800-nih-medical-research-grants-congress-watchdog-says/?

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Trump Tells Purple Heart Recipients: ‘It Wasn’t That Easy for Me Either’

The president, who avoided the Vietnam War draft, has been given multiple Purple Hearts by his supporters.

Donald Trump couldn’t resist praising himself at a Purple Heart Day ceremony, reminding the crowd that the minor injuries he suffered during last year’s assassination attempt weren’t “easy” for him either.

The president hosted nearly 100 people who have been awarded the Purple Heart at a ceremony in the White House on Thursday. The medal is awarded to service members who are wounded or killed in action against an enemy.

Three of the attendees handed Trump their own medals after a gunman tried to kill the then-presidential candidate at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.

Trump referenced the three service members by name during a speech Thursday, before going off script and saying, “It wasn’t that easy for me either.”

“Last year, after an assassin tried to take my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, Thomas generously mailed me one of his Purple Hearts. Many of the other veterans showed me the same unbelievable gesture of kindness, including three-time Purple Heart recipient John Ford and Gerald Enter Jr., who also came along with us and did us a great, great favor,” Trump said.

“Gerald, John, and Thomas, I want to thank you very much. What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts,” he added. “I guess in a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me, either, when you think of it. But you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it all very much.”

Trump received a minor injury to his ear when a gunman opened fire during the rally. Days later, he arrived at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee sporting a large ear bandage, which multiple MAGA loyalists soon copied in a display of support for him. A bullet intended for Trump killed 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was seated behind Trump at the rally.

Trump, who famously avoided the Vietnam draft thanks to a bone spur diagnosis, has been handed Purple Hearts by actual veterans on multiple occasions. In October 2024, a Vietnam vet presented him with one on stage in North Carolina during a town hall with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. A retired lieutenant colonel also gave him one at a Virginia rally in 2016.

“I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” Trump said after being handed the medal in Ashburn. “This was much easier.”

Trump can add his Purple Hearts to the other medals he has been awarded recently without doing anything to deserve them.

On Tuesday, Trump was handed a complete set of official Olympic medals at a White House event marking the launch of a 2028 Los Angeles Olympics task force. This is despite Trump’s role in L.A. being awarded the competition being largely ceremonial.

He’s also been gifted the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and a winner’s medal from FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, even though he exactly had zero involvement in Chelsea’s victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the soccer final. The president even placed himself front and center in Chelsea’s trophy lift celebration, much to the confusion of the players.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-tells-purple-heart-recipients-it-wasnt-that-easy-for-me-either/?

ps:Just giving all of us who have served in the Military the middle finger! Only a low life would do that!!!!!!!!!!

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White House Did Have Secret Talks on Epstein Crisis

Trump had forced JD Vance to deny that a meeting was taking place.

Turns out the Trump administration really did huddle behind closed doors to talk about the Jeffrey Epstein files, despite JD Vance’s public denial.

On Wednesday, the vice president dismissed mounting media reports claiming he was hosting secret Epstein talks at his house.

“It’s completely fake news,” Vance declared. President Donald Trump had told reporters, “I don’t know” and redirected them to the vice president.

Yet, top Trump administration officials did convene to map out next steps regarding the files on the late convicted sex offender, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the logistics.

The meeting was reportedly relocated from Vance’s D.C. home to the White House. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were also in attendance, according to MSNBC.

It’s unclear whether the talks included Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who were initially reported to be joining the dinner at the vice president’s Naval Observatory mansion.

Vance’s supposed involvement in the talks had drawn criticism. Ever since Watergate, the Justice Department has kept criminal investigations separate from White House influence, to prevent any appearance of political interference.

The meeting’s last-minute relocation, MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin suggested, was designed to throw off watchful eyes.

“Everybody in Washington was looking to the vice president’s residence, to see who was going to gather there. Certainly, they diverted our attention from there,” she said.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

Among the issues discussed were the Epstein saga, which Trump on Wednesday called “total bulls--t,” and strategies for moving forward, according to the CNN source.

The administration appears to be seeking ways to quell MAGA outrage over its handling of the Epstein files, and to redirect attention from the growing spotlight on Trump’s past friendship with the disgraced financier.

One tactic the administration has considered, as it looks for ways to deflect scrutiny, is releasing an audio recording and transcript from Blanche’s interview with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, CNN previously reported, citing two administration officials. Another involved getting Blanche into an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, according to the report.

Trump on Tuesday insisted he “didn’t talk to” Blanche about his meeting with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring to recruit and abuse young girls.

“I didn’t talk to him about it but I will tell you that whatever he asked would be totally appropriate,” Trump said, before adding Blanche “probably wants to make sure that, you know, people that should not be involved or aren’t involved are not hurt by something that would be very, very unfortunate, very unfair to a lot of people.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-did-have-secret-talks-to-find-a-way-out-of-the-jeffrey-epstein-files-scandal/?

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Fuming Trump Lashes Out at Republican Ditching the GOP in Late-Night Tantrum

The one-time Republican lieutenant governor announced he’s become a Democrat.

President Donald Trump ripped into a Georgia lawmaker who changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, calling him a “total loser” in a late-night social media tirade.

After serving as Georgia’s lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023 as a Republican, Geoff Duncan announced this week that he is switching parties and is now a Democrat.

“Failed former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, of Georgia, is a total loser. Was never able to get anything done, all he ever did was complain,” Trump wrote at about 1 a.m. Friday in a Truth Social post. “We didn’t want him in the Republican Party any longer, so I’m told he became a Democrat. Good riddance Geoff. You don’t even have a chance!!!”

The former Georgia state representative has been a sharp critic of the president since 2020, when Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican leaders to overturn former President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

“Donald Trump has been running a Ponzi scheme of propaganda for the better part of a decade and it’s finally catching up to him,” Duncan told the Daily Beast in a statement. “Like most Ponzi schemes, they collapse under their own weight and this situation will be no different.”

Duncan declined to run for re-election in 2022, and in 2024, he spoke at the Democratic National Convention, endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race. In a mostly symbolic move, the Georgia Republican Party voted in January to expel him from the party over his endorsement.

But in an op-ed for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explaining his decision to become a Democrat, Duncan wrote that his journey to switching parties “started well before Donald Trump tried to steal the 2020 election in Georgia.”

“My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican,” he wrote.

He blasted the GOP’s policies on healthcare, immigration, and gun control as incompatible with that moral imperative, and criticized the president’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill for cutting Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, which he said would hurt hungry kids in Georgia.

“We should all be looking for ways to love these kids better than continuing to send them to school hungry under the guise of an income tax break,” he wrote.

Duncan is one of several former officials who have switched from Republican to Democrat this year, The Hill reported.

Since Trump took office in January, the Republicans have lost their edge in overall party affiliation, despite Democrats also facing record-low approval ratings.

Earlier this month, the latest Gallup survey showed 46 percent of U.S. adults identified as Democrat or Democratic-leaning, versus 43 percent of U.S. adults who identified as Republican or Republican-leaning.

The shift was driven by independents leaning Democratic, according to Gallup.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-lashes-out-at-republican-ditching-the-gop-in-late-night-tantrum/?