CBS Cancels The Late Show With Stephen Colbert – But did President Trump cancel the host? CBS announced The Late Show will end in May 2026 – the show itself and not just Colbert as hoar. He recently criticized his employer for its $16 million settlement with Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with then-VP Kamala Harris. CBS says the cancellation is a financial decision, but many – as the president would say – question whether Colbert’s fate was part of that settlement.

FRI-SAT 7/18-19/25

Trump v. Murdoch – Perhaps buoyed by his success in reaching settlements with ABC News and CBS owner Paramount – including cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert -- President Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit in Florida late Friday against The Wall Street Journal, its owner Rupert Murdoch and two reporters for its Friday scoop that Trump in 2003 sent a lewd 50^th birthday greeting to Jeffrey Epstein, NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday reports. Trump says he has never drawn pictures in his life and is not responsible for the birthday message and its drawing described in the WSJ report. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has introduced a bipartisan bill calling for the Justice Department to release all files from the Grand Jury investigation of Epstein, who committed suicide while in federal custody from a conviction of sexual abuse of underage girls. 

It would not be the first time a defamation lawsuit hit Murdoch’s properties. In 2023, Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million for false reports about voting machines manipulating the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden over then-incumbent Trump. --TL

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FRIDAY 7/18/25

Happy 50^th, Jeffrey Epstein – Ghislaine Maxwell collected special messages from friends – including Donald J. Trump -- and family for a special, leather-bound 50^th birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein, in 2003, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing documents it has reviewed. That was three years before Epstein was first arrested over charges he had sexually abused underage girls.

“The letter bearing Trump’s name, which was reviewed by the Journal, is bawdy – like others in the album,” the WSJ exclusive reports. “It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.”

A squiggly signature, “Donald,” appears below the drawing’s naked waist, “mimicking pubic hair.”

President Trump responded in an interview with the WSJ Tuesday evening that he would sue the Murdoch-owned newspaper “just like I sued everybody else,” responding that he has never drawn anything and did not send a message to Epstein.

DOJ Fires Prosecutor Comey … The WSJ scoop appears two days after Trump’s Justice Department fired without cause Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey and prosecutor in the Epstein and Maxwell cases, as well as the recent trial of Sean Combs (per The New York Times). Comey had worked for nearly a decade in the Manhattan prosecutor’s office, formerly known as the Southern District of New York. --TL

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THURSDAY 7/17/25

CPI Rises to 2.7% -- Trump tariffs pushed the Consumer Price Index up to 2.7% in June. Read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “The Cost of Inputs Rising” in The Gray Area. Scroll down with the trackbar on the far right to read details of the CPI at “Tarifflation Kicks In.”

Senate Approves Clawback – The Senate passed a Trump administration request to rescind $9 billion in foreign aid and Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding Congress had previously approved for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Vote was 51-48, with Republicans Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Susan Collins (ME) voting with Democrats, Roll Call reports. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) missed the vote as she was taken to hospital with an unspecified illness.

While Democrats in the bill’s vote-a-rama had tried and failed to pass amendments that would retain up to $1.1 billion in CPB funding, according to NPR’s Morning Edition, senators did restore funding established in the Bush 43 administration for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and barred additional recissions for agricultural and nutrition assistance for some countries. 

The recissions bill now goes to the House, which has until Friday for passage.

•••

Perhaps This Isn’t The Apprentice – President Trump showed about a dozen House Republicans a draft letter Tuesday night saying he would fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, The New York Times reports. It’s a threat to which he has alluded to for months, even before his January inauguration. 

On Wednesday the New York Stock Exchange tanked on the news temporarily, prompting Trump to back down again, saying he was “highly unlikely” to fire Powell, The Associated Press reports. 

Biden’s fault, again … “He’s a terrible Fed chairman,” Trump repeated Wednesday, as what he says is a rejuvenated economy deserves lower interest rates (which would reduce the federal deficit interest payments). “I was surprised, frankly, that Biden extended him and put him in,” Trump said, referring to the former president, who kept Powell on after Trump appointed him Fed chairman during his first term.

Epstein, Epstein, Epstein … As the Jeffrey Epstein files, real or not, continue to split MAGA and Trump, the president is now calling the issue a “Democratic hoax.” Trump says he has “lost faith in certain people” because “they got duped by the Democrats.”

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 7/16/25

Recissions Up – The Senate began a vote-a-rama Wednesday to cut $9 billion in foreign aid and Corporation for Public Broadcasting appropriations already approved for 2026-27 in a recessions package, ahem, requested by the Trump White House. On Tuesday the Senate passed, 51-50, a procedural vote on the recissions package only with Vice President Vance casting the tiebreaker, Punchbowl News reports.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Mitch McConnell (KY) joined all 47 Democrats against the test vote. 

With Collins appearing staunchly against the package and Murkowski a potential “no” vote because of her concerns over losing remote local Alaska radio stations from the CPB cuts, McConnell’s vote – he retires from the Senate in 2027 -- will be key. Congress must pass the bill by Friday, or the White House must spend the funds as appropriated. Democrats warn that if the recissions bill is passed it will affect bipartisan agreement on the next appropriations bill in the coming months.

“The recissions package has a big problem,” Collins told reporters. “Nobody really knows what program reductions are in it.”

•••

Epstein File Lives – We might learn more from the so-called Epstein Files as President Trump has left the issue open to Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi, despite her recent efforts to shut it down (per The Guardian).

“She’s handled it very well, and it’s going to be up to her,” Trump said early Tuesday. “Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”

Trump’s comments came as House Speaker Mike Johnson sided with MAGA who want Bondi to release everything she has on Epstein, who killed himself while in 2019 while in federal custody on child trafficking charges.

Or did Epstein kill himself? 

That was the subject of a “deep state” conspiracy theory Trump exploited in his 2024 presidential campaign. 

In February, Bondi told Fox News’ America Reports she had Epstein’s client list “sitting on my desk right now to review. …” But apparently after a review she concluded that Epstein did commit suicide and was not killed by a deep state cabal, and the list, which MAGA faithful and more extreme conspiracy theorists believe contains the names of mostly Democratic elites should not be released.

Her hot-potato drop of the case drew the ire not only of those clinging to Pizzagate but also of FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. 

Last weekend, before his statement that more documents could be forthcoming, Trump Truth Socialed: “One year ago our country was DEAD, now it’s the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that no one cares about.”

In his rare split with the president Tuesday, Speaker Johnson told podcaster Benny Johnson; “I agree with the sentiment that we need to put it out there. … We need DOJ focusing on the major priorities, so let’s get this thing resolved.”

•••

Grijalva’s Daughter Wins Primary – Adelita Grijalva handily won the Democratic primary Tuesday to run in a special election in September to replace her late father in a deep blue Arizona congressional district, according to Roll Call. Grijalva, 54, garnered 62% in the primary to face small-business owner Daniel Butierez, winner of Tuesday’s GOP primary, for the seat of her father, Raúl M. Grijalva, who died in March while in office, from complications of lung cancer treatment.

The senior Grijalva defeated Butierez by 27 points last November to retain his seat in a district that stretches from the US-Mexican border into Tucson and parts of Metro Phoenix.

Grijalva defeated four other Democrats in the primary, including social media influencer Deja Foxx, 25, who took 21% of the vote, and former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez, with 15%. 

On CNN Tuesday evening, CNN pundit Van Jones gave a shout-out to Foxx as the future of the Democratic Party even as she was projected to lose to Grijalva.  –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
WEDNESDAY 7/16/25

CPI +2.7% in June – The Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% month-over-month in June, for an annual rate of 2.7%, up from 2.4% in May, the Labor Department reports. All items less food and energy were up 0.2% for the month and up 2.9% for the year. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

TUESDAY 7/15/25

Trump and Putin -- Asked in a phone interview with BBC News whether President Trump was “done” with Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin, Trump said; “I’m disappointed but not done with him.” 

Does Trump trust Putin? 

“I trust almost nobody to be honest with you.”

Ceasefire or tariffs ... That’s the latest offer from President Trump, who has grown tired with Russia dictator/President Vladimir Putin sweet-talking him about a ceasefire deal then going on to bomb Ukraine harder than before. 

“I’m disappointed in Vladimir Putin because I thought we had a deal two months ago, but we’re not there yet,” Trump said in a White House meeting with NATO Secretary Gen. Mark Rutte. 

Trump has ordered sale of 17 Patriot defense systems to NATO for defense of Ukraine, NPR’s All Things Considered reports. The arms are already in Poland and are ready for transport into Ukraine. Trump’s favorable reception at a NATO summit in The Hague last month in which most of the alliance’s European nations agreed to pitch in 5% of their GDP to the organization has gone a long way in swaying Trump away from Putin.

Trump also is threatening “secondary tariffs” of 100% on Russia’s trade partners, such as China and India, two of Russia’s major oil customers in 50 days if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.

•••

Go Ahead; Cut the Ed Dept. – In an emergency docket ruling the Supreme Court Monday granted the Trump administration the ability to continue cuts to the Education Department, according to SCOTUSblog. The predictably 6-3 decision puts on hold a lower court ruling to require reinstatement of 1,400 Education Department employees already fired earlier this year as part of Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s efforts to reduce the size of its workforce.

The brief, unsigned ruling blocked US District Judge Myong Joun’s May order to block the firings. In his decision, Joun wrote that the Trump administration’s “true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department.

Congress was created by the Education Department, and opponents of the Trump administration’s actions believe only Congress can dismantle it. 

The decision will “unleash untold harm,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her 19-page dissent, also signed by fellow liberal justices Elena Kagen and Ketanji Brown Jackson. --TL

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Mexico and the EU

MONDAY 7/13/25

The Tariff Saga Continues – One of the few companies that has not benefitted from the bull market on Wall Street in the face of President Trump’s tariff drama is President Trump’s own social media company, Truth Social. Shares in DJT (the stock’s symbol) hit $42.91 on January 13, but by last Friday, sunk by 2.17% for the day to $18.52 per share. Not making anyone’s 401k great again.

And yet Trump took to that very same Truth Social Saturday to post two letters to the European Union and Mexico alerting them that they face 30% tariffs on their goods coming into the US, beginning August 1, The New York Times reports.

Trump’s tariff level on Mexico previously was 25%.

Both Mexico, which is our largest source of imports, and the EU, which as a trading bloc of 27 nations is the world’s third-largest economy, have been in “intense” trade negotiations with the US, according to the report. Trump already had imposed a 10% “base line” tariff on the EU, whose policymakers were hoping to negotiate for certain important products.

The EU has a prepared retaliatory package that would apply to about 21 billion euros or $USD 25 billion Tuesday (unless EU officials pull a “Taco” – er, EUaco?). 

Another loose end is whether the new tariff on Mexico would exempt any products that trade under Trump 45’s USMCA trade agreement.

•••

Obituary: David Gergen – David Gergen, the inside-the-Beltway advisor who wrote speeches, created communications strategies and helped set the agenda for Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, died Thursday in Lexington, Mass. He was 83. 

Gergen was credited with “softening” Reagan’s rhetoric and suggested his rhetorical 1980 campaign question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”  --Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Texas, Canada, Gaza and Ukraine

FRIDAY 7/11/25

Trump to Texas – President Trump heads to Texas Friday, where heavy July 4 flooding in Kerr County has claimed at least 120 lives, with more than 170 still missing, according to The Associated Press. Trump purposefully delayed his visit, saying he did not want to get in the way of rescue efforts. Trump also has been quiet about earlier statements he will shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which coordinates aid to states hit by such natural disasters.

•••

Tariff-Watch – President Trump overnight threatened a new tariff of 35%, up from 25%, on Canada except for goods that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement from his first term, The Wall Street Journal reports, adding that Dow Jones stock futures are down for the day. (What that means is, expect another bad day on Wall Street to temporarily counter the stock market’s overall enthusiasm for the administration’s laissez-faire policies.) 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will work with the White House to clinch a trade deal by August 1.

•••

No Gaza Ceasefire – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Washington Thursday without a Trump administration-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. Haaretz reports that “Differences even appeared” between President Trump and PM Netanyahu during two separate White House meetings held a day apart. 

Foreign relations is hard … It appears the Trump White House is coming to the realization that when it comes to brokering peace in Gaza and in Ukraine, neither Netanyahu, nor Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin are interested in helping the US president keep his promises about quickly working out “deals.” 

Voicing his “disappointment” in Russia (and Putin), Trump told NBC News moderator Kristin Welker Thursday in a phone call for Sunday’s Meet the Press Trump said; “I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday.”

Trump is making something of a concession on his campaign promise to cut off military weapons aid to Ukraine.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%” he told Welker. “So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to give those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 7/11/25

President Trump celebrates passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill at the Iowa State Fairgrounds last week [from a White House video].

•President Trump imposes a 50% tariff on Brazil, despite our trade surplus with the country, in support of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro. Read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s take at our Substack.

THURSDAY 7/10/25

Trump Is Catching On – Almost half a year after Trump 47 Day One, the president is starting to play hardball with Russia’s dictator/President Vladimir Putin on ending the war in Ukraine. After President Trump reversed what appears to have been an unauthorized halt of US arms moving through Poland into Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday for the 58^th Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting, where he had “a frank, important conversation” on the sidelines with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, The Guardian reports. 

“I echoed what the president said, both a disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress,” Rubio told reporters. 

Agence France-Presse reported that Lavrov had shared a “new idea” on Ukraine, but Rubio said the “new idea” was not one that would automatically lead to peace but rather “could open a door to a new path.” 

Meanwhile … Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday called on Europe to launch a Marshall Plan-style reconstruction strategy for his country, on Day One of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, The Kyiv Independent reports.

“We need a Marshall Plan-style approach,” Zelenskyy said, “and we should develop it together. Rebuilding Ukraine is not just about our country. It’s also about your countries, your companies, your technology, your jobs.”

Quite the antithesis of the “my country first” approach being practiced in Trump’s isolationist US.

Zelenskyy’s remarks came after another heavy overnight attack on Kyiv by Moscow, in which drones and ballistic missiles killed two. In its largest-ever drone and missile strike on Ukraine, Moscow over the last couple of days dropped 18 missiles and about 400 drones on Kyiv, including 200 Shahed-type “kamikaze” models on the capital, killing 12 and injuring 60, according to Zelenskyy.

Back on the Hill … Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) hopes to pass “tough” sanctions against Russia by the Senate’s August recess via a bipartisan bill sponsored by Trump ally and hardliner on Russia Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), The Hill reports. –TL

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WEDNESDAY 7/9/25

First Elon, Now Putin? – President Trump Tuesday accused Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin of “meaningless” gestures toward peace efforts in Ukraine, as well as lobbing “a lot of bullshit” at the US and his administration, per The New York Times. 

Why wouldn’t Putin lob the B.S., after Trump admitted his promise to end the Russia-Ukraine War on Day One was a joke? Since then, Putin has taken advantage of unrealized ceasefires and Trump’s promise to cut off military aid to Ukraine to up his military’s attacks in order to have more of Ukraine under Russian control when (if) an agreement finally is reached. 

Trump’s comments come as he has announced the US will resume Biden administration-arranged arm shipments to Ukraine that had been held up in Poland. CNN reported Tuesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the shipments held from Ukraine without informing the White House.

[Read “Trump Brings His Art of Tariffs to Ukraine” at our Substack.]

•••

Take That, Copper – President Trump will impose a 50% tariff on copper, a core electrical component also found in many home appliances, he said at his Tuesday cabinet meeting. Trump did not say when the copper tariff would take effect, USA Today reports, and there was no such executive order listed at whitehouse.gov Wednesday.

“I believe the tariff on copper, we’re going to make 50%,” Trump said. 

Watch out, Pharma … It gets much tougher on pharmaceuticals, which Trump said would face tariffs at “a very high rate, like 200%,” according to the report. The president said such a tariff would not go into effect for at least a year, to give pharmaceutical manufacturers time to prepare – presumably to move manufacturing from Northern Europe to the US.  --TL

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TUESDAY 7/8/25

Hey! It’s Taco Tuesday – Here’s the latest, so start planning, importer/exporters. Japan, South Korea and South Africa are among the nations that will face tariffs of as much as 40% in tariffs by the Trump administration, which has delayed their implementation from Wednesday to Friday, August 1, The Guardian reports. Is that new deadline firm? asked a reporter.

“I would say firm, but not 100% firm,” Trump replied. “If they call up and they say we’d like to do something in a different way, we’re going to be open to that.”

The latest:

•Bangladesh: 35%

•Bosnia and Herzegovina: 30%

•Cambodia: 36%

•Indonesia: 32%

•Japan: 25%

•Kazakhstan: 25%

•Laos: 40%

•Malaysia: 25%

•Myanmar: 40%

•Serbia: 35%

•South Africa: 30%

•South Korea: 25%

•Thailand: 36%

•Tunisia: 25%

•••

Netanyahu Nominates Trump – What came out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House meeting with President Trump Monday? The two discussed Gaza’s future (will Netanyahu’s Israel run it after he ends the war? We don’t know just yet) and Israel’s relationship with its Persian Gulf neighbors, The New York Times reports. 

They both celebrated US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the selfsame facilities which Trump argues the strikes “obliterated.”

Then Netanyahu announced from the Blue Room where reporters were gathered that he had nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. 

“He’s forging peace,” Netanyahu said, “as we speak, in one country in the region after another.

Trump compared his Defense Department’s strikes on Iran’s nukes to President Truman’s nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of World War II. 

“That stopped a lot of fighting and this stopped a lot of fighting,” Trump said.

Netanyahu has talks scheduled through Thursday with Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). –TL

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MONDAY 7/7/25

On Again – President Trump’s 90-day hold on his April 2 tariffs end Wednesday, but it appears the rest of the world will have three more weeks to iron out a deal as dozens of letters go out to those countries informing them of their rates, Monday. Trump said last week new tariff rates could be between 10% to 70%, with payments due August 1, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

“President Trump’s going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don’t move things along, then on August 1, you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday.

The administration has two tariff deals so far; With the UK, where auto import tariffs have been cut from 27.5% down to 10% and aerospace tariffs have been eliminated, and Viet Nam, where direct imports have a 20% tariff and imports that transfer through Viet Nam are 40%.

“We have far more than 170 countries,” Trump said per the WSJ. “And how many deals can you make? And you can take good deals, but they’re much more complicated.”

Hitting BRICS … Trump also has threatened an extra 10% tariff on countries he says align with ‘anti-American’ BRICS policies. The original BRICS members are Brazil, Russia, India and China, but more recently Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethopia, Indonesia and Iran have been added and are meeting at the organization’s annual summit in Rio de Janeiro.

•••

Party On, Elon – Former DOGEmaster Elon Musk said on X-Twitter Saturday he has officially formed his America Party, a response to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and its effect on the federal deficit, The Hill reports. 

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it,” Musk tweeted. “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we have a one party system, not a democracy.” 

Tesla shares fell 7% in pre-market trading Monday, CNBC reports. --Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Beautiful?

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2025

Trump’s Independence Day Celebration – As anticipated, President Trump holds a bill-signing ceremony on Friday, July 4^th, for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax and spending reconciliation that passed in the House Thursday after the Senate version contributed an extra $0.9 trillion to the federal deficit for the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), tried to delay its passage as long as he could, speaking for more than eight hours on Thursday before its 218-214 passage, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. There were two Republican defections in the vote, according to Roll Call; budget hawk Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, and Brian Fitzpatrick, whose Pennsylvania district backed Vice President Kamala Harris in last November’s presidential election.

Conservative Republicans who back the president’s agenda contained in the bill say the its $3.3 trillion extra contribution to the federal deficit over the next decade, according to the CBO, is not “dynamic” scoring in that it does not consider what all those tax cuts extended to the wealthy and to corporations will do for business investment and good-job growth. Their argument against a “socialist” type of higher taxes for the wealthy and corporations, combined with federal regulations and “choosing winners” via green energy incentives goes back past Reaganism, to conservative arguments against FDR’s New Deal.

Trump has successfully carried this further for his supporters, easily slipping from calling Democrats “socialists” to calling them “communists.”

Democrats and some Republicans argue the bill’s Medicaid cuts and other federal safety net cuts will hurt many of the same citizens who voted for Trump’s populism. Those Medicaid cuts will result in the shutdown of hospitals across the nation, most of them in poor rural areas, they argue. 

Also notable is that after decades of debt-ceiling resistance from Republicans in Congress, leading to several federal government shutdowns and near-shutdowns over the years, the One Big Beautiful Bill raises the ceiling for Trump by $5 trillion.

Meanwhile … Jeffries has said that Trump “ran up more debt than any other president in American history,” a statement that PoltiFact calls “mostly false.” 

According to the website The Balance, covering economics and fiscal policy, 

President Obama rang up $6.781 trillion to Trump’s $6.6 trillion in debt, though Obama took eight years to spend that, while Trump 45 took just four years to fall $181 billion short of his predecessor.

--Todd Lassa

_____
INDEPENDENCE DAY 2025

US Economy Adds 147,000 Jobs – More good economic news for the Trump White House, as 147,000 jobs were added to the economy in June, the Labor Department reports. Not surprisingly, the federal government lost jobs while state government picked some of them up. Health care also added jobs, as unemployment ticked down slightly to 4.1%, from 4.2% in April and May. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

THURSDAY 7/3/25

UPDATE: The House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for tax and spending in the 2026 fiscal year, 218-214, NPR reports. On to the Resolute Desk in time for President Trump's Sharpie-intensive Independence Day celebration.

Rules of the Game – The House approved rules governing floor debate early Thursday for the Big Vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Trump White House-endorsed tax and spending bill the president wants to sign by Independence Day, tomorrow, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The 219-213 passage of this procedural hurdle followed 20 hours of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) cajoling Republican holdouts – with President Trump intervening -- nearly all of them hardline budget hawks and some of whom wanted material payoffs in the form of amendments favorable to their individual districts, though they were told it was too late in the process for that.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), a “surprise centrist defector,” was the sole Republican “no” on the procedural vote, Roll Call reports.

In addition to increasing the federal deficit by $3.3 billion over the next 10 years according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the tax and spending bill raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion in order to avoid yet another potential government shutdown this summer, according to NPR.

Democrats contend the bill extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the rich while taking from the poor and middle class. The CBO also calculates that 11.8 million Americans will lose health care coverage from Medicaid cuts in the bill, which includes work requirements for some recipients.

“People in America will die,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who was continuing to speak and hold up the final vote for more than five hours by mid-morning Thursday, said.

MAGA Republicans say the CBO should use “dynamic” calculations instead of its “static” calculations, which would take into consideration the way tax cuts for the rich will stimulate investment and job growth. 

When a reporter asked President Trump after his tour of Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) whether the Medicaid cuts target 11.8 million citizens for waste, fraud and abuse, Trump had this reply, according to PolitiFact:

“No, I’m saying that. I’m saying it’s going to be a very much smaller number than that, and that number will be waste, fraud and abuse.”

--TL

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It's Not Over Yet

WEDNESDAY 7/2/25

Needs More Cuts – But wait, there’s more. 

President Trump hopes to sign the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the budget reconciliation bill that contains pretty much all his legislative agenda, by Independence Day. And wouldn’t Trump’s Big Beautiful Sharpie Signature be a nice Fourth of July birthday celebration, huh?

But shortly after the Senate’s passage of the bill early Tuesday, 51-50 with Vice President Vance needed to break the tie, Rep. Andy Harris (R-TN), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a member of the caucus, announced they would vote against a key procedural vote set for Wednesday to move the reconciliation bill forward, The Hill reports.  

All Reps. Harris and Norman need is a third congressmember to sink the bill’s progression, and they say they have several more allies in the House. The procedural involves setting parameters on the bill’s debate.

“Look, Mr. Musk is right, we cannot sustain these deficits, he understands finance, he understands debts and deficits, and we have to make further progress,” Harris told Fox News Tuesday, referring to Tesla/SpaceX/Starlink CEO/exiled DOGE-founder Elon’s criticism of the bill (and plans to “primary” its congressional supporters). “And I believe the Freedom Caucus will take the lead in making further progress.”

Regression? … What, exactly is “progress” given that the Congressional Budget Office has scored the House’s hit on the federal deficit at $2.4 trillion over the next decade only to be topped by the Senate version’s $3.3 trillion cost.

•••

Trump Wins Lawsuit Settlement – Paramount Global will pay $16 million to Donald J. Trump’s presidential library fund in an out-of-court settlement over his lawsuit regarding a CBS News 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris prior to last November’s elections. Under the settlement, Paramount will not admit any wrongdoing.

Trump’s lawsuit regarded the editing of an answer Harris, his opponent in the presidential election, gave in the interview. Her answer was edited differently for the 60 Minutes broadcast and for Face the Nation earlier. 

Trump’s attorneys argued the edits made Harris look less confused than she was while causing anguish and confusion for his supporters. Though Trump’s lawsuit clearly was without merit, in the end, the settlement is good for Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone’s efforts to sell the company to Skydance Media without resistance from the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission.

--TL

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One Big Passed Budget

TUESDAY 7/1/25

Senate Passes OBBB – The Senate passed its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill reconciliation budget, 51-50, with Vice President Vance casting the tiebreaker. The vote came after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) held overnight discussions with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and other GOP leaders to discuss changes softening the effect of Medicare and nutritional assistance cuts to Alaska, and for slower phase-out of clean energy tax credits, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina – who announced days ago he will not seek re-election in 2026 – voted with Democrats. 

•••

Defunding Planned Parenthood – As the Senate proceeded through its vote-a-rama Monday its parliamentarian handed the Republicans a win in determining eligible for budget reconciliation One Big Beautiful Bill language that would block Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding for services in addition to abortion, Roll Call reports, which already is outlawed by the annual Hyde amendment appropriations rider. This follows a Supreme Court ruling last week that Planned Parenthood and its patients could not sue to challenge a state’s decision to exclude the provider from federal Medicaid funds because of its abortion services. 

Democrats had tried to block the OBBB provision, citing the so-called Byrd rule restricting what can be included in reconciliation.

•••

Twitter Feud – President Trump and Elon Musk split up without having a prenup, and now it’s coming back to haunt the GOP. After the Tesla/SpaceX/Starlink CEO spent about $275 million to get Trump elected and appoint himself DOGE chief, Musk now is trying to stop the Senate from passing the One Big Beautiful Bill budget built around the president’s own agenda. 

Musk says that if the bill passes the Senate, he will form a new “America Party” toot suite and “primary” Republicans, The New York Times reports. Never mind that if it’s a new, distinct party, it seems Musk’s candidates would have to wait to next November’s general election to challenge Republican House and Senate members. 

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk tweeted on his X-Twitter. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

So maybe it means Musk will fund candidates under something called the America Party and run them in GOP primaries? Whatever the case, it’s a potential windfall for Democrats who think they probably do, but given they will be going up against MAGA acolytes might not, have an advantage in taking back the House and Senate in 2026. 

By late Monday, according to the NYT Musk had endorsed Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a budget hawk who joined 213 Democrats in voting against the House version of the bill, which passed 215-214 late last month.

Trump, being one who never backs down from a social media war, whether on his own Truth Social or in this case on X-Twitter, where he easily out-capitalized Musk, tweeted back; “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!—DJT” –TL

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MONDAY 6/30/25

SCOTUS Rules – The Supreme Court on Friday handed President Trump a big victory by ruling a single federal district court cannot hold up an executive order for the entire nation. The ruling entails Trump’s attempts to end birthright citizenship but did not rule directly on the 14^th Amendment issue. Scroll down this column for details.

•••

Vote-a-Rama – Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-SC) appear to be the only three remaining holdouts against the Senate’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which Roll Call says is likely to reach a vote Monday. President Trump says he would like to sign the bill by July 4^th, but before it even gets to a Senate floor vote, the Vote-a-rama will allow its members to propose unlimited amendments.

In the latest version of the Senate bill released early Saturday, provisions that would benefit Alaskan whaling captains and support rural hospitals may be swaying Murkowski to Trump’s side, The New York Times reports. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) needs just one of the three to help pass OBBB, and Murkowski already has joined the majority to move the bill forward through a couple of procedural votes.

But on Sunday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office scored the hit the federal deficit would take from the Senate version at a minimum of $3.3 trillion over the next decade, which is $900 billion more than its score for the OBBB passed by the House 215-214 last month.

Two other key holdouts, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced their support for the Senate bill by late Friday. The president spent a rare weekend in Washington and played golf Saturday with Sens. Paul, Tillis, Eric Schmidt (R-MO) and Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC), according to Roll Call. 

If Murkowski folds on the budget, Rand seems to be the holdout that opponents of the bill can count on, though erstwhile über-MAGA and budget hawk Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) also is not a certainty for either side. As for fellow budget hawk Tillis, Trump has threatened him with a primary challenge for his 2026 election campaign and Tillis has since announced he will not run for re-election next year, The Hill reports.

Democrats did what they could to gum up the works by calling for a full reading of the 940-page bill, which went on into Sunday. Then Democrats challenged Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) use of a “current policy” baseline scoring the 2017 tax cut extensions, according to The Hill.

“This is the nuclear option,” ranking Budget Committee Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), said. “It’s just hidden behind a whole lot of Washington, D.C. lingo.”

And Republicans are going beyond nuclear. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and other Republican hardliners called on the Senate Sunday to ignore rulings from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough that would remove several key provisions of the bill.

“Great Congressman Steube’s 100% correct,” Trump Truth Socialed. “An unelected Senate Staffer (Parliamentarian) should not be allowed to hurt the Republicans (sic) Bill. Wants many fantastic things out. NO! DJT.”

•••

Nuclear Argument – Rafael Grossi, head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, is contradicting President Trump’s assertion US strikes on Iran have “obliterated” the country’s nuclear weapons capabilities, saying that Iran could produce enriched uranium in months, Semafor reports. Trump meanwhile on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures refuted Iran’s claims that it had moved its enriched uranium stockpiles ahead of the attacks.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 6/27/25

Victory for Trump – The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that district courts likely exceeded their authority in blocking President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, NPR reports. The ruling, with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting, does not rule on the 14^th Amendment regarding birthright citizenship, but essentially says that district courts cannot make decisions for the entire nation. The ruling does take power from district courts in issuing injunctions to restrict executive branch actions. 

The ruling is the first of six to be issued by SCOTUS on the final day of its 2024-25 term. More to come.

•••

You Say ‘Obliterated,’ They Say ‘Not Quite’ – Thursday morning’s Pentagon press conference in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated the Trump White House’s claim that it had thoroughly wiped out Iran’s nuclear weapons program in the US Air Force attack last weekend has done little to tamper the debate over the bombings’ effect. Thursday afternoon, the administration briefed the Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security, in this case, to members from both sides of the aisle.

“I walk away from that briefing still under the belief that we have not obliterated the program,” said ranking member Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), per Daily Beast. “The president was deliberately misleading the public when he said the program was ‘obliterated’ because it is certain that there is still significant capability and significant equipment that remain.”

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) accepts the Trump White House’s assessment.

“By destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities, by using B-2 bombers, helping Israel, but delivering a decisive blow, which was bold and brilliant, President Trump let every other adversary in the world know Joe Biden doesn’t live in the White House anymore,” Graham said on Fox News’ Hannity. “There’s a new sheriff in town. … He’s been strong, he’s been measured. … He wants peace, but it takes two people to have peace. …” 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 6/27/25

Call him ‘Daddy’ – President Trump left the NATO summit Wednesday in a good mood about NATO nations’ commitment (except Spain) to spending 5% of their GDP on defense. Scroll down center column for more …

THURSDAY 6/26/25

Defending Operation Midnight Hammer – Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth held a news conference Thursday morning praising “the highly successful strikes in Iran,” in a strike-back against a leaked initial intelligence report that Operation Midnight Hammer did little damage to Iran’s nuclear weapons program (per The New York Times).

“If you want to know what’s going on at Fordow, you’d better get a big shovel,” Hegseth, who appeared with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine at the Pentagon, said. DefSecHeg also cited a statement by International Atomic Energy Agency Director Gen. Rafael Mariano Grossi Thursday that the strike on three key Iranian sites last weekend “caused enormous damage.”

Meanwhile … On NPR’s Morning Edition former Trump 45 national security advisor John Bolton said Iran has achieved a lot of progress on its nuclear arms facilities, and he believes the work to destroy it is not done. (In fact, Bolton has long suspected that Iran may have some nuclear operations in North Korea.) However …

“These targets that were struck clearly are the targets that deserved to be struck,” Bolton told Steve Inskeep.

•••

NATO Butter-Up – Ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague earlier this week, President Trump was showing off a note from NATO Secretary Gen. Mark Rutte calling Trump “Daddy” after the president criticized Israel and Iran for continuing strikes heading into their fragile ceasefire after their “12 Day War.”

“Mr. President, dear Donald. Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else has dared to do. It makes us all safer,” (per The Associated Press). 

“You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening. It was not easy but we’ve gotten them all signed to 5%!”

That refers to NATO nations’ commitment to spending 5% of their annual Gross Domestic Product on defense – Trump has demanded NATO nations increase their contributions in order for the US to ease up on it since before his first administration.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 6/25/25

Sore Thumbs – Operation Midnight Hammer, the US military’s strike last weekend on three of Iran’s facilities didn’t do much to slow Tehran’s development of nuclear weapons, likely setting it back only by months, according to an early intelligence assessment by sources briefed on it described to CNN. 

The report Tuesday evening by the news network drew outcries from MAGA faithful. Speaking Wednesday morning from the NATO summit in The Hague, President Trump said the intelligence was “inconclusive” and preliminary. Trump maintained the strikes on Iran caused “total obliteration.”

Check that leak … The FBI has begun an investigation of how the preliminary assessment of the attack on Iran became public, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced at the NATO summit, The Wall Street Journal reports. Trump, meanwhile, called minimizing the bombings’ success “disrespectful.”

Ceasefire, meanwhile … Despite the president’s comments about Israeli and Iranian leadership not knowing what they are doing, or perhaps because he made those comments as he left for the NATO summit Tuesday, the ceasefire between the two countries is going swimmingly so far.

•••

Cuomo Clobbered in NYC Mayoral Race – Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo came in a distant second to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in Tuesday’s rank preference New York Democratic primary, The New York Times reports. With 93% of the vote in, Mamdani took 43.5% of the rank preference vote to Cuomo’s 36.4%. State assemblyman Mamdani’s 70,465 vote margin was decisive enough for Cuomo, who resigned as New York State’s governor in 2021 amidst allegations of sexual harassment, to concede without waiting out a second round in the rank preference. 

Candidate Brad Lander, who cross-endorsed with Mamdani and appeared with him as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday took 11.3% of the vote. 

Pundits have been characterizing the Democratic primary as an indication of the direction of the party going into next year’s midterms. US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both endorsed Mamdani in the race, but even with past New York mayors having (failed) runs for president, the mayor’s constituency is pretty distinct. 

Mamdani faces perennial Republican candidate and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa as well as New York’s ethics-challenged current Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, who is running for this November’s election as an independent. Cuomo also has floated the possibility of running as an independent.

--TL

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Israel-Iran Ceasefire, Moscow-Style

TUESDAY 6/24/25

This is How the Ceasefire Between Israel and Iran Went – President Trump announced a ceasefire deal. There were no details and some skepticism of whether Israel and Iran agreed, but on Tuesday, both nations said they had agreed to stop fighting, NPR reports. 

Then, in a statement to NPR, the Israeli military accused Iran of firing two missiles toward Israel after the ceasefire was to take effect. Israel said the missiles were intercepted. Iran’s state media reported a denial by Iran that it fired missiles after the ceasefire deadline.

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz ordered the military to “respond forcefully” anyway, and “continue the intensified operations targeting regime assets and terrorist infrastructure in Tehran.”

Trump expressed his anger toward both parties, though primarily Israel, when departing for the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, according to Morning Edition.

“You know what we have? We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck their doing,” Trump said (NPR redacted the naughty word in its report).

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, the biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel.”

Then on Truth Social: ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME NOW.

--TL

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US Attacks Iran's Nuclear Sites (With Updates)

MONDAY 6/23/25

UPDATE III: President Trump says in a social media post that Israel and Iran have agreed to a "complete and total ceasefire," the BBC reports, that could lead to the end of the war.

UPDATE II: Iran signaled Qatar about its attacks on Al Udeid ahead of launching the missiles, NPR’s All Things Considered reports, an indication it needed to take some action but did not want to go to the extreme of a potentially deadly bombardment. But that keeps open the question of what Iran will do next.

UPDATE: Iran has fired missiles at the Al Udeid base in Qatar, the US’ largest base in the Middle East (The New York Times). Qatar reports its air defenses have intercepted Iran’s missiles, and the US Defense Department says there are no reports of injuries from the counterattack.

Sucker Punch? – Is there something in The Art of the Deal playbook that you distract your subject with a “two week” warning, that you will take that long before your next move, only to bombard the other party after a couple of days?

Probably not. But the tactic might prove effective, as President Trump indicated after Saturday’s B-2 bombings of Iran’s nuclear weapons development sites, in particular the Fordow nuclear material enrichment facility north of Tehran.

“I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” he said in a special address to the US 10 p.m. ET Saturday (above, with Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio). 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responded without referring to the US, saying instead that Israel made a “grave mistake” and “it is being punished right now,” The Wall Street Journal reports. 

Analysts are concerned about the potential for Iran blockading the Straits of Hormuz – or worse, targeting US bases in the region.

Meanwhile… Vance has signaled that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is in-tact and in the country’s control – so, not addressed by the “spectacular” success.

“We’re not at war with Iran,” the vice president told NBC News’ Kristen Welker, on Meet the Press. “We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.”

It’s that stockpile, and Iran’s work enriching it to become the world’s seventh nuclear superpower that is the impetus for Israel’s military attack on the country more than a week ago, and now the US response last weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for decades that Iran was on the brink of developing nuclear weapons.

On April 16, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi issued a warning ahead of his visit there that Tehran was “dangerously close” to building a nuclear bomb. On Monday, Grossi called an emergency meeting to demand Iran give clarity on the whereabouts of its nuclear material, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur press agency reports.

History … This has raised the question of whether President Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015 was effective. By the time Donald J. Trump began his first term as president a couple of years later, the IAEA’s monitoring of Iran’s nuclear power program indicated the JCPOA was successfully preventing Iran from sufficiently enriching uranium for military purposes.

That’s the basis of the argument that continues to this day, between conservative neocons and MAGA Republicans on the right, and Democrats and Republicans overall, as the Trump administration continues to talk dealmaking for a new agreement that may, or may not, be much like JCPOA, with Iran.

Can the Trump administration convince Tehran to return to the negotiating table even after Israel’s missile attacks and clear calls for regime change? After the US attack, there are serious doubts about that – but Trump apparently thinks it’s still possible. We probably won’t have to wait two weeks to find out.

New red hat? … Rubio joined Vance Sunday in denying “regime change” as the Trump administration’s goal. But the president on his own social media outlet indicated something somewhat different.

“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why would there be Regime Change??? MIGA!!”

•••

Correction – Our Wednesday, June 18 report on the then-potential US strike misidentified the bomber capable of dropping GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on Iran’s nuclear weapons sites.  It was, and is, the Northrop B-2 bomber.

We’ve also since learned of a dispute over the spelling of Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facility. The New York Times spells it Fordo, while The Associated Press and CNN spell it Fordow. Zelensky – Zelenskyy.

We are sticking with “Fordow” with the “w.”

•••

No Joke? – “America’s Finest News Source” The Onion “republished” its recent editorial, “Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice,” apparently only in The New York Times and coincidentally a day after the US Air Force bombed Iran’s nuclear weapon sites under authority of President Trump, but without consulting Congress. 

The full-page ad, which was in the NYT only on Sunday and not in any other newspapers, says; “Each passing day brings growing assaults on essential liberties like freedom of speech and due process. Meanwhile, our delicately assembled legal system faces a constant barrage of threats. Even as this issue reaches publication, the US military has been deployed against peaceful protesters. We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state. That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing.”

Editors of the satirical newspaper note a copy of the issue containing this editorial was delivered to every member of Congress. 

Publicity stunt? Advertorial for The Onion’s recently revitalized print edition? Perhaps.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 6/23/25