U.S. President Donald Trump deported 37,660 people during his first month in office, previously unpublished U.S. Department of Homeland Security data show, far less than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of Joe Biden's administration. read more
Donald Trump won back the Oval Office and took charge of the government amid the strongest poll numbers of his political career, but as the 100-day mark of his presidency approaches, Americans' views of what he's done so far have turned deeply negative, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds. Trump's 41% approval rating is the lowest for any newly elected president at 100 days dating back at least to Dwight Eisenhower " including Trump's own first term. Approval of Trump's handling of the presidency is down 4 points since March, and 7 points lower than it was in late February. Just 22% say they strongly approve of Trump's handling of the job, a new low, and about twice as many say they strongly disapprove (45%). read more
Joe Kasper, the controversial chief of staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a key figure in a recent power struggle at the Pentagon, will depart the agency and take a role as a Special Government Employee (SGE), a Senior Defense official told Newsweek. Hegseth has been under siege following reports of a second Signal chat group in which the defense secretary allegedly shared highly sensitive information about U.S. airstrikes in Yemen. Hegseth previously shared similar information in a Signal group that included a journalist from The Atlantic. The second group chat reportedly included Hegseth's wife, brother, lawyer, and others. Hegseth has denied leaking classified information. Instead, he has insisted the messages were "informal, unclassified coordinations" related to media planning.
When Veronica Sanchez called a Social Security hotline Thursday, she waited two hours before her call was abruptly disconnected. On Friday, she was on hold for six hours and still did not get through to anyone. Elderly and disabled people " and those who care for them " are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions after the Trump administration imposed a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security Administration system. No field offices in California have closed. But there is rising frustration across Southern California and the nation as many seniors experience crashed webpages, endure jammed phone lines and are turned away at offices. Social Security officials have downplayed the problems and said some of the issues predate the Trump administration and the government efficiency push headed by Elon Musk. read more
The problem is the White House used 0.25 as the elasticity of import prices. Per the research paper the USTR cited in the tariff determination, the elasticity is actually closer to 1, or 0.945 to be precise. The AEI authors say the White House may have used the elasticity of retail prices instead of import prices. read more
Trump is a sad little ----.