Trump hits the gas as approval rating slides

The Hill

6 days ago

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In today's issue:
▪ Trump vows to steam through agenda
▪ Will Epstein grand jury files appease MAGA?
▪ GOP eyes Texas midterm safety valve
▪ President pressures Washington Commanders
President Trump applauded his sixth-month mark Sunday, hailing his second term as an early success even as he tallies unfinished business, middling poll results and Republican anxiety that next year's midterm contests might end on a sour note.
'Wow, time flies!' he wrote on social media. 'I mportantly, it's being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any President.'
Polls show mixed reviews. Trump's six-month approval rating remains underwater, with nearly 53 percent of surveyed U.S. adults disapproving of the job he's doing, according to Decision Desk HQ polling averages.
That disapproval is near its highest level since he returned to office in January. And Americans say they want Trump to focus on consumer prices instead of raising tariffs, according to a new CBS News survey.
The president says Republicans have brought the United States back from what he calls 'the dead,' but polling suggests majorities of Americans are wary of Trump's roller-coaster trade war, treatment of immigrants and key elements of his agenda woven into the newly enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
There's pushback from the right aimed at the president over the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. From the left, Democrats vow to battle Republicans to protect Medicaid, voting rights and what they call a restoration of democratic norms. Wall Street would like the president to stop threatening to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in 2017 and whose central bank leadership ends in less than a year.
The president on Sunday refuted a Wall Street Journal report that Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent advised him financial markets would react negatively to Powell's ouster.
'Nobody had to explain that to me. I know better than anybody what's good for the Market, and what's good for the U.S.A.,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president, eager to capitalize on a string of legislative victories this month, advised Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to keep senators in Washington and cancel the August recess to allow time to confirm more of his appointees.
Senate committees and the full Senate this week are taking steps toward confirmation votes for nominees to the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Pentagon, Labor Department, federal judiciary and more.
Thune also has a bigger battle on his horizon. Republicans fear Washington could be headed for a government shutdown after bruising partisan battles over spending and legislation that last week clawed back $9 billion in previously approved appropriations for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
White House budget director Russell Vought told lawmakers the administration plans to propose additional spending cancellations favored by Trump. GOP leaders are waving the caution flag, The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports. They have fewer than 20 legislative days left before funding expires at the end of the year and are uneasy about forfeiting their power of the purse.
At risk is the annual defense appropriations bill, a top Republican priority that Democrats view as a valuable bargaining chip while in the minority.
Thune, interviewed on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures,' said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ' probably thinks' a partial government shutdown this fall 'is beneficial to their political base, the far left of the Democrat Party, and you can kind of see what's happening up there in New York politics.'
This week, Thune has a test vote in mind to challenge Democrats who think a shutdown fight might be politically useful, despite their previous opposition to such brinksmanship. At issue is a customarily bipartisan funding measure for the Pentagon, which would set a budget beginning Oct. 1, at the onset of the new fiscal year.
'We'll see if the Democrats want to play ball. I hope they do,' Thune told Punchbowl News. 'All of these threats to the contrary — at the end of the day, I think it's in everybody's interest to figure out how to keep the government funded.'
Editor's note: Blake Burman's Smart Take will return on Tuesday.
3 Things to Know Today
The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians should 'IMMEDIATELY' revert to their former names (Redskins and Indians, respectively), Trump advised team owners on Sunday. ' Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen,' he wrote.
Uncertainty about the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency hangs over hurricane season, which stretches into November.
Dogs with their amazing noses can detect Parkinson's disease in humans with amazing accuracy long before patients are diagnosed.
Leading the Day
EPSTEIN FILES: Republicans who faced fractures all last week over the Trump administration's handling of disclosures related to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are holding their breath to see if the tsunami of criticism from their base is finally subsiding.
GOP members on the House Rules Committee voted in favor of a resolution directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release more Epstein-related materials. Trump relented and directed Bondi to request grand jury testimony from the Epstein case be unsealed. And Republicans are banding together to dismiss and criticize The Wall Street Journal's report about a 'bawdy' birthday letter it said Trump sent Epstein more than two decades ago.
But none of those developments have the weight to fully put the Epstein matter to rest. The White House has rebuffed calls from some in the GOP to go further, like appointing a special counsel or releasing all the FBI files.
Trump on Saturday said even if his administration releases all grand jury testimony — a fraction of the material available to the government — it will not be enough to satisfy the 'troublemakers and radical left lunatics.'
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Sunday applauded Trump and Bondi for their plans to release relevant grand jury testimony, calling it a 'good start' on CNN but saying he wants more. However, he cautioned against 'innocent names' being disclosed.
Burchett said on ABC News's 'This Week' that 'just because somebody flew on a plane doesn't mean they're a daggum pedophile.'
'I have a lot of wealthy friends, and they fly on people's planes. And their plane will be down, and they'll say, 'Hey, we're going somewhere, and we've got an extra seat, do you want to go?' And they don't even know the person on the plane,' he said. 'So, you know, that's one of the things I worry about too.'
Amid the Epstein chatter, the tangled and tumultuous relationship between Trump and media mogul Rupert Murdoch took a new, dramatic turn. Trump is suing Murdoch, his company News Corporation and The Wall Street Journal's parent company. The suit was filed on Friday, following through on earlier social media postings from the president.
▪ The New York Times: An accuser's story suggests how Trump might appear in the Epstein files. A former Epstein employee said that she told the FBI in 1996 and 2006 about what she considered a troubling encounter with Trump.
'FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE': A special session of the Texas Legislature kicks off today, and the big topic in the room will be the five GOP House seats Trump wants to net in 2026 based on a new gerrymandered map. Such tactics used to be rare, but they're predicted to become more common as partisan states see opportunities to reshape the House majority. Court battles are likely to follow.
Princeton University's 'Redistricting Report Card' awards Texas an F grade based on its 2021 congressional map.
Former Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder, chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, told lawyer and voting rights expert Marc Elias in a podcast episode last week that the GOP effort in Texas 'shows kind of the warped priorities that they have and the depths to which they will go in order to hold on to what I think is illegitimate power.'
'Republican congressional folks have not necessarily been in favor of this because this creates districts that although will lean Republican, are not going to be in some instances as Republican as they once were,' Holder said. 'If there's a wave election in 2026, some of those folks potentially are in jeopardy,' he added.
Democrats on Capitol Hill are pressing blue-state governors to redraw their House lines in response, warning it's the party's only chance to flip control of the lower chamber after next year's midterms. The Democrats are quick to maintain that mid-decade redistricting is a rotten trend to emulate. But the urgency in what Democrats see as an existential fight against Trump demands a bending of the rules. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (Texas) called on his fellow Democrats to fight 'fire with fire.'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is already heading in that direction, saying he's weighing multiple options for how the state can redraw its lines to counter the Texas GOP. And there's speculation that Democratic leaders in several other blue states, including Illinois and New York, are assessing whether to follow suit.
'If the Republicans are going to redistrict in the middle of the decade, then we have no choice but to do the same,' said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.). 'Because to do otherwise would be unilateral disarmament.'
▪ CBS Austin: Texas House Democrats have launched an online hub to combat efforts by Republicans to redistrict Texas in the upcoming legislative session.
▪ Newsweek: Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday handed a win to Republicans, ruling the state's current congressional map, lambasted by Democrats as a gerrymander, can stand ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Where and When
Trump will have lunch at 12:30 p.m. with Vice President Vance.
The House meets at noon.
The Senate will convene at 3 p.m
Zoom In
BATTLE FOR SENATE: The 2026 Senate election cycle has kicked into overdrive in recent weeks, with a major retirement announcement, the passage of key GOP priorities and moves by candidates that could further scramble the chess board.
The Hill's Al Weaver has a new analysis looking at the five Senate seats most likely to flip in the midterms: North Carolina, Georgia, Maine, Michigan and Texas.
NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Democrats are weighing their options in New York City's mayoral race after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his independent bid last week. The Democratic establishment is looking for options other than progressive upstart-turned-party nominee Zohran Mamdani.
'Cuomo has lost once, he probably will lose again,' said New York-based Republican strategist Susan Del Percio, who doesn't support Trump. Strategists, including Del Percio, say it's not too late for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, to put up a fight. Parts of the establishment have already run to the scandal-ridden incumbent as their savior from Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist.
▪ Politico: Mamdani's social media savvy comes at a cost. Critics have been poring over the democratic socialist's digital footprint as he heads into the general election.
MICROSOFT HACK: Exploiting a major security flaw in a widely used Microsoft server software, hackers launched a global attack on government agencies and businesses. In the past few days, the hackers reportedly breached federal and state agencies in the U.S., as well as universities and companies across various industries. The U.S. government, together with Canada and Australia, is investigating the SharePoint servers' weaknesses. Tens of thousands of the servers, which allow for document sharing, are at risk.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: The DOJ has been rocked by a wave of recent firings, a sign the administration is not done culling the ranks of career officials as it seeks to shape the department under a second Trump term. In addition to the dismissal of career prosecutors and much of the team that worked under former special counsel Jack Smith, Bondi also fired the top career ethics official at the department, Joseph Tirrell, the latest in a string of ethics officials pushed out under Trump.
'Every time I think we're at some point when the firings are over, there's another wave. So I would predict we'll see more,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'It's more dedicated career professionals being given walking papers when they really deserve to be elevated and empowered. And to fire the ethics attorney, I think, speaks volumes about where she's taking the department.'
▪ Reuters: Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump's policies in court have quit.
OTHER ADMINISTRATION NEWS:
▪ The Hill: Justin Fulcher, a senior staffer at the Pentagon and adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has left the Pentagon. Fulcher's departure is the latest shake-up in recent months in the top ranks of the department, which saw three top officials ousted in April.
▪ The Hill: Stakeholders and lawmakers are cheering after the Trump administration ended a pause on $6 billion in federal after-school and summer school funding following rare bipartisan pushback.
▪ The Hill: The 'big, beautiful bill' is expected to make a major dent in the U.S.'s climate progress and add significantly more planet-warming emissions to the atmosphere.
Elsewhere
UKRAINE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Kyiv sent Moscow an offer to hold another round of peace talks this week to speed up negotiations for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. Russia launched 450 missiles and drones overnight, while Ukrainian attacks caused chaos at Moscow airports.
The two countries have held two rounds of talks in Istanbul over the past five months, agreeing to swap prisoners. But there have been no breakthroughs in ending the almost three-and-a-half-year war that started with Russia's 2022 invasion.
'Everything should be done to achieve a ceasefire,' Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation. 'The Russian side should stop hiding from decisions.'
Zelensky's call for talks arrives just after Trump offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a 50-day window to achieve a ceasefire before the U.S. imposes 'secondary tariffs' on countries that buy Russian oil.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian media on Sunday that Moscow is 'ready to move quickly' on achieving a peace deal with Ukraine, but its 'main goal' was to achieve its 'objectives.'
ISRAEL: Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted Israel's escalation in Syria, the White House is significantly more alarmed about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his regional policies, Axios reports.
'Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time,' one White House official told the outlet, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. 'This could undermine what Trump is trying to do.'
A second senior U.S. official also pointed to the attack on Gaza's only Catholic church, which led Trump to call Netanyahu and demand an explanation.
'The feeling is that every day there is something new,' a second official said. 'What the f—?'
At least 85 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid at locations across Gaza on Sunday, the enclave's health ministry said. It marked one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in more than 21 months of war. The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for areas of central Gaza, where it has rarely operated with ground troops and international organizations attempting to distribute aid.
The United Nations World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for 'starving communities' when it encountered massive crowds that came under gunfire. It called violence against aid-seekers 'completely unacceptable.'
▪ NBC News: Pope Leo XIV spoke Sunday of his 'deep sorrow' and called for an end to the 'barbarity of war' in the wake of the shelling of the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza.
▪ Haaretz: The Israeli Foreign Ministry will fund a tour of Israel for American MAGA and America First social media influencers.
▪ The New York Times: Iranian officials will meet Friday for nuclear talks with negotiators from Britain, France and Germany, days after they threatened to restore sanctions.
Opinion
The Closer
And finally … What's past in Washington revisits again (and again).
On this day in 1930, former President Hoover, following congressional action, used an executive order to create the Veterans Administration with 31,600 employees, agreeing to seek efficiency and better services for a key population. He consolidated the Veterans Bureau, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the Bureau of Pensions 'to consolidate, eliminate or redistribute the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices or activities in the Veterans' Administration and to create new ones therein, and, by rules and regulations not inconsistent with law … fix the functions thereof.'
Former President Reagan in 1988 created the Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs, although that law did not go into effect until former President George H.W. Bush was in the Oval Office in 1989.
By 2014, the VA became embroiled in a scandal during the Obama administration in which prolonged wait times for veteran medical appointments reportedly cost lives while some employees sought to cover up the problems. Former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned while the hunt continued for swiftly delivered services promised to eligible veterans.
The Veterans Affairs Department this year embarked on 'efficiency' downshifts with congressional approval to shrink a workforce of 434,000. The government in February began by firing 1,400 'non-mission-critical' VA workers. But an early plan to slash 83,000 VA positions, or 15 percent of its workforce, was revised under public and union pressure to a goal of 30,000 — relying on a hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and attrition.
▪ Federal News Network: Trump's new 'Schedule G' order last week to create new openings to hire political appointees for federal jobs has the VA in mind.