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President Donald Trump admitted that Americans’ financial comfort is not at all on his mind as he walks into meetings with international spokespeople on the continuing Iranian situation.

Trump spoke with reporters during a scrum before departing to a meeting with international reps on improving the mess Trump created when he joined Israel in joint missile strikes against the nation of Iran.

That violence kicked off a retaliatory response from Iran by closing the Strait of Hormuz, and causing a uptick in global and U.S. fuel and grocery prices.

But Trump effortlessly acknowledged that the pain his strikes have caused to U.S. voters was not strong on his mind.

“Mr. President, what extent are Americans’ financial situation motivating you to make a deal [with Iran]” a reporter shouted just before the president walked away.

“Not even a little bit,” Trump immediately answered. “The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

This reaction will not likely garner happy thoughts from Americans suffering price increases at the pump nor Republicans who are facing a voter backlash from ailing voters in November.

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In October 2025, Bloomberg News reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese government officials were offering to invest $1 trillion in the United States in exchange for getting a break on tariffs. But according to The Hill's Sophie Brams, a growing number of MAGA Republicans are voicing their opposition to the proposed deal.

One of them is former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia).

In a May 11 post on X, formerly Twitter, Taylor posted, "The war in Iran must be going worse than we know as the Strait remains closed. So much so that China may be allowed to build $1 Trillion in factories in the U.S. probably in exchange for help with Iran. I’m old enough to remember when MAGA was demanding China not be allowed to own any land in America. But MAGA is whatever Trump says it is, according to him, so now it’s for foreign wars and China. Shocking."

Fox News' Laura Ingraham, reporting on the deal, posted "!!" And another right-wing media figure, radio and host and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, posted, "omg."

Conservative columnist Gordon G. Chang is vehemently opposed to the proposed $1 trillion deal.

On X, Chang wrote, "China's regime will use investments in America to subvert and destroy our country. Do not allow our enemy more bases of subversion here."

Steve Johnson, a self-described "America First/MAGA conservative," tweeted, "China is our number 1 enemy and it's not even close. It's crazy after what they did in 2020 and have been doing, that we continue relationships with them. I would label them a terrorist country if I was President. They have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans using cartels bringing in fentanyl and bring over viruses into our Country. They have Chinese national spy's in our Universities and have setup illegal bio labs as well, etc… F–– China."

The Wall Street Journal's Joseph C. Sternberg, in a recent op-ed, posed the question: "What happens when Europeans find out how poor they are?" Sternberg argued that the "widening gap between American and European prosperity" was showing itself with "gross domestic product."

But liberal economist Paul Krugman disagrees with the premise of Sternberg's op-ed in a Substack column, stressing that "European incomes relative to American incomes have not declined, because GDP growth as conventionally measured doesn't mean what many people think it means." And he poses a question of his own: "What happens when Americans realize how miserable we are?"

Krugman acknowledges that Americans are not miserable "in all respects."

"But my guess is that relatively few Americans realize how much we are falling behind other nations on basic aspects of a civilized life, like health and safety," the former New York Times columnist explains. "Take the issue of life expectancy, which surely matters as much as GDP. After all, one important contributor to the quality of life is not being dead. Judging from reader reactions to earlier posts, many generally well-informed Americans are still startled to learn how badly U.S. life expectancy has lagged behind other advanced nations. ... This life expectancy gap will surely grow in the years ahead, thanks to the Trump Administration's attacks on both health coverage and modern medicine, including but not limited to the widening assault on vaccines. ... Or consider infant mortality, where the United States not only does much worse than other rich nations but now does worse than some much poorer countries."

Krugman points out that "murder rates are still far higher in the U.S. than in Europe" — for example, 5.8 homicides per 100 people compared to only 1.3 in France, 1.1 in the UK, and 0.6 in Italy.

"Mortality is a useful point of comparison because it's easily quantifiable," Krugman notes. "So, to a lesser extent, is work-life balance. ... The average U.S. private-sector worker receives only 10 days of paid vacation and 6 paid holidays annually. And the U.S. is, of course, the only advanced nation that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all its citizens. Other problems with the U.S. way of life — like our lack of walkable cities, access to public transportation, and feasibility of living without a car — are harder to summarize with simple numbers. But they are real failings. ... And many Americans would, I believe, be angry if they realized how much worse our lives are in many ways than those of our counterparts abroad."

Republicans got a line-by-line accounting of how President Donald Trump is spending $1 billion on his 90,000-square-foot ballroom at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Axios, the White House is making the case that the project will include a range of "security measures." The cost of the ballroom started at just $200 million, then doubled in size and in budget. The security measures were already included in the cost, according to the court filings from White House that date back to February.

At the end of March, Judge Richard Leon issued a ruling to pause the ballroom construction project. The White House has since claimed that the ballroom is about security, but Leon didn't buy it. Planned for under the ballroom is a massive structure to replace the "bunker" with a nicer space, as well as add other offices.

The administration's claim is that the entire ballroom project is necessary for national security because of the bunker's reconstruction. But Judge Leon issued a clarification on April 16, saying that the bunker and the ballroom are not the same projects and that the security portion may continue. It's the ballroom that may not.

Since the White House Press Correspondents' Association dinner, Trump and his allies in Congress have claimed that the ballroom is necessary to protect Trump from frequent attacks on him when he is in public

Politico reporter Meredith Lee Hill said the White House's efforts indicate it intends to lean "heavily" on Republicans to approve the $1 billion.

One House Republican went so far as to say it’s going to be “ugly."

Indeed, recent polls taken before and after the gunman rushed Secret Service agents at the White House Correspondents' dinner show that just 28 percent of Americans support the ballroom project.

The White House wants the GOP to add $1 billion into the budget reconciliation package that will also fund ICE and Border Patrol.

Axios reported that the one-page document lists specifics on the funding. What the piece listed, however, has nothing to do with the ballroom itself. They cite "hardening" the White House complex to add "bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other threat filtration and detection systems."

According to a 2011 BBC report, all windows in the White House are already bullet-resistant. A 2020 report from Business Insider said that the White House has a specialized air-ventilation system, too.

Another investment is Trump's demand for a $180 million "new White House visitor security screening facility." The plan for this was already in place, an April 2, 2026 document from the National Capital Planning Commission showed. It was first announced in March by Politico.

It also asks for $175 million twice. Once for Secret Service training "in the modern threat environment" and another for "improving security for Secret Service protectees." Trump's five children all have Secret Service protection. The Secret Service budget was increased last year to $3.5 billion, according to the 2026 Department of Homeland Security budget.

The first line-item includes funds for "drone detection technology," but it also asks again for $150 million for the Secret Service's "work to counter drones, airspace incursions, unmanned systems, biological threats and other emerging threats through investments in state-of-the-art technologies."

All drones are banned in Washington D.C., within a 15-mile radius of downtown. A 30-mile radius bans recreational drones unless they are officially registered and marked. They must fly below 400 feet at all times and cannot be near airspace, the FAA website explains. The U.S. military currently monitors all drone activity in the region. So does the Federal Air Marshal Service. They use special sensors and software running 24/7 to identify drone operators' locations, according to a March 2026 report from Forbes. Trump has also requested a so-called "drone-proof roof," Trump told reporters in March, the New York Times reported.

Trump also wants a $100 million budget to heighten security for "high-profile national events," Axios closed.

A Texas Republican was criticized on Tuesday for a "desperate act" of pandering to President Donald Trump after failing to secure his midterm endorsement, leading some to suspect his campaign is about to crash and burn.

Sen. John Cornyn has been running for reelection to his seat in Texas, and has faced stiff primary competition from the state's scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton, who has come after the senator from the right and positioned himself as the more heavily MAGA-aligned candidate. Paxton has also been seen as the candidate that Democrats would have an easier time beating in the general election, creating a notably tense primary standoff that will go to a runoff on May 26.

So far, Trump has declined to endorse either candidate, with some in the MAGA sphere urging him to back an ally like Paxton, while others have pushed him to back the safer choice in Cornyn. With polling and momentum slipping away from the senator, Cornyn on Tuesday announced a proposal that seemed tailor-made to curry Trump's favor: naming a highway in Texas after him.

"I am proud to introduce legislation to rename US Highway 287 as Interstate 47 in honor of our 47th President [Donald Trump]," Cornyn posted to his official X account. "My bill will upgrade one of our nation’s longest highways to a future interstate and save more than $5 BILLION in travel costs, all while honoring the most effective and influential president of our lifetime. Texas is Trump Country & this bill cements [Trump's] legacy by designating nearly 1,800 miles of open road to forever be known as the Trump Interstate."

The move was swiftly roasted as one of obvious desperation by numerous other X users.

"The internal polling must be real ugly to pull out this desperate act," Daily Kos writer Emily C. Singer wrote in a post to X.

"Things are getting desperate in the Texas primary runoff, it seems," VoteBeat editorial director Jessica Huseman added in her own post.

"Cornyn is increasingly desperate for an endorsement that seems out of reach," writer Drew Savicki posted.

Rolando Garcia, a state-level Texas Republican, roasted Cornyn's proposal by sharing a popular meme featuring actor Steve Buscemi, alongside the text, "How do you do, fellow MAGA?"

Reporter Gabe Fleisher cited overwhelming polling statistics to dismantle Cornyn's attempt at pandering to the president.

"Per Pew, only 9 percent (!) of Americans support naming things for Trump while he’s in office," Fleisher wrote. "But, of course, all that matters to Cornyn right now are the opinions of Texas GOP primary voters — or, more specifically, that of Trump himself, whose endorsement could seal Cornyn’s fate."

In deep red South Carolina, Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn was fired elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. And on March 12, the liberal congressman announced that he plans to seek an 18th two-year term. But according to Never Trump conservative Bill Kristol, Clyburn could lose his seat thanks to redistricting by the South Carolina State Legislature.

Kristol, in The Bulwark, argues that MAGA Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump are badly distorting the issues at play in South Carolina's 6th Congressional District. Pro-Trump Republicans, according to Kristol, view redistricting as a revolt against the excesses of "woke" culture while failing to see the value of having a congressional district that is 47 percent Black.

"This week, the South Carolina Legislature is debating whether to redraw its congressional map to try to carve up the district and eliminate the seat of its one black congressman, James Clyburn," Kristol explains. "Why, you might ask, is this necessary? After all, South Carolina's delegation now consists of six white people and one black person. You might think that the 63 percent of the state's population who are white are amply represented. You might think it reasonable that the 26 percent of the population who are Black should have at least one representative. No. Six out of seven is not enough. One out of seven is too much."

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) is arguing that Clyburn "does not represent the rest of South Carolina, which is conservative."

"Those 47 percent African-Americans in Clyburn's district?" Kristol writes. "They aren't real South Carolinians, you see. It's the rest of South Carolina that deserves all the representation. Donald Trump agrees…. In Trump's America, having an all-white delegation for a state that is 25 percent black means that 'everything will be fine.' Getting rid of the one Black member of Congress out of seven from South Carolina is 'leveling the playing field.'"

The Never Trump conservative continues, "Some naïve Trump defenders think — or some faux-naïve Trump defenders pretend to think — that what Trump and his movement are about is getting rid of the woke excesses of the last decade or so. But James Clyburn has been in Congress since 1993. He was the first Black representative from South Carolina since 1897. It is the America of 1897 that Trump, and Norman, and their Republican Party yearn for."

Reports that President Donald Trump's advisor Stephen Miller has been "sidelined" by the president could be a ruse, senior administration sources said.

The Atlantic published a profile on Monday describing Miller as on the outs in the Trump administration. The Daily Beast on Tuesday reported that some insiders believe it might all be part of an effort to cover up Miller's high profile and his ability to maintain control of immigration policy.

According to the Atlantic, Miller has been frozen out of Homeland Security calls. However, Miller was also the one behind the harsh immigration policies that resulted in the shooting and killing of protesters. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified to the U.S. Senate that it was Miller who said that one of the Americans shot and killed, Alex Pretti, was a "domestic terrorist." He was not a terrorist, he was a nurse at the Veterans Administration.

Before speaking to the Senate, Noem told a person who relayed her remarks to Axios, "everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen." Noem also blamed Miller for setting daily arrest "quotas" for immigration agents, The Independent reported.

Reports then revealed that Miller was heavily involved in Noem's ousting.

Trump has vacillated on whether he believes ICE went "too far," the BBC reported.

Miller has since been replaced by Tom Homan and CBP commissioner Rodney Scott, The Atlantic report said. But, he's still pulling the strings, senior administration sources told the Beast.

Meanwhile, Miller isn't on television as much as he was before former Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) took over the Department of Homeland Security.

"The narrative and media briefing from the White House is a smokescreen which Miller has engineered to keep him running immigration policy while Homan, 64, absorbs the public heat," said the Daily Beast's Substack.

“Miller and Homan are in lock step. It’s almost like a tag team,” one official said.

The top Trump aide is also meeting regularly with Mullin to check in on immigration policy, tactics and results, sources told the reporter. They also said that it has been clear from the beginning of Mullin's appointment that Miller is the one in charge, not the former Senator.

Mullin came in and “told Miller how well he had been doing so far,” an insider told the Beast. It was described as a show of deference from Mullin to give props to the power behind DHS.

Sources said that Miller's efforts to downplay his profile are part of the effort to dodge his role in the increased violence in Minnesota for "Operation Metro Surge."

Miller demanded at least 3,000 arrests daily, but in March, it dropped to about 30,000 for the whole month. That was down from 36,000 in January. DHS never met the quotas that Miller set.

"But rather than fight the perception of being in retreat, Miller has chosen to weaponize it — letting Homan, an acting ICE director in the first Trump administration, publicly inherit Noem’s crown while the pair tighten their grip on day-to-day operations," the report noted.

Capitol Hill Republicans leery or opposed to voting to spend $1 billion in security enhancements for President Donald Trump’s already-controversial White House ballroom are being courted by administration officials trying to win their favor.

The head of the U.S. Secret Service, Sean Curran, is meeting on Tuesday with Senate Republicans, Politico reports, and he is expected to “face several senators who aren’t convinced or are outright opposed to green-lighting the money.”

Politico notes that Curran is expected to pitch the need for the funds in part as necessary to help the agency “keep up broadly with growing threats.”

The Secret Service has been under scrutiny over attempted assassinations of President Trump, including the latest, at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Trump and administration officials used the event to promote the need for the ballroom, although it’s unlikely the WHCA dinner would be held in a White House ballroom.

House Republicans also appear uncomfortable with the political optics of voting to spend $1 billion on security for a ballroom.

Politico reports “a growing number of Republicans are complaining” the inclusion of the $1 billion in funds in immigration legislation “sends a tone-deaf message as voters struggle with higher gas and grocery prices.”

“It’s a bad look. It’s bad timing. It’s bad all around,” one House Republican told Politico.

In private, House Republican leaders are doubtful the measure will have the votes to pass, but they hope the $1 billion gets stripped out of the bill while it is in the hands of the Senate, before it reaches the House.