The GOP's grip on the Senate is growing shakier by the day as voters grow fed up with President Donald Trump and the party enabling him, and now, a major election tracker suggests that they could be cruising for a disastrous loss in a traditionally red state.

Alaska has long been viewed as a consistently Republican-voting state, having elected mostly conservatives to its statewide offices over the last several election cycles, and breaking for Trump in all three of his races. Many experts, however, stress that the state is not as ruby-red as it might seem to outsiders, with its voters maintaining a notable independent streak, and it might be heading for a shock Democratic victory in the 2026 midterms.

Sen. Dan Sullivan is running for reelection in Alaska this year, and is facing someone who many pundits have called his worst-case-scenario opponent in the form of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola. Peltola has a solid reputation in the state, and given that Alaska only elects one at-large U.S. Representative to the House, her past win running for that office is proof that she can hang in a statewide race.

While most eyes remain on other Senate races in traditionally blue or swing states, some observers have predicted that a Democratic Senate win in Alaska is well within the realm of possibility. Given the number of other competitive Senate races this year, a loss in Alaska could spell doom for the GOP's Senate majority and hand Democrats control of both chambers of Congress.

On Wednesday, this possibility got much more real for Republicans when the Cook Political Report, one of the leading election prediction outfits in the country, shifted its prediction for the Alaska Senate race. Whereas it previously listed the race as "lean Republican," already a weak status for a state with strong GOP electoral history, it has now been moved toward the Democrats' favor and is considered a "toss-up."

While this does mean that anything is still possible, a meaningful trend towards Democrats with months to go before Election Day may very well signal a five-alarm fire for the GOP.

In addition to Peltola's growing momentum, this shift from Cook also comes on the heels of the Alaska Supreme Court allowing another candidate with a very similar name to the Republican incumbent, ex-Forest Service employee Dan J. Sullivan, to remain on the ballot. The incumbent Sullivan had accused this candidate, who recently changed his affiliation to Republican, of running as a spoiler to split GOP votes and hand a win to Democrats. Dan J. Sullivan has denied these allegations.

President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair has been an ongoing disaster for all the reasons that bother him the most, and as The Telegraph highlighted in a new report, his own MAGA supporters are trashing the whole affair.

The fair kicked off on Thursday of last week and is planned to run for 16 days, serving as one of the centerpieces of Trump's planned festivities for America's 250th birthday. The event has been dogged by bad news for weeks now, however, with numerous musicians ditching plans for a free concert series after the event's explicit affiliation with Trump came to light.

The event has also drawn withering criticism and mockery for its sparse attendance and lackluster offerings, including a mock-up triumphal arch that is already falling apart. Speaking with The Telegraph for a report this week, even several Trump supporters expressed sadness over how the fair turned out.

“I grew up with state fairs in Iowa, and this is really disappointing,” Holly Lewis, a travel agent from Virginia, told The Telegraph. This should have been the highlight of my life. This should have been like the World Exposition. But most of the states are a bit of a disappointment. It would have been really good if FIFA had run this. This feels like a silent protest.”

“I think we would have had a lot more people if Trump wasn’t president,” another Trump supporter, Wiley Larsen, told the outlet, saying they "think he’s doing a lot of great things," but acknowledging that many others are unhappy with him.

Ari Drumm, a supporter from Florida, called the situation another case of “Trump Derangement Syndrome."

“It’s a disgrace,” Drumm said. “We should be together in this. We should be 50 United States and this is not very unified.”

Amy Cohen, a university administrator from Virginia who the report did not describe as a Trump supporter, also expressed profound disappointment over the state of the fair.

“This is all so weird,” Cohen said. “I am really sad and disappointed that what could have been an extraordinary celebration of the many, many things that make the United States a wonderful place was attenuated, reduced and flattened. It’s like reading a social studies textbook from the seventh grade. There’s so much vibrancy in the country, and this is unnecessarily vanilla. And there aren’t a lot of people here.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill remains the single biggest legislative victory of President Donald Trump's second term, but while it has so far had a seismic impact on American life, NBC News reported that its "biggest consequences are still to come."

On Wednesday, NBC published a pre-emptive one-year post-mortem analysis of the bill, which Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, after months of pained legislative back-and-forths to get the sprawling bill through Congress. As the outlet explained, the bill has so far had enormous implications for "who gets help from the government and who goes without."

"The most consequential legislation of Trump’s second term reaches into nearly every corner of American life," the report detailed. "It supercharges immigration enforcement, pouring billions into border security and deportations. It rewrites student loan rules. It dismantles tax incentives for electric vehicles and clean energy. It creates a national school-voucher tax credit."

Its biggest impact, however, has so far been its transition of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest. The bill extended $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, while also pushing through $1.1 trillion in cuts "from healthcare and food assistance programs serving poor and working-class people." Ultimately, these changes are expected to balloon the national debt by nearly $5 trillion.

As NBC's report noted, these impacts are not yet fully "phased in."

"Once all of the law’s major provisions are fully phased in, Congressional Budget Office estimates show, the poorest households will end up with roughly $1,200 less each year on average, while the wealthiest Americans will gain about $13,600," the report added.

“I don't think it could be much clearer,” Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank, told the outlet. “They extended tax cuts for very wealthy people, they expanded tax cuts for very large estates, they put in new tax cuts for quite profitable businesses, and they did that in the same bill that they made millions of people lose food assistance and health coverage.”

NBC continued: "The political fight over its impacts is only beginning. Polling suggests Republicans may face an uphill battle selling a law that was unpopular with voters from the start, while Democrats are preparing to make it a centerpiece of their midterm elections message."

In a segment from April, CNN data guru Harry Enten said that public sentiment around the bill has been a massive bust for Trump, even as the GOP has attempted to rebrand it as the "Working Families Tax Cut."

"Trump is paying the piper when it comes to taxes and the American public," Enten said. "Look at this trend. I mean, again, what massive trends we're seeing from term one to term two. Look at this! If there are benefits that the American people are liking when it comes to the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' act, they are not, in fact, giving the two thumbs up to Donald Trump when it comes to that."

Enten highlighted a Fox News poll at the time in which Trump's approval on taxes was 28 points underwater. In 2018, when the initial Trump tax cuts were still new, the same poll had him 2 points positive on taxes, showing a steep drop over the last eight years.

Following a caustic break with President Donald Trump, one of his biggest former backers claims to have left the Republican Party and is plotting the creation of a new political party to compete with MAGA, per The Hill.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former GOP congresswoman from Georgia, initially made her name in politics as an outspoken — and often outlandish — supporter of Trump and his MAGA political agenda. As his second term wore on, however, she became much more critical of his actions, and finally broke with him completely amid the Epstein files scandal, resigning from Congress early at the start of this year.

On Wednesday, The Hill reported on recent comments from Greene in which she teased out plans for her political future. She made headlines and waves in recent weeks after she, alongside ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, declared that she was done with the GOP and would not be working to support it in the upcoming midterm elections. Now, she claims to be "in talks" about creating a new "true America-focused" political party, and while the discussions are "serious," she also has not illusions about the difficulty of successfully launching a third party option.

"I think there’s a group of us that if we decide to align, we could launch a true America-focused party that doesn’t fall into the traps of Democrats or Republicans, but could align some serious players from the right and the left," Greene said in an interview this week with Piers Morgan.

She added: “It’s difficult to launch a third party, so the reality is this isn’t something that gets off the ground in just a couple of campaign cycles. This is a movement that has to be developed and would take time to develop.”

Greene made her feelings known about supporting the GOP in a post to X last week, directly responding to Carlson's own declaration.

"Tucker is not the only one who is done supporting the Republican Party. There [are] A LOT of us that are absolutely fed up and will not support a party that betrays its voters and country," Greene posted. "That does not mean we are turning into Democrats either. But we are DONE with the America LAST Republican Party."

Speaking more on the matter with Morgan, Greene conceded that Carlson would be a formidable future candidate for president, while noting that she has not had direct discussions with him about the idea.

“I haven’t had that direct conversation with Tucker," Greene said. "I know a lot of people are speculating that, and I can tell you right now, Tucker Carlson would be a great threat to both parties because there’s many Americans that are very independent that would support him, but there’s also Republican voters and Democrat voters that would support him. So I would say he’s a very credible threat.”

Conservatives have been attempting to launder the image of a leading 2028 presidential contender, according to one reporter, but the project seems doomed to fail, on account of him being "a massive moron."

Vice President JD Vance has long been viewed as the default frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2028, but his historic unpopularity has cast significant doubt on his chances. As President Donald Trump also becomes toxic with voters, some within the Republican Party and the broader conservative political movement have attempted to rehabilitate his image by pushing him as a "peace candidate," emphasizing his behind-the-scenes opposition to the disastrous war in Iran.

This plan might be facing long odds for success, however.

On Tuesday, the popular X account, FactPost, shared a clip of Vance discussing the intention behind the recent "peace deal" reached between the U.S. and Iran, giving some insight into what Trump views as its real purpose.

"So, I think what the president has told us to do is to use this [memorandum of understanding] to sort of refill the world's oil economy," Vance said during an interview with Michael Knowles. "Refill some stocks, and then to see where the hand is."

In response to that clip, writer and journalist Pedro L. Gonzalez argued that Vance appeared to be giving the game away, revealing the real "cynical logic" behind the Iran deal and jeopardizing his own bona fides as a peace candidates.

"The American Conservative crowd has been trying so hard to repair Vance's image for 2028 as a 'peace' candidate but they did not account for him being a massive moron and publicly confessing the cynical logic behind the MOU, which is not grounded in anything like principle but concerns over midterms," Gonzalez wrote.

Trump has heavily positioned Vance as the face of the peace talks with Iran, and has been quite open about his own cynical reasons for doing so. Last month, Trump, perhaps only half-jokingly, revealed how he plans to approach the peace deal, depending on how it works out.

"If it works out, I’m going to take the credit,” Trump said at a June press conference. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD.”

Sources close to President Donald Trump are fuming, according to a new report from The Hill, expressing frustration over his fixation on a doomed bill that is causing him to "strike out" repeatedly on numerous other issues.

"President Trump is fighting an uphill battle to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, raising questions about why he is investing so much political capital into legislation he has admitted he does not believe will become law," The Hill detailed. "Trump and his allies said it was even more imperative to pass the legislation following Monday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots sent by Election Day to be counted, but at the same time, Trump told reporters he did not believe Congress will approve the measure."

Despite that admission, Trump has remained doggedly committed to pushing for the legislation, believing it is necessary to combat his own false claims of widespread voter fraud. Recently, he canceled the signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing affordability bill, which would have addressed a notable pain point for voters heading into the midterms, insisting that he would not sign it into law until the SAVE Act was passed

Now, sources close to the president are venting about their frustrations with his approach to this situation, with one telling The Hill, "no good manager demands a grand slam every at-bat."

"Singles and doubles win games too," the source said. "The SAVE Act is being run like a grand slam strategy, and we keep leaving runners on base hoping for one instead of taking the sure hits in front of us. Right now, that’s a losing approach: We’re striking out when we should be scoring."

Another source, described as an anonymous GOP strategist, stressed that Trump is wasting time that the party does not have ahead of the midterms.

"You’re creating discord at a time when you’re nearing the 100-day mark out of the midterms," they said. "We actually need to be coalescing your base and coalescing your party, and I think that’s the greater frustration."

While some have argued that the SAVE Act push is just an extension of Trump's effort to convince the world that the 2020 election was stolen from him, the strategist said that pushing for the bill and having it not pass would help him have someone to blame when the party gets thrashed in the midterms.

"He does not want to admit that anything that goes wrong in the midterms is related to him or his brand or his administration; rather, it is the failures of Senate Republicans to nuke the filibuster and get this legislation passed and through,” the strategist explained. “You read ‘The Art of the Deal,’ and it’s you never admit defeat. Even going back to his loss against [former President] Biden, I think he views election interference or that claim as his way to stick to his mantra of never admitting defeat."

President Donald Trump's second term has come to be defined by a seemingly endless series of self-serving grifts, and according to his one-time biographer, there is a particular "demented" fantasy he is using to justify this bottomless greed.

Michael Wolff is a longtime reporter and author, best known for a series of books chronicling the behind-the-scenes chaos of Trump's first term, based on insider White House sources. During the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," he and co-host Joanna Coles touched on the Trump administration's recent deal to allow a company partially owned by the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, to mine tungsten, a key mineral for military projects, in Kazakhstan, with the project receiving up to $1.6 billion in federal funding.

“It’s an extraordinary story,” Wolff said about the deal. “The grift is the grift and the grift is there, but this is... just completely out in the open.”

Speaking further on the matter, Wolff delved into Trump's motivations for self-serving deals and grifts like this, revealing a personal revenge motive that underpins all of it.

“The really interesting thing is what Donald Trump thinks about this,“ Wolff explained. ”We tend to... see him as he’s completely cynical: ‘Just give me the money.’ I don’t think that’s exactly the case. I think it is that he — profoundly in his mind, in his head — believes he deserves this."

He continued, giving voice to Trump's mindset: “‘It’s a fair exchange. I’m Donald Trump, I’m the president of the United States. I should get something out of this.'"

According to financial disclosure documents obtained by the New York Times on Tuesday, Trump took in a "stunning windfall" of around $2.2 billion in 2025, up from just $622 million in 2024, prior to his return to the White House. The report further revealed that the revenue came from a United Arab Emirates-affiliated wealth fund that acquired a major stake in "the Trump family’s main crypto company, World Liberty Financial, a transaction that blurred the line between foreign policy and private enterprise." The Trump organization has also been "licensing the Trump name to properties in countries that are crucial to U.S. foreign policy interests, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar."

“It’s not just grift for him. It’s truly revenge — a revenge that he deserves, that he is due," Wolff added. “This is an important thing and a step beyond... certainly any kind of grift that I’m familiar with, even historical grift. It’s a much more elaborate psychology here in which he deserves it... This is all Donald Trump always against the establishment and the system, and ‘They’ve done me wrong, so I should be paid.’”

Prominent MAGA pundit Steve Bannon ripped into a Trump official he previously championed, per The Hill, chastising him for touting statistics that "nobody believes" and demanding he go further.

Bannon previously served as an influential top aide during President Donald Trump's first campaign and the early months of his first term, and remains a major voice in the MAGA movement by way of his "War Room" podcast. One of the second-term appointees that Bannon championed was FBI Director Kash Patel, who also emerged from the world of far-right podcasts.

Now, however, Bannon appears to be growing displeased with Patel's performance in the job, taking him to task for touting statistics about crime levels during a recent "War Room" episode.

"Kash, I love you brother, but I don’t want to hear any more statistics about how crime’s coming down, crime’s coming down, all that," Bannon said, adding that "nobody believes" what he is claiming.

"Nobody believes the crime statistics anyway, I’m sorry," he continued. "They still don’t feel comfortable walking down a street in Memphis [or] these other places, unless they see the National Guard... I don’t want to hear any crime statistics, I just don’t. It’s not going to move the needle, it’s not going to matter in any voting. Let’s have some urgency, let’s light a fire.”

Bannon further urged Patel to start getting "perp walks of the deep state" if he wants to make serious progress at the FBI. The Hill noted that this comment referred to the notion of an "unproven network of operatives within the federal government that supporters of Trump believe has sabotaged him for years."

The outlet also laid out a fuller picture of the crime statistics Bannon dismissed, which other experts have touted as signs of a remarkable nationwide downturn in violent crime, a trend that long preceded Trump's entry into the White House.

"Violent crime in the U.S. was down 9.1 percent in the U.S. from March 2025 to February of this year, according to the FBI," the outlet explained. "That includes robberies dropping by 19.1 percent, murders declining by 18.7 percent, rapes decreasing by 7.2 percent and aggravated assaults dropping by 6.9 percent. Property crime, meanwhile, dropped by 12 percent during the aforementioned time period, the FBI reported. Motor vehicle thefts decreased by 21.6 percent, while burglaries and larcenies dropped by 15.7 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively. Those declines followed a decrease in violent crime by 9.3 percent and in property crimes by 12.4 percent from 2024 to 2025, according to the FBI."

The path toward undoing the conservative Supreme Court's destructive rulings after the term of President Donald Trump will be arduous, and as one legal scholar argued for the New York Times, it will require three things to be in place.

The Supreme Court has released a new batch of highly contentious rulings favorable to the Trump administration to close out its 2026 term, continuing the conservative-majority court's longstanding trend. This week alone, the court rubber-stamped Trump's authority to fire the heads of independent federal agencies at will, a major democratic setback, and let states keep in place laws that forbid transgender women and girls from competing in women's sports.

Writing for the Times on Tuesday, Kate Shaw, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, argued that the Supreme Court has, with the former ruling, "all but laid waste" to the separation of powers in the federal government.

"With its decision Monday in Trump v. Slaughter, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority has fully embraced the unitary executive theory — the view, popular among Donald Trump’s loyalists, that presidents have unrestrained authority over the executive branch," Shaw wrote. "With this decision, the court has fundamentally reshaped the federal government and handed us an executive branch on steroids. Combine the Supreme Court’s radicalism in this case with the revanchist, overreaching second presidency of Mr. Trump, and the separation of powers as we have known it has been all but laid to waste."

In order to reverse the damage done by the John Roberts court to the constitutional order, Shaw further argued that three things will be needed: "Democratic control of both the House and Senate, and Supreme Court reform." The first two points, she explained, would be needed, "Given how congressional Republicans have coddled Mr. Trump" throughout his second term, making it unlikely they would "ready a list of reforms intended to rein in an out-of-control executive branch, and to reassert legislative primacy" once he leaves office.

"What could that court reform look like? It could mean provisions stripping the Supreme Court of the power to hear challenges to certain newly enacted laws, or legislating supermajority voting requirements so that only a showing of unanimity or close to it can justify invalidating certain laws," Shaw continued. "It could also include statutorily creating additional Supreme Court seats, then moving quickly to fill them with jurists who will not pursue the current court’s apparent goal of boundless power for both the president and itself."

She concluded: "Pairing an agenda for responding to the pathologies displayed in this presidency with an agenda for Supreme Court reform will ensure that the limits of our political imagination and political will can be far broader than what the current six-justice majority will allow."

A new editorial from the Wall Street Journal has, as one reporter argued, given the game away about which Republican the Murdoch media empire wants to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, a group traditionally seen as a leading voice in the American conservative movement, released a new piece titled, "Rubio Holds the Line on Hezbollah," hailing Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a new deal that attempts to rein in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, which threatened to undo the peace deal with Iran.

"The U.S. has brokered another Middle East deal and, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking the lead, this time the deal tries to box Iran out," the board detailed. "The U.S.-Israel-Lebanon Trilateral Framework signed Friday focuses on the only real way for Beirut to regain its sovereignty: disarming Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanese Shiite proxy.”

It continued later: "Some Iran analysts associated with Vice President JD Vance have criticized the framework as 'incompatible' with the memorandum of understanding with Iran. But Trump administration sources tell us this framework is the U.S. interpretation of the MOU’s language regarding Lebanon. On this the Vice President backs Mr. Rubio; nobody on the Trump team wants to force Israel to cede all of southern Lebanon to Iran’s proxy, as Iran demands... Hezbollah wants to turn Lebanon into Gaza. The Rubio accord gives Beirut and Israel the best chance in years to prevent that catastrophe.”

While the piece largely focused on praising the deal as an important step forward and did not comment on the political fortunes of those involved, some argued that such conclusions were still evident. Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA official and national security contributor for MS NOW, argued that this piece was another sign of Rupert Murdoch's conservative media empire taking a side in the 2028 GOP presidential battle.

"From the WSJ Ed Board to the NYPost, pretty clear where Murdoch owned pubs are now heavily tilting for ‘28," Polymeropoulos posted to X in response to the piece. "All in on Rubio, and their disgust is palpable with JD Vance and his (now an open secret in DC) alliance with [Iran war critic Trita] Parsi…"

Vance remains the nominal favorite to succeed Trump as the 2028 GOP presidential nominee, almost exclusively because of his position as vice president. As the months wear on, however, his unpopularity has some power brokers in the party looking elsewhere, with Rubio emerging as a new favorite.

Murdoch's preference for the secretary of state is far from a new development. In their recent book about the second Trump term, journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan revealed that Trump pressed the conservative media tycoon about his thoughts on Vance and Rubio right in front of the two men. Murdoch said that Vance "has the potential to be great," while he said flat out that "Rubio is brilliant."

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume this week tore into President Donald Trump over the spiraling negotiations with Iran, saying it is clear that his administration is "being jerked around by an Iranian regime" like every other administration of the past.

Hume made an appearance on the Monday episode of Special Edition, where host Bret Baier pressed him about the current situation surrounding Iran and its unsteady ceasefire deal with the U.S. Despite being heavily touted by Trump and his allies, the deal seems to be ever on the verge of collapse, with the U.S. firing on Iran after it attacked a ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which it claimed was using an unauthorized path.

Baier shared an X post from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in which he asserted that Iran would follow its parts of the deal if the U.S. did the same, and accused the Trump administration of "unreasonable saber-rattling and baseless threats." Hume said that it remains uncertain whether Pezeshkian, who does not appear to be in control of all the parties involved in Iran's side of the negotiations, would respect a deal that was agreed upon, arguing that Iran is "absolutely notorious for going back on deals, violating ceasefires, violating memoranda of understanding"

"And of course, there's the question of whether they have any control over the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is independent to a great extent of the broader government," Hume said. "It’s hard to resist the conclusion that the President of the United States is being jerked around by an Iranian regime in much the same way that previous administrations have been jerked around."

Hume is long-tenured veteran at Fox News, previously hosting Special Edition until 2008, and remains one of the voices on the conservative network willing to take Trump and his coalition to task for their failures. In April, he warned the GOP that, if elections were held then instead of November, it would have been almost certain that the party would lose badly.

“I think people are concerned about the economy, and the Republicans are likely to pay a price for that,” Hume said. “There’s some hope among Republicans that if we get a successful outcome of this war in Iran, or above Iran actually, that the gasoline prices and other prices will come down, people will feel better about the economy, that [President Donald Trump's] program will bring about some strengthening growth, that some of the measures he’s taken in terms of taxes and regulation will pay off, and that they’ll have a chance of doing well in the midterms.”

He added: "I think the House is a long shot for [Republicans] because the margin is so tiny and historical precedent is so strong that the in-party loses in the midterm in a new president’s first term. I think if the election were held today give how we’re in the middle of this conflict that the House would be obviously gone and a chance that the Senate would go, too.”

President Donald Trump has so far avoided the most dire predictions about how gas prices would react to his war with Iran, but according to experts who spoke with Politico, the win he is currently feeling at the pump could wind up being a "temporary sugar high."

In the wake of the temporary ceasefire deal with Iran and the shaky reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices have fallen at a steady clip, bucking the warnings from energy experts of "$150 barrel of oil, $5 gasoline and summer recessions" as a result of the war. While Americans have certainly felt considerable pain from skyrocketing gas prices, they have nevertheless avoided the worst-case scenarios, despite the worst supply shock in recorded history.

“It’s the weirdest thing,” Rory Johnston, an oil analyst for the Commodity Context newsletter, told Politico. “I’ve never seen a market like this.”

"In addition to reduced Chinese demand, the energy futures market and the cost of actual real-world barrels of oil wildly diverged for much of the war, keeping prices at the pump lower than most thought possible," the outlet explained. "The market continued to focus on Trump’s claims of a quick resolution to the war and his pledge to quickly drop prices while the price of crude oil in some regions spiked upward as the actual barrels available for sale became scarce."

It added: "Trump also used Truth Social to successfully jawbone the markets, repeatedly promising victory and ceasefire, which appears to have helped calm markets and keep oil prices from rising much past $110 per barrel."

Some experts, however, are warning that this good fortune could end up being temporary, and could end as soon as "empty ships return through the strait to load up more crude oil, as Johnston explained.

"That means oil prices are still at risk of a quick spike," the report continued. "The ceasefire also remains incredibly fragile. Iran attacked at least two ships in recent days and the U.S. launched counterstrikes. The latest round of tit-for-tat strikes reduced the number of ships leaving the strait from 57 on June 24 to 12 on June 28, according to Kpler."

The report also added: "China could also ramp up oil imports, Johnston said. And the buffer of oil storage inventories in multiple countries that kept price artificially low in the last few months is virtually gone, as some facilities hit tank bottom, making the market far more vulnerable to future disruptions."

Greg Piddy, who previously worked for the U.S. Energy Information Administration under former President George W. Bush and specializes in energy market disruptions, told the outlet that there are still many things, within Trump's direct control, that could cause prices to spike again, noting that the situation is "still a ticking time bomb."

Republicans in Washington D.C., have come to see the war with Iran and the increasingly fraught efforts to resolve it as a defining issue for the party's 2028 presidential hopefuls, according to The Hill, with some already sweating about the situation becoming a "major political liability."

"Republican senators see the conflict with Iran and the peace negotiations led by Vice President Vance as defining issues of the 2028 presidential primary, in which Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considered the early front-runners," the outlet explained. "While the deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has been panned by Republican defense hawks as too lopsided in Iran’s favor, some GOP lawmakers say it could be an important win for Vance if he gets the United States out of a costly war and Iran relinquishes its nuclear ambitions."

It continued: "But if Iran is able to impose tolls on maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and amass tens of billions of dollars from oil exports while continuing to stockpile weapons-grade nuclear material and back militant proxies throughout the Middle East, the deal could become a major political liability for Vance, GOP lawmakers warn."

One GOP lawmaker, speaking anonymously, told The Hill that it would become a "major problem" for Vance's future prospects if the Iran deal provided that country with "tens of billions of dollars," especially if it "continues to support Hezbollah and Hamas." He further warned that Iran "is not trustworthy” and “has never adhered to an agreement yet."

“All this money for Iran is going to be a real problem,” the senator said. “[Vance] is being asked to sell it. All the money in there for Iran, I just think that’s going to be tough. It’s a lot of money.”

Other Republicans told The Hill that they absolutely believe Trump's seemingly half-joking remarks about pinning the blame for a failed Iran deal on Vance.

“It wasn’t a joke,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told the outlet. “My sense is the president was concerned about the midterm election and gas prices and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, so this gets that open, but I think he’s had to pay a very dear price to get that done. I think we should be clear-eyed and realistic that this isn’t going to persuade the Iranian regime to go in peace.”

For the time being, The Hill noted that Rubio has been "keeping his distance" from the Iran negotiations, "which has clear implications for a potential presidential run in two years." Another anonymous Republican suggested that he could use a failed Iran deal to run in 2028 on his earlier position that the U.S. should be less involved in foreign affairs and remain focused on China.

President Donald Trump has exhibited a worrisome months-long "pattern" of memory decline, as highlighted by one professional pathologist, consistently struggling to remember certain people, even ones from his own family.

Hilary Shae is a speech-language pathologist specializing in concussion recovery and treatment. She is also a prolific political creator, sharing numerous professional insights into the potential signs of Trump's cognitive and physical health decline, often theorizing that he is grappling with dementia and has possibly suffered one or more strokes in recent years.

In her latest video from Monday, Shae highlighted the ongoing pattern of Trump "not knowing who people are when he looks at them, or sees pictures of them," starting with a recent Truth Social post in which he shared a photo of a young blonde woman at the Camp David presidential country retreat in Maryland. Trump claimed that the woman was his "daughter," despite the fact that she was neither Ivanka Trump nor Tiffany Trump. Shae also noted that the quality of the photo appeared to suggest it was taken in the "Bill Clinton era," making it even more unlikely that any of Trump's children would be at Camp David.

"There was no connection to say, 'Hmm, I don't think that actually is one of my daughters,'" Shae said. "And again, this is just the most recent time."

Shae further highlighted other instances in which Trump showed similar lapses in memory. When presented with a photo of his abuse accuser, E. Jean Carroll, during a deposition hearing, he claimed under oath that it was his ex-wife and had to be corrected. Trump has also, at times, claimed that his father immigrated to the U.S. from Germany, despite the fact that it was his paternal grandparents who did that.

Shae also noted how, on many occasions, Trump has asked where certain administration officials are, when they were right behind him at the time.

"When you look at it one time, it can be a mistake, it can be an error," Shae added. "When you see it over and over and over again, it becomes a pattern, and this pattern is consistent with declining and progressing dementia, or some other brain disease or disorder."

She continued: "It is not a good sign that in the last couple of months, I have had to make multiple videos of Donald Trump not knowing who he was looking at in either a picture or in real life, and not being able to find that person if it was in real life. It's a problem. Can you imagine if this was your own father and you were in your house and he was looking at a picture, and he said, 'oh, that's my daughter,' and it was his granddaughter? You would be concerned as well."

In light of bombshell new corruption allegations against President Donald Trump and his family, a former Republican tore into his past colleagues for being asleep at the wheel in the face of "utterly obscene" abuses of the presidency.

Over the weekend, the New York Times published a report detailing how the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are poised to profit from a new deal the federal government just reached with Kazakhstan, granting the U.S. access to key tungsten mines. The deal also appears set to financially enrich the family of Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.

"According to the lengthy Times report, published Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trump personally helped secure Kazakhstan’s agreement to grant mining rights to a U.S.-backed company, Kaz Resources," Mediaite explained in a piece about the Times' finding. The administration also approved preliminary applications for up to $1.6 billion in federal financing for the project, though the funding still requires additional approvals."

It added: "Within weeks of those negotiations, investors linked to Dominari Securities, a financial firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, acquired a 20 percent stake in a corporate entity connected to the Kazakhstan venture. Around the same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, controlled by the Lutnick family and overseen by Howard Lutnick’s sons Brandon and Kyle, helped raise $210 million for a related company involved in the transaction."

Responding to a post sharing this Mediaite coverage, Joe Walsh, an ex-Republican and outspoken conservative critic of Trump, lashed out against his past colleagues in Congress for letting such corrupt abuses take place.

"Public corruption, utterly obscene, at a scale we’ve never seen," Walsh wrote on X. "Why do they do it? [Because] they don’t believe their supporters give a damn about it, and they know the Republican-led Congress won’t do a damn thing about it."

Walsh previously served as a Republican representative in Congress from Illinois, between 2011 and 2013. In light of Trump's ascendance in the party, he became a prominent conservative opponent of his agenda, ultimately leaving the party to become an independent in 2020. In 2025, he went a step further and began referring to himself as a "conservative Democrat."

President Donald Trump is firmly in decline as a "flailing lame-duck," and according to one Fox News analyst, his high-profile feud with Pope Leo XIV has contributed significantly to his loss of support from all but his most devoted base.

Juan Williams is a longtime political analyst for Fox News, serving as one of the highly conservative network's few Democratic voices, and one who is not shy about speaking out critically against Trump. In a Monday morning piece for The Hill, Williams wrote that Trump is "sinking deep into disapproval with voters outside his far-right base," with his numbers sinking into "negative territory on the war in Iran, on the economy, and on immigration."

Amid that decline, Williams argued that there has been "a surprise political player" contributing to Trump's lame-duck downfall: "Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV."

"With the midterms approaching, the first American pope’s defiant opposition to Trump is coming into view as contributing to Trump’s status as a flailing lame-duck," Williams wrote. "Pope Leo is clear in saying Trump is out of step with Christianity’s core teachings: concern for the poor, skepticism of the rich, embrace of the refugees, and love for thy neighbor. These teachings are diametrically opposed to Trump starting war with Iran."

Williams further highlighted an April social media post from the Pope's official X account: “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Despite initially attempting to celebrate and take credit for the first-ever American Pope, Trump has since been engaged in a bitter and often one-sided feud with the Catholic leader, taking personal offense to his remarks calling for immigrants to be treated with dignity and opposing war. In response, the Pope has continued to issue statements construed as direct attacks against Trump's rhetoric, while mostly avoiding ever directly referring to the president.

"While Trump slides in the polls, the pope has climbed to be the most popular leader among Americans with a 57 percent favorability, according to Gallup," Williams added. "The Economist-YouGov polling has the pope with a net favorability of plus 32 while Trump has a rating of negative 22. Most Catholics, regardless of religious observance or demographic group, view Pope Leo favorably. That includes Catholics who regularly attend Mass and those who seldom or never do, according to Pew."

He contined: "When asked about Trump’s approach to Pope Leo in a June survey by the Pew Research Center, far more Catholics say Trump has been too critical of Leo (51 percent) than say he hasn’t been critical enough (4 percent). Trump’s response to the pontiff is to share offensive memes on social media suggesting he should be pope. He also falsely claimed that Pope Leo wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. That’s not true, Mr. President."

Williams concluded with an argument that, in a political age "focused on the high cost of daily life, the rising power of super-rich autocrats and the dominance of artificial intelligence," voters in the U.S. are beginning to yearn for "the pope’s old-school Catholic teachings," as opposed to Trump's way of doing things.

"That hunger is far greater than support for Trump’s new wing on the White House, his bumbling renovation of the reflecting pool or building a golden archway entrance to Washington," he wrote. "Trump seems to have met his judgment day courtesy of the Chicago kid who became pope."

President Donald Trump has had close to a singular focus on his vision for the country's 250th anniversary celebration, but according to an in-depth new report from Time, the plans for this year's Fourth of July have become a "chaotic" mess, with two separate entities vying for control of the festivities.

"This Saturday, on America’s 250th birthday, the U.S. government will host two marquee events on opposite coasts," the report detailed. "One on the National Mall in Washington will feature President Donald Trump, who is billing it as “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all.” The other will be in Los Angeles, with Queen Latifah hosting, and Chris Stapleton, Chaka Khan, and the Smashing Pumpkins performing. The two events are as different tonally as they are geographically. Both are the work of separate federally-aligned groups that are barely acknowledging one another in the run up to the big day. It’s a far cry from what anyone was imagining years ago, when lawmakers began getting serious about preparing for this milestone."

This unorthodox situation is the result of two different entities being established for the purpose of organizing the celebration events. In 2016, Congress formally established America250, a nonpartisan entity committed to planning for the nation's 250th birthday. Upon his return to office in 2025, Trump ordered the creation of Freedom 250, an explicitly White House- and MAGA-affiliated entity tasked with planning anniversary events to the president's liking.

Citing conversations with sources close to each entity, as well as internal documents, Time revealed that a "strained relationship between two committees with dramatically different visions and a lack of willingness to coordinate with each other. The result is a chaotic mix of celebrations that together feel less a celebration of America’s unity and history than the latest reflection of its partisan divide."

"America250’s original plans for the Fourth of July celebration in Washington [were] far less focused on the President," Time detailed. "There was supposed to be a roaring parade weaving through Washington, D.C. with 'diverse floats' and marching bands, a jubilant cultural festival organized by the Smithsonian at the National Mall, and multiple concerts from coast to coast celebrating 'the nation’s cultural diversity.' These were some of the events originally outlined in a September 2024 playbook created by America250 and obtained by TIME."

It continued: "Once Freedom 250 took over, all that changed. The Smithsonian cultural festival, a version which had been hosted at the National Mall every year in late June, was replaced with Trump’s Great American State Fair, At least nine states declined to directly participate in it. On the surface, neither group publicly acknowledges the tension. A spokesperson for America250 rejected the notion that there was any competition between the two, and the latest playbook published on America250’s website praised the Trump administration’s commitment and its vision for the historic milestone. But behind closed doors, grievances are simmering over programming, budgets, and dueling marketing campaigns that befuddled the American public. Freedom250 did not respond to a request for comment from TIME."

Time also noted that tensions became particularly severe after Trump appointed Ariel Abergel, "a former Fox News producer and former aide to First Lady Melania Trump," to serve as executive director for America250. Abergel threw a wrench into the committee's plans, preferring to take a "maximalist approach" and pursue "large-scale, made-for-TV” events that would be difficult to pull off in time. Reports indicated that he was later fired "unilaterally" after committee leaders found his decision to use America250's social media accounts to honor Charlie Kirk in a way that was deemed "inappropriate."

Republicans are "bracing for a tough election season" heading into the 2026 midterms, according to a new report from The Hill, expressing concerns that President Donald Trump remains "out of sync" with the main issues concerning voters.

GOP lawmakers are eager to try and get legislation passed that could address affordability concerns that are weighing heavily on voters' minds, but Trump has continually made their prospects more difficult. In recent months, lawmakers have been frustrated by his remarks about not caring that Americans are struggling against rising costs, as well as his recent insistence that he will not sign a bipartisan affordable housing bill unless Congress passes new voter registration restrictions.

"Trump’s refusal to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is the latest troubling sign for GOP senators, who have pressed Trump for weeks to pay more personal attention to voters’ concerns about rising costs," The Hill detailed in a Monday morning report. "Instead, Trump’s off-the-cuff statements professing 'love' for higher inflation numbers and declaring he’s not thinking about the financial situations of American families while negotiating an end to the conflict with Iran have GOP candidates bracing for a tough election season."

"Living back in the 1970s, I remember I had a car that had about a 12 or 13-gallon gas tank, and when the prices went up, I didn’t have the money to fill it up. I was living literally gas tank to gas tank. We got to acknowledge those situations,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, told the outlet. “The American people will give you a lot of latitude in fixing a problem that they themselves are experiencing if they feel like you’re empathetic with what they’re dealing with and you have a plan to address it. Those are the two things we have to work on."

Trump's last-minute decision to cancel the signing ceremony for the housing bill reportedly left Senate Majority Leader John Thune "shocked." The president later dismissed concerns from his party about the move, insisting that "no one gives a s—— about housing."

Pleas from party officials for Trump to sell voters on the economic accomplishments of his second term have gone largely ignored, with The Hill noting that he is more "preoccupied with cracking down on Republicans who defy him and pushing for Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which has virtually no chance of becoming law."

"His priorities are dealing with national security and voter integrity, and the voters’ biggest concerns are the economy," Republican strategist Ron Bonjean told the outlet. "His priorities aren’t syncing up with the voters’ concerns even though he believes he has the best interests of [Americans] at heart."

Republican leaders are facing an uncertain path forward for their legislative plans, according to The Hill, after a contingent of "conservative hard-liners" mounted a "rebellion" to try and push for President Donald Trump's doomed voting bill.

"Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has an ambitious legislative agenda this week, but it’s unclear whether he can move those priorities forward as a group of conservative hard-liners demand action on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act," the outlet reported on Monday morning."

Trump has been pushing hard for the passage of the SAVE America Act, a bill that would implement sweeping voting law reforms if passed, notably requiring individuals to present proof of citizenship when registering to vote. His obsession with the bill stems from his long-debunked claims that widespread voter fraud is being committed by non-citizens in the U.S., with critics warning that the bill would potentially disenfranchise millions of lawful citizens who lack easy access to things like their passports or birth certificates.

Despite GOP leaders in Congress stressing to Trump that the bill lacks the votes to overcome the filibuster in the Senate, he has remained adamant that it must be passed, recently refusing to sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill until it was done. As The Hill noted in its report, he has been joined in this crusade by some of his more hard-line GOP supporters.

"President Trump urged House Republicans last week to fall in line after conservative rebels brought most House floor activity to a standstill by threatening to oppose procedural rules unless the Senate passed the SAVE America Act," the report continued. "Because the House must adopt a rule before debating and voting on final passage of most legislation, the tactic effectively ground the chamber to a halt."

The outlet added: "Whether Trump’s appeal will be enough to sway the holdouts remains an open question. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna(R-Fla.) wrote on social media last week that she had submitted an amendment to the House Rules Committee to attach the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signaling she is unwilling to back down."

"This amendment to attach the SAVE America Act to the NDAA was filed last week and is now sitting in the Rules Committee," Luna wrote. "This is how to get my vote on a rule. But I am one of MANY."

GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas was also adamant about the bill, urging his colleagues to "immediately pass HR2 (promised) to codify border security, a congressional stock trading ban, get SAVE passed, & fully fund defense with real pay-fors."

Given the razor-thin GOP majority in the House, Johnson cannot afford more than a few holdouts at any given time, putting the chances of his other priorities moving forward in jeopardy.

President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are in "a race against time," according to The Hill, as they face "bleak" odds of addressing one of voters' biggest concerns ahead of the midterm races.

The cost of living and general economic affordability remain the most pressing issues for voters this year, and numerous polls have indicated that a significant number of them blame Trump directly for the current state of affairs, particularly the problem of runaway inflation. In the face of his mounting unpopularity, the GOP has been staring down increasingly worse midterm odds and seems poised to lose one or both of its congressional majorities to Democrats in November.

According to a Monday morning report from The Hill, Trump and his party are desperately "hoping that inflation can be bent downward in time to revive their chances in November’s midterm elections," but their outlook is not strong.

"New data released late last week on personal consumption expenditures (PCE) showed inflation above 4 percent," the outlet explained. "Even excluding food and gas costs, so-called core inflation was at 3.4 percent for the year ending in May. This, in turn, makes an imminent reduction in interest rates by the Federal Reserve much less likely — despite Trump’s clamoring for it."

The report continued: "Gas prices also remain elevated, with the national average cost per gallon at $3.90 on Friday, according to AAA. Although down from its apex, this price is still almost $1 above the level that was seen just before Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Iran in late February."

The Hill also noted some signs of hope for the party, specifically the plummeting cost of oil in the wake of Trump's shaky ceasefire deal with Iran. This, however, does not guarantee that the prices consumers see at the pump will be down enough before November.

“We have time, but we don’t have that much time,” GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak told The Hill. “There are several reasons for Republicans to believe things are going to get better. The questions are: How much better are they going to get, and how much are voters going to feel it?”

"The polling numbers demonstrate just how steep a climb the president and his party are facing," the outlet added. "Inflation is consistently the issue on which Trump performs worst when voters are asked about his performance in office. In the polling averages maintained by RealClearPolitics, Trump’s net rating is almost 40 points underwater on the topic. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found that just 22 percent of adults approved of how Trump was handling their cost of living, while 69 percent disapproved."

It continued later: "Most pertinently of all, inflation has remained stubborn. In November 2024, the month of Trump’s reelection, the annualized rate of inflation was 2.7 percent. The reading one year later was exactly the same. The rate ebbed slightly at the start of this year, only to ramp up again as a consequence of the war with Iran."

The Trump Pentagon has been rocked by controversy over a recent spate of firings and blocked promotions, and now, one lawmaker has accused President Donald Trump's defense chief of being motivated by a petty "grudge" as he causes significant damage to the military.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has come under significant fire over the course of his tenure for removing several respected and experienced officers and blocking others from receiving promotions. He most recently took flak for the latter after the already-approved promotions of several Naval officers, most of them being either women or people of color.

Critics have put forward various theories for what could be driving this trend, including a desire to punish or remove officers who took part in past diversity initiatives, or a plot to remove non-loyalists who might stand in the way of a 2028 "auto-coup" to keep Trump in power.

During a Sunday appearance on CBS News's Face the Nation, Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, put forward another theory of what is driving Hegseth: "personal" revenge for his own time in the armed services. Kaine specifically touched on the recent ouster of General Chris Donahue, a highly respected officer whose departure even caused alarm among conservatives.

“Are you pushing out the truth tellers to surround yourself by yes-men? And in particular, it looks like the secretary is coming down hardest… on the Army,” Kaine told CBS host Margaret Brennan. “He served in the Army, he felt like he wasn’t treated well by the Army, that’s a grudge he’s carried that he’s described publicly."

Kaine added: “And so, when you see Army officers forced out, you got to wonder, is this a personal thing, or is it really what’s best for the nation?”

"Donahue, the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, submitted his paperwork to retire earlier this week after a little over a year in his role, according to a Pentagon official," The Hill detailed in a report about Kaine's remarks. "Donahue's departure is the latest in a lengthy list of military leaders Hegseth has either removed or pushed out. That includes Gen. CQ Brown Jr., the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Navy’s chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Frachetti; the commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Linda Fagan; Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff; and Gen. James Mingus, the vice chief of staff of the Army."

Donahue's ouster drew criticism from GOP lawmakers as well.

"Strong leaders are not threatened by accomplished commanders," Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote in a social media post. "Weak ones are. [Hegseth's] paranoid micromanagement of senior military leaders and promotion lists is pure insecurity dressed up as reform."

The GOP has become embroiled in a bitter and "extraordinary feud," according to a new report from The Washington Post, over the actions of a "virtually unknown" but vital Trump appointee within the Pentagon.

Elbridge Colby is the current undersecretary of defense for policy, a position which, the Post explained, "serves a vital role as the Pentagon’s chief strategist on issues such as counterterrorism and nuclear deterrence." Additionally, unlike his bosses, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg, he came to the position with actual prior Pentagon experience.

Despite that leg up, Colby has enraged many Republican lawmakers since he was appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by Congress. The Post's report noted a particularly caustic relationship with Rep. Mike D. Rogers, an Alabama Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who took Colby "at his word" when he told the congressman that he was not aware of any upcoming overseas troop reductions. Rogers, who maintains a considerably close relationship with Romania, was then stunned and betrayed to learn that the Trump administration would be removing a key "Army brigade that had fortified NATO’s eastern flank since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine."

Colby claimed to the Post that a final order had not been issued in October when he took that meeting with Rogers, also stressing that he is "very careful about what I say and what I don’t say." Nonetheless, his relationship with the Republican-led chambers of Congress has only soured since then.

"In the months since, House and Senate Republicans have conducted more aggressive oversight of Colby than nearly any other Trump appointee," the Post detailed. "They have overruled his policies and blocked the confirmation of two officials nominated to serve as his top deputies. At least two prominent Republicans have publicly accused him of dishonesty. The extraordinary feud has become an open proxy war within the GOP, people familiar with the dispute said, as Republicans with starkly different ideas of America’s rightful role in the world each have argued their camp best represents President Donald Trump’s vision for an 'America First' foreign policy."

Colby came under scrutiny prior to his confirmation, particularly from GOP war hawks, for his comments attacking the idea of escalating U.S. support for Ukraine, while also dismissing the potential for a military campaign against Iran. Now, he has changed his tune considerably and voiced support for Trump's haphazard conflict with the Middle Eastern nation.

The report further noted that GOP critics have attacked Colby as something of an "enforcer of the Trump administration’s transactional approach to U.S. allies," demanding in speeches and posts "that partners from Europe to East Asia increase their defense spending and prepare for less American support." He has also drawn the ire of certain lawmakers for his attempt to block a congressional delegation from visiting Taiwan, fearing backlash from China.

Lawmakers have also vented during hearings about Colby's poor communication with Congress.

“You know who the hardest guy to get a hold of in the Trump administration is? The undersecretary of defense for policy,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, told one of Colby's top deputies during their confirmation hearing.

A Grammy-winning and platinum-selling musician has been exposed for a planned performance at a Trump-family-owned "MAGA millionaire club," according to a new report from The Daily Beast, after previously throwing their support behind President Donald Trump's political agenda.

According to the outlet's Sunday morning report, rapper and businessman Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson will put on a performance on July 3 at an expensive and exclusive Washington, D.C., club with close connections to the Trump family.

"The Grammy Award-winning rapper will take the stage at Executive Branch, the swanky Georgetown club co-owned by the president’s eldest son [Donald Trump Jr.], on July 3, sources told the Daily Beast," the outlet reported. "Trump Jr. opened the club, which charges an annual membership fee of $500,000, alongside financiers Omeed Malik and Christopher Buskirk of 1789 Capital."

As the report also noted, Jackson's support for Trump has shifted erratically over the years, often seeming highly influenced by negative public reactions.

"For his part, 50 Cent has a history of shifting his stance on Trump, 80," the report detailed. "In 2019, the rapper told The Daily Beast that Trump had offered him half a million dollars to attend his inauguration but that he turned it down because 'every dollar is not a good dollar.' The following year, he voiced support for Trump before later tweeting, 'F——k Trump, I never liked him,' reversing course amid backlash."

The report added: "While 50 Cent has not commented publicly on Trump’s politics, his appearance at the Executive Branch appears to signal a change of heart on his part. The club has become a gathering place for well-connected figures within and around the Trump administration. Members reportedly include White House artificial intelligence adviser David Sacks, crypto investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and State Department Under Secretary Jacob Helberg. Former Rep. Mike Gallagher is also said to frequent the club as a guest."

In 2024, Jackson made headlines when he claimed in an interview to have turned down a $3 million payday to perform at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. He claimed to be "afraid about politics" because of the hostile reactions any given stance could elicit, further citing the career downfall of Kanye West after he expressed strong support for Trump and the MAGA movement.

Jackson is reportedly just the latest in a string of hip-hop artists who have performed at Trump Jr's club, following on from the likes of Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule and Timbaland.

President Donald Trump is saddling his own party with an "impossible task" with the all-important midterms looming, according to one GOP lawmaker, insisting upon his longstanding obsession with a bill that lacks the votes to pass in the Senate.

Last week, Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill until Republicans in Congress passed the SAVE America Act, a bill that would change election laws in ways that critics argue would disenfranchise millions of voters. Under the bill, Americans would be required to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, such as a passport or birth certificate. Studies have found that millions of Americans lack quick and easy access to these sorts of documents.

So far, the bill has stalled out, as it lacks the 60 votes necessary to overcome the Senate's filibuster threshold. GOP leaders have also been resistant to Trump's demand that they bypass filibuster rules, or nuke the rule altogether, in order to pass the bill, which he insists is needed to combat his false claims of non-citizens committing widespread voter fraud. This obsession is now holding up a bill that could help address a major affordability pain point for voters, who have long signaled that the cost of living is their biggest concern heading into the 2026 midterms.

Speaking about the situation during a Sunday appearance on CNN, Sen. Thom Tillis, an outgoing North Carolina Republican and outspoken Trump critic, ripped into Trump's demand, arguing that it is making the party's job vastly more difficult heading into the midterms.

"You know, I have people telling me I need to implement the SAVE Act immediately in North Carolina, in a state that has voter ID," Tillis told host Jake Tapper. "[Why] do I, over the next four months, have to try to pursue the impossible task of implementing a bill that simply can’t be implemented in that timeframe?"

He continued: "Why are we doing more things that undermine our confidence in elections rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?... Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections. This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and another scorned conservative rival of Trump, added during a recent CBS News interview that such voter ID measures were not needed at the national level, comparing it to the situation in his own state, which "had a reputation for corrupt elections" before ID laws were enacted.

President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair has suffered numerous setbacks already, but as the Daily Beast reported, it has been hit with a new embarrassment as a monument structure at the event appears to be literally falling apart.

The fair, currently underway in Washington, D.C., is being held as part of the festivities surrounding America's 250th anniversary. Since its announcement, it has been beset with setbacks, including numerous musical acts dropping out of a free concert series due to controversy. Now, it is also facing withering reports about its sparse attendance numbers, which have set off Trump's long-established obsession with crowd sizes.

In a report from Sunday, The Daily Beast noted a new development from the fair pertaining to one of Trump's other major obsessions: his D.C. construction projects. The event features a smaller mockup of the enormous "triumphal arch" that Trump intends to build near the Potomac River, and in addition to jokes about its meager size, attendees have also noted that bits of it are starting to fall off.

"The mini arch, which online critics have compared to the undersized Stonehenge in This Is Spinal Tap!, is installed at the event to remind the public of another expensive vanity project—currently estimated at $100 million—that the president hopes will mark his legacy," the report detailed. "The actual arch, modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, would soar 250 feet if it is completed, making it nearly twice as high as the Lincoln Memorial and even taller than France’s iconic monument."

The outlet continued: "As for the mock-up: it appeared to be coming apart, with spectators telling The New York Times that the vinyl covering stretched over its wooden frame had already begun to wrinkle and separate... Reports of the deteriorating arch come hard on the heels of the peeling paint and blooming algae in Trump’s $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which is currently fenced off and closed while the president attempts to undo the damage."

The report further noted that the actual arch "would require crews to work 20 hours a day for two to three years using several cranes up to 320 feet tall," per planning documents from the Department of the Interior. If completed, the unpopular arch would dwarf the rest of the D.C. skyline and disrupt iconic views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House.

"Critics have slammed the project as a massive, egocentric waste of money, while veterans groups have complained that its proximity to Arlington National Cemetery, where more than 400,000 veterans are buried, is sacrilegious," The Daily Beast added. "The huge monument would forever eradicate historic sightlines of iconic D.C landmarks and green space."

President Donald Trump has a massive decision to make for 2028 that could have wide-ranging consequences for the political landscape, but according to a new report from USA Today, he "isn't sold" yet on his available choices.

Despite his earlier musings about pushing for an illegal third term in the White House, Trump is term-limited by the Constitution and will have to leave office after the 2028 election. On his way out, he is expected to endorse a GOP presidential candidate, and given the huge sway he retains over Republican voters, that decision could ultimately decide who secures the nomination.

Even as he becomes more and more unpopular, Vice President JD Vance remains the presumptive favorite for the nomination. Trump, however, has remained mum about his endorsement plans, and he could very well throw the race to someone besides his running mate if he so chose.

Multiple sources who spoke to USA Today for a Sunday morning report indicated that Trump is far from certain about his big 2028 decision, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio being the other major contender vying for his approval.

"In conversations with nearly a dozen sources close to the White House, most of whom requested anonymity to discuss private interactions, allies of the president and vice president said Trump isn’t sold on Vance as his 2028 pick," the report detailed. "The president has been asking those around him what they think of Vance and Rubio, a more seasoned politician who has become one of Trump’s most trusted advisers on international affairs."

It continued: "It’s the ultimate game of 'The Apprentice,' and Trump feels he still has plenty of time to decide, one person close to the White House said. Vance has not said publicly whether he intends to run for higher office. But he’s been seizing the spotlight as he lays the foundation for a potential bid through the promotion of his new book, 'Communion,', 'Communion,' and interviews tied to the Iran peace negotiations. He insists he's focused on helping Republicans win the November midterms and excelling at the vice presidency."

It is reasonable to argue that Trump still has time to consider his endorsement plans. While speculation is perpetual, presidential campaign seasons do not typically kick into gear until, at the earliest, the prior midterms cycle wraps up, with candidates typically waiting a while after that to declare. Trump himself bucked that tradition, declaring almost immediately after the 2022 midterms, but reports suggest that this was mostly part of a plan to help him dodge prosecutions.

"Although the 2028 lineup is far from settled, speculation on the GOP side largely centers around the two highest-ranking Cabinet officials," USA Today continued. "The president is heavily focused on who has the best chance of winning, two people close to the White House said. And he’s looking at Rubio, a former Florida senator and 2016 presidential contender, and wondering if he’d have a better shot than Vance, they said. Vance has long been viewed as more closely aligned with the MAGA base, with Rubio facing suspicions about his work on immigration reform and hawkish record. But the Trump competitor-turned-close-ally has clearly made up ground."

President Donald Trump has yet another Washington, D.C., makeover project dominating his mind, and according to the Washington Post, it all has to do with counting the number of trees close to the White House.

While voters consistently tell pollsters that they are struggling with the cost of living and blame the president for the rough shape of their economy, Trump has remained almost singularly fixated on numerous projects attempting to renovate, remodel and remake the nation's capital to his own liking. This has involved everything from an enormous and costly ballroom for the White House to painting the Reflecting Pool blue to plotting a massive "triumphal arch" near the Potomac River.

Now, in a Sunday morning report, the Washington Post exposed his latest fixation: the number of trees at Lafayette Park across the street from the White House. Trump has reportedly demanded that the public park, which he has dubbed "the entrance to the White House," feature 47 trees to commemorate his current presidency.

"President Donald Trump in recent months has cultivated a side project: counting the number of trees in a public park across the street from the White House," the report detailed. "Under Trump’s plans for Lafayette Square, which he has previously described as 'the entrance to the White House,' the public park would feature 47 trees, matching his status as the nation’s 47th president, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail the administration’s plans for the park. The trees would all be maples, a favorite of the president’s."

It added later: "The park has historically contained several dozen trees, although some have been taken out during renovations. It’s unclear how many additional trees Trump would plant to get to 47 and whether he would remove any existing trees as part of his effort. Officials cautioned that as with Trump’s other building and design projects — which they have acknowledged he has tended to micromanage — nothing is final until the president formally announces it."

Lafayette Park is situated to the north of the White House and is managed by the National Park Service. It has been undergoing renovations since January. Trump has previously pledged that these renovations will be completed by July 4, a date he is pushing hard for on numerous projects, so that they can be ready for the nation's 250th birthday.

The Post, however, noted that sources close to the project estimate that such a timeline is highly unlikely, and that Lafayette Park is more likely to reopen in August at the earliest.

"The president’s plans to memorialize his presidency in tree form, which have not previously been reported, represent one more way that Trump is seeking to put his imprint on the White House and its grounds," the report explained further. "Trump has torn down the East Wing to begin building his planned ballroom, paved over the Rose Garden, installed new statues, and overhauled the Palm Room and the colonnade outside the West Wing, among other projects."

It continued: "Trump has claimed that he made a multimillion-dollar contribution to Lafayette Square’s renovations, but he has not provided evidence of his gift. The administration has not publicly posted contracting documents for the project. The administration also did not present its plans for Lafayette Square to federal review panels before beginning its work. Trump, a real estate developer before entering politics, has a long history of picking out trees for his projects and has expressed particular fondness for maple trees."

President Donald Trump's recent speech for America's 250th birthday celebration was riddled with "significant" signs of possible "neurological decline," according to one licensed pathologist, particularly his numerous slurred mispronunciations of certain words and phrases.

On Wednesday, Trump delivered a speech at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as part of the "Great American State Fair" event that has been plagued with controversy in recent weeks. The online discourse after the event was dominated by videos that appeared to show crowds leaving midway through his speech, leading to more speculation about the event's lackluster crowd sizes, but according to one medical professional's observations, Trump's own words indicated that something could be seriously wrong with his cognitive health.

Hilary Shae is a licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in concussion recovery, and she has also emerged as a political content creator who offers professional insights into the signs that Trump may be suffering from notable physical and neurological decline. In her latest video from Saturday, she highlighted some of the things that Trump struggled to pronounce throughout the speech, including things like "250th anniversary," "magnificent," "ancient ruins," "Los Angeles" and "horizon."

In some cases, Trump's attempt to pronounce these words trailed off near the end, and in others, he mispronounced the word entirely, often not bothering to double back and try again. As Shae explained, these speech difficulties were "consistent" with certain conditions that can be caused by things like dementia or suffering a stroke, two things that she has previously suggested that Trump might be struggling with, based on his observable symptoms. These flubbed lines, she added, are often referred to as "phonemic paraphasias."

"Phonemic paraphasias are when the motor speech required to coordinate words and syllables together are not coordinated appropriately," she explained. "For example, if I wanted to say 'telephone,' but I accidentally said 'tephelone,' that would be a phonemic paraphasia, because my sounds got mixed up.

She continued: "And that is what's happening a lot of the time with Donald Trump's speech. The coordination for the syllables and order... the more syllables that you have, the higher level motor coordination is required to maintain appropriate speech-sound coordination."

Shae also suggested that this issue could be the result of dysarthria, a condition in which the weakening of muscles required for speech can cause patients to struggle speaking, causing them to sound slurred or slowed down. She argued that this is one of the more recent symptoms that Trump has shown, as is noticeable when he trails off at the ends of certain words, especially ones that are three or more syllables long.

"The fact that there are so many examples of these speech difficulties in one 30-minute speech means that Donald Trump is getting worse," Shae argued. "Whatever is going on, whether it's dementia, whether it's a stroke, whether it's a combination, whether it's congestive heart failure, whether it's whatever it might be, his neurological abilities are declining significantly."

A prominent biographer of President Donald Trump has exposed new details about the reaction within his administration to his unusually sycophantic young aide, claiming that some in his inner circle have been "appalled" by the situation.

Natalie Harp, 34, is an executive assistant to the president, having previously worked at the right-wing One America News Network prior to becoming his full-time aide during his years away from the White House. She has become known to those close to Trump or familiar with his close associates as a "human printer," carrying around a portable printer that allows her to share hard copies of positive news coverage or social media posts about him, no matter where he goes. This, many have observed, has given her an inordinate amount of sway over the information that Trump receives.

Her oddly close relationship to the president has been documented since the start of his second term, with reports emerging that her "obsession" with him had raised alarms in the Secret Service, but she returned to the news spotlight in recent weeks after new revelations about her, including her adoring letters to Trump, were exposed in a new book from reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

Michael Wolff is a longtime journalist and author, best known for his extensive coverage of Trump's personal and political lives, and in the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," he provided his own details about Harp, her conduct concerning the president and the alarm that it has caused within his administration.

"Everything that he reads is funneled through Natalie Harp because she’s the human printer," Wolff explained. "The stuff that she prints out is this laudatory stuff. Anything laudatory, she’s searching for at all times and then giving to the president. Other things that will cause him ire—actually, that would be her agenda. So things that cause her ire—that will also cause the president's ire—that goes to him.”

Haberman and Swan's book generated significant headlines about Harp's letters to Trump, specifically one in which she proclaims that, "You are all that matters to me." Speaking further about her role, Wolff revealed more of the things that Harp has written in these messages.

“In this pile of papers, she also frequently includes personal notes to him, and notes that, you know, [say] ‘You’re the alpha and the omega,’ ‘The be all and end all,’ ‘What would I be without you?’” Wolff added.

He continued later: “Natalie Harp’s story is a piece of work. Everybody was in a major kerfuffle over this, including the Secret Service warning the president of the United States, or warning aides to the president whose job it was then to bring to the president whether they did or not, that they saw her as a danger to herself and to him... Those notes, the Natalie Harp notes, were passed to me by other aides of the president who were equally as appalled by this. And that’s one of the things that exists, currently, in the Trump White House, this tension that this is a person who the president has allowed to become really his closest confidant.”

President Donald Trump's administration has become mired in embarrassment over his latest botched remodeling project, but according to a new analysis from MS NOW, the threats he has made in response to the affair reveal him as both "comical" and "ominous."

As part of his ongoing campaign to remodel iconic fixtures of Washington, D.C., to his own liking, Trump made a big deal out of his plan to have the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool painted a color he called "American Flag Blue." Once the project — handed off to a GOP donor through a swift no-bid contract — was completed, it promptly blew up in his face, as the pool became overrun with green algae, which numerous experts have said was actively made worse by the change in color.

Despite the administration's efforts, the algae have remained, threatening to stick around as a highly visible embarrassment for Trump during the country's 250th birthday celebrations. In response to this predicament, Trump has tried to save face by claiming that the algae bloom was caused by vandals, with a former Olympian getting arrested and charged by the U.S. Park Police after touching a piece of peeling paint in the Reflecting Pool. Multiple other people near the pool, whom Trump accused of being "vandals," have also been arrested, though there have been no charges leveled against them.

Writing for MS NOW on Saturday, political strategist Symone Sanders-Townsend argued that "the ongoing debacle of the Reflecting Pool has been a helpful distillation of [Trump's] approach" to governance: "Make a big promise, use it to reward your allies, blame setbacks on your opponents, criminalize dissent and then attack the press."

"The first three steps are fairly common in politics, especially among populists with little experience in government," she explained. "But it’s the last two that turn Trump into something more than just a run-of-the-mill incompetent politician. Authoritarianism often begins with the habit of treating ordinary problems as criminal conspiracies. A court strikes down his policy, and he calls the judge 'crooked' or 'corrupt.' A protest escalates, and he calls the protesters 'paid agitators.'”

She added: "If an authoritarian government cannot accept criticism, then it has to label critics enemies. If it cannot admit a mistake, then it has to blame sabotage. And if it cannot accept failure, then it has to find someone to punish."

Sanders-Townsend further argued that while it may be "comical" to see Trump deploy this predictable authoritarian playbook over something like the Reflecting Pool debacle, it is also "ominous" and must be taken seriously. This sort of impulse, she explained, is exactly why the nation's founders "built a system designed to restrain power rather than indulge it."

"The Reflecting Pool is simply the latest reminder that, in Trump’s Washington, the line between politics and criminality is growing dangerously thin," she continued. "That’s because the common thread is not just inflammatory rhetoric. It is the growing weaponization of government against ordinary political activity and the ordinary people who engage in it. When a president begins treating ordinary politics as criminality, it does not stay rhetorical for long. Eventually, someone gets investigated. Someone gets detained. Someone gets arrested."