Our daily political update, featuring the stories that matter
Jul 9th 2025The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to sack workers at 19 federal departments and agencies. A lower court had blocked the government’s plan to radically reorganise the federal bureaucracy, arguing that the administration was obliged to consult Congress. The Supreme Court struck down that temporary order, but offered no view on the legality of the plan.
American copper futures jumped by 17% after Donald Trump said that he would soon impose a 50% tariff on the metal. Traders rushed to buy in anticipation of higher prices. They have since fallen a bit. The president also suggested that levies on pharmaceutical imports could be “like 200%” within 18 months. Mr Trump vowed that he would extend no further his new deadline of August 1st, by which time countries must sign trade deals or face “reciprocal” tariffs.
Leading figures in the Trump administration have long accused the government of withholding information about Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile who killed himself in prison. Now it says there’s nothing to disclose. On Sunday a Department of Justice memo surfaced saying that Epstein had no “clients list” and did in fact kill himself, contradicting conspiracy theories. MAGA influencers are irate. Laura Loomer, a conspiracist who has Mr Trump’s ear, called for Pam Bondi, the attorney-general, to be sacked.
Someone has reportedly impersonated Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, using AI-generated text and audio messages. According to a State Department cable, the imposter sent messages to at least five people: a state governor, a congressman and three foreign ministers. In May authorities were reportedly investigating a similar attempt to impersonate Susie Wiles, Mr Trump’s chief of staff.
Trump Media & Technology Group filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulator, to start an exchange-traded fund called “Crypto Blue Chip” that would hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The social-media company, which is majority-owned by the president, has filed papers for two other crypto-based ETFs; none has launched yet.
Donald Trump’s approval rating
Mr Trump’s net approval rating—the share of people who say he is doing a good job minus the share who say he is not—has been on a rollercoaster ride. Generally the trend is downward. But over the past few weeks his net approval has been steady at -12, around where it was at this point in his first term.
Since becoming president for the first time in 2017, Mr Trump has remade the Republican Party in his image. To do that, he has sidelined detractors. By examining 52,792 of his social-media posts, The Economist has identified 30 Republican members of Congress whom Mr Trump has denounced or sought to remove since his first inauguration. Find out what happened to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment