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Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Report card on Trump's first six months shows a lot of wins, a little room for growth
Over the course of four years' banishment to America's political wilderness while subjected to the humiliating and unprecedented spectacle of criminal prosecution, President Trump seems to have intuited a key life lesson: Time is of the essence. Carpe diem, seize the day. And so it has been. Like a thoroughbred bursting out of the Kentucky Derby starting gate, the second Trump administration has been racing full speed ahead ever since Trump was inaugurated once again as president of the United States. If the Derby is the 'fastest two minutes in sports,' then this has surely been the fastest six months in modern presidential history. Awareness of life's ticking clock is important for any elected official, but it is particularly important for Trump. During his first term in office, much of Trump's agenda was derailed or sidetracked by forces beyond his direct control: an unexpected John McCain thumbs-down on the Obamacare repeal vote, injunction-happy lower-court judges, subversive administrative state actors, a bogus special counsel probe on Russian election interference, the COVID-19 pandemic, extraordinary Big Tech censorship. Based on these experiences and sobered from those long interregnum years, Trump adjusted his game plan this time around. And it shows. So there's a lot to report here in the Trump administration's six-month report card. Economy: B+ There has been much in the way of genuinely great news on the economy. The stock market is considerably up since Trump resumed office, Trump's tariffs are bringing in substantial revenue to the Treasury, the president renewed his landmark 2017 tax cuts and cut taxes on tips and overtime pay, he has finalized historic trade deals with major powers, inflation has stayed relatively consistent and blue-chip companies have announced massive domestic investments in the U.S. economy. On the other hand, inflation stubbornly remains a bit high, the tariff rollout has been bumpy at best, and the 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' while a net positive piece of legislation, only exacerbated America's glaring debt problem. Elon Musk's DOGE, while still a great public service, also identified only a minuscule portion of federal bloat for rescission. Domestic policy: A The administration's broader domestic agenda has been, from a conservative perspective, extremely successful. Trump's war against the higher education establishment is long overdue and is already paying huge tangible dividends. Trump, through both court wins and crucial executive orders, has taken meaningful steps to curtail the administrative state Leviathan and consolidate executive power where it properly belongs: with the president himself. He has protected women's sports and female federal inmates from intimate exposure to biological males, protected vulnerable confused children from the irreversible depredations of transgender 'medicine' and crushed the modern racism that is 'diversity, equity and inclusion.' He has secured numerous other decades-sought-after domestic conservative goals, such as (partially) defunding Planned Parenthood, defunding NPR and PBS and vastly downsizing the Department of Education. Immigration: A+ Trump has not disappointed on his longstanding signature political issue, immigration. Illegal border crossings and 'gotaways' have dropped to historic lows as Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and 'border czar' Tom Homan have overseen one of the most sweeping border security and immigration enforcement operations in American history. There are no signs of slowing down, either. Perhaps even better, the administration has pursued its immigration enforcement agenda in a way that also redounds to its political interests — from the Hamas-sympathizing former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to the 'Maryland man' Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is now charged with human smuggling. Law: A- Lower-court judges have tried to nip the administration's agenda in the bud with ludicrous nationwide injunctions, but most of those acts of judicial hubris will be brought to heel by Trump's recent Supreme Court victory in the CASA case. The administration has secured other crucial Supreme Court victories, including the Skrmetti case, which paved the way for states to protect vulnerable children from mutilating transgender surgeries. And while judicial nominations have gotten off to a slower start than during the first Trump term, the administration's picks thus far for federal courts have invariably been top-notch. On the other hand, the administration might want to try to entice more conservative older judges to take 'senior status' — perhaps, for instance, by offering them shiny ambassadorships. Finally, the Jeffrey Epstein saga, while not the monstrous scandal-in-the-making some even on the MAGA right make it out to be, has clearly not been handled particularly well. Foreign policy: A The Trump administration has reversed the Biden-era approach of rewarding geopolitical enemies and punishing geopolitical friends by returning to the more familiar approach he deployed during his first term: rewarding friends and punishing enemies. Trump's limited incursion in last month's 12-Day War between Israel and Iran achieved the decades-sought-after goal of severely hampering Iran's nuclear program, while also not suffering a single American casualty or even requiring a boot on the ground. In Europe, NATO nations are already committing to spend more money on defense, thus freeing up the United States to focus first and foremost on its true rival: Communist China. Trump has brought peace to India and Pakistan and to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A Russia-Ukraine peace deal remains elusive, but Trump has shown an admirable willingness to adjust in response to changing circumstances. There is undoubtedly much work left to be done. Trump would probably be the first to say that himself. But his second administration is off to a very strong — and fast — start. Seize the day, indeed. Josh Hammer's latest book is 'Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.' This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
CNN
21-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
An inside look at one of the most coveted offices in the US Capitol
An inside look at one of the most coveted offices in the US Capitol Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) gives CNN's Dana Bash a tour of his office once occupied by the late Senator John McCain, as well as a "hideaway" that offers an impressive view and backdrop for bipartisan discussions both senators are known for. 02:17 - Source: CNN Vertical Politics of the Day 16 videos An inside look at one of the most coveted offices in the US Capitol Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) gives CNN's Dana Bash a tour of his office once occupied by the late Senator John McCain, as well as a "hideaway" that offers an impressive view and backdrop for bipartisan discussions both senators are known for. 02:17 - Source: CNN Democrats walk out before vote for controversial Trump nominee Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans voted on Thursday to advance the nomination of Emil Bove, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, to a federal judgeship, over the loud protests of Democrats. 01:42 - Source: CNN Trump's 'Manosphere' problems Influential podcasters with large audiences of millennial and Gen Z men helped propel President Donald Trump to victory in 2024. Now some of those same voices are sharing criticisms of the current administration. CNN's Steve Contorno breaks it down. 01:56 - Source: CNN Trump DOJ fires federal prosecutor in Epstein case Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in the case against accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, has been fired from her job in the Southern District of New York, according to people familiar with the situation. 01:56 - Source: CNN Bernie Sanders calls Trump's GOP 'cult of the individual' Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that Republicans developed an almost Stalinist-type devotion to President Donald Trump. 00:45 - Source: CNN This Native American senator brings Oklahoma ranch style to Washington Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) gives CNN's Dana Bash a tour of his Capitol office, which showcases his Cherokee heritage and rancher lifestyle. 02:35 - Source: CNN Ex-Trump business associate on Trump's friendship with Epstein CNN's Erin Burnett speaks with former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino COO Jack O'Donnell about one of President Trump's previous interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. 02:27 - Source: CNN Fearing ICE crackdown, this family self-deports Fearing increased immigration enforcement, undocumented immigrant Julio Mendoza and his American wife, Sasha, made the difficult decision to self-deport to Mexico with their three children, all of whom are US Citizens. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez reports. 01:35 - Source: CNN How Trump's image is changing inside Russia Once hailed as a pro-Kremlin figure, President Donald Trump's image is changing inside Russia. It comes after Trump vowed further sanctions on the country if a peace agreement with Ukraine is not reached in 50 days. CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent is on the ground in Moscow with the analysis. 01:41 - Source: CNN Rep. Jasmine Crockett responds to Trump saying she should take IQ test CNN's Laura Coates speaks with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) about President Donald Trump's comments that she and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should take an IQ test. 01:05 - Source: CNN Trump says interest in Epstein files is 'pretty boring stuff' President Donald Trump said he doesn't understand his supporters' continued interest in the Epstein files, calling it "boring," while also reiterating his call for anything 'credible' to be released. 00:56 - Source: CNN Trump's fight with MAGA base over Epstein explained President Trump is at odds with some of his own supporters over after his Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to release more documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case. CNN's Erin Burnett explains the feud inside Trump's MAGA movement. 02:20 - Source: CNN Supreme Court ruling will allow mass firings of Education Department employees The Supreme Court on Monday said President Donald Trump may proceed with his plan to carry out mass layoffs at the Department of Education in the latest win for the White House at the conservative high court. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reports. 01:34 - Source: CNN Trump demands Russia reach peace deal within 50 days President Donald Trump made several announcements on Monday aligning him more firmly with Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion than ever before. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh breaks down the two main developments that could drastically impact the ongoing war. 01:34 - Source: CNN MTG warns of 'big' blowback in MAGA world over handling of Epstein case CNN's Manu Raju spoke with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who is demanding "transparency" from President Donald Trump's administration when it comes to information related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and warned that the issue could stoke "significant" blowback from the right wing of the party. 01:04 - Source: CNN MAGA faithful weigh in on Epstein files debate At a conservative conference in Florida, Trump supporters share their views on the Epstein files fallout with CNN's Donie O'Sullivan. 01:40 - Source: CNN
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Vote-a-rama' drama as these 5 in GOP threaten McCain-like ‘thumbs-down' moment on Trump's ‘Big Beautiful' bill
The beginning of the Senate's marathon 'vote-a-rama' session is underway as the upper chamber debates final passage of the so-called 'one big, beautiful bill' addressing several of Donald Trump's legislative priorities. It was still unclear by Monday morning whether the vote would pass. Republicans have only 53 seats in the Senate, which is not enough to overcome a filibuster by the Democrats. As a result, they plan to use a process called budget reconciliation. This would allow them to pass the legislation with a simple 51-vote majority as long as the bill relates to the federal budget. Vice President JD Vance can cast a tie-breaking vote. A massive piece of legislation increasingly representing the norm on Capitol Hill, the 'big, beautiful bill' is more than a simple budgetary package. It includes an extension of the 2017 Republican tax cuts, a costly proposition, as well as a surge in funding for Trump's mass deportation efforts. The legislation would fund the hiring of nearly 20,000 new immigration agents, including 10,000 new ICE personnel alone. Republicans found funding for those measures through cuts to Medicaid and food stamps (SNAP). The imposition of work requirements in the bill is estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to result in millions losing Medicaid coverage over the next decade if passed, and changes to the legislation in the Senate would also effectively end the expansion of Medicaid in states that chose to do so after passage of the Affordable Care Act — resulting in millions more losing coverage. Democrats are hoping to pick up four Republican defections in an effort to defeat the bill. The 'vote-a-rama' process allows for both parties to introduce amendments to the legislation, and it's possible that the bill could change significantly before the final vote — which was set for late in the afternoon. And the continued debate over the budget reconciliation package — officially the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill Act' — leaves open a very real possibility for one or more Republican senators to have their own 'John McCain moment' later in the day. In 2017, the late Sen. John McCain, who at the time had an aggressive form of brain cancer, ping-ponged back and forth between Democrats and Republicans as both competed for his vote before he famously went to the Senate well and delivered his literal thumbs down to kill Trump and conggressional Republicans' attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. His deciding vote shocked members of both parties, and firmly ended any political momentum for ACA repeal efforts through the rest of Trump's first term — a fact Trump never forgave of the late McCain. Even with twin majorities in Congress once again, Republicans have not yet floated a similar plan for ACA repeal. As of Monday morning, meanwhile, two Republican senators looked to be hard "no" votes: Sens. Rand Paul and Thom Tillis. Paul, the Senate's leading libertarian, is demanding steeper spending cuts in the budget package, while Tillis opposes the extent of cuts to Medicaid, including the rollback of the program's expansion. Tillis's home state of North Carolina began the expansion of Medicaid coverage in the state under the ACA's provisions in late 2023. President Trump threatened Tillis plitically over the announcement that he would oppose the legislation in a Truth Social post. The senior North Carolina Republican then announced that he would not seek re-election next year. Tillis, in turn, fired back in a tweet urging Trump not to endorse Mark Robinson, the state's scandal-plagued former lieutenant governor, for his seat upon his retirement. Robinson, Tillis said, would lose his election by 20 points. Three other Republicans are thought to be on the fence. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are both publicly critical of calls for cuts to Medicaid; neither have announced how they will vote on final passage. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is the last outlier, having expressed his own reservations about insufficient deficit reduction efforts though he seemed to get on the same page with GOP leadership Sunday evening. With Vance set to break a tie, Collins and Murkowski are the likeliest candidates to block the bill — though they'd have to vote as a bloc to do so. To be successful, their votes would also require Paul and Tillis to remain in opposition, though Tillis at least seems immovable. If Monday's vote succeeds, Republicans will still have to put the legislation through the House of Representatives one final time for passage. Several members of the lower chamber, where Republicans hold an equally thin majority, have already expressed reservations about changes made to the legislation in the Senate. The scope of the legislation and disagreements within the disparate factions of the House Republican caucus have already caused their share of drama in the weeks and months leading up to Monday's vote-a-rama in the Senate. The House narrowly passed the legislation after arguments between Speaker Mike Johnson and members of his caucus over raising the cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), as well as the bill's Medicaid provisions. A major rift also erupted between the president and Elon Musk, formerly one of his chief advisers, over projections that the bill would add nearly $4trn to the national debt over a decade. Musk, who spun out publicly and made accusations about Trump's involvement with the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein before deleting them, criticized the legislation again on Saturday as voting neared. 'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!' he wrote. 'Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.'
Washington Post
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
I'm Muslim. Zohran Mamdani's victory is a Barack Obama moment.
Zaid Jilani is a journalist and author of 'The American Saga' newsletter. When I found out about New York Democratic Assembly member Zohran Mamdani's upset victory in New York City's mayoral Democratic primary, an old memory popped into my head. It was the day after Barack Obama trounced John McCain in 2008's presidential election. A friend of mine who was running his student chapter for the state of Georgia greeted me at the student center of the University of Georgia, where we both went to school.
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Republican Lisa Murkowski on Trump's America and the ‘intensity on the security of our democracy'
Late one night about six months into Donald Trump's first term, John McCain stepped onto the Senate floor and with a dramatic thumbs-down gesture dealt the president his first major legislative setback by defeating an attempt by his fellow Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It was the last major political effort of the Arizona senator, who would die the following year from brain cancer, but his no vote would not have been effective had he had not been joined by fellow Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – who gives that incident, and many other brushes with Trump, a prominent place in Far from Home, the memoir she released on Tuesday. 'Susan and I did smile wryly about the laurels he received for that one vote – which came only after the two of us had already taken the heat for many days for standing up against the party on our own,' Murkowski writes. About halfway through her fourth full term representing the largest state in the union, Murkowski has chosen this moment to release a memoir documenting her years as a politically moderate politician who repeatedly stood up to the president that transformed modern rightwing politics in the United States. There's a good case to be made that Murkowski, and Alaskans at large, have a unique perspective when it comes to the political changes he has wrought. Alaska is the state that elected as governor Sarah Palin, whose chant of 'drill, baby, drill' has essentially become US government policy under the second Trump administration. It was a hotbed of the Tea Party movement, whose candidate Joe Miller managed to defeat Murkowski in the 2010 Republican Senate primary only for her to win the general election through a historic write-in campaign. Its voters backed Trump three times straight, but Murkowski refrained – in her memoir, she reveals that in 2016, she wrote in Ohio's Republican governor John Kasich, a fellow moderate. Later, she would be one of seven Republican senators to vote for Trump's conviction after the January 6 insurrection. Murkowski is no Democrat – despite helping to keep the Affordable Care Act on the books, she did not vote for it in the first place nor much else of what Barack Obama and fellow Democrat Joe Biden proposed during their terms. She acknowledges the peril of the climate crisis, but has supported opening the Arctic national wildlife refuge to drilling, as well as the Willow oil project. But much of Murkowski's focus in Far from Home is on navigating the crises the country faced during the Trump era, such as his two impeachments, the Covid-19 pandemic and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election – which often put her against him, to the extent that he backed an unsuccessful challenger in 2022. 'It's not like I highlighted things that were going on in the Trump administration or that directly tied to Trump, so much as they're events in recent political memory that were very significant issues. And what I'm trying to share is my thought process and how I approached some really hard things,' the senator told the Guardian by phone from her Washington DC residence as she took a break from making rhubarb crisp. Yet she acknowledges that Trump's dominance of rightwing politics – it's now been 10 years since he began his political career by riding down a golden escalator in his New York tower to make a speech calling Mexicans rapists – has left a mark on the world's oldest democracy. 'I've been in the Senate now for 22 years, and I have never been either asked so many questions about, you know, do you feel like our democracy is secure? Do you feel that these are threats to democracy? Never, never, have I felt this, this intensity on the security of our democracy. So I do think that we are in a different place,' she said. All signs point to more difficult choices ahead for the senator, who was appointed in 2002, with much controversy, by her father, governor Frank Murkowski, to a Senate seat he had recently vacated. Though she is a member of the 53-strong Senate Republican Conference, in April, she publicly acknowledged that 'we are all afraid,' and 'retaliation is real' – comments that have been interpreted by many as a sign that the senator now personally fears the consequences of crossing Trump. She downplayed that conclusion to the Guardian, saying that she was rather trying to empathize with a room of non-profit employees in Anchorage who had seen their organizations' funding slashed haphazardly by the new administration. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Murkowski, however, believes that there can be only so much fear and uncertainty that the public can handle, pointing to the recent No Kings protests: 'There's a difference between asserting as much power as you are authorized, and then … kind of pushing the envelope and seeing if there's even more, if you can go even beyond that. And is the court going to check me? Is the legislative branch going to check me? And your question is, how much will the public tolerate? And I think we're starting to see that.' Her solution? 'This is where I think we in Congress need to make sure that not only are we keeping the executive in check, but that we are doing our job. We're doing what the constitution requires of us.' Murkowski pointed to two opportunities for that oversight: a vote that could happen this week on a war powers resolution to restrict Trump's ability to further bomb Iran, and, separately, on a White House proposal to slash $9.4bn in funds appropriated for foreign aid programs and public broadcasters. After Trump ordered air strikes against Tehran's nuclear program over the weekend, Murkowski wrote: 'We must remember that Congress alone holds the constitutional power to authorize war.' Much of the Senate's focus right now is being taken up by negotiations over the One Big Beautiful Bill act, Trump and the Republicans' marquee legislation that would extend tax cuts, create new ones and fund ramped up immigration enforcement, while slashing the social safety net and sunsetting clean energy tax credits created under Biden. The latter was intended to address the climate crisis, which Murkowski views as a threat to her state – she even begins her book with a visit to Newtok, an Alaskan village being swallowed by climate crisis-driven erosion. In April, she was one of four Republican senators to sign a letter opposing the 'full-scale repeal' of the tax credits. (She declined to say how she would vote on the bill.) Trump is pushing for it to reach his desk by 4 July Independence Day holiday, but Murkowski described that demand as unrealistic. The peril, she said, is passing an imperfect bill that sets the public against the GOP – and leads to them losing their congressional majorities in next year's midterm elections. 'It's all about making sure that we've got the best policy, not for Republicans, not for Democrats, but the best policy for the people in this country,' Murkowski said. 'And if we take the time to do that and deliver that, not necessarily tie ourselves to an arbitrary date to just get there as quickly as we can, but so that we can actually deliver good policy, I think then that's rewarded by the voters when they feel that you did the work of the people.'
