HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared that “by September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic,” Roll Call reports.
‘Chaotic’ Best Describes Trump
A new Third Way poll conducted before the latest round of tariff news found 62% of respondents said the word “chaotic” described President Trump.
Wall Street Journal: “Democrats see tariff chaos as a political tool.”
Trump Close to Winning Concessions From Law Firms
New York Times: “Four or five firms could soon agree to deals that would be unveiled as a package, in an escalation of the president’s crackdown on an industry that has drawn his ire.”
How Trump Gave Up His Leverage
Playbook: “In pausing the tariffs for 90 days, Trump effectively acknowledged that there was some degree of economic and political pain that was simply intolerable for him to bear.”
“That runs counter to the ‘madman theory’ of negotiations he’s eagerly employed. Knowing now that he isn’t prepared to actually blow up the American economy and global markets, if you’re another major country, why give in to his demands at the negotiating table? Hasn’t he ceded some leverage?”
Bessent Takes the Lead on Tariffs
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now indisputably at the helm of the administration’s trade team, Politico reports.
Peter Navarro has been “relegated to the sidelines” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been “recast into the role of bad cop.”
Playbook: “Bessent’s challenge… 90 days is not very much time to negotiate a trade deal — let alone 70+ bilateral deals… the reality is that trade deals often take years to complete.”
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Trump Gives Democrats a Huge Opening
Playbook: “It’s clear now that the bond market freakout that inspired Trump’s 90-day pause in the tariffs isn’t over.”
“Also clear: All of this presents an enormous political opening for Democrats, who, in an act of jiu-jitsu, may be able to use economic performance — arguably Trump’s greatest political strength and inarguably the key to his 2024 victory — into his most potent liability.”
Third Way polled the top performing message to use: “Trump promised he would lower prices and cut taxes for ordinary Americans, but his policies are leading to rising prices and plummeting retirement accounts, and they risk pushing the U.S. into a recession.”
Spending Continues to Climb Even as Trump Touts Cuts
“Federal spending is higher since President Trump took office even as the Department of Government Efficiency slashes contracts, cuts jobs and ends diversity programs,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
China Raises Tariffs on U.S. Goods to 125%
“Beijing punched back with its own tariffs of 125 percent on all U.S. goods on Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff increases, sharply escalating the spiraling trade tensions between the U.S. and China,” the Washington Post reports.
“The response underscored China’s decision to stand firm in the face of pressure from Washington, and deepened the showdown between the world’s two largest economies.”
From a statement: “If the U.S. insists on substantively damaging China’s interests, China will firmly retaliate and fight to the end.”
Wall Street Journal: “The gloves are off. The next chapter of U.S.-China decoupling has begun. The pain will be felt everywhere.”
Trump Floats Plan for Undocumented to Work Legally
“President Donald Trump suggested at a Cabinet meeting Thursday that undocumented people working on farms and in hotels would be allowed to leave the country and return as legal workers if their employers vouched for them,” NBC News reports.
Trump said at the meeting with reporters present that “we have to take care of our farmers, the hotels and, you know, the various places where they tend to, where they tend to need people.”
Said Trump: “So a farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people, saying they’re great, they’re working hard. We’re going to slow it down a little bit for them, and then we’re going to ultimately bring them back. They’ll go out. They’re going to come back as legal workers.”
Trump Invalidates Social Security Numbers of Immigrants
“The Social Security Administration this week began to classify thousands of immigrants with temporary legal status and Social Security numbers as dead,“ CBS News reports.
“The move essentially cancels an immigrant’s Social Security number and is equivalent to a financial death, as financial institutions rely on updated Social Security data to verify identities and deaths and may cut off access for these individuals.”
Dollar Hits 10-Year Low
“The U.S. dollar fell against its major peers on Thursday, hitting a 10-year low against the safe-haven Swiss franc, as markets digested President Donald Trump’s dramatic reversal on tariffs,” Reuters reports.
CDC Cruise Ship Inspectors Laid Off
“All of the full-time employees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program are now off the job, gutting the agency’s ability to investigate outbreaks and conduct health inspections on cruise ships,” CBS News reports.
“The steep cuts to the program’s inspectors baffled CDC officials since the small team’s staff is not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Fees from cruise ships companies pay for the program, which is supposed to inspect large vessels at least twice a year.”
U.S. Defends Deporting Student Over His Beliefs
“Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, the federal government has instead submitted a brief memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country damages U.S. foreign policy interests,” the AP reports.
Kristen McDonald Rivet Won’t Run for Senate
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI) has ruled out a run for U.S. Senate and will instead run for reelection to the House in her mid-Michigan district, the Detroit News reports.
CNN: Democrats lose another top contender for US Senate seat in Michigan after Whitmer and Buttigieg bow out.
Trump Voters Are Sticking With Their Guy
Wall Street Journal: “To an unusual degree in American politics, the MAGA movement is based on a personal bond between Trump and his followers. Critics call it a personality cult. It has built over years, first when Trump entered their living rooms via reality television and then through cross-country campaign rallies that often breathed the fire of a religious revival. Together, Trump and the MAGA faithful have faced existential challenges—like the “Access Hollywood” tape, the Russia investigation, impeachments and more.”
“But Trump has never before asked his followers to sacrifice as he did this week. His pitch has long been the promise of glory days restored in exchange for their vote. With his sweeping tariffs, which may yet be reinstated, the president has explicitly told the faithful that the new golden age will come at an economic cost.”
Musk Appears to Significantly Drop Cost-Cutting Target
“While stumping for Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, Elon Musk said he could cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. After Mr. Trump took office and placed Mr. Musk in charge of the budget-slashing so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Musk lowered that projection by half, to $1 trillion in the upcoming fiscal year,” the New York Times reports.
“In a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr. Musk appeared to set his group’s goal lower still.”
Said Musk: “I’m excited to announce that we anticipate savings in ’26 from reduction of waste and fraud by $150 billion.”
Elliot Morris: “Real federal spending is higher in 2025 so far than in past years, and DOGE is making it harder to raise revenue.”
Trump Team Races to Cut Piecemeal Tariff Deals
“The Trump administration has embarked on a high-speed effort to negotiate ad hoc deals with more than 70 countries hoping to escape higher tariffs, with any agreements likely to fall short of the kind of fully-fledged trade pacts that traditionally shape global trade,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“While the administration has issued broad requirements for the countries coming to the table—such as reducing their tariffs and buying more American goods—the White House was still devising its negotiation strategy Thursday, as the countdown to the July 8 deadline began.”
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