Week 94 — The Return

This week Trump continued his inexplicable targeting of what were formerly some of the strongest U.S. allies, while coddling and cozying up to former adversaries. In what the WSJ Editorial Board dubbed “the dumbest trade war,” Trump escalated tensions with Canada, including threats to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, while Vice President JD Vance mused that “Canada is a state.” Unlike during his first regime and earlier in his second, now countries are pushing back against his antics rather than being bullied into submission.

Speaking of pushing back, the Iran war, now in its sixth month, is at a standstill. Americans’ approval of the war hit a low point of 31%, as support even from Trump’s Republican base faltered. Experts questioned the efficacy of Trump’s new tactic of imposing an “economic D-Day” on Iran, which had previously faced decades of sanctions to little avail, other than pushing Iran to sign the JCPOA, which Trump exited. Trump and Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth’s strategy back home continued to be to silence dissent.

Meanwhile, Trump kept his focus this week on his pet projects and targeting his perceived enemies. Trump enjoyed two Supreme Court wins on his ballroom and mail-in voting, with midterms approaching. In a sign that Trump knows what is coming with midterms, he sent Jared Kushner to meet with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, likely to become the House Speaker after midterms.

1. On Wednesday, Trump took reporters on a 40-minute tour of the White House grounds to show off his pet projects, telling reporters, “One thing I know how to do is build,” and adding he found the projects “very exciting,” and that they “will be here long after we’re gone.”
2. Trump showed off his helipad site, bragged about the ballroom he was building, and for the first time revealed that he had replaced the walkway from the White House’s diplomatic entrance and a portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with “flawless granite.”
3. Trump bragged about the grass replanting after his UFC fight had destroyed it, saying, “we put top soil, brand new earth on top…a lot of good ingredients in that earth for grass,” adding, “it was given, free of charge, by Scotts Miracle-Gro…I wanna thank Scotts Miracle-Gro.”
4. After, Trump hosted an event to honor a California teen lifeguard who had rescued a 10 year-old boy, telling the boy in front of reporters, “I probably wouldn’t have jumped into the water to rescue you. You’re lucky I wasn’t on duty.”
5. On Wednesday, NBC News reported that according to a court filing, a National Park Service engineer warned the Trump regime in early June about the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool peeling due to the renovation process, weeks before Trump started blaming vandals.
6. On Friday, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts allowed work to continue on Trump’s ballroom temporarily, hours before a lower court ruling would have halted above-ground construction, as the court considered Trump’s emergency request to intervene in lawsuits.
7. WAPO reported Trump’s claims of needing an underground bunker under his ballroom for himself and future presidents was undercut by the fact the White House complex already had one, which former officials said was built under the Obama administration.
8. On Tuesday, WAPO reported that according to confidential documents, while ticket sales and fundraising at the Kennedy Center had declined in the 10 months after Trump took control of the center, both plunged after the Trump appointed board voted to add his name to the center.
9. Documents revealed that while the Trump appointed leaders publicly portrayed his involvement as a financial rescue, including in June court filings in an effort to keep his name on the building, they knew that revenue from the center was on track to be $100 million below target.
10. On Tuesday, Trump’s DOJ threatened in a court filing to demolish the Kennedy Center if the court blocked its renovation plans, which included adding Trump’s name, writing, “Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure.”
11. On Wednesday, Max Lederer Jr., the longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, announced his retirement after clashing with Pentagon leaders, who moved to exert editorial control, citing “woke distractions.” The newspaper reported on conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
12. On Friday, the Pentagon fired Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief, after he told CBS in an interview that he objected to censorship by the Pentagon, and that the newspaper “must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies.”
13. The Pentagon also fired Middle East reporter Lara Korte for insubordination. According to her post on X, this came “after I told a CBS reporter that I work for Stars and Stripes — not the Pentagon, not any administration, and not any policy maker.”
14. On Friday, Stars and Stripes reported the Navy evacuated 1,300 family members from a base in Bahrain six months ago without a plan, leaving families in limbo, with some spending tens of thousands out of pocket for living expenses, and others sleeping on floors of temporary housing.
15. Family members also said their cars, furniture, and some personal belongings remained in Bahrain. One said the repeated displacement to Germany and then the U.S. had traumatized her children. The Trump regime had yet to come up with a plan for the families.
16. NBC News reported Luis Manuel Aviles, the father of a sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, was detained on Saturday by immigration officers. Homeland Security said it was “simply enforcing the law.” Aviles had been in the U.S. for 20 years, with no criminal record.
17. Aviles’ son posted on Facebook about how hard it was working “12+ hour days” knowing his dad was being “treated like a criminal.” DHS said, “Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws.” Aviles was later released by an immigration judge.
18. NYT reported that Hegseth’s wife Jennifer, who was formerly his producer at Fox News, played an outsized and hands-on role in the Pentagon, which was unprecedented in scope. She has helped manage his role, including his adversarial relationship with the media.
19. Jennifer attended sensitive meetings, including one with British defense officials about Ukraine, during which the officials spoke in more general terms due to concern about her presence. It was unclear if she had security clearance.
20. NYT reporter Maggie Haberman, who covered and authored on Trump, said that his executive assistant Natalie Harp, who in the second regime was given round the clock, unfettered access to him, including the Oval Office and all trips, had unprecedented proximity for any president.
21. Harp was also a source of disinformation for Trump, who was prone to alternative realities and conspiracies, at times contradicting regime members. Haberman said Harp’s omnipresence highlighted “the degree to which his belief of what is happening” was an “unreality bubble.”
22. WSJ reported that Army Sec. Dan Driscoll was expected to step down by the end of the year or sooner, following months of tensions with Hegseth. The exit would leave the Army without Senate-confirmed leaders in senior roles, including secretary, chief of staff, and vice chief.
23. NYT reported that Hegseth’s hollowing out of the top Army generals and senior staffers had left the Army with a leadership vacuum at a time of wars in Iran and Ukraine, and at a time when the Army had to adapt to a new kind of warfare dominated by deadly drones.
24. In addition to Driscoll and others, Hegseth had forced out three generals who would have been potential successors to Gen. Randy George, whom Hegseth fired in April without explanation. The Army had gone from 10 four-star generals to a decades-low of five under Hegseth.
25. WAPO reported shortly before Hegseth fired George, Hegseth ally Gen. Chris LaNeve had told George that Hegseth did not want the investigation into an unauthorized helicopter flyby of musician Kid Rock’s estate to continue. George had wanted to follow protocol.
26. CNN reported the Navy was considering renaming a carrier that was meant to honor Doris Miller, a Black sailor celebrated for his heroic actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to some sources, Trump’s name was being considered instead.
27. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found support for Trump’s Iran war had fallen to a new low of 31%, down from 34% earlier this month. The decline came as Republican support fell from 77% to 69%. Trump’s overall approval stood at 33%, with 65% disapproval.
28. NYT reported prison firm GEO Group was given a $165 million a year contract to house immigrants awaiting deportation, weeks after its subsidiary donated more than $1.4 million to Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.
29. WSJ reported that Trump got directly involved in with the DOJ’s lawsuit against Live Nation and told the DOJ to settle a decade-long case, after the company hired several close Trump allies, put Richard Grenell on their board, and met with Trump to discuss Kennedy Center tickets.
30. Under the settlement Live Nation was able to keep Ticketmaster. Thirty-four state attorneys general refused to sign on to the settlement, and won in court when a jury found the company illegally monopolized ticketing. Several DOJ officials who worked on the case resigned.
31. Live Nation also hired Sullivan & Cromwell’s James McDonald, who had represented Trump in two New York appeals, but had little antitrust experience. Trump later nominated McDonald to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.
32. WSJ reported that PublicSquare, an online “anti-woke”marketplace that transitioned to fintech, had paid Donald Jr. $42,000 in consulting fees starting in 2024, and paid him $500,000 in 2025, more than its CEO. Their stock was down 99% since going public, weighed down by costs.
33. In an open letter, La Crosse County DA Tim Gruenke said Elon Musk would not face charges over alleged election bribery over his offer on X to pay $1 million to two people, even after the The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5–1 that his posts violated the state’s bribery statute.
34. On Wednesday, the U.S. gross national debt hit $40 trillion for the first time. In the fiscal year alone, the U.S. was expected to borrow more than $2 trillion to finance Trump’s Iran war, his tax cuts, and the interest costs on U.S. borrowings.
35. Pennsylvania health officials said two people had died of measles, marking the first deaths from measles in the state in 35 years. Both were unvaccinated.
36. NYT reported amid a backlash by the majority of Americans to data centers, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency planned to eliminate a federal requirement that states publicize and solicit public input on applications for air pollution for industrial facilities.
37. The move, which would mean residents would not know about a new data center until construction started, was opposed by nearly 200 advocacy groups and more than a dozen states. Several technology companies seeking to build data centers were major Trump donors.
38. NYT reported the Trump regime has used a legal loophole of using a middleman to send thousands of wild horses, who had roamed on federal lands in the desert mountains of the West, to Ohio and other places to be sold for slaughter for as little as $25 each.
39. NYT reported that four weeks before Trump signed his executive order on mail-in voting, he quietly sought to take control of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service by nominating four Republicans, including three 2020 election deniers, none with relevant experience.
40. The USPS was historically nonpartisan, and longstanding practice was to nominate board members in bipartisan pairs. Two of Trump’s nominees were on a fast track for confirmation when the Senate returned in September, giving Trump control of the board.
41. Late Friday, the U.S. Postal Service issued a new rule adding verification requirements for all mail-in ballots, and said that the USPS would not deliver mail-in ballots in any states that did not comply. The USPS said the rule would take effect immediately if the court injunction was lifted.
42. On Monday, in an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to pursue the mail-in ballot voter limits, for now, finding the regime was “likely to suffer irreparable harm.” In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said it would inject “chaos” and “uncertainty” into midterms.
43. The ruling gave the federal government a say in which voters should receive mail-in ballots, allowing Trump’s order to move forward while other cases go through the courts, including a separate court injunction. It was unclear if limits could be instituted in time for midterms.
44. The ruling left the door open for states to come back, finding they had not proved they had been harmed, but “If the Postal Service’s final rule harms the states, they may challenge that rule,” and “any measure taken by the government to implement the order will necessarily be lawful.”
45. Democracy Docket reported that Trump’s DOJ appeared to have hired David Michael Levin for an area responsible for election integrity. Levin was charged with three felonies in 2016 in Florida for using a cyberattack, and entering restricted portions of an elections website.
46. On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked Ohio from adding a requirement of proof of citizenship when registering to vote at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, saying the process would include more documentation than what is required by the National Voter Registration Act.
47. NYT reported that the Trump regime had yet to declassify a report on U.S. intelligence’s assessment of foreign meddling in the 2024 election, despite a Congressional requirement to do so, revealing the selective nature of Trump’s promised transparency around elections.
48. Ariana Grande blasted the Trump regime for using her song in an anti-transgender TikTok video, writing, “Never use my music again.”
49. NYT reported that after Trump fired or demoted 20 inspectors general in his first six months, and slashed funding for their offices, he has installed loyalists into several of the positions which are meant to be nonpartisan, who instead have acted at Trump’s behest.
50. Thomas March Bell, the HHS IG, used his position to go after NY AG Letitia James. Anthony D’Esposito, the Labor Department IG, said he would work “side by side” with Trump and attacked CA Gov. Gavin Newsom. Interior IG Dennis Kirk will oversee investigations of the pool.
51. Reuters reported Dr. Anthony Fauci’s lawyer set up a legal defense fund to cover his legal fees for federal and three state investigations, as Republicans continued to target him, despite a pardon from former president Joe Biden, for his handling of the Covid-19 response.
52. AP reported that the DOJ had sought to question FBI officials that were involved in the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago as part of a wide-ranging probe into whether ​Trump was the victim of a criminal conspiracy against his rights. The requests were voluntary.
53. WAPO reported the FBI had seized Trump political adversary former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s electronic devices at the San Francisco Airport on Saturday, and the next day had searched his D.C. home as part of the DOJ’s sexual assault inquiry. He had yet to be charged of any offense.
54. NYT reported that Trump used one of his personal lawyers to threaten think tank Center for American Progress with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit over its July 13 report that found his deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities had little effect on reducing violent crimes.
55. In Trump’s latest attempt to intimidate critics, his attorney, Alejandro Brito, sent a letter claiming the report was full of malicious and false statements, and gave CAP four days to retract the story and apologize to Trump. CAP refused, calling the allegations baseless.
56. On Friday, Trump held a rally in South Carolina to promote Darline Graham, sister of his former ally Lindsey. Trump told the crowd to “pretend” he’s on the ballot, adding, “they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot” but when he is not “his people do not come.”
57. Trump bragged about his 90,000-square-foot ballroom, called the Iran war “a little detour,” blamed inflation on Democrats, promised gas prices would come down soon, and claimed his polling numbers for handling the economy “should be at 100%.”
58. On Wednesday, Trump threatened an “economic D-Day” against Iran, threatening Iran and its trading partners with economic isolation at an “unprecedented” level, although offering few specific details.
59. On Friday, Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. would allow “up to 300,000 metric tons” of ground beef to be imported with no tariffs, drawing the ire of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and GOP lawmakers, who said the move would hurt American farmers.
60. Late Friday, Canada-U.S. trade talks collapsed, with Canada saying it would retaliate “dollar for dollar.” Prime Minister Mark Carney accused the U.S. side of introducing last minute terms that were “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
61. On Saturday, in a defiant, 22 minute speech to Canadians, Carney said, “We’ve recognized from the start that America has changed,” adding, “We recognize that sometimes, its signature is written in pencil,” and “You’re at war when you’re attacked, and we got attacked.”
62. Carney called the U.S. proposal a “bad deal,” adding, “We cannot accept what they offered and we will not give what they asked,” and “We were not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries.”
63. Carney said the existing trade agreement was “being violated day in, day out” by the Trump regime, and said Canada would double down on its strategy to disengage from the U.S. and grow trade with other countries, saying, “Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America.”
64. On Monday, Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on Canada in January, posting, “On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with,” claiming, “They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!”
65. Hours later, at a campaign event in Maine, Vice President Vance said of Canada, “We have to remember, Canada is a state,” adding, “Sorry, Freudian slip.”
66. On Tuesday, Trump escalated with Canada, threatening to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, posting an image of the renamed lake, and adding the U.S. did not expect to be “doing much business with Ontario any longer.” Shortly after, Canada announced retaliatory tariffs.
67. On Tuesday, WSJ Editorial Board wrote in “The Dumbest Trade War Revisited” that Trump’s use of the 1930 Tariff Act, which allowed presidents to impose tariffs up to 50% on countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce, was both unprecedented and unfounded.
68. On Monday, WAPO reported the U.S. withdrew from a joint military exercise with South Korea in amphibious landing scheduled for next month, citing strains from the Iran War, raising further concerns about the sustainability of the U.S. military commitment in Asia.
69. Later Monday, Trump posted three images of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Truth Social. The photos of the two were taken during Trump’s first regime.
70. On Tuesday, FlightRadar24 data showed CIA Director John Ratcliffe had landed in Moscow, and remained there for about eight hours. No public information was given about the purpose of the clandestine trip, including whom he met with.
71. NYT reported after election deniers working in Homeland Security had claimed to have found 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in four states, including 15,903 in Nevada, Nevada election officials said the regime was only able to identify 195 potential noncitizens so far.
72. On Sunday, Trump hosted the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in D.C., an unprecedented IndyCar street race featuring cars racing through the city’s streets which were used as a racetrack, the final D.C.-based event of Trump’s 250th celebration.
73. Before the race, there were multiple flyovers by military planes, including Chinooks, Apaches, and Blackhawks, and military bands played on the racetrack for the tens of thousands attendees. Trump and First Lady Melania led the pre-race kickoff in his presidential limo.
74. NBC News reported Benito Miranda Hernandez, a Navy veteran who served three tours in the Iraq War, was held at a detention center, facing possible deportation. Hernandez did have a criminal record, but his mother said he came back from war not “even a shadow” of himself.
75. NYT reported that the Trump regime’s State Department had begun reviewing visas of foreigners who came as tourists or for work, and had applied to stay longer through asylum, as part of a plan to revoke up to 200,000 visas.
76. WAPO was ordered by an arbitrator to rehire and give back pay to columnist Karen Attiah, who was fired over her social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, finding the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper “did not have good and sufficient cause” to terminate her.
77. WSJ reported Deloitte agreed to pay $21.5 million to settle allegations by the Trump regime that it defrauded the government by continuing to consider diversity in its hiring, promotion, and staffing decisions. The DOJ said it was “eliminating woke, unconstitutional practices.”