Smerconish: Trump is on a Roll - Smerconish on CNN - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
Smerconish: Trump is on a Roll Smerconish on CNN 44 mins
CNN Michael Smerconish weighs in on the recent victories for the Trump administration this week. Then, David Urban, a former Trump Campaign adviser, and Xochitl Hinojosa, a former DNC communications director, join Smerconish to discuss how the American public is reacting to Trump's latest wins. Plus, Andrew Daniller, a Pew Research Associate, shares his latest research on how non-voters would have influenced the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. And, the U.S. Supreme Court handed a blockbuster decision to limit judges' from issuing nationwide injunctions against the Trump administration. Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkely Law School, weighs in on the court's decision.
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Newsweek
8 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Notches His Best Week Yet
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump is coming off what may be his most successful week in office — perhaps of both terms — with a string of victories that reinforced the speed at which his administration is moving to radically reshape American policy, both foreign and domestic, ahead of a critical summer stretch. A landmark Supreme Court ruling, a successful NATO summit, a ceasefire that appears to be holding in the Middle East, another peace deal in Africa, a stock market back to setting records, a key trade breakthrough with China — capped off with the surprise emergence of a new political foil — all combined to shift the narrative in his favor, even as polls show him underwater on some of his signature issues. In a pivotal decision Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the power of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions, a ruling that Trump hailed as "a monumental victory" that clears the way for his administration to reintroduce contested policies such as ending automatic birthright citizenship. "We can now promptly file to proceed with these numerous policies," a jubilant Trump said from the White House. "Even the Birthright Citizenship Hoax has been, indirectly, hit hard," he posted on Truth Social, describing citizenship by birth as "a scam" on the U.S. immigration system. U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a press conference on recent Supreme Court rulings in the briefing room at the White House on June 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a press conference on recent Supreme Court rulings in the briefing room at the White House on June 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. AP The court's 6-3 ruling marks a significant shift in how legal challenges to executive power may proceed, reinforcing Trump's long-standing criticism that district judges were overstepping their roles. The ruling did not address the constitutionality of Trump's proposed order to end birthright citizenship, which remains blocked, but it opens the door for narrower challenges that could now proceed on a case-by-case basis. Following the Supreme Court ruling, Trump hosted leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda at the White House to sign the framework of a peace deal between the African neighbors intended to end a long-running and bloody conflict. Iran-Israel Ceasefire Holds Amid Fallout From U.S. Strikes In the Middle East, the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, personally brokered by Trump, held through the week, and U.S. officials offered new details to support the president's claim that American strikes had crippled key parts of Iran's nuclear infrastructure. "This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop," Trump said at a NATO summit at The Hague, dismissing initial intelligence suggesting a limited impact. People run along the beach promenade on June 27, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. As Israel's government touts its victory over Iran after 12 days of war, and a sense of normalcy returns to daily... People run along the beach promenade on June 27, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. As Israel's government touts its victory over Iran after 12 days of war, and a sense of normalcy returns to daily life here, Israelis are also recovering from a wave of aerial attacks that killed 28 people, caused an estimated $3 billion in damage, and tested the limits of its air-defense systems. MoreDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe echoed Trump's confidence, with Ratcliffe claiming "several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years." Meanwhile, Iran's own foreign ministry acknowledged "significant damage," though observers warned that full assessments could take weeks. "The bombing rendered the enrichment facility inoperable," said a joint statement by the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. Although some lawmakers, like Democratic Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, criticized the administration for not consulting Congress, the ceasefire and lack of immediate retaliation gave Trump a short-term diplomatic win. Markets Surge as Trump Fiscal Agenda Gains Momentum Financial markets responded positively to Trump's string of policy wins and signs of economic stabilization. The S&P 500 closed at a new high on Friday, driven by investor optimism over the administration's trade and tax proposals. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that negotiations over new reciprocal tariffs are proceeding and could stretch beyond Trump's July 8 deadline. He told Fox Business that talks with 10 to 12 major trading partners might wrap by Labor Day. UNITED STATES - JUNE 24: Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks with reporters in U.S. Capitol after attending the the Republican Senate luncheon on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP... UNITED STATES - JUNE 24: Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks with reporters in U.S. Capitol after attending the the Republican Senate luncheon on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images) More Tom Williams/AP "If you can't get to a deal," Bessent said, "Trump is happy to go back to the high April 2 tariffs." Meanwhile, the administration's fiscal package, which includes steep cuts to SNAP benefits and other government programs, gained traction in the Senate following overnight revisions, clearing procedural hurdles and staying on pace for a vote as soon as this week. Trump also announced that the U.S. had finalized a long-sought agreement with China to resume the export of rare earth minerals crucial to American technology manufacturing. "We just signed with China the other day," Trump said, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that the deal was "signed and sealed." Bessent elaborated on the agreement, saying that Trump had "set the table with a very important phone call" with Chinese President Xi Jinping which had led to the U.S. securing the deal. "In dealing with the world's second largest economy, we approached each other with mutual respect," he added, adding that part of the agreement was tariffs coming down and rare earth magnets starting to flow back to the U.S. "They formed the core of a lot of our industrial base," he said. The Chinese Commerce Ministry confirmed it would approve export applications for "controlled items" and in turn, the U.S. would remove several restrictive measures on Chinese technologies. The agreement is a step toward easing a two-year trade standoff that had disrupted global supply chains . Progressive Challenger Emerges as New Target Back home, the rapid ascent of Zohran Mamdani—a Democratic Socialist who upset Andrew Cuomo in New York City's mayoral primary—has given Trump a fresh political foil. Trump-allied media and political surrogates seized on Mamdani's win as a sign of rising extremism within the Democratic Party. "They're going to run the most radical candidate in the country in the biggest city in the country," Vice President JD Vance said in an interview Friday. "That contrast is perfect." New York mayoral candidate, State Representative Zohran Mamdani, speaks to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025, in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens... New York mayoral candidate, State Representative Zohran Mamdani, speaks to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025, in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. More Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Conservative groups have already begun circulating clips of Mamdani's past remarks, and Trump hinted at plans to use the young lawmaker's views to frame Democrats nationally in 2026. "The Democrats now belong to the socialists and the scammers," Trump said at a rally in Ohio earlier in the week. "This guy Mamdani—he's like the AOC of mayors. If you like riots and sanctuary cities, you'll love him." NATO Commits to Spending Boost After Trump Pressure Trump spent part of the week jetting to and from a summit of NATO leaders in The Netherlands, where he claimed another major foreign policy victory as alliance members agreed to dramatically increase their defense spending targets. Under the deal, nearly all NATO countries committed to raising military investment from 2 to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 — an increase Trump has been calling for since he started his political career a decade ago. "Without the support and without the leadership of Donald Trump, it would be impossible," said Polish President Andrzej Duda, according to a White House statement summarizing reactions from leaders across Europe. President Donald Trump meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. President Donald Trump meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. AP Photo/Alex Brandon The agreement, hailed by analysts and politicians as a breakthrough in transatlantic burden-sharing, was described as a "rebirth of NATO" by Dutch media. Even some longtime skeptics praised the result, including Finnish President Alexander Stubb who called it "a big win for Trump" and for Europe. Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch said: "NATO's commitment to raise defense spending to 5 percent is a tremendous achievement. New investments in defense and industrial cooperation will strengthen the core pillar of NATO." The summit closed with Trump declaring that America's allies had finally begun to shoulder their "fair share" of the burden. House Speaker Mike Johnson added, "No more free rides for the rest of the world. No more using the American taxpayer as their own personal piggy banks. THIS is the Trump effect." Legal Setbacks, Intelligence Leak, and Weak Polling Undercut Trump's Agenda While Trump marked a week of substantial wins on trade, his administration also faced sharp criticism and legal controversy on several domestic and foreign fronts. A federal judge in Newark released Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal U.S. resident, who had spent 104 days in detention. The Trump administration accused him of spreading antisemitism through pro-Palestinian activism and moved to deport him. Judge Michael E. Farbiarz granted bail, citing evidence that the detention was politically motivated. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil speaking after his release from federal immigration detention on Friday, June 20, 2025. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil speaking after his release from federal immigration detention on Friday, June 20, 2025. Matthew Hinton/AP In another courtroom loss, a Nashville judge ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported back in March. Judge Barbara D. Holmes dismissed claims that Abrego was a gang member or trafficker, saying prosecutors had exaggerated their case. "Abrego has no reported criminal history of any kind," she wrote. A leaked U.S. intelligence report also contradicted Trump's public statements about the impact of recent airstrikes on Iran. The Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in a low-confidence initial assessment that the strikes caused only limited delays to Iran's nuclear program and failed to destroy key underground sites. Trump had described the attacks as having "obliterated" the country's nuclear capacity. Still, the IAEA acknowledged the centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment facility had been destroyed, and Israeli intelligence contradicted the claims that the strikes were only partially successful. Poll numbers from Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin added to the mounting pressure. Net approval for Trump on inflation is now at -22.6 percent, with trade at -14.7 percent and the economy at -13.4 percent. Immigration, once a Trump strength, has dropped to -3.7 percent, following backlash to aggressive ICE operations and high-profile deportation cases.
Business Insider
14 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Leaving Trump's side didn't make Elon Musk much more popular
Elon Musk's image isn't what it used to be. The Tesla CEO's feud with President Donald Trump risked worsening his already underwater popularity, and new polling shows that even the apparent peace between the once-friends hasn't repaired Musk's standing with Republicans. A new Morning Consult poll found that Musk's net favorability is at -14 percentage points. The good news for the billionaire is that his overall standing as of June 20 is up four points since June 15, the week after the peak of his feud with Trump. It's still lower than where he stood when he left the White House in late May. Among Republicans, Musk is down roughly 12 points; he'd dropped 10 points immediately after he criticized Trump in early June. "In the US, Musk managed to alienate both those on the left (due to his support for DOGE, the Trump administration, and the election) and those on the right (as seen in his statements on X following his fallout with the President over the "big beautiful bill")," Frank T. Rothaermel, a regents' professor at the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech, told Business Insider in an email. "The good thing in the US is that people's memories are short and a ton of stuff is happening every day," he added. Voters began to become increasingly polarized toward Musk after his takeover of Twitter, Morning Consult US Politics Analyst Eli Yokley told Business Insider. Musk's closeness to Trump "poured fuel on the fire," which left his image in a much different state than some of his fellow tech moguls, who also sought to curry favor with the White House. "It weighs on him in a very unique way that other CEOs who have tried to kiss the ring a bit just haven't experienced to the same extent," Yokley told Business Insider. Musk's favorability isn't polled as frequently as someone like Trump. YouGov, which has sporadic data on Musk going back to 2018, found that immediately after the feud, Musk recorded his lowest net favorability in its records. The handful of post-feud polls that have been released show similar warning signs. Namely, many Republicans, who were once the bulwark for Musk's sagging numbers, no longer have such rosy views of the billionaire. An Economist-YouGov poll taken in the week after the feud found that Musk's net favorability among Republicans dropped 20 points. A Reuters-Ipsos poll found that he dropped 13 points in net favorability in a roughly one-month span. This is a critical moment for Tesla On June 22, Tesla began a limited rollout of its robotaxi service in Austin. The stock jumped as much as 11% the following day, though it had pared its gains by the end of the week. Overall, it's been a wild year for Tesla's share price. Musk is the face of Tesla, a close association that comes with some risk. Some analysts downgraded the company during his feud with Trump. "The recent incident between Musk and President Trump exemplifies key-person risk associated with Musk's political activities," Baird senior research analyst Ben Kallo wrote in a note earlier this month. Musk has signaled a retreat from politics, though whether he sticks by that commitment remains to be seen. Tesla is facing other challenges. In China, the newly announced Xiaomi YU7 is priced to compete with Tesla's popular Model Y, and Tesla's sales have fallen in key markets like Europe in recent months. The automaker is set to announce its second-quarter delivery numbers on Wednesday, and many analysts are expecting a year-over-year decrease. John Helveston, an assistant professor at George Washington University, told BI that Musk's "political unpopularity is very unhelpful" as the CEO looks to navigate Tesla through the challenges it's currently facing. "Elon Musk is strongest [indeed, world-class, second to none] when he focuses on his core competencies: solving 'impossible' engineering problems," Rothaermel said. "If I were on the board of directors at Tesla, that is what I would want him to focus on." The Morning Consult poll is based on data collected during the firm's tracking poll from June 20 to 22nd, based on a representative sample of 2,205 registered U.S. voters. The margin of error is +/- 2 percentage points. Smaller subsamples have a larger margin of error. Full results are available here.
Newsweek
24 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Ex-NASA Chief Sounds Alarm Over Space Agency's Future
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The former head of NASA has said that the space agency is "being savaged," in response to proposed cuts by the Trump administration. Bill Nelson, NASA administrator from 2021 to 2025, said: "If they continue on the path that they're on, it will be a crippled agency." NASA has been working on plans to bring astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972 with the Artemis program, and to build the Lunar Gateway space station on the moon for long-term lunar scientific exploration. These plans are now on hold amid a proposed Republican budget that would cut as much as half of NASA's science funding. President Donald Trump's budget request to NASA, which must be debated by Congress before October 1, called for the agency to "terminate unaffordable missions," cut "woke" education programs and implement a "more sustainable, cost-effective approach to lunar exploration." Overall, the budget proposes reducing the agency's annual budget from $24.9 billion to $18.8 billion. Newsweek has contacted NASA for comment via email outside of working hours. The Mary W. Jackson headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. The Mary W. Jackson headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo Why It Matters The Trump administration says that the proposed reductions are necessary to rein in excessive spending, eliminate underperforming projects, and reorient NASA toward more cost-efficient private partnerships. The White House has highlighted examples such as the $4 billion-per-launch cost of the Space Launch System, NASA's expendable heavy-lift rocket. Critics say the proposed budget cuts threaten American progress in space and in scientific endeavor more broadly. In parallel, the administration has proposed eliminating climate satellite projects. Previous scientific cuts by the Trump administration include Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. firing vaccine advisers from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a decrease in grants for scientific research. What To Know Cuts to NASA are creating "chaos" and will likely have "significant impacts to our leadership in space," a Democratic House staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Sunday Times, a U.K. newspaper. NASA's Artemis project was launched during the first Trump administration and has already cost more than $26 billion for the new Space Launch System. Cutting NASA's budget would also heavily impact space science across Europe, as NASA has partnerships with the European Space Agency (ESA), which was collaborating with NASA and Airbus to build part of the new rockets to the moon and a Gateway space station. This collaboration, which has already cost ESA €840 million in Airbus payments and another €650 million in future Airbus contracts, was supposed to result in three European astronauts going on the new lunar mission. The future of this plan is uncertain. Elon Musk's space exploration company SpaceX still works with NASA, including on lunar exploration. However, he left the federal government and has criticized budget cuts amid a rift with Trump. The future of SpaceX's partnership with NASA is now also uncertain. "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," Trump wrote on Truth Social in June. What People Are Saying Bill Nelson told reporters at a POLITICO summit: "That's like eating our seed corn. We're not going to have anything to plant next year in the quest of trying to understand what is part of the statutes for NASA, which is to search for life, and therefore to understand who we are, what we are, and where we are." Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro in a statement in May: "This proposal includes investments to simultaneously pursue exploration of the Moon and Mars while still prioritizing critical science and technology research. I appreciate the President's continued support for NASA's mission and look forward to working closely with the administration and Congress to ensure we continue making progress toward achieving the impossible." The White House in a statement in May: "The Budget phases out the grossly expensive and delayed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule after three flights. SLS alone costs $4 billion per launch and is 140 percent over budget. The Budget funds a program to replace SLS and Orion flights to the Moon with more cost-effective commercial systems that would support more ambitious subsequent lunar missions." Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA director of human and robotic exploration, quoted in The Sunday Times: "We want to work on reducing the risks of the projects where we are dependent on US decisions. We want to increase the projects which are done in autonomy, where we are the masters of the decisions we take." What Happens Next ESA leaders are looking to work on projects that do not rely on American money or American political decision-makers, turning to work with India and Japan, and possibly even China, instead. Senator Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee which oversees NASA's budget, has supported Artemis in the past, so it is not certain that NASA's budget will be cut by as much as the Trump administration's proposal by the October 1 deadline.
