Senate Republicans Advance Trump Tax Bill on Crucial Test Vote
President Donald Trump's $4.5 trillion tax cut bill prevailed in a crucial Senate test vote, a sign that Republican leaders are resolving the infighting over portions of the legislation and moving toward meeting a July 4 deadline the president has set for passage.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his lieutenants may still need to tweak portions of Trump's signature economic legislation in order to win the 50 votes it needs to pass the Senate.
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Newsweek
13 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Voters Are Losing Faith With Trump
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. Once the cornerstone of his political strength, President Donald Trump's base is showing signs of erosion. The latest YouGov/Economist poll, conducted June 20-23 among 1,590 adults, shows that Trump's approval rating among those who voted for him in 2024 stands at 83 percent, while 14 percent disapprove, giving him a net approval rating of +69 points, down from +80 last month. The poll had a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on Air Force One while in flight from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, on June 24, 2025. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on Air Force One while in flight from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, on June 24, 2025. Alex Brandon/AP Last month's poll was conducted before Trump carried out airstrikes against three key Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend. In retaliation, Iran fired missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel was agreed to the same day, though tensions remain high. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have since accused Iran of violating the ceasefire and threatened to strike Tehran in response—an accusation Tehran denies. The rapid escalation has spotlighted the risks of deeper U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and highlighted the evolving nature of American foreign policy under Trump, who once promised to protect "America's vital interests" without engaging in "endless wars" overseas. The strikes appear to have triggered a shift in public attitudes—even among Republicans—with polls showing signs of declining support for Trump's agenda. Additional data from the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted June 21–23 among 1,139 respondents, reinforces the trend: 84 percent of Republicans said they approve of the president's job performance, down from 90 percent last month. The latest poll had a margin of error of +/-3.2 percentage points. Political analysts say Trump's declining approval ratings are tied to a growing disconnect between his actions and voter priorities—particularly after his recent military intervention in Iran. Thomas Gift, founding director of the University College London Centre on U.S. Politics, told Newsweek Trump's decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities has unsettled many in the MAGA movement who expected him to avoid foreign entanglements. "Trump's recent actions in Iran have done little to reassure the MAGA base that he'll steer clear of another endless war in the Middle East," Gift said, noting that even former chief strategist Steve Bannon has warned the conflict could escalate into "U.S. boots on the ground." Gift added that a core tenet of Trump's 2024 message was that "'America First' meant staying out of foreign conflicts," but now "that promise is starting to ring hollow." Peter Loge, a political communications professor at George Washington University and former Obama advisor, told Newsweek Trump's approval ratings are falling for broader reasons as well. "Trump's numbers are down because that's how public opinion works," Loge said. "He is pursuing policies people don't like, while ignoring things people care about." He pointed to "thermostatic politics"—the idea that voters often react against the party in power, even when it does what they asked for—as a key factor. "Trump started in a weak position with a lot of soft support," Loge explained. "That he is getting less popular is unsurprising." Loge added that many of Trump's headline policies—such as sending troops into American cities or escalating military conflicts abroad—don't match what most voters are asking for. "Most voters mostly want things to work," he said. "They want to be able to afford gas and groceries, pay their medical bills, and know their kids have a shot at a good future." Instead, Trump's agenda—threatening Medicaid, risking inflation with tariffs, and engaging in costly foreign conflicts—"either ignores what most voters care about, or threatens to make those things worse." "President Trump likes people to pay attention to Donald Trump," Loge said. "Voters would rather pay attention to their families." It comes as polls show that a majority of Americans do not approve of U.S. airstrikes in Iran. The YouGov/Economist poll found just 29 percent think the U.S. should be carrying the strikes, while 46 percent said it should not. The Washington Post found modestly higher support for the U.S. military bombing Iran. In a poll, 25 percent of adults supported "the U.S. military launching airstrikes against Iran over its nuclear program," while 45 percent were opposed. The poll also found that 82 percent of Americans were either "somewhat" or "very" concerned about getting involved in a full-scale war with Iran. Analysis by pollster G. Elliott Morris showed that 21 percent of Americans said last week that they supported U.S. involvement in Iran, while 57 percent opposed. And it seems that Trump's decision to launch airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities has exposed deep divisions within the party. Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky called Trump's move unconstitutional. "This is not our war. Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution," Massie posted on X, formerly Twitter. Far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a Trump ally, struck a cautious tone after the bombing, posting on X: "Let us join together and pray for the safety of our U.S. troops and Americans in the Middle East." But just 30 minutes before the announcement of the airstrikes, Greene voiced frustration: "Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war... Israel is a nuclear armed nation. This is not our fight. Peace is the answer." Former Trump adviser and War Room podcast host Steve Bannon was even more direct in his criticism, blasting the president for publicly thanking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the operation. "It hasn't been lost... that he thanked Bibi Netanyahu, who I would think right now – at least the War Room's position is – [is] the last guy on Earth you should thank," Bannon said. Bannon, who has long opposed U.S. military involvement in Iran, questioned Trump's reliance on intelligence reportedly provided by Israel, rather than U.S. sources. "I don't think we've been dealing from the top of the deck," he said, and described Trump's post-strike remarks as "very open-ended," adding: "I'm not quite sure [it was] the talk that a lot of MAGA wanted to hear." While Bannon insisted that "the MAGA movement will back Trump," he noted growing discomfort with the president's increasingly hawkish posture, recalling that opposition to "forever wars" was a defining issue in Trump's 2016 campaign. "One of the core tenets is no forever wars," Bannon told an audience in Washington days before the strike. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, also appeared to diverge from the president. Trump recently criticized the intelligence community's assessment that Iran had not taken the political decision to build a nuclear bomb, saying they were "wrong." Gabbard has denied any serious disagreement. Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing influencer, warned ahead of the strikes that Trump risked alienating his base. "Trump voters, especially young people, supported [him] because he was the first president in my lifetime to not start a new war," he said. But after the strikes, Kirk appeared to soften, reposting a clip of Vice President JD Vance praising the pilots involved. "They dropped 30,000 pound bombs on a target the size of a washing machine... Whatever our politics, we should be proud," Vance said. Nonetheless, polls suggest that Trump's MAGA base is largely supportive of the strikes. A recent J.L. Partners poll showed that support for U.S. military action against Iran is strongest among Trump's most devoted base. Two-thirds of self-identified "MAGA Republicans" (65 percent) back U.S. strikes, far surpassing support among "Traditional Republicans" (51 percent). Most Republican voters also view Israel's war with Iran as a shared American cause, with 63 percent saying "Israel's war is America's war"—a figure that rises to 67 percent among MAGA Republicans. And a new Washington Post/George Mason University survey finds Republican support for a strike rising from 47 percent to 77 percent. For comparison, political independents moved 10 points in Trump's direction, and Democrats stayed put. For pollster G Elliott Morris, there is a simple explanation for this. "Many Republicans do not hold isolationism as a value above their partisanship," he wrote in a blog post. "When push comes to shove, party loyalty and following the leader override some abstract commitment to staying out of foreign conflicts. If Trump decides that the MAGA movement should abandon isolationism altogether and invade Iran, then a large chunk of the movement will follow suit. The speed and scale of the shift in Republican opinion after Trump's decision to bomb Iran is a textbook example of this." He continued: "Of course, partisanship is not just a Republican phenomenon, but Trump's gravitational pull on opinion is unlike the force wielded by any other politician." Aaron Evans, president of Winning Republican Strategies, summed up why Republicans support Trump's actions in Iran. "Americans know President Trump did exactly what he promised: he stopped Iran from getting nuclear weapons without dragging us into another endless war," Evans told Newsweek. "While Democrats rushed to scream 'World War III,' Trump exposed their weakness and lack of seriousness on foreign policy. He showed strength, poise, and strategic discipline—doing what others only talk about: keeping nukes out of the hands of a terror regime while securing peace through strength. The media can spin, but voters see the truth. President Trump acted with precision, avoided war, and protected American lives. He's a man of action, not talk—and that's exactly why his base remains strong." However, the most recent YouGov/Economist poll found that only 47 percent of Trump 2024 voters think the U.S. should take active part in world affairs, while 37 percent disagreed and 19 percent said they are not sure.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Which Cryptocurrency Is More Likely to Be a Millionaire Maker? XRP vs. Cardano
XRP and Cardano might both grow significantly in the coming years. XRP's primary appeal is its strong association with institutional capital. Cardano's dedicated and active developer base could prove to be a major asset. 10 stocks we like better than XRP › XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) have both been pitched as potential fast tracks to building up a hoard of seven figures. While it's generally not appropriate for serious investors to make purchases in the hopes of making millions overnight, over a long enough timescale, with enough diligent investment and the right asset selected, it is indeed possible. Between these two coins, both are well known, liquid, and still nowhere near their prior all‑time highs. That combination tempts bargain hunters. But price alone never mints millionaires, even in crypto; it's necessary to have a real set of fundamentals that'll drive a large influx of new capital even after a large amount has already shown up and stuck around. Let's examine which of these two actually has a credible shot at compounding long enough to turn persistent dollar‑cost averaging (DCA) into life‑changing gains. Let's start with some cold back-of-the-napkin arithmetic. XRP changes hands at about $2.19 today. A $10,000 position would need roughly a 100x gain to reach $1 million, at which point the coin's market cap would be roughly $11 trillion. For Cardano, it'd require a future market cap of around $2.3 trillion. Those numbers are long shots for both, but which chain has the better odds? Utility is a good starting proxy. On June 15, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) processed 5.1 million transactions in a single day, breaching its former records. That speaks directly to its core use case, which is to make cross-border transactions cheaper and faster than they would be using legacy technologies. High volume is a clear sign that its target user base, which is to say, institutional investors, are at least to some degree utilizing the chain for what it was intended to do. In contrast, Cardano lately averages closer to 50,000 daily transactions. It isn't precisely clear who the chain's target users are meant to be, but regardless of who it is, they do not appear to be actually using the chain very much at all in the grand scheme of things. That means it is less likely to grow rapidly. XRP also has an edge when it comes to competing in growth markets, like real‑world‑asset (RWA) tokenization. XRPL already hosts roughly $160 million in tokenized bonds, treasuries, and other off‑chain assets. Per some estimates, the tokenized asset market could grow from $0.6 trillion this year to reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. If XRP keeps compounding its early share of that pie, a pathway to triple‑digit gains exists. But Cardano has no comparable wedge into the same megatrend right now -- and, quite concerningly, it isn't actually exposed to any other trending growth segments either. Tech development is a major part of each coin's potential to make investors into millionaires. Once again, XRP takes the win. Ripple, the business that issues XRP, has spent 2025 adding tools that its core customer base actually wants. Ripple's developer summit this month unveiled identity‑layer upgrades that bake know‑your‑customer (KYC) regulatory compliance into the protocol, which is an existential requirement for large asset managers. Cardano, unfortunately, remains heavy on research papers and light on production traffic. Hydra, its long‑promised layer‑2 (L2) scaling system, is still in bug‑fix mode after recent security checks. Meanwhile, daily active wallet addresses hover near 24,000 -- far from being a user base of inspiring size. The chain's entire fee haul is less than $8,000 per day. Those metrics would be respectable for a start-up network, but they are tepid for a 9‑year‑old project. Developer activity is the lone area where Cardano shines, as in early 2025, it ranked among the top three chains in terms of updates pushed. Those high commit counts show some momentum, yet code is only valuable when users need what is being built, which is the main problem with the chain. Until Cardano's decentralized finance (DeFi) features become must‑have features for a defined audience, its robust research culture may not translate into price appreciation, and so far, it hasn't. For investors, the takeaway is clear. XRP is already solving paying customers' problems and charging fees to do so. Cardano is still refining the pitch. XRP is the coin that is more likely to make investors richer, but it probably won't deliver the eye-popping returns overnight that are necessary to make millionaires. Still, if the goal is to choose the stronger long‑term compounding machine, XRP currently offers better odds. Its growing transaction flow, embedded regulatory compliance features, and head start in the swelling RWA market create tangible revenue streams that can support higher valuations. Separately, Cardano remains an interesting technology play, and its staunch community plus academic rigor may yet pay off. For now, though, owning the coin is a wager that the team will eventually find a killer use case that drives non‑speculative demand. That might happen, but until it does, it is an investment thesis in search of evidence, not a smart place to put your capital. Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 177% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Which Cryptocurrency Is More Likely to Be a Millionaire Maker? XRP vs. Cardano was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
This Dirt Cheap Healthcare Stock Could Be a Hidden Artificial Intelligence (AI) Opportunity (Hint: It's Not Eli Lilly)
One major potential use case for AI in healthcare is drug discovery for pharmaceutical companies. Insurance is another healthcare-related industry likely to benefit from AI, which could aid scenario modeling, predictive analytics, and natural language processing. UnitedHealth Group experienced some operational challenges this year, but AI could wipe away these shortcomings in the long run. 10 stocks we like better than UnitedHealth Group › When it comes to popular healthcare stocks, investors have focused a lot of attention lately on Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk and the potential of their blockbuster weight management treatments, including Mounjaro, Zepbound, Ozempic, and Wegovy. While these drugs are likely to lead to billions in revenue, Lilly and Novo aren't relying solely on these drugs to grow their businesses. Both companies are also looking into the potential that artificial intelligence (AI) can bring to their operations -- and for good reason. Accounting and consulting firm PwC estimates that the total addressable market (TAM) for AI in healthcare could reach $868 billion by 2030. One of the obvious applications that AI has for healthcare is facilitating pharmaceutical companies in clinical trials and drug discovery. While such use cases are exciting, I see another pocket of the healthcare industry that could be positively disrupted by AI: insurance. Let's explore why UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) could be an under-the-radar growth opportunity because of the intersection between healthcare and AI. Back in April, UnitedHealth greatly disappointed investors after the company published revised financial guidance that indicated a lower-than-expected earnings outlook for the remainder of the year. Management blamed the lower profitability on two primary factors. First, utilization rates in the company's Medicare Advantage program exceeded internal forecasts, taking a toll on the company's cost structure. Second, reimbursements in the company's pharmacy benefits management (PBM) platform, Optum Health, were negatively impacted by reductions in Medicare funding as well as changes to some of the patient demographic profiles in this segment of the business. In short order, the stock price plunged and has shown no indications of recovery, so far. For 2025, share prices are down 40%, making UnitedHealth the poorest-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this year. But before you go writing UnitedHealth off as a broken business, let's examine how AI has the potential to help the health insurance industry and how UnitedHealth specifically could implement this technology to improve the business over time. The underlying issue surrounding UnitedHealth's challenges right now has to do with forecasting. There isn't anything fundamentally broken with the business. Rather, unforeseen changes in the macroeconomic environment led to a different reality than what management had previously modeled -- ultimately leading to higher costs and compressed profit margins. By using machine learning, UnitedHealth could train AI models on claims data and subsequently integrate these feeds into electronic health records (EHR) to help predict more accurate utilization trends. More efficient data feeds could help UnitedHealth hone its pricing strategy and better plan for cost spikes. In addition, AI has the ability to build predictive models that can more accurately assess patient risk profiles. In theory, this has the potential to analyze more granular detail around various segments of patient data as it relates to engagement rates and risk profiles. This could help improve reimbursement forecasts for the Optum business. Lastly, natural language processing (NLP) can also be used to create scenario models by simulating how a business could be impacted based on changes in the regulatory landscape. An example of a company that specializes in this area of AI training is FiscalNote. This could help UnitedHealth plan more strategically as it pertains to budgeting decisions during periods of political uncertainty. While shares of UnitedHealth trade at a slight premium to other large health insurers based on forward earnings multiples, the bigger takeaway from the trends below is that the stock price is hovering near a five-year low. While UnitedHealth's operational challenges won't be fixed overnight, it is key to remember that management believes the company can course correct throughout the second half of this year and be better positioned by 2026. Whether UnitedHealth transitions into an AI-powered service remains to be seen. Investors with a long-run time horizon might want to consider holding on to their shares, though, as the ideas explored above showcase how AI has the potential to become a game-changing advancement for the health insurance industry over time. Looked at a different way, UnitedHealth could transform its business over the next several years by making cognizant investments in this technology. Nevertheless, the stock appears dirt cheap right now, and I think patient investors will be rewarded as the company turns things around over the next couple of quarters. Before you buy stock in UnitedHealth Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and UnitedHealth Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 177% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Fiscal Note is a transcription service used by The Motley Fool. Adam Spatacco has positions in Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk and UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This Dirt Cheap Healthcare Stock Could Be a Hidden Artificial Intelligence (AI) Opportunity (Hint: It's Not Eli Lilly) was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
