Month: August 2025

Making employees miserable has helped the administration push them out the door through deferred resignation and early retirement programs.

Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the 12:30 Report newsletter Subscribe Happy Friday and happy August! It’s eerily cool in Washington this morning. A meteorologist pointed out this may be D.C.’s coolest start to August in 40…
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The main super PAC affiliated with President Trump reported nearly $200 million in the bank as it looks ahead to the 2026 midterms in which control of Congress will be up for grabs.  MAGA Inc., which was key in promoting Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, reported $196.1 million in cash on hand in a mid-year filing…
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Apple expects to face $1.1 billion in tariff-related costs next quarter, on top of $800 million from the previous three-month period, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday.  The iPhone maker, which has been hit particularly hard by President Trump’s tariff push, still reported strong quarterly earnings, posting $94 billion in revenue and $23.4 billion in…
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Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was quietly transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a federal prison in Texas, according to a Bureau of Prisons official.  “Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,” BOP official Benjamin…
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Flags in the Sunshine State are being flown at half-staff Friday in honor of Hulk Hogan, the professional wrestler who died from a heart attack last week at the age of 71. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also proclaimed Aug. 1 as “Hulk Hogan Day” and called the wrestler a “true Floridian.” “His larger-than-life personality…
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Democrats on Capitol Hill are hammering President Trump and his GOP allies for Friday’s underwhelming jobs report. Released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the analysis revealed that U.S. employers added 73,000 jobs in July — well below economists’ estimates of 100,000 — while the figures for May and June were revised dramatically…
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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) argued Thursday night that former Vice President Kamala Harris’s upcoming book about her unsuccessful 2024 presidential run against President Trump will instruct potential candidates for office on “how not to run a campaign.”  “She was destroyed in every single swing state. Remember this, she lost women at a lower…
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The news that former Vice President Kamala Harris has decided to forgo running for governor of California next year is a clear sign that she is serious about a campaign for president in 2028. Harris would certainly go into the primary season with advantages. But she has proven to be notably tone-deaf in relation to…
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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Friday blasted President Trump’s management of the economy after a new report from the Labor Department reported that the economy created only 73,000 jobs in July and revised down the job gains for May and June by 258,000. “It is disturbing to say but the chickens are coming…
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“Confabulation.” It’s a word you are going to be hearing a lot in the coming months.   President Trump has always been willing to mislead people when it was to his advantage. Even his supporters recognize this. Hence the famous admonition to “take Trump seriously, not literally.” But what Trump is doing now is something…
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A federal judge ruled against Trump administration plans to end protections from deportation for citizens of Nepal, Nicaragua and Honduras, barring their removal while the case continues. San Francisco-based U.S. District Court Judge Trina Thompson agreed the plaintiffs had shown there was sufficient racial animus behind the decision and that the Trump administration had failed…
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Ukraine is set to receive its first two Patriot air defense systems from Germany “in the coming days” as part of the deal the U.S. government struck with NATO last month.  Germany said Friday it will back Ukraine with two U.S.-made Patriot launchers and fork over additional Patriot system components in the next “two to…
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A weak jobs report Friday and major downward revisions to May and June employment figures have set off alarm bells about the direction of the U.S. economy. The U.S. added only 73,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate stayed flat at 4.2 percent, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. That was…
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The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History removed an exhibit this month referencing President Trump’s two impeachments, according to the institution’s spokesperson — drawing fire from Democratic Party lawmakers.  The decision, part of an internal content review the museum agreed to participate in, came after facing pressure from the Trump administration to ax its…
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said early Friday that he is “disappointed” by President Trump’s decision to increase tariffs on his country to 35 percent but left open the door for a potential trade deal. After weeks of negotiations with America’s northern neighbor, Trump decided to ratchet up levies on the country alongside sweeping new…
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U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs last month as companies paralyzed by uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s erratic tariffs policies.

On July 21, the Senate Agriculture Committee’s scheduled vote to confirm Brian Quintenz — a financial manager and former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — as the commission’s new chair, was postponed. On Monday, another committee vote on Quintenz was postponed. Officially, the delays were due to lack of a quorum and White House concerns.…
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Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) has an early lead over Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley in the state’s Senate race as the candidates appear poised for a general election matchup.  The Emerson College Polling survey, released Friday, shows Cooper leading Whatley by 6 points, 47 percent to 41 percent, with 12 percent…
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Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) analyzed the 2022 congressional election results in two words: “candidate quality.” It was a very insightful statement of the obvious that escapes far too many people in the political game. Since 2010, Republicans have kicked away golden opportunities to win Senate races across the country, from Nevada to…
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Former Vice President Harris signaled Thursday that she is taking a break from political office for the time being, calling the system “broken.” After months mostly out of the national spotlight, Harris appeared onstage with “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert in her first interview since President Trump’s inauguration to promote her forthcoming book, “107…
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Since 2024, I have received Trump campaign emails at least once or twice a day, emblazoned with provocative MAGA-red meat-headlines. A recent one read, “If Democrats seize power and take back the House, they’ll have one goal in mind: Impeach, Impeach, Impeach!” Visually dominating every email is a logo, shaped like a bumper sticker, that…
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The audience roared at the “Tonight Show” host’s gag.

Senate Democrats are battling each other over how far to go in opposing President Trump’s agenda, a dispute that spilled out into the open earlier this week when Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) slammed his fellow Democratic senators for “willing to be complicit” with Trump. Booker’s tirade against fellow Democrats came after Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto…
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Federal judges wonder if they can’t keep themselves or their families safe, how are they expected to uphold the rule of law?