Donald Trump

Ordered fifth wave of US strikes on July 15; threatened to hit Iran's power plants and bridges 'next week'; announced 20% Hormuz toll July 13 then reversed it July 14 after Gulf leaders objected; reimposed naval blockade effective July 14

The US reimposed its naval blockade on Iranian ports July 14 and launched a fifth wave of strikes targeting coastal defenses and cruise missile storage on Greater Tunb Island. Iran hit two UAE tankers in the Strait of Hormuz that same day, killing one Indian crew member and wounding eight others — the first fatality aboard a civilian vessel since the ceasefire collapsed. Trump announced a 20% toll on Hormuz cargo, then reversed it within hours after Gulf leaders called to object; he said Middle Eastern nations would make investment deals with the US instead.

Updated 1 hour ago

Declared US 'guardian' of Strait of Hormuz July 13; reimposed Iranian naval blockade; announced 20% cargo toll on all vessels transiting Hormuz; directed Vance, Witkoff, Kushner to keep negotiating

The US launched a five-hour strike campaign on July 14 targeting coastal defenses, missile sites, and maritime infrastructure across Bushehr, Bandar Abbas, Jask, and three other Iranian cities. The IRGC struck back, hitting UAE tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah in the strait and killing one Indian crew member. Iran also struck US bases in Bahrain and Jordan, and Trump's naval blockade on Iranian ports formally resumed at 4 PM ET.

Updated Yesterday

At NATO's Ankara summit July 7-8, pledged Ukraine a Patriot production license and called Putin for 90 minutes

Ukraine struck Russia's largest oil refinery in Omsk on July 6, roughly 2,500 km from Ukrainian territory, setting a new distance record for the campaign. Russia responded two days later by banning all diesel exports until July 31 as nearly all 83 of its federal regions reported fuel shortages.

Updated 2 days ago

Let the housing bill become law without his signature, citing the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE America Act

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became federal law July 10, 2026, without Trump's signature. Trump let the constitutional 10-day window lapse, posting on Truth Social that he refused to sign 'in PROTEST' over the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE America Act. The housing law took effect anyway — Congress had cleared it with veto-proof margins.

Updated 5 days ago

Ordered the government-wide UAP declassification effort

For decades, NASA's public line on unidentified objects was that it had no data worth discussing. On July 9, that changed. Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency holds imagery of objects it cannot explain: 'Based on the data that we have within that imagery, we don't know what it is.'

Updated 5 days ago

Signed the Islamabad Memorandum at Versailles on June 17; announced fresh Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire on June 19; overseeing fifth round of Lebanon talks as Iran re-closes Hormuz and nuclear talks remain suspended

The US, Israel, and Lebanon signed a 14-point Trilateral Framework Agreement in Washington on June 26. It ties Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon to Hezbollah disarmament — Lebanon's army must first deploy to pilot zones, clear Hezbollah out, and pass a US-led assessment. Washington pledged $100 million in aid.

Updated Jul 4

Brokered Victory Day ceasefire; broader peace negotiations stalled as U.S. attention shifted toward Iran

On June 29, Putin publicly acknowledged that Ukrainian drone strikes are causing fuel shortages across Russia—the first time the Kremlin has detailed the campaign's domestic toll. Russia responded two days later with a barrage of 74 missiles and 496 drones that killed at least 21 people in Kyiv, Moscow citing the oil infrastructure attacks as justification.

Updated Jul 2

Signed MOU physically at Versailles on June 17 with Macron; told NBC he personally asked Israel to agree to Lebanon ceasefire on June 19

Indirect talks in Doha closed July 2 with two concrete outputs: a mechanism to buy goods using part of Iran's frozen $6 billion in Qatar, and a channel for flagging MOU violations through Qatar. Both delegations stayed in separate rooms; Qatar and Pakistan shuttled between them. Iran's nuclear program was not substantively addressed, despite Trump telling reporters on July 1 that 'the denuclearization of Iran is moving along well.'

Updated Jul 2

Signed the executive order privately at the White House

Trump signed a voluntary framework on June 2 asking frontier labs to share their newest models with federal agencies for up to 30 days before release. Within ten days, the government had gone further. A June 12 export control directive forced Anthropic to kill worldwide access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5, its two newest models, after the government said it had found a jailbreak in the more capable one.

Updated Jun 26

Driving the burden-sharing pivot

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew to Brussels on June 18 and told NATO defense ministers the Pentagon will spend six months reviewing all American forces in Europe. Future US presence will depend on how fast European allies take primary responsibility for their own defense. He threatened to make US dues contributions to NATO 'contingent' on allies meeting spending targets and called it 'shameful' that some allies blocked American base access during the Iran war.

Updated Jun 18

Announced the deal and is pushing chip reshoring

For almost two decades, the most advanced chips inside iPhones and Macs have been etched in Taiwan. On June 18, 2026, President Trump said Apple has agreed to design and build some of those chips with Intel, on U.S. soil.

Updated Jun 18

Pursuing split chip strategy: CFIUS enforcement on defense tech, H200 AI chip sales reopened to China, May 2026 Beijing summit with tech CEOs

Trump's January 2026 order forcing HieFo Corporation to unwind its $2.92 million purchase of EMCORE's indium phosphide chip business reaches its 180-day deadline in early July 2026. HieFo (controlled by Chinese national Genzao Zhang) has filed weekly compliance certifications to CFIUS. It must fully divest the California semiconductor facility, intellectual property, and military chip operations it acquired in April 2024.

Updated Jun 13

Administration's DOJ cleared the Paramount-WBD deal in June 2026 without conditions—reversing the skepticism he personally directed at the earlier Netflix-WBD deal

Paramount Skydance won the five-month bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD shareholders voted in April 2026 to accept Paramount's $31-per-share all-cash offer—valued at roughly $111 billion including debt. Netflix declined to match the price in February and walked away with a $2.8 billion breakup fee.

Updated Jun 13

Signed the order June 3, 2026

For decades, importing into the United States mostly meant filing paperwork and paying duties. A June 3 executive order changed that, requiring importers to certify supply-chain compliance, disclose who really owns their business, and hold U.S. assets to cover any duties owed.

Updated Jun 11

Approved the deal under a national security agreement

Nippon Steel just borrowed money at its steepest cost in three decades. On June 10, 2026, the company sold ¥90 billion (about $560 million) of bonds, with the 10-year piece priced at a 3.202% coupon. That is its highest borrowing rate in roughly 30 years.

Updated Jun 10

Navigating Iran's rejection of his nuclear proposal as Tehran sends a counteroffer via Oman and a US Apache crash near the Strait is under investigation

On June 8, a US Navy F/A-18 from USS Abraham Lincoln disabled the Palau-flagged tanker Marivex in the Gulf of Oman, the seventh vessel put out of action since April 13. The next day, a US Army Apache went down near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's IRGC Navy claimed a speedboat shot it down; CENTCOM's investigation remains open.

Updated Jun 9

Granted the pardon

Stephen Buyer served nearly two years in federal prison for insider trading. On June 6, 2026, President Trump wiped the conviction away with a full pardon. The Indiana Republican had traded on secret merger news, including a tip tied to the T-Mobile–Sprint deal.

Updated Jun 6

Lifted naval blockade May 29; tentative MOU reached but unsigned as of June 6; ceasefire technically in effect despite ongoing IRGC attacks and US counter-strikes

On May 10, Trump called Iran's MOU counteroffer 'garbage' and declared the ceasefire on 'life support.' Three weeks later, negotiators reached a tentative memorandum of understanding: Iran would freeze enrichment and hand over its 440 kg stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium; the US would lift sanctions and release frozen assets; the Strait would formally reopen within 30 days of signing.

Updated Jun 6

Primary beneficiary of the funding

ICE and Border Patrol budgets normally have to be renegotiated every year, which gives both parties leverage during shutdown fights. Early Friday, the Senate voted 52-47 to fund them for three years straight, through the end of President Trump's term.

Updated Jun 5

Signed the June 3 executive order

About 8,000 senior federal workers woke up on June 3 with a different job than the one they had the day before. President Trump signed an order moving them into a new category, Schedule Policy/Career, that lets agencies fire them without the usual process.

Updated Jun 5

Executive orders have survived major appellate court challenges; agencies are canceling union contracts across the federal government

Donald Trump's March 2025 order stripping collective bargaining rights from most of the federal workforce has largely survived in court. By April 2026, agencies across the government had begun canceling union contracts, including the entire Defense Department.

Updated Jun 4

Decided to scrap the Anti-Weaponization Fund after meeting with House Speaker Johnson

The Trump administration dropped its $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund on June 1, less than two weeks after creating it. Three forces killed it: a court freeze in Alexandria, a Senate Republican revolt that stalled the reconciliation bill, and a meeting between House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump. No claims were ever paid.

Updated Jun 2

Backing the Section 301 path after the Supreme Court blocked his first Brazil tariffs

Brazil sells the United States about $40 billion in goods a year. A new US trade action could add 25% to the price of most of it.

Updated Jun 2

Setting tariff deadlines on major trading partners

Trump and von der Leyen announced a US-EU trade framework at Turnberry, Scotland, in July 2025. The deal still isn't ratified, nearly ten months on. On May 8, Trump gave Brussels until July 4 to close it, threatening tariffs above the 25% levy already on European cars.

Updated May 31

Holding Iran ceasefire open while ordering US Navy escorts in the Gulf

Iranian strikes on the UAE resumed on May 4, breaking the April 8 ceasefire, then expanded into the Strait of Hormuz three days later. Iran attacked three US Navy destroyers on May 7; the US struck back the same day, hitting IRGC missile and drone facilities at Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas.

Updated May 31

Pressuring Republican-controlled states to redraw maps; personally endorsing primary challengers to GOP legislators who refuse

Congressional maps are normally redrawn once a decade, but Texas broke that convention in August 2025 at President Trump's urging, redrawing its map to target five Democratic-held seats and triggering a chain reaction. On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Louisiana v. Callais, gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which had constrained Republican legislatures for decades. Within days, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new map targeting four incumbent Democrats, Alabama called a special redistricting session, Louisiana suspended its upcoming primaries, and Tennessee split Memphis into three Republican-leaning districts.

Updated May 31

Ordered the withdrawal; says further cuts coming

U.S. troops have been stationed in Germany continuously since 1945. On May 1, 2026, the Pentagon ordered roughly 5,000 (about one in seven Americans in Germany) to leave over the next 6 to 12 months, taking a full brigade with them.

Updated May 31

Called ceasefire 'on life support' May 11; truce expired without completing prisoner exchange; administration reassessing next diplomatic steps

The Trump-brokered three-day ceasefire expired at midnight on May 12, and Russia launched 216 attack drones at Ukraine within hours. Ukrainian air defenses neutralized 192 of them. At least one person was killed in Dnipropetrovsk, and debris set fire to a 16-storey residential building in Kyiv's Obolon district.

Updated May 31

Signed retirement access executive order on April 30, 2026

In January 2027, the federal government will start depositing up to $1,000 a year into the retirement accounts of lower-income workers. There is a problem: roughly 27 million of the workers who qualify do not have an account to put it in.

Updated May 31

Named victim in the indictment

James Comey deleted an Instagram post within hours—a fifteen-character image of '8647' written above seashells. A North Carolina grand jury charged him with two counts of threatening the President over that same image. The April 28, 2026 indictment is the second federal case Trump's Justice Department brought against the former FBI Director; a Virginia case filed in September 2025 was dismissed when a judge ruled the interim prosecutor unlawfully appointed. Judge Louise Wood Flanagan issued an arrest warrant, though Comey may self-surrender, and he responded on Substack: 'I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid.'

Updated May 31

Unharmed; evacuated by Secret Service

A Secret Service officer's ballistic vest stopped a shotgun round at the Washington Hilton on the evening of April 25. Two days later, federal prosecutors charged the shooter, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, with attempting to assassinate President Trump.

Updated May 31

Directing federal disengagement from the project for a second time

California voters approved a bullet train in 2008 with a $33 billion price tag and promised to whisk passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles by 2020. Eighteen years later, no train has run, the price tag has climbed to roughly $231 billion, and the first segment—Merced to Bakersfield in the Central Valley—won't carry passengers until 2033.

Updated May 31

Publicly pressed Texas Republicans to redraw districts

States usually redraw congressional districts once a decade, after the census. Texas just redrew its map four years early—and the U.S. Supreme Court has now cleared it for the 2026 midterm elections.

Updated May 31

Conditioning US military support on European spending increases and direct cost-sharing

Europe's defense budgets jumped 14% last year to $864 billion, the steepest annual rise since the Cold War. Germany alone added 24%, reaching $114 billion and overtaking every other European spender.

Updated May 31

Uninjured; addressed the nation from the White House

A gunman carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives charged a Secret Service magnetometer inside the Washington Hilton on Saturday night, exchanging fire with agents before being tackled. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were rushed from the White House Correspondents' Dinner; one Secret Service officer was struck but survived because of body armor. The dinner was canceled at law-enforcement request.

Updated May 31

Appealing the DC Circuit ruling

For 45 years, the Refugee Act of 1980 has guaranteed that anyone reaching US soil—however they got there—can ask for asylum. On the first day of his second term, President Trump signed a proclamation declaring an 'invasion' at the southern border and suspending that right. A federal appeals court just ruled he cannot.

Updated May 31

Administration is enforcing the 10% baseline tariff after Supreme Court ruling

Three major US household-goods makers have now reported how the combined tariff and oil-cost shock hits their books. Kimberly-Clark beat Q1 estimates on April 28, with adjusted EPS of $1.97 against an expected $1.92, but still carries $300 million in tariff exposure representing about 20% of its US cost base. Colgate-Palmolive beat Q1 expectations on May 1 and immediately flipped its full-year gross margin guidance from expansion to decline, citing $300 million in higher raw-material and logistics costs from crude oil and tariffs.

Updated May 31

Signed executive orders and the tax law reshaping wind and solar economics

For nearly a decade, wind and solar power kept getting cheaper. That streak has broken. As of the first quarter of 2026, the average US solar power purchase agreement costs $64.49 per megawatt-hour and the average wind contract costs $79.40 per megawatt-hour. Both are the highest figures LevelTen Energy has recorded since it began indexing the market in 2018, with wind prices up roughly 24 percent and solar up more than 13 percent year over year.

Updated May 31

Replaced IEEPA tariffs with Section 122 tariffs after Supreme Court loss

The U.S. government has never had to give back $166 billion it collected illegally — until now. On April 20, CBP launched the CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) portal for importers to reclaim tariff payments the Supreme Court ruled unlawful. The first phase covers $127 billion across more than 56,000 registered importers.

Updated May 31

Signed executive order on April 18, 2026

For 55 years, the federal government classified psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and ibogaine as Schedule I substances. On April 18, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order 'Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness' directing the FDA to expedite clinical trials of those substances for PTSD in veterans.

Updated May 31

Agreed to remain in NATO contingent on accelerated defense spending and allied military support

Mark Rutte, NATO's secretary general, negotiated with President Trump at the White House on April 8, 2026, one week after Trump called NATO a 'paper tiger' and said withdrawal was 'beyond reconsideration.' The day before, a US-Iran ceasefire brokered by Pakistan had prompted several NATO members to refuse airspace and base access for American strikes. Rutte secured Trump's agreement to stay by extracting commitments: allies would accelerate defense spending and pledge military support for future US operations.

Updated May 31

Issuing shifting deadlines for strikes on Iranian infrastructure

Japan imports 90% of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz, shut by Iran six weeks ago. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is attempting what her predecessor Shinzo Abe failed to do in 2019: talk Tehran down from the brink — but with far higher stakes and Trump's Tuesday deadline.

Updated May 30

Overseeing Operation Epic Fury; escalating threats over Strait of Hormuz

The United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and triggering what Washington calls Operation Epic Fury. Iran has since fired more than 525 ballistic missiles at Israeli territory. Nearly half carried cluster warheads that scatter dozens of smaller bomblets across wide areas, a weapon type banned by over 100 nations.

Updated May 30

Issued 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on April 4

For decades, American tech companies built out massive data centers and office complexes across the Persian Gulf without ever treating them as potential military targets. On April 4, the IRGC struck Oracle's headquarters building in Dubai Internet City with a drone. It's part of a declared campaign against 18 US firms the IRGC accuses of supporting American and Israeli military operations.

Updated May 30

Stated USS Nimitz deployment aims to 'help' Cuba, not intimidate it; called Cuba a 'failed state'; promised unspecified embargo announcements 'fairly soon'

The USS Nimitz carrier strike group entered the Caribbean on May 21. The Pentagon was developing military options for Trump while the US intelligence community mapped how Cuba would respond to an attack. One day after issuing a $100 million aid offer and indicting Raúl Castro, Secretary of State Rubio said a negotiated settlement was unlikely.

Updated May 30

In office; reshuffling Cabinet leadership

President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 2, 2026, replacing her with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who defended Trump in the Manhattan criminal trial before joining the DOJ. He's the fourth Justice Department leader under Trump, after Sessions, Barr, and Bondi. Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans signaled they'd consider EPA administrator Lee Zeldin as permanent replacement. Legal scholars questioned whether Blanche could simultaneously serve as both acting attorney general and acting Librarian of Congress.

Updated May 30

Directing Operation Epic Fury; stated 'practically nothing left to target'

Iran's nuclear infrastructure has become the primary target of an intensifying US-Israeli air campaign that began February 28 and has now entered its sixth week. The Natanz uranium enrichment complex has been struck four times. On April 4, 2026, US and Israeli forces expanded the campaign to strike the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Mahshahr petrochemical hub in southwestern Iran. The strikes killed at least one security guard and wounded five workers. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that strikes on civilian nuclear power plants cross 'the reddest line' of nuclear safety, raising the risk of a radiological catastrophe. Meanwhile, Iran has demonstrated growing military capability: on April 4, Iranian air defenses downed two US warplanes, marking the first confirmed loss of American aircraft in the conflict.

Updated May 30

Signed executive order enabling oil blockade; has mused about 'taking' Cuba

Cuba's national power grid collapsed for the fourth time in March on March 21, leaving more than 10 million people without electricity. The failure at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camagüey province triggered a cascading collapse across the entire system, which was restored by March 23.

Updated May 30

Directing Iran military campaign; signaling retaliation against European arms restrictions

Switzerland sold $119 million in arms to the United States in 2025 before halting all new orders on March 20, 2026, and closing its airspace to US military flights linked to the Iran war. Italy followed on March 22 with a suspension of new US arms export licenses. On March 30, Spain closed its airspace and blocked US military base use for Iran war operations, citing violations of international law.

Updated May 30

Ordered Operation Epic Fury; predicted war would end 'very soon'

In thirteen days of US-Israeli military strikes on Iran, up to 3.2 million people have fled their homes without leaving the country. The United Nations refugee agency reported on March 12 that between 600,000 and one million Iranian households abandoned Tehran and other major cities for northern provinces and rural areas. This is one of the fastest mass internal displacements in modern conflict.

Updated May 30

Pursuing tariff authority through multiple legal channels

For thirteen months, the Trump administration imposed tariffs using emergency powers no president had claimed for that purpose. On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that those tariffs were illegal.

Updated May 30

Directing Operation Epic Fury with four stated military objectives

Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as supreme leader for 36 years until joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026, killed him along with family members and multiple top military and intelligence officials at his Tehran compound. The succession process is now opaque and under fire, with the Assembly of Experts' Qom site damaged, acting leader Ali Larijani facing a power vacuum, and the IRGC interim council trying to preserve control.

Updated May 30

Met Xi Jinping two weeks before the Hegseth speech

A year ago, the US defense secretary used the word Taiwan five times in his Shangri-La keynote. On Saturday in Singapore, Pete Hegseth did not say it once.

Updated May 30

Sent mixed signals on Iran's participation

Iran qualified as a non-host nation for the 2026 World Cup, then withdrew a year later—the first qualified nation in the modern era to do so for political reasons. Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali announced the withdrawal three months after U.S.-Israeli military strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and devastated the country's military infrastructure.

Updated May 30

Hosted summit, announced coalition

The United States has not built a new military coalition in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. On March 7, President Trump gathered leaders from 12 Latin American nations in Miami to launch the 'Shield of the Americas,' a military-intelligence framework against drug cartels, and the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition—a 17-country pledge for lethal action against transnational criminal organizations.

Updated May 30

Directing climate deregulation campaign

The EPA's February 2026 revocation of its 2009 endangerment finding ended federal greenhouse gas authority, but the rollbacks kept coming. By May 2026, the agency had also repealed mercury protections for coal plants, relaxed refrigerant deadlines for businesses, and sent a final rule to the White House budget office to erase power plant emissions standards.

Updated May 30

Directing Operation Epic Fury; rebuking NATO for refusing Hormuz support

For 23 days since February 28, 2026, the US and Israel have conducted bombing campaigns against Iran under Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, prompting Iranian retaliation against US bases and NATO sites including French bases in Abu Dhabi, RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and a missile over Turkey. France authorized US support aircraft at Istres on March 5 with strict limits, but on March 16 European NATO allies rejected President Trump's demands for military assistance to reopen the Iranian-blocked Strait of Hormuz—Trump called the rejection a 'very foolish mistake' and declared the US needs no one's help.

Updated May 30

Directed federal Anthropic ban

For decades, the United States military chose its weapons contractors and they complied, but artificial intelligence changed that. On March 3, OpenAI and the Pentagon amended a freshly signed AI contract to ban domestic surveillance of Americans—a concession the Pentagon had refused Anthropic, triggering the company's blacklist from all federal agencies.

Updated May 30

Directing military operations; says conflict could last four to five weeks

For four decades, the United States and Iran avoided direct, large-scale war. That changed on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and leadership compounds, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The assault followed collapsed indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US bases in the Gulf, oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Embassy in Riyadh.

Updated May 30

Rejected Iran's May 10 response to the US 14-point proposal as 'garbage'; declared ceasefire on 'massive life support' on May 11; announced then paused Operation Project Freedom escort convoys; imposed new sanctions on 12 companies facilitating Iranian oil sales to China

The Iran-US war reached its 73rd day with talks at a deadlock. Trump called Iran's May 10 response 'garbage' and declared the ceasefire on 'massive life support'.

Updated May 30

Ordered strikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury

Dubai International Airport processed 95.2 million passengers in 2025 and became the world's busiest in January 2026. On March 1, Iranian missiles and drones struck its terminals, forcing full evacuation. On March 16—16 days into the conflict—another drone hit a fuel tank, reigniting flight suspensions and forcing additional Emirates cancellations despite partial airspace reopening. Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Kuwait shut down simultaneously on February 28, severing three major Gulf hubs that route long-haul traffic between Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Updated May 30

Directing Operation Epic Fury

The last time the United States sank Iranian warships was April 18, 1988. Thirty-eight years later, American forces destroyed nine Iranian naval vessels in a single day and demolished the country's naval headquarters at Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman.

Updated May 30

Issued final Hormuz ultimatum expiring April 7 8PM ET, threatening power plants and bridges; day 39 briefing pending

Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, reached day 39 with the heaviest strikes yet on Iran. The campaign has confirmed over 9,000 targets hit, more than 130 naval vessels destroyed, and at least 55 senior regime leaders killed.

Updated May 30

Announced two-year closure for renovations

A federal judge ruled May 29 that the Kennedy Center board broke the law when it added Trump's name to the building and voted to close the venue for two years. Judge Christopher Cooper ordered all Trump-branded signage removed within 14 days and blocked the planned July 4 shutdown.

Updated May 29

Setting deadlines for Iran nuclear deal while deploying carriers to the Gulf

In June 2025, Israeli and American strikes destroyed roughly a third of Iran's air defenses in twelve days; leaked Russian documents show Tehran has since spent billions to replace and expand what it lost. The secret €500 million agreement includes 500 Verba shoulder‑fired launchers and 2,500 missiles, long‑range S‑400 batteries, and up to 48 Su‑35 fighter jets; the first 16 airframes are in production for Iran. This mix of advanced and widely dispersed man‑portable air‑defense systems is designed to make any future U.S. or Israeli air campaign far more complex and costly.

Updated May 29

Blaming Democrats and the Federal Reserve for weak GDP numbers

The United States economy grew at an annualized rate of just 1.4% in the final quarter of 2025—a steep drop from 4.4% the quarter before and well below the 2.5% that forecasters expected. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates that the 43-day government shutdown, the longest in American history, subtracted roughly one full percentage point from growth by itself. Federal spending fell at a 16.6% annualized rate during the quarter, dragging headline output down by more than a percentage point even as consumer spending and business investment continued to expand.

Updated May 29

Issued directive for UAP file release

For nearly eight decades, the United States government has investigated reports of unidentified objects in its airspace while keeping most of its findings classified. On February 19, 2026, Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and federal agency heads to identify and release government files on UAPs, UFOs, and extraterrestrial life — the broadest UFO transparency directive ever issued.

Updated May 29

Signed executive order declaring national emergency over Cuba; vowed to 'take' Cuba following March 17 grid collapse

The United States has imposed economic pressure on Cuba for 64 years. Now, for the first time, Washington is threatening to punish any country that sells oil to the island. President Trump's January 29 executive order creates a tariff mechanism targeting third countries that supply Cuban fuel—a significant escalation that goes beyond traditional bilateral sanctions to coerce allies and trading partners into joining an energy blockade. The strategy has proven devastatingly effective: Cuba's national power grid collapsed entirely on March 17, 2026, leaving approximately 10 million people without electricity and triggering ten consecutive days of street protests, the most visible civil unrest in years. Partial restoration occurred on March 18 after 29 hours, but the blackout deepened shortages of food, medicine, and water, including the vandalization of a Cuban Communist Party provincial office in Morón. On March 21, Cuba blocked a US Embassy request to import diesel for generators, escalating diplomatic tensions amid ongoing rolling blackouts.

Updated May 29

Serving second term

India has been the world's second-largest buyer of Russian oil since 2022, snapping up discounted crude while Western nations sanctioned Moscow. On February 2, 2026, Trump announced that Modi agreed to stop these purchases in exchange for US tariff cuts from 50% to 18%, ending a trade war that escalated for nearly a year.

Updated May 29

Appealing court rulings blocking AEA deportations

The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked only four times in American history—during the War of 1812, World War I, World War II, and now. In March 2025, President Trump became the first president to use the 1798 wartime statute outside of a declared war. He targeted alleged members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang and sent 137 men to El Salvador's maximum-security CECOT prison within 24 hours.

Updated May 27

Driving NATO restructuring through burden-sharing demands

Since NATO's founding in 1949, an American four-star general has led every Joint Force Command responsible for warfighting operations on European soil. That 75-year tradition ended on February 6, 2026, when NATO announced that Italy will take command of Joint Force Command Naples, the United Kingdom will lead Joint Force Command Norfolk, and Germany and Poland will share leadership of Joint Force Command Brunssum on a rotating basis.

Updated May 27

Leading negotiations with Iran while managing Israeli alliance

Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington this week with a single message: any deal with Iran must go beyond uranium. After three hours in the Oval Office on February 11, President Trump emerged saying 'nothing definitive' was reached—but negotiations would continue.

Updated May 27

Hosting summit at his own property

The Group of Twenty, operating by consensus since 1999, hosts its December 2026 summit at Trump National Doral Miami. For the first time, it's excluding South Africa—a founding member—and seating Poland instead, the world's twentieth-largest economy.

Updated May 27

Brokered the August 2025 peace framework

No sitting U.S. president or vice president had ever visited Armenia until February 9, 2026. JD Vance arrived in Yerevan with $9 billion in potential nuclear investment, advanced Nvidia chips, and surveillance drones — the Trump administration backing its August 2025 peace framework with economic muscle.

Updated May 27

Overseeing Latin America trade framework implementation

Argentina has protected its domestic industries with tariffs and import controls since the 1940s. On February 6, 2026, Buenos Aires signed its first bilateral trade agreement with the United States—eliminating barriers on over 200 categories of American goods and securing tariff relief on 1,675 Argentine products in return.

Updated May 27

In office, second term

In April 2025, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods peaked at 145 percent. Nine months later, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping describe their relationship as 'extremely good' and are planning four bilateral summits in 2026, including Trump's first visit to Beijing since 2017.

Updated May 27

Rejected extension; directing new treaty negotiations including China

For fifty-three years, binding agreements constrained the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. That era ended on February 5, 2026, when the New START treaty expired at midnight without a successor. The United States and Russia now face no legal limits on their roughly 10,700 nuclear warheads, after President Trump rejected a Russian extension offer and directed work on a new pact including China.

Updated May 27

Directing expansion of third-country deportation program

The United States has historically deported people to their countries of origin. Now it's paying African nations to accept deportees who have no connection to those countries whatsoever. Under agreements reached since July 2025, Eswatini, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Ghana have collectively agreed to accept hundreds of third-country deportees in exchange for millions of dollars in U.S. payments.

Updated May 27

Escalating demands and threatening criminal investigation

Harvard has received billions in federal research funding for decades without major controversy. Now President Trump is demanding the university pay $1 billion to the government—five times what he sought months earlier—after a year of escalating threats, frozen grants, and failed negotiations. The university has refused to capitulate, and a federal judge has ruled the funding freeze unconstitutional.

Updated May 26

Pursuing aggressive anti-cartel policy

For five months, Colombia's largest drug cartel sat across from government negotiators in Qatar, working toward something unprecedented: a peace deal with an organization the United States had just labeled a terrorist group. On February 4, the Gulf Clan walked away from the table, accusing President Gustavo Petro of betraying the talks by handing their leader's name to the Trump administration as a joint military target.

Updated May 26

In office; driving tariff policy

For three decades, the U.S. and Canada traded under free trade agreements, with nearly $2.7 billion in goods crossing the world's busiest commercial border daily. President Trump ended that on February 1, 2025, imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian goods.

Updated May 26

Leading pressure campaign against Chinese influence in Panama

A Hong Kong firm has operated the ports on either end of the Panama Canal since 1997. That ended on January 31, 2026, when Panama's Supreme Court voided CK Hutchison's concession as unconstitutional, and Denmark's Maersk assumed temporary control of the Balboa and Cristobal facilities.

Updated May 26

Signed AIM Act in first term; now slowing its rollout in second term

The Environmental Protection Agency gave HVAC contractors an extra year on Tuesday to install commercial air-conditioning equipment that uses older, higher-warming refrigerants. The final rule covers variable refrigerant flow systems manufactured or imported before January 1, 2026, and pushes the installation cutoff out to January 1, 2027.

Updated May 26

Pursuing federal AI deregulation; clashed publicly with Leo XIV before the encyclical

Pope Leo XIV signed his first encyclical on May 15, 2026, 135 years to the day after Pope Leo XIII published Rerum Novarum. Magnifica Humanitas calls AI the next industrial revolution and demands binding external regulation of the companies building it.

Updated May 26

Approved federal emergency declaration for Orange County on May 25, activating FEMA

The risk of a catastrophic explosion is gone, and 50,000 displaced residents were cleared to go home. OCFA Interim Chief TJ McGovern announced Monday that the BLEVE (vapor explosion) risk 'is now off the table' — the tank cooled from 100°F to 93°F and its crack released built-up pressure.

Updated May 25

Orders Epic Fury expansion, Kharg consideration; unaware of South Pars strike, vows no more oil hits

Three U.S. carrier strike groups deployed: USS Abraham Lincoln (Arabian Sea since January 2026), USS Gerald R. Ford (Mediterranean), and USS George H.W. Bush. This triple-carrier presence responded to Iran's crackdown on December 2025 protests.

Updated May 24

Driving the policy direction

Since 1952, foreign nationals living legally in the United States could apply for a green card without leaving. On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services closed that route for most applicants.

Updated May 23

Directing deployments despite court rulings

The last time a president invoked the Insurrection Act to deploy federal troops in American cities was 1992, during the Los Angeles riots. President Trump has deployed over 10,000 National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to six cities since June 2025—without invoking that law. The Congressional Budget Office now reports the seven-month operation cost taxpayers $496 million, with ongoing deployments projected to add $93 million monthly.

Updated May 23

Brokered final deal structure

For five years, the world's most popular social media app lived under a death sentence. TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, faced repeated ban threats from two administrations convinced its Chinese ownership posed an unacceptable national security risk. On January 23, 2026, that uncertainty ended: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC became operational, transferring 80.1% ownership to American and allied investors while ByteDance retained a non-controlling 19.9% stake.

Updated May 22

Attended Davos, launched Board of Peace, reached Greenland framework

This year's World Economic Forum (the first in 55 years without founder Klaus Schwab) became an emergency diplomatic summit when Trump's tariff threats over Greenland drew record attendance from 60+ heads of state. By week's end, a NATO 'framework deal' had defused the immediate crisis, and Canadian PM Mark Carney declared to applause from European and middle-power leaders that the U.S.-led rules-based order is over.

Updated May 22

Sitting president suing JPMorgan while in office

Donald Trump banked with JPMorgan Chase for decades; after the January 6 Capitol attack, the bank gave him 60 days to move hundreds of millions of dollars. As sitting president, he's suing the bank and its CEO for $5 billion, alleging political discrimination.

Updated May 22

Plaintiff in Trump v. Cook

No president has fired a sitting Federal Reserve governor in the central bank's 112-year history. Donald Trump is trying to be the first and wants to replace the Fed chair with a loyalist.

Updated May 22

Renewed strike threats; 'massive Armada' positioned near Iran

Bazaar merchants bankrolled Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Now they're in the streets demanding its end.

Updated May 22

Announced the new Poland deployment via Truth Social

On May 13, the Pentagon quietly halted a 4,000-soldier armored brigade already moving toward Poland. Nine days later, President Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States would send 5,000 additional troops to the same country.

Updated May 22

Serving second term; initiated withdrawal on first day in office

The U.S. joined the WHO on June 14, 1948, three years after helping design the agency, and became the first to withdraw on January 22, 2026, ending 77 years of involvement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited the WHO's 'failures during the COVID-19 pandemic' and its inability to demonstrate independence from 'inappropriate political influence.' The U.S. left without paying between $130 million and $278 million in disputed dues.

Updated May 22

Permanent chairman with veto authority over all decisions

The United Nations has been the primary venue for international conflict resolution since 1945. On January 22, 2026, President Trump launched an alternative: the Board of Peace, a body he chairs for life where permanent membership costs $1 billion and he holds sole veto power.

Updated May 22

Serving second term, began January 20, 2025

The U.S. has barred immigrants based on economic status since 1882. On January 21, 2026, the State Department suspended immigrant visa processing for 75 countries—more than a third of the world's nations—citing concerns that applicants might someday use public benefits.

Updated May 22

In office (second term)

In April 2025, average US tariffs hit their highest level since 1943. Nine months later, the global economy is still growing. The IMF's January 2026 World Economic Outlook projects 3.3% global growth (slightly better than feared), thanks to supply-chain rerouting, surging AI investment, and a US-China truce pulling tariffs back from their 145% peak.

Updated May 22

Scheduled to address Davos on January 21 at 2:30 PM CET; agreed to meet NATO's Rutte about Greenland

For 55 years, the World Economic Forum at Davos was neutral ground where adversaries brokered deals. This year, 65 heads of state and nearly 3,000 leaders arrived just 48 hours after Trump announced 10% tariffs on eight European allies. The tariffs escalate to 25% by June unless Denmark agrees to sell Greenland.

Updated May 22

Backing Rodríguez interim government for oil access; skeptical of Machado; sent Energy Secretary to oversee oil privatization

Seven weeks after U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has consolidated interim power through military loyalty pledges, oil privatization, and prisoner releases. In an NBC interview on February 12, she pledged 'free and fair' elections but refused to set a timeline, conditioning them on Venezuela being 'free from sanctions'.

Updated May 22

Deployed naval 'armada' to Gulf region after initially backing away from military strikes; maintaining pressure through tariffs and military presence

The Islamic Republic has survived four decades of protests—but never anything like this. What began on December 28 as Tehran bazaar merchants protesting a collapsing currency became Iran's largest uprising since the 1979 revolution, with demonstrations in all 31 provinces.

Updated May 21

Leading trilateral peace negotiations through envoys; offering 15-year security guarantee with potential extension

For nearly three years after Russia's 2022 invasion, Ukraine relied on American satellites and signals intelligence for roughly 75-80% of its battlefield awareness, but in ten months France claims to have replaced most of that. President Macron announced on January 15, 2026, that France now provides two-thirds of Ukraine's intelligence—a restructuring forced by Washington's March 2025 decision to suspend most intelligence sharing as leverage in peace negotiations. Yet Macron's assertion contradicts Ukraine's own intelligence officials: the former GUR chief stated in December 2025 that the US remained the key provider, and concerns about US intelligence leaks to Moscow have reportedly chilled Kyiv's information sharing with Washington.

Updated May 21

In office since January 2025 (second term)

Brazil protected Argentina's embassy in Caracas for 14 months after Nicolás Maduro expelled Argentine diplomats in July 2024. That arrangement ended January 16, 2026, when Italy assumed custodianship. The shift was triggered by Brazil's opposition to the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro two weeks earlier, and accelerated by Argentine President Milei's sustained social media attacks on Brazilian President Lula.

Updated May 21

Escalated Greenland demands at Davos, declared 'no going back,' linked push to Nobel Prize snub

The United States has operated military bases in Greenland since 1941, under agreements with Denmark. On January 15, 2026, NATO allies deployed troops to the island to counter U.S. pressure after American-Danish talks collapsed. On January 17, President Trump announced 10% tariffs on eight European countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The tariffs will rise to 25% by June unless 'a deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.' On January 20, Trump declared on Truth Social that 'there can be no going back' on Greenland, calling it 'imperative for National and World Security.' That same day, Denmark deployed its Army Chief, General Peter Boysen, alongside 58 additional troops to Greenland, bringing total Danish military presence to approximately 178 personnel for Operation Arctic Endurance.

Updated May 21

Suspended European tariffs pending NATO framework negotiations

Gold pulled back sharply to $4,902.85 per ounce on January 31, 2026, after profit-taking triggered a 9% single-day decline on January 30 from the record $5,594.82 high reached January 29. Despite the correction—which saw prices slide more than 7% to below $4,980—gold remains on track for a monthly gain exceeding 15%, its strongest performance since the 1980s.

Updated May 21

Actively pursuing Greenland acquisition

The United States has not acquired sovereign territory since 1917, when it purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. On January 17, President Trump announced 10% tariffs on eight European nations starting February 1, escalating to 25% by June 1 unless a deal is reached for Greenland.

Updated May 21

In office (second term)

China posted a $1.2 trillion trade surplus for 2025, the largest any country has ever recorded. The number is roughly equal to Indonesia's GDP, the world's 16th-largest economy.

Updated May 21

Tariff architect; has publicly pressured Walmart not to raise prices

Walmart sells roughly one in four grocery dollars in the United States. On Wednesday it told investors that profit this fiscal year will land below what Wall Street expected, citing tariffs on imported general merchandise.

Updated May 21

Signed the executive order

For 23 years, federal rules let Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers stand in for Social Security numbers when opening a bank account. A Trump executive order now tells regulators to treat ITIN use as a potential fraud and trafficking red flag, moving the compliance burden onto banks.

Updated May 21

Returned from first Beijing state visit by a sitting US president since 2017

Trump arrived in Beijing on May 13 and left May 15 with a trade truce and Boeing jet orders. Putin followed four days later; on May 20, he and Xi signed more than 40 agreements and issued a 9,935-word declaration against US missile defenses. The gas pipeline Moscow had flagged as a 'substantial step' did not materialize.

Updated May 21

Threatening 50% tariffs on China over alleged Iran arms; visiting Beijing May 14-15 for summit with Xi

The legal foundation for Trump's tariff strategy collapsed on February 20 when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The decision voided both the 25% Iran secondary levy and other emergency-based duties on China. Trump signed a 10% global replacement under Section 122 of the Trade Act within hours, dropping China's effective rate from 47% to about 35%.

Updated May 20

Called Khamenei a 'sick man' and demanded regime change on January 17; deployed USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group which arrived January 26; threatens strikes 'far worse' than June 2025 if Iran doesn't negotiate nuclear limits

Iran's nationwide uprising, triggered by December 28, 2025 bazaar marches in Tehran, was crushed in what may be the deadliest massacre in the Islamic Republic's history. An internet blackout that began January 8 was partially restored around January 17-18, though connectivity remains severely restricted. Early reports confirmed 572 deaths; after internet restoration in late January, the Human Rights Activists News Agency documented at least 6,126 deaths, with estimates ranging from 12,000 to over 36,500.

Updated May 20

Seeking voluntary commitments from tech companies on energy costs

For decades, American households paid roughly the same share of electricity costs regardless of which industries were expanding. AI data centers have broken that arrangement.

Updated May 20

Threatened 'very strong action' over executions; evacuated Al Udeid base troops ahead of potential strikes

Iran's judiciary chief announced January 14 that detained protesters face fast-track trials and executions, despite Trump's warning of "very strong action." The death toll hit at least 2,571, per Human Rights Activists News Agency — four times the count from two days earlier and more than any crackdown since 1979.

Updated May 20

Threatening military strikes while claiming Iran seeks negotiations; imposed 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran

The Iranian rial lost half its value in six months, prompting merchants—the same traders who toppled the Shah in 1979—to shut down Tehran's Grand Bazaar on December 28. Within two weeks, the strike became the largest uprising since the Islamic Revolution; credible estimates range from 500 to 3,000 dead after a five-day internet blackout, with the IRGC firing live ammunition on crowds.

Updated May 20

Signed executive order establishing AI Litigation Task Force

The DOJ's AI Litigation Task Force began operations January 10, 2026 with one mission: kill state AI laws in federal court. Attorney General Pam Bondi's team, consulting with AI czar David Sacks, will challenge comprehensive AI regulations from California, Texas, and Colorado that President Trump's December executive order called unconstitutional burdens on interstate commerce.

Updated May 20

Brokered the May 9-11 ceasefire and the 1,000-for-1,000 framework

Russia and Ukraine each handed back 205 prisoners on May 15, the first tranche of a 1,000-for-1,000 swap Donald Trump brokered in early May. Zelenskyy said on May 16 that work on the next round's prisoner lists is ongoing. The swap is still the only deliverable from months of US-led talks.

Updated May 20

Claims credit for crime decline while implementing aggressive 'tough on crime' policies

America's murder rate plunged to its lowest level since 1900 in 2025, as homicides fell 21%—the largest single-year drop ever recorded, according to Council on Criminal Justice data from 35 major cities. This followed 2024's historic 14.9% decline, creating an unprecedented two-year reversal. The 2025 rate, projected at 4 per 100,000 when the FBI releases nationwide data, is a complete reversal of the 2020 pandemic spike and brings murder 25% below pre-pandemic levels.

Updated May 19

Proposing historic defense budget increase

Trump wants to spend $1.5 trillion on defense in 2027—a jaw-dropping 66% jump from this year's $901 billion. This would be the largest single-year defense increase since the Korean War.

Updated May 19

Initially opposed extension, recently showed flexibility

The House passed a three-year extension of ACA subsidies January 8, 2026, by 230-196, with 17 Republicans joining Democrats after a discharge petition bypassed Johnson's opposition. The subsidies had expired December 31, 2025, more than doubling premiums for 22 million Americans—92% of marketplace enrollees. A 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 now faces $22,600 more annually in premiums.

Updated May 19

Paused portions of IIJA funding via executive order on first day in office

China just front-loaded $42 billion in infrastructure spending for early 2026—281 projects approved before the calendar even flipped. The U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed with $1.2 trillion in 2021, has spent just 21% of its funds as of December 2024.

Updated May 19

Second term, inaugurated January 2025

At dawn on June 1, 2025, Ukraine's Security Service pulled off the largest covert drone strike in history. One hundred seventeen drones, smuggled into Russia inside fake shipping containers and hidden in truck cabs, launched from five locations spanning five time zones. They hit five Russian air bases simultaneously, destroying or damaging 41 strategic bombers: irreplaceable Soviet-era Tu-95s and Tu-22M3s worth $7 billion.

Updated May 19

Negotiated temporary truce with Xi in October 2025

China controls 70% of rare earth mining and 90% of refining—the 17 obscure elements that power everything from F-35 fighter jets to iPhones. In April 2025, Beijing weaponized that dominance. When Trump announced Liberation Day tariffs, China retaliated by restricting exports of seven rare earth elements. By October, it expanded controls to twelve elements and invoked the foreign direct product rule, the same tool America used to choke China's chip industry. It claims jurisdiction over any product globally that touches Chinese rare earth technology.

Updated May 19

Directing withdrawal from 66 international organizations

On January 7, 2026, Trump signed a memorandum directing US withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change—the 1992 treaty George H.W. Bush signed and the Senate unanimously ratified. The US is the first of 198 parties to exit. The UNFCCC underpins all international climate negotiations (unlike the Paris Agreement, which Trump also exited), and withdrawal takes effect one year from notification.

Updated May 19

Defending IEEPA tariff authority before Supreme Court

President Trump declared national emergencies over fentanyl trafficking and trade deficits, then used a 1977 law never intended for tariffs to slap duties on nearly every country. Federal courts at every level said he exceeded his authority, yet the tariffs stayed anyway—collecting approximately $150 billion while 301,000 importers awaited word on refunds.

Updated May 19

Imposed aid freeze and tariffs on South Africa

President Trump cut all US aid to South Africa on February 7, 2025—$440 million annually, most for HIV treatment—over a land law allowing seizure without compensation. He called it discrimination against white farmers.

Updated May 19

Signed executive orders freezing aid and initiating USAID dismantlement

Hours after taking office on January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order freezing all U.S. foreign aid for 90 days. Stop-work orders shuttered HIV clinics in Ivory Coast, refugee camps lost infrastructure support, and 3.8 million women lost access to contraceptive care.

Updated May 19

Returning to office January 20, 2025

Mark Zuckerberg banned Donald Trump after January 6th, calling the risks of keeping him on Facebook too great. Four years later, on the ban's anniversary, Zuckerberg killed Meta's entire U.S. fact-checking program, amid a Mar-a-Lago visit, a million-dollar inauguration donation, and elevation of a Bush-era Republican to Meta's top policy role.

Updated May 19

Publicly backing Intel as U.S. government becomes largest shareholder

Intel just shipped its first client processors built on 18A, the most advanced semiconductor process ever made in America. The Core Ultra Series 3 chips, unveiled January 5 at CES 2026, went on sale globally January 27 with over 200 PC designs, offering 60% faster performance and 27-hour battery life.

Updated May 19

Issued expanded travel ban affecting 39 countries plus Palestinian territories

Three West African nations ruled by military juntas just banned Americans from entering their countries. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger (the Alliance of Sahel States) announced reciprocal travel restrictions on January 5, directly mirroring Trump's December expansion of the U.S. travel ban.

Updated May 19

Mediating peace negotiations through special envoy

Russia continues massive winter strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians amid advancing trilateral peace talks. A week after the February 4-5 Abu Dhabi round yielded a 314-POW exchange and US-Russia military dialogue, Russia launched major attacks including 408 drones/39 missiles on February 6-7 targeting energy substations and the February 13 assault with 219 drones/24 missiles killing one in Odesa. Zelenskyy accused Russia of bad faith while confirming a third round of talks for next week.

Updated May 19

Defending tariff authority before Supreme Court

A small wine importer and a toy company are forcing the Supreme Court to answer a question: Can the president slap tariffs on the entire world without Congress? Trump used emergency powers law to impose tariffs collecting $130 billion, courts said he overstepped, and now the justices will decide if emergency powers mean what they've always meant—or something new.

Updated May 19

Dropped denuclearization as policy goal; increased likelihood of Kim summit in 2026

On January 4, 2026, North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles traveling 900-950 kilometers at 50-kilometer altitudes—Pyongyang's first test of 2026. Hours before, Kim Jong Un ordered production capacity expanded 250 percent at a tactical weapons factory; the launch coincided with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's departure for Beijing to meet Xi Jinping.

Updated May 19

Ordered Operation Southern Spear and Maduro capture

Delta Force dragged Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom at 2 AM on January 3, threw him on a helicopter, and flew him to the USS Iwo Jima bound for Manhattan. The Venezuelan president now faces narco-terrorism charges in the same courthouse that convicted El Chapo.

Updated May 19

Ordered and announced Maduro's capture

Delta Force operators captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife in Caracas at 2 a.m. on January 3 as explosions rocked the capital and helicopters evacuated them to the USS Iwo Jima, bound for New York. By Saturday afternoon, Maduro arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn—the first American military capture of a sitting head of state since Manuel Noriega in 1989.

Updated May 19

Architect of tariff-based semiconductor export policy targeting China

Biren Technology's shares surged 76% on January 2, 2026, raising $717 million in Hong Kong—the first GPU chipmaker to list this year. Despite losing $1.6 billion annually and facing US export bans, investors oversubscribed 2,348 times; rivals Moore Threads and MetaX followed with Shanghai IPOs that surged 400% and 700%.

Updated May 19

Signed FY2026 NDAA on December 18, 2025

On January 1, 2026, every U.S. service member got a 3.8% pay raise, bringing an E-1's monthly check to $2,407. It's the third consecutive above-inflation increase Congress has delivered, part of a scramble to fix a system where junior troops qualified for food stamps.

Updated May 19

Signed One Big Beautiful Bill into law July 4, 2025

The 30% federal residential solar tax credit died at midnight on December 31, 2025. For twenty years, Section 25D let homeowners slash $9,000 off a typical $30,000 solar installation.

Updated May 19

Authorized Operation Southern Spear and CIA covert operations in Venezuela

Trump confirmed the first known U.S. land attack inside Venezuela on December 30—a drone strike on a coastal dock allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua gang, with no one present when missiles hit. The same day, a U.S. strike on a boat in the Pacific killed two more people, bringing total deaths to at least 107 since September.

Updated May 18

Reimposing 'maximum pressure' sanctions in second term

Iran's Central Bank governor resigned December 29 after the rial collapsed to 1.42 million per dollar (a 70% drop during his tenure), triggering the largest street protests in three years. By December 30, merchants had kept Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar shuttered for three days, and crowds in Isfahan, Shiraz, Kermanshah, and Mashhad chanted 'Death to the Dictator' and 'Death to Khamenei'.

Updated May 18

Pushing June 2026 peace deadline; envoys Witkoff/Kushner to lead Geneva talks February 17-18

After nearly four years of war, Ukraine's allies are rushing to finalize security commitments amid persistent Russian military pressure and a critical air defense gap. In January 2026, the Coalition of the Willing's Paris summit produced a 35-country declaration backing US-led ceasefire monitoring and British and French pledges to station 15,000 troops in military hubs post-ceasefire.

Updated May 18

Driving foreign aid dismantlement in second term

The United States pledged $2 billion for UN humanitarian aid on December 29, down from as much as $17 billion annually—an 88% cut. Within hours of his January inauguration, Trump froze nearly all foreign assistance, dismantled USAID entirely by July, and warned UN agencies they must 'adapt, shrink or die.'

Updated May 18

Downplayed Justice Mission 2025 drills as routine exercises

On December 29-30, 2025, China executed its largest military drills around Taiwan to date, called Operation 'Justice Mission 2025,' deploying 130 aircraft, 22 warships, and live-fire exercises across seven zones encircling the island. Over two days, fighter jets crossed the median line, naval vessels simulated port blockades at Keelung and Kaohsiung, and PLA ground forces conducted coordinated long-range strikes both north and south of Taiwan. The drills escalated on December 30 with 10 hours of live-fire activities in designated 'temporary danger zones,' forcing cancellation of 76 domestic flights and delays to 300+ international flights affecting over 106,000 passengers. China framed the exercises as dual punishment: for the record $11 billion U.S. arms package announced December 17, and for Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi's warning that Tokyo could intervene militarily if Beijing blockades Taiwan.

Updated May 16

Serving second non-consecutive term, signed fifth iteration of travel ban

Trump signed his first travel ban seven days into his presidency, blocking entry from seven Muslim-majority countries and igniting protests; courts blocked it within a week. After Supreme Court victories, a Biden reversal, and his return to power, Trump's December 2025 expansion restricts entry from 39 countries—affecting one in eight people worldwide and eliminating exemptions for immediate family.

Updated May 16

Definitively ruled out US recognition of Somaliland

On December 26, 2025, Israel became the first UN member state to recognize Somaliland as independent, 34 years after the region broke from Somalia during a brutal civil war. Prime Minister Netanyahu called President Abdullahi to announce full diplomatic ties, framing the move as aligned with the Abraham Accords and citing Somaliland's fight against terrorism.

Updated May 16

Lost five consecutive court battles against offshore wind between January 2025 and February 2026 as all five suspended projects cleared to resume; Interior Department facing decision on whether to appeal or shift strategy

Five federal judges delivered consecutive defeats to Trump's offshore wind freeze between January 13 and February 2, 2026, granting preliminary injunctions to all five East Coast projects—Revolution Wind, Empire Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Vineyard Wind, Sunrise Wind—representing over $25 billion in investment and 6+ gigawatts of capacity. All five projects are now operating under court orders.

Updated May 16

Leveraged trade threats to broker ceasefires

A Cambodian soldier died in a border firefight on May 28, and within two months, the countries were exchanging artillery fire and airstrikes across a dozen locations. Three ceasefires—brokered by Malaysia, pressured by Trump, and witnessed by ASEAN—have left over 100 dead and a million displaced, yet the December 27 truce may fail like the others.

Updated May 16

Delivered on campaign promise to end offshore wind

On December 22, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum paused all major offshore wind construction on the East Coast: Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind, Empire Wind, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. These five projects, representing $28 billion in investment and enough power for millions of homes, halted on orders from Washington citing radar interference and national security risks near military installations.

Updated May 16

Ordered airstrikes after months of warnings

On Christmas night 2025, American warplanes struck ISIS-linked camps in northwest Nigeria, killing militants in the first direct U.S. combat action there. President Tinubu approved the operation after months of Trump pressure, targeting Lakurawa/ISSP elements in Sokoto State, but Jabo residents reported civilian panic from a missile hitting farmland. By mid-February 2026, U.S. Africa Command deployed around 200 military personnel, with the initial 100 troops arriving February 17 at Bauchi Airfield to train and support Nigerian counterterrorism forces.

Updated May 16

Flip-flopped on H-1B policy; now supports program

On December 29, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published its final rule replacing the H-1B lottery with wage-weighted selection. It takes effect February 27, 2026.

Updated May 16

Successfully backed Asfura's candidacy

Two days before Honduras voted, Trump pardoned the country's former president from a 45-year drug trafficking sentence, endorsed his party's candidate, and threatened to cut all U.S. aid if the opposition won. The candidate Trump backed won by 0.74 percent—after a three-week count marred by system crashes, midnight data flips, and fraud allegations. Honduras pivots back toward Washington after two years courting Beijing, but the Congress president is refusing to validate the results, calling them an "electoral coup."

Updated May 16

Leading peace negotiations through special envoys

On December 28, President Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced 90% agreement on a revised 20-point peace framework at Mar-a-Lago. The next day Russia claimed Ukraine attacked Putin's residence with drones—a charge Kyiv denies, calling it fabricated to sabotage talks. The alleged attack exposes how fragile negotiations are: while diplomats inch toward compromise, the shadow war continues and Moscow weaponizes accusations to 'toughen' its bargaining position. The real question after nearly four years of invasion is whether either side will stop fighting long enough to sign a deal.

Updated May 16

Withdrew tariff threats and ruled out force January 21; pursuing 'framework' on Arctic security, mineral rights, and Golden Dome deployment

President Trump reversed his tariff threats and ruled out military force on January 21 after announcing a "framework" with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. The framework covers Arctic security cooperation, U.S. access to Greenland's rare earth minerals (1.5 million metric tons—the world's eighth-largest reserves), and Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense system ($175-831 billion shield against hypersonic threats).

Updated May 16

Ordered both combat operations that extended Ford's tour

The USS Gerald R. Ford steamed back into Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday after 320 days at sea, the longest US carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. The crew of 4,500 sailors fought in two combat operations, supported the capture of a foreign head of state, and lived through a 30-hour shipboard fire.

Updated May 16

Announced program at Mar-a-Lago December 2025

Trump just announced the United States will build battleships again. The USS Defiant (BBG-1)—lead ship of the Trump-class—will be the largest American surface combatant since World War II at 35,000 tons, armed with nuclear cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, rail guns, and lasers. Construction starts in 2030, and the Navy wants 20 to 25 ships at over $10 billion each.

Updated May 16

Directing Syria policy amid competing pressures

On December 13, 2025, a Syrian security officer allegedly affiliated with ISIS opened fire on US troops near Palmyra, killing two Iowa National Guard members (Staff Sgts. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and William Nathaniel Howard) and interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat. The US responded six days later with Operation Hawkeye Strike: 100 precision munitions against 70 ISIS targets in central Syria via fighter jets, attack helicopters, and artillery, plus Jordanian F-16s, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called 'a declaration of vengeance.'

Updated May 16

Driving a public pressure campaign tying Venezuela’s oil trade to ‘narco-terrorism’

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated May 15

Signed an executive order pressuring states to halt AI regulation

New York just told the biggest AI labs: if something goes seriously wrong, you don't get to bury it. Under the RAISE Act, large "frontier AI" developers must publish a safety approach and report "critical harm" incidents to the state within 72 hours after determining one occurred. First violations carry civil penalties capped at $1M; later violations, $3M—far below the bill's June penalty structure.

Updated May 15

Ordered retaliatory strikes; publicly backing Syria’s interim leadership while pledging revenge.

In the first post-strike readout of

Updated May 15

Administration pursuing appeals and parallel pressure campaigns involving Harvard

Harvard won. A federal judge said the government unlawfully cut off Harvard's research money—then ordered the taps turned back on. Now the Trump administration is appealing, keeping a cloud over a sprawling research portfolio that runs from medical breakthroughs to national-security science.

Updated May 15

Using permitting speed as a governing priority tied to energy and industrial buildout

Washington keeps saying it wants to "build faster." On December 18, 2025, the House passed the SPEED Act—a blunt instrument designed to squeeze environmental reviews and make lawsuits harder to use as a brake.

Updated May 15

Signed executive order directing expedited completion of marijuana rescheduling and expanded cannabinoid research

Trump's executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana's move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split. Public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.

Updated May 15

Directing policy during the tranche’s notification and public rollout

The record Taiwan arms tranche (about $11.1B across eight DSCA notifications) is now in the congressional review lane. Taiwan's Defense Ministry and presidential office emphasized the buys are contingent on legislative funding. Local reporting shows five of eight cases sit in a pending NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget — meaning the political fight in Taipei throttles how fast the package moves from 'possible sale' to signed LOAs.

Updated May 15

Executive authority behind E.O. 14203 and the ICC sanctions architecture

The U.S. just sanctioned two sitting International Criminal Court judges—because they helped keep the Israel-related Gaza case alive. It's a rare thing in diplomacy: Washington using the same financial weapon it uses on oligarchs and terror networks against a courtroom.

Updated May 15

Backed Isaacman after withdrawing and renominating him in 2025

One day after his 67–30 confirmation, Jared Isaacman was sworn in on Dec. 18, 2025 as NASA's 15th administrator—walking directly into a White House-driven acceleration campaign that now has his name on the clock, not just the contracts.

Updated May 15

Filed suit in Florida federal court seeking up to $10B

Trump is suing the BBC in Florida for up to $10 billion, accusing the broadcaster of stitching together his Jan. 6 speech to make him sound like he directly called for violence. The BBC already admitted the edit was an "error of judgment," but Trump is treating the apology like an admission of guilt—and asking a U.S. court to make the BBC pay.

Updated May 15

Pushing for aggressive Fed rate cuts

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as the 17th Federal Reserve chair on May 13, 54-45—the closest such vote on record. He took over on May 15, when Jerome Powell's term expired and Powell stepped back to a regular governor seat.

Updated May 15

Deployment extended through 2026 pending D.C. Circuit appeal

The troops were supposed to start leaving Washington. Instead, the D.C. Circuit hit pause and let President Trump's National Guard deployment keep rolling while judges decide who really holds the keys to security in the nation's capital.

Updated May 15

Signed first Russia sanctions of second term (Rosneft/Lukoil) while simultaneously granting Hungary energy exemption

Sanctions are supposed to close doors. On December 17, the U.S. quietly propped two doors back open again, even as it slammed others shut. One narrow lane keeps Sakhalin-2 crude flowing to Japan; the other preserves financial channels for civil nuclear projects, even when payments touch sanctioned Russian banks—both running through June 18, 2026.

Updated May 15

Driving a rapid Alaska-focused energy and permitting agenda

BLM's rollback of the 2024 NPR-A protections isn't new news—but today is when it becomes real. As of December 17, 2025, the rescission is officially in effect, wiping out the Biden-era rule that tried to hardwire stronger guardrails into how the Western Arctic gets developed.

Updated May 15

Ordered a blockade targeting U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela.

Trump's Venezuela "blockade" threat is now backed by policy. Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and also targeted Iran's shadow-fleet network. Together, these expand the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that the U.S. Navy could board if they try to trade with Venezuela.

Updated May 15

Driving Phase 2 governance-and-security architecture; Board of Peace membership pending

A Gaza force is being designed like it's real, but the December 16 Doha conference exposed disagreements over mandate and composition—U.S. Central Command convened 40+ countries to plan command structure, basing, and rules of engagement, yet failed to achieve consensus. Italy is the only country to formally commit troops; 15 nations declined and Turkey was excluded at Israel's insistence.

Updated May 15

Driving a militarized counternarcotics strategy; signaling possible land operations

What began as a made-for-video "counterdrug" campaign is now a full-blown oversight fight. The U.S. military has publicly acknowledged additional lethal actions that pushed reported deaths past 100 across roughly 28 known strikes since Sept. 2.

Updated May 15

Issuing executive orders to delay enforcement and steer a divestiture framework

The deal closed on January 22, 2026. TikTok's U.S. operations now belong to TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC—a new entity where Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX each hold 15%, existing ByteDance investor affiliates hold 30.1%, and ByteDance itself retains exactly 19.9%.

Updated May 15

Driving a second-term immigration crackdown centered on ending categorical protections

DHS just turned a promised “legal pathway” into a ticking clock. A Federal Register notice published December 15, 2025 terminates every Family Reunification Parole program tied to seven countries—and tells people already here that their parole will end on January 14, 2026.

Updated May 15

Broker and self-described guarantor of the Oct. 2025 ceasefire; pushing stabilization plan

A senior Hamas commander is killed in a targeted Israeli strike. The next day, thousands pack the streets of Gaza for his funeral, coffins hoisted shoulder-high, flags everywhere, chants loud enough to carry the message: Hamas is still here.

Updated May 15

Driving a fast-track diplomatic push to end the war via a U.S.-brokered framework

Zelensky just did something he once treated as untouchable: he offered to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. Not as surrender, but as a trade—Kyiv gives up the alliance path, and the West gives Ukraine legally binding protection strong enough to scare Moscow off for good.

Updated May 15

Reversing the practical ban on top-tier U.S. AI chips to China—while excluding Blackwell and Rubin

The Trump administration just did the thing Washington has spent years swearing it wouldn't do: let China buy a near-top-tier Nvidia AI chip again. Now a China hawk in Congress is demanding the Commerce Department explain, in detail, why this isn't a strategic own-goal.

Updated May 15

Declared project 'too late' to stop on Jan 25 while facing judicial skepticism of his legal authority; construction continues

At a January 22 hearing on the National Trust's preliminary injunction request, Judge Richard Leon signaled deep skepticism about Trump's authority to tear down "an icon that's a national institution" using $400 million in private donations. Leon called the funding mechanism a "Rube Goldberg contraption" and is expected to rule in February; Trump declared on Truth Social that "IT IS TOO LATE" to stop the project, claiming structural steel, marble, and bulletproof glass are already lined up.

Updated May 15

Driving a prisoner-first, dealmaking approach toward Belarus

A U.S. envoy went to Minsk to talk about prisoners—and walked out with both a promise and a delivery. After John Coale's December 2025 visit with Alexander Lukashenko, Treasury's OFAC published General License 13 on December 15, authorizing transactions with Belaruskali, Belarusian Potash Company, and Agrorozkvit—no expiration date. Belarus responded by freeing 123 political prisoners, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, the regime's most valuable hostages.

Updated May 15

Policy author; proclamation-based fee faces multiple lawsuits

The Trump administration imposed a $100,000 fee on new H‑1B visa petitions. Now twenty states are suing to overturn that fee in federal court, calling it an illegal end-run around Congress.

Updated May 15

Backing a new coalition model linking trade, security, and AI-industrial policy

The U.S. just tried to name a new era into existence: "Pax Silica." On December 12, 2025, Washington launched a coalition with key tech allies to lock down the ingredients of AI power—minerals, silicon, energy inputs, and the factories that turn them into chips and data centers.

Updated May 15

Setting June 2026 deadline for peace settlement; using security guarantees as negotiating leverage; conditioning signing on finalized details

Since early December 2025, the war has featured intensified winter ground operations in Kharkiv and Donetsk alongside massive drone and missile campaigns targeting each side's war economies. Russia's February 16-17 barrage of 425 drones and 29 missiles coincided with Geneva talks that concluded February 18 with limited military progress but no political breakthroughs on territorial compromises or security guarantees. Zelenskyy deemed the outcomes 'not sufficient' and requested a follow-up meeting later in February.

Updated May 15

Mediating, or claiming to mediate, ceasefires between Thailand and Cambodia

Thailand's prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, dissolved parliament barely three months into his term. He called a snap election while Thai troops trade artillery fire with Cambodia along an 800-kilometre border.

Updated May 15

Driving aggressive national immigration crackdown in his second term

Federal agents flooded the Chicago area under “Operation Midway Blitz,” arresting thousands in a sweeping immigration crackdown. A little-known consent decree from an earlier ICE raid suddenly roared back to life, and a Chicago judge ordered hundreds of detainees released — until a divided appeals court slammed on the brakes.

Updated May 15

Has granted more than 1,600 pardons and commutations, heavily focused on 2020 and January 6 cases.

President Trump pardoned former Mesa County, Colorado clerk Tina Peters in December 2025 over her nine-year state prison sentence for letting election conspiracy activists copy voting-machine data. The pardon has no legal effect on her state conviction, yet it triggered an escalating confrontation.

Updated May 15

President since January 2025; previously publicly linked socially to Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but his paper trail has led to immediate legal battles. On January 30, 2026, the Justice Department released more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images.

Updated May 14

Driving broad rollback of Biden‑era climate, EV, and fuel‑economy policies

The EPA isn't killing Biden's vehicle pollution rules outright. It plans to keep looser 2026 standards in place for two extra model years instead of enforcing tougher limits on smog-forming pollution starting in 2027.

Updated May 11

Driving a federal-first, deregulatory AI agenda using executive power.

Donald Trump just turned AI regulation into a states' rights knife fight. His new executive order creates a Justice Department "AI Litigation Task Force" to attack state AI laws. Washington can threaten to withhold $42 billion in broadband funds from states that don't comply.

Updated May 11

Opposes subsidy extension; 17 House Republicans defied him to vote for three-year extension on January 8

Enhanced premium tax credits expired January 1, 2026. By late January, 1.2 to 1.4 million fewer Americans had enrolled for marketplace coverage, with total 2026 enrollment at 22.8–22.9 million.

Updated May 11

Driving aggressive military-led immigration crackdown

Donald Trump has quietly turned long stretches of the southern border into de facto military bases. Under a new system of National Defense Areas, soldiers can stop migrants, hold them, and help prosecutors charge them as trespassers on military land.

Updated May 11

Using broad tariffs on China and threats against Mexico to reshape North American trade

Mexico's Congress approved a sweeping tariff overhaul: starting in 2026, thousands of imports from China, India, and other non-FTA Asian countries will face duties up to 50%, with most capped around 35%. The package targets autos, auto parts, steel, textiles, plastics and clothing, aiming to protect local jobs and raise billions in revenue.

Updated May 11

Pursuing an unprecedented mass deportation agenda in his second term

An ICE officer emailed a Colombian couple in Texas a choice no parent should face: board a deportation flight or risk a 10‑year prison sentence and losing their six‑year‑old to federal custody. They abandoned their trafficking victim visa case and were on a plane to Bogotá within weeks.

Updated May 11

Driving an aggressive immigration crackdown while personally branding a pay-to-stay visa program.

Donald Trump is now literally selling a fast track to America. His Trump Gold Card program lets wealthy foreigners buy expedited U.S. residency for a $1 million "gift" to the government, plus a $15,000 processing fee. A corporate option costs $2 million per sponsored worker.

Updated May 11

Driving a renewed maximum‑pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro using tariffs, sanctions and military power.

A US Coast Guard team fast-roped from helicopters onto the supertanker Skipper off Venezuela's coast. Within hours, President Donald Trump was bragging in Washington that the United States had just seized one of the world's largest tankers and would likely keep the oil.

Updated May 11

Publicly quiet on the flare-up while his administration greenlights visible bomber support

What began with Chinese carrier fighters lighting up Japanese jets with radar near Okinawa has mushroomed into a full-spectrum crisis. After China and Russia sent bombers circling Japan, the US flew B-52s with Japanese fighters over the Sea of Japan.

Updated May 11

Made December phone calls to both leaders; initial ceasefire claim disputed but later diplomacy contributed to December 27 accord

A new ceasefire signed on December 27 has brought an uneasy pause to three weeks of fighting that killed more than 100 people and sent over half a million fleeing from their homes. Thai airstrikes, Cambodian rocket barrages, and artillery duels scorched the 817‑kilometer frontier after combat reignited on December 8, shattering Trump‑brokered peace deals from July and October.

Updated May 11

Signed the FY2026 NDAA into law, cementing his defense agenda while preserving Ukraine aid he once questioned.

President Trump signed a nearly $901 billion defense bill into law on December 18, 2025, cementing the 65th consecutive year Congress has passed a National Defense Authorization Act. It delivers troops a 3.8% pay raise and locks in $800 million for Ukraine weapons over two years.

Updated May 10

Publicly pressuring the Fed for steeper cuts and seeking greater control over its leadership.

In a single year the Fed has gone from peak post‑Covid rates to a clear easing cycle. December's third 2025 rate cut pushes the federal funds range down to 3.5–3.75% and flips the switch on a new operating regime built around full‑allotment repos and steady Treasury bill buying.

Updated May 10

Overseeing sanctions that forced Lukoil and Rosneft into selling foreign assets

First the US froze Lukoil's assets. Now it's effectively forcing Russia's biggest private oil company to auction off its global business. A fresh Treasury waiver gives buyers until January 17, 2026 to lock in deals for oilfields, refineries and thousands of gas stations worth about $22 billion.

Updated May 10

Driving a pro-fossil, anti-wind-and-solar permitting agenda

Trump promised to "unleash American energy." Since January 2025, his administration has approved just one major solar project on federal land, and none at all since Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanded personal sign-off on every renewable decision.

Updated May 10

Driving an "energy dominance" agenda built around mandated Gulf lease sales

Donald Trump's second-term energy agenda has moved from a single Gulf auction to a full-scale offshore transformation. The December 10 Gulf lease sale—81.2 million acres at a 12.5% royalty rate, generating $279.4 million—was just the opening move. By year's end, the administration had proposed a sweeping 2026-2031 leasing plan covering 1.27 billion acres off California, Florida and Alaska, and scheduled a second Gulf sale for March 11, 2026. It simultaneously halted all five major East Coast offshore wind projects, citing national security risks; Shell-INEOS's early January oil discovery south of New Orleans showed the industry's bet on deepwater Gulf prospects.

Updated May 10

Driving a broad pullback from anti‑corruption and foreign‑bribery enforcement while courting FIFA leadership

U.S. prosecutors spent years proving that Hernan Lopez, a former Fox International Channels CEO, and the sports marketing firm Full Play bribed South American soccer officials to lock down lucrative TV rights. A Brooklyn jury convicted them in 2023.

Updated May 10

Ordered review to designate certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist organizations

In less than a month, Texas and Florida governors branded CAIR, the country's largest Muslim civil rights group, a "foreign terrorist organization." Both states ordered cuts to contracts, jobs, and funding. CAIR calls it a smear campaign; the governors say they're targeting Hamas-linked extremists.

Updated May 10

Overseeing rollback of Biden-era student loan policies, including settlement to end SAVE.

Biden sold the SAVE plan as a fix for millions facing a broken student loan system: smaller payments, faster forgiveness, and protection from ballooning interest.

Updated May 10

Trying to reassure Japan while preserving a fragile trade truce with China.

Chinese J-15 jets from the carrier Liaoning repeatedly locked targeting radar onto Japanese F-15s near Okinawa on December 6, forcing Japan to scramble jets and file an emergency protest. Days later, Washington publicly accused Beijing of destabilizing behavior and vowed its commitment to Japan was "unwavering."

Updated May 10

Signed SRS extension into law on December 18, 2025

President Donald Trump signed the Secure Rural Schools reauthorization into law on December 18, 2025, ending a two-year funding cliff that had devastated more than 700 forested counties. The bill directs the USDA Forest Service to deliver retroactive payments for FY2024 and FY2025 within 45 days of enactment—by early February 2026—and extends the program through FY2026. Counties that had cut sheriffs' patrols, closed schools, and delayed road repairs are now budgeting for an influx of roughly $280 million per year.

Updated May 10

Driving a U.S.-led peace framework seen as favoring Russian positions on territory and NATO

In early 2025, Trump launched an aggressive push to "end the war" in Ukraine. He tied resumed military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv's acceptance of a U.S.-drafted peace framework that includes territorial concessions to Russia and long-term limits on Ukraine's sovereignty.

Updated May 10

Signed the FY2026 NDAA into law on Dec. 18, 2025, despite provisions bolstering Ukraine aid and limiting unilateral force-posture reductions in Europe.

Congress passed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act in December 2025, authorizing a record $901 billion in national security spending. The House approved the final compromise 312–112 on December 10, and Trump signed it December 18 without an Oval Office ceremony.

Updated May 10

Leading donor retrenchment from multilateral humanitarian and health agencies

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cut its 2026 humanitarian appeal to roughly $33 billion in December 2025, down from the $47 billion requested for 2025. Governments had provided only about $15 billion in 2025 — the lowest level of support in a decade. Three weeks later, the United States pledged $2 billion to OCHA-managed funds, providing roughly two-thirds of the funding needed to reach 87 million people in the most catastrophic need.

Updated May 10

U.S. president driving peace initiative; projects optimism while acknowledging 'thorny issues' remain

By late December 2025, the controversial 28-point plan was replaced by a revised 20-point framework. Zelenskyy said it was '90 percent agreed' with Washington, with '100 percent' consensus on U.S.–Ukraine security guarantees.

Updated May 10

Driving expansion of presidential removal power over independent agencies

In 2025, President Donald Trump challenged the 1935 Humphrey's Executor precedent by firing and removing independent agency officials before their terms expired.

Updated May 10

Architect of 2025 mass-deportation agenda and city-based sweeps

On December 3, 2025, President Trump launched Operation Catahoula Crunch, a Border Patrol sweep targeting 5,000 arrests in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi. The operation deployed roughly 250 agents to raid big-box stores, workplaces, and residential neighborhoods while conducting round-the-clock online surveillance of activists, protests, and community organizing.

Updated May 10

Primary external broker of the ceasefire; U.S. trade leverage central to negotiations

In 2025, a long-simmering territorial dispute along the 817 km Thailand–Cambodia border reignited after a May 28 clash near Preah Vihear killed a Cambodian soldier. The incident sparked a five-day July war—at least 48 dead, about 300,000 displaced—that ended when Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim brokered a ceasefire.

Updated May 10

Driving tariff policy and authorizing repeated farm bailouts

Since 2018, U.S. farmers have been caught in Trump-era tariff battles—first the U.S.–China trade war, now tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico, and others. To counter lost exports and depressed prices, the Trump administrations funded large farm aid through the Agriculture Department's Commodity Credit Corporation: $12 billion in 2018, $16 billion in 2019.

Updated May 10

Architect of the 2025 National Security Strategy and ongoing Ukraine peace push

In early December 2025, the Trump administration published a National Security Strategy abandoning Russia as a primary threat, emphasizing 'flexible realism,' reviving the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere, and seeking a negotiated Ukraine peace while re-establishing stability with Moscow. Within days, the Kremlin praised the strategy, saying it 'corresponds in many ways' with Russia's worldview and welcoming the shift from treating Russia as a direct adversary.

Updated May 10

Relies on Bessent to execute tariffs, farm aid and consumer initiatives; administration faces renewed ethics questions in second term

Scott Bessent became Treasury Secretary in January 2025. An ethics agreement required him to sell substantial holdings, including up to $25 million in North Dakota soybean and corn farmland that earned as much as $1 million a year in rent. After months of delays, the Office of Government Ethics warned him in August 2025 that he'd failed to comply on time.

Updated May 10

Threatening sanctions and possible military action over alleged Christian persecution in Nigeria; ordering contingency planning while broader tools are considered

Since March 2025, jihadist attacks, mass kidnappings, and farmer-herder violence have swept across northern and central Nigeria. A February 4, 2026, jihadist massacre in Kwara State alone killed over 160 people. Major incidents include a US-Nigeria airstrike on December 25, 2025, targeting Islamic State militants; Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks killing dozens of soldiers in January 2026; and partial rescues amid ongoing banditry.

Updated May 10

Driving U.S. pressure campaign involving potential sanctions and military action over Christian persecution claims

On November 21, 2025, armed men abducted 315 people—303 pupils and 12 staff—from St. Mary's Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State. Around 50 children later escaped, but the mass abduction was one of Nigeria's largest since Chibok in 2014 and sparked national outrage that exposed deep security failures. U.S. officials weighed sanctions to pressure Nigeria to protect Christian communities and other civilians targeted in northern violence.

Updated May 10

Driving a fast-track peace push, under criticism for perceived pro-Russian terms

In late 2025, U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg said a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was "really, really close." Two disputes remain: the fate of Donbas, especially Ukrainian-held areas in Donetsk, and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Russia-occupied and the largest in Europe).

Updated May 10

Backing federal efforts to limit state-level AI regulation

Edmonton Police became the first North American force to put live facial recognition on officers' body cameras. In December 2025, they switched on a month-long pilot. The AI-enabled bodycams scan the faces of people officers encounter against a watch list of 6,341 individuals with safety flags and 724 people wanted on serious warrants.

Updated May 10

Incumbent president; former federal defendant whose Smith-led prosecutions were dismissed

In November 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee two high‑risk investigations into Donald Trump: his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar‑a‑Lago. Both probes produced federal indictments in 2023, placing a former president on track to face criminal trials over alleged election subversion and mishandling of national‑security secrets.

Updated May 10

Driving rollback of Biden‑era auto fuel economy and emissions rules

On December 3, 2025, President Trump unveiled an NHTSA proposal to slash Biden-era CAFE standards, cutting the 2031 target from about 50.4 mpg to roughly 34.5 mpg. The rule also slows annual increases to 0.25–0.5% from 2% and bans credit trading after 2028, which especially hurts EV-focused companies that sell credits to gasoline-heavy manufacturers.

Updated May 10

Defending Executive Order 14160 before the Supreme Court

On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14160, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship." The order denies automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children when the mother is unlawfully present or on a temporary visa and the father is neither a citizen nor a lawful permanent resident. It challenges 125 years of legal consensus (grounded in the 14th Amendment and the Supreme Court's 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark) that nearly all children born on U.S. soil are automatically citizens.

Updated May 10

Backing ACIP’s shift and ordering a broader review of childhood vaccines

In December 2025, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8–3 to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth. The committee was reconstituted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On December 16, 2025, Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill formally adopted the recommendation.

Updated May 10

Architect and signatory of the 2025 National Security Strategy

On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy declaring a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The document formally revives the 19th-century idea of the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence and promises to reassert American preeminence across the Americas.

Updated May 10

Key regulatory authority with stated personal involvement in merger review

On December 5, 2025, Netflix announced a definitive deal to acquire Warner Bros.' film and television studios and streaming businesses, including HBO and HBO Max, valued at $72 billion in equity and $82.7 billion including debt. On January 20, 2026, the parties amended to an all-cash structure at $27.75 per share, with a shareholder vote expected by April 2026.

Updated May 10

Driving review of U.S. childhood vaccine schedule

In his second term, President Donald Trump is overhauling U.S. childhood vaccination policy. He argues the country gives too many shots compared with its peers. On December 5, 2025, a federal vaccine advisory panel voted 8–3 to end the longstanding hepatitis B shot recommendation for newborns. Trump signed a memorandum ordering the HHS secretary and CDC director to review the childhood schedule and align it where possible with peer countries' practices.

Updated May 10

Threatening trade retaliation and legal action over EU tech enforcement

The European Union is cracking down on U.S.-based Big Tech using the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and long-standing competition and privacy rules. Since 2023, Brussels designated six platforms as 'gatekeepers,' imposed obligations on core services, and opened proceedings against X, Google, Apple and Meta for monopolistic conduct, opaque algorithms, deceptive design, and failures to police harmful content.

Updated May 10

Architect of America First Global Health Strategy and foreign aid overhaul

In 2025 the Trump administration dismantled the post-Cold War global health architecture by withdrawing from the WHO, freezing most foreign aid, and abolishing USAID's development role. Through its 'America First Global Health Strategy,' the administration created bilateral health compacts requiring partner governments to co-finance HIV, TB, malaria, and outbreak response programs and gradually assume full responsibility.

Updated May 10

Principal architect and political guarantor of the Gaza ceasefire and post-war governance plan

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel triggered a war that lasted more than two years. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect October 10, 2025. At least 460 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,200 injured since the truce began.

Updated May 10

Backs Pulte’s efforts including GSE privatization and bond purchases; political patron of FHFA mortgage-fraud campaign

In early 2025, Trump appointed housing heir Bill Pulte as director of the FHFA, which oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and $8.5 trillion in mortgage credit. Within months, Pulte used mortgage data to publicly accuse NY AG Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff, Fed Governor Lisa Cook, and Congressman Eric Swalwell of fraud, referring them to Justice amid concerns of political retribution.

Updated May 9

Chief political sponsor of the Washington Accord; under scrutiny as renewed fighting clouds his claimed diplomatic win

In early 2025, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebellion and its allies seized Goma and Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, displacing millions. The United States stepped in and brokered the June 27 Washington Accord.

Updated May 9

Pushing trade deal with India potentially easing tariffs in exchange for cutting Russian oil

On December 5, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in New Delhi for the 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit. They unveiled a 'Programme for Economic Cooperation' through 2030 targeting $100 billion in annual trade and diversification beyond oil and arms, including joint weapons production, a urea plant, agriculture, health, shipping, and labor mobility. The agreement includes a free trade pact with the Eurasian Economic Union despite looming US sanctions.

Updated May 9

US reduces India tariffs to 18% from up to 50% via trade deal, softening 2025 protectionist shock

In 2025, under Governor Sanjay Malhotra, the RBI cut its repo rate by a cumulative 125 basis points—from 6.50% in February to 5.25% on December 5. It was the sharpest easing since 2019. The cuts came with $16 billion in liquidity injections via bond purchases and a dollar-rupee swap, which Malhotra called a rare Goldilocks period of sub-target inflation and strong growth.

Updated May 9