“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel defended on Sunday his government’s plan to launch a renewed offensive against Hamas in parts of Gaza, following a wave of international condemnation from traditional allies and critics at home,” the New York Times reports.
Does the Stock Market Know Something We Don’t?
Rogé Karma: “The uncomfortable fact about its historic run is that no one is sure why it’s happening—or what could bring it to an end.”
Court Rules Against Trump Clamp Down on Spending Data
Politico: “A federal appeals court panel shot down a Trump administration bid to make secret a public database of federal spending that researchers say is crucial to ensure the administration is not flouting Congress’ power of the purse…”
“It voted unanimously to give the administration until Friday to put the data back online. Two of the three appeals judges assigned to the matter also signed onto a forceful opinion declaring that the administration’s bid to conceal the data was an affront to Congress’ authority over government spending.”
Trump Moves Obama, Bush Portraits to Hidden Stairwell
“Once a dramatic feature of the White House entryway, the official portrait of former President Barack Obama has been moved to a decidedly less prominent position, underscoring the yearslong tensions between the 44th and 47th presidents,” CNN reports.
“Portraits of other recent predecessors with whom President Donald Trump has a contentious relationship, former President George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, have also been moved.”
“Trump directed staff to move the Obama portrait to the top of the Grand Staircase, where it will now be out of view from thousands of visitors who tour the White House each day. One of the sources added that the portraits of both Bushes are also now in the staircase area.”
China Detains Senior Diplomat Who Aided U.S. Relations
“Liu Jianchao, a senior Chinese diplomat widely seen as a potential foreign minister, has been taken away by authorities for questioning,“ the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A veteran of China’s foreign service who also fought corruption as a Communist Party graftbuster, Liu has most recently been serving as head of the party’s International Department, which oversees relations with foreign political parties and socialist states.”
India Can’t Afford to Ditch Russia
“President Trump is using the threat of stiff tariffs to try to peel India away from Russia, as he attempts to boost pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“But decades of close economic, political and military relations between New Delhi and Moscow mean Trump faces a challenge in persuading Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drop a partnership that has survived great geopolitical turmoil.”
RFK Jr. Stokes Fears of Lost Medical Breakthroughs
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cut federal funding for mRNA vaccine research is the latest in a series of moves that have the potential to crush future medical breakthroughs and accelerate a brain drain,” Axios reports.
“America has historically led the world in scientific innovation — driving economic growth, strengthening national security, and attracting global talent. But scientists, including some who served in Trump’s first administration, warn that lead is slipping away.”
Trump Wants ‘MAGA’ Stock Listing for Mortgage Giants
Days after the administration confirmed plans to start selling the government’s stakes in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, President Trump suggested they might be combined and trade as “MAGA,” Axios reports.
Putin Gets His Ideal Summit
New York Times: “Despite previous refusals by Russian officials to negotiate over territory in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Russian leader, during a meeting at the Kremlin last week, left Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, with the impression that Russia was now willing to engage in some deal-making on the question of land.”
Said Trump: “We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”
“By speaking a language Mr. Trump understands — the language of real estate — Mr. Putin secured something he had been seeking ever since January: a one-on-one meeting with the U.S. leader, without Mr. Zelensky present, to make his case and cut a deal.”
CNN: Trump-Putin summit in Alaska resembles a slow defeat for Ukraine.
Bloomberg: Zelensky rejects ceding land as Europe backs Ukraine.
Russians Cheer Putin’s Alaska Invitation
“Russian officials and commentators crowed about landing a summit between President Putin and President Trump on Friday in Alaska, the first time the Russian leader has been invited to the United States outside the United Nations since 2007 — and apparently without the Kremlin having made any clear concessions over its war in Ukraine,” the Washington Post reports.
Xi Looks to Tighten Grip After Scandals
“Outwardly, China’s military has never been stronger. Its naval ships venture farther across the oceans. Its nuclear force grows by about 100 warheads every year. Its military flights around Taiwan are increasingly frequent and intimidating. Every few months, China unveils new weapons, like a prototype stealth fighter or newfangled landing barges,” the New York Times reports.
“Internally, though, China’s military is experiencing its most serious leadership disarray in years. Three of the seven seats on the Central Military Commission — the Communist Party council that controls the armed forces — appear to be vacant after members were arrested or simply disappeared.”
“That internal turbulence is testing the effort by President Xi Jinping, going back more than a decade, to build a military that is loyal, modern, combat-ready and fully under his control. Mr. Xi has set a 2027 target for modernizing the People’s Liberation Army, or P.L.A., and also — according to some U.S. officials — for gaining the ability to invade Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.”
The Drying Planet
“As the planet gets hotter and its reservoirs shrink and its glaciers melt, people have increasingly drilled into a largely ungoverned, invisible cache of fresh water: the vast, hidden pools found deep underground,” ProPublica reports.
“Now, a new study that examines the world’s total supply of fresh water — accounting for its rivers and rain, ice and aquifers together — warns that Earth’s most essential resource is quickly disappearing, signaling what the paper’s authors describe as ‘a critical, emerging threat to humanity.’”
Sudden Fed Resignation Surprised Colleagues
Wall Street Journal: “It isn’t unusual for Fed governors to leave before their terms expire. But Kugler’s departure came as a surprise to her colleagues because she had recently been engaged in conversations about pending business before the central bank’s board, including matters that they expected would carry into January.”
Supreme Court Keeps Removing Guardrails
“If Republicans succeed in pulling off an aggressively partisan gerrymander of congressional districts in Texas, they will owe the Supreme Court a debt of gratitude,” the New York Times reports.
“In the two decades Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has led the Supreme Court, the justices have reshaped American elections not just by letting state lawmakers like those in Texas draw voting maps warped by politics, but also by gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and amplifying the role of money in politics…”
“Taken together, the court’s actions in election cases in recent years have shown great tolerance for partisan gamesmanship and great skepticism about federal laws on campaign spending and minority rights. The court’s rulings have been of a piece with its conservative wing’s jurisprudential commitments: giving states leeway in many realms, insisting on an expansive interpretation of the First Amendment and casting a skeptical eye on government racial classifications.”
Trump Spins Up a No-Bad-News Presidency
“President Trump is accelerating his longtime efforts to banish facts and figures that challenge his narrative of a spotless presidency,” Axios reports.
“Much of the federal government has begun operating according to his version of reality.”
Why 12 Republicans Want the Epstein Files Released
“A dozen House Republicans from different corners of the party are defying President Trump and party leadership to back a bipartisan effort seeking more information relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
America Is Fracturing Into Red and Blue Nations
“America’s identity as a unified nation is eroding, with Republican- and Democratic-led states dividing into separate spheres, each with its own policies governing the economic, social and political rules of life,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The bitter fight over redrawing U.S. House maps, triggered by President Trump’s effort to protect his party’s majority in the 2026 midterm elections, is the latest example of how the dominant party in many states is making extraordinary efforts to impose its will.”
“In 40 states, a single party controls the House, Senate and governor’s office—a so-called trifecta—or else has enough power to block vetoes from a governor of the other party. That leaves less than 20% of Americans living in a state where the minority party has a meaningful voice in governance.”
Who Is the Heir to the MAGA Movement?
Wall Street Journal: “Republicans are looking ahead to the end of the president’s transformative political tenure with trepidation, unsure whether the GOP’s rising stars can keep hold of the movement that Trump has commanded for the past decade. Trump is in no hurry to choose a successor, as he considers the full bench of ambitious Republicans who are vying for the job and his approval… He thinks the next Republican standard-bearer should have to earn the job.”
“Another reason for the reluctance to discuss a successor: Trump, who has publicly toyed with serving a third term in violation of the Constitution, isn’t thinking about life beyond the White House and doesn’t like contemplating the end of his political career.”
