Donald Trump

Trump terminated the 60-day Iran peace MOU signed June 17 and has since run seven consecutive nights of strikes on Iranian airports, surveillance sites, bridges, energy infrastructure, and ports, revoked oil sanctions waivers, and is weighing seizing Kharg Island or bombing the Mount Kalang and Pickaxe Mountain nuclear sites; U.S. officials are also weighing naval escorts or a ground operation in southern Iran. A naval blockade — briefly paired with a proposed 20% cargo transit fee he later withdrew — has collapsed Hormuz traffic to 1.27% of pre-conflict levels, with only three vessels transiting July 17; IEA's Fatih Birol calls it the worst energy disruption in history. Brent crude spiked above $88, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve sits near record lows, and the Iranian rial crashed to a record 1.941 million per dollar with 88.6% inflation. Iran's IRGC retaliated with missile and drone strikes on U.S. bases across Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, and Oman, released American hostage Dina Karari after 18 months, and Gen. Mohsen Rezaei warned of full-scale offensive operations if strikes continue. Trump has refused to release findings on a U.S. strike that killed 168 children at an Iranian elementary school, questioning whether satellite evidence was AI-generated; Israeli President Herzog backs the campaign, but a Post-Ipsos poll shows 68% of Americans say the war is not worth fighting and 69% disapprove, with overall approval below 40%.

Trump designated the SAVE America Act — mandating photo ID and documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration — as his top legislative priority, refusing to sign other bills until it passes; the House passed it but Senate Majority Leader John Thune lacks 60 votes, and House Speaker Mike Johnson is pursuing reconciliation to bypass the threshold, while Sen. Thom Tillis argues requirements cannot be operational before November midterms. In a July 16 primetime address, Trump declassified intelligence alleging China stole 220 million U.S. voter files during the 2020 cycle, ordered DOJ, FBI, and CIA to investigate the cover-up, and demanded the FBI reopen a 2020 voter-fraud case in Muskegon, Michigan, calling it a 'pay, play, and cheat' operation. He renewed allegations of Chinese interference in the 2020 election even as Washington and Beijing coordinate a potential Xi Jinping state visit. Senator Mark Warner called the claims 'totally bogus,' Chuck Schumer accused Trump of trying to undermine the 2026 midterms, and ABC and NBC declined to air the address live, prompting Trump to call them 'cowards' and suggest revoking their licenses.

Trump met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the NATO summit in Ankara, after which the U.S. removed Syria's state-sponsor-of-terrorism designation, and is considering giving al-Sharaa a 'green light' to launch a military offensive against Hezbollah, telling Fox News Syrian forces would be more precise than the Israeli military. He phoned Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to demand withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Syria and Lebanon, telling him 'They don't want you there. You should redeploy' and asserting Netanyahu 'knows who the boss is'; Netanyahu pushed back citing October 7-style security concerns and is planning a Washington visit to restore trust, though the White House says no meeting is scheduled. Trump hosted Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi at a U.S.-Iraq business summit in Washington, publicly defended his 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani — 'I killed him in my first administration' — and oversaw Iraq and Syria sign an MOU to reconstruct the Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline with Chevron to reduce Hormuz dependency, with Iraq entering roughly $60 billion in preliminary deals with U.S. firms including SpaceX Starlink. His Soleimani remarks prompted the Iran-aligned Islamic Resistance in Iraq to issue a $10 million bounty for his assassination, calling his comments 'criminal boasting.'

Trump's DHS revived the 'public charge' rule — effective September 18 — letting USCIS deny green cards to immigrants who use Medicaid, SNAP, or housing assistance, with roughly 588,000 applicants per year affected and officials warning 950,000 people in immigrant households may forgo benefits. His administration imposed fixed time limits on foreign student, exchange, and journalist visas — max four years for students, 240 days for journalists, 90 days for Chinese journalists — ending the 'duration of status' system; China condemned the journalist limits as discriminatory and threatened reciprocal measures, while India is engaging to mitigate impacts on its large student population. Secretary Rubio imposed new visa restrictions on foreign nationals tied to far-left and anarchist groups, designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, and expanded sanctions naming Germany's Antifa Ost and anarchist groups in Italy and Greece, part of a broader redefinition of counterterrorism targeting left-wing extremism defended by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. At a military investment summit in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Trump announced a plan to remove undocumented immigrant truck drivers and replace them with military veterans via automatic CDL eligibility, linking it to a July 1 fatal crash that killed a State Police trooper; about 200,000 immigrant drivers have lost licenses since March, and he unveiled nearly $10 billion in new Pennsylvania shipbuilding, weapons, and military-tech projects.

Trump let the bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act become law without his signature to pressure the Senate on the SAVE America Act, even as single-family housing starts fell for a third straight month to 895,000 annualized and mortgage rates hit an 11-month high of 6.55% after the Iran ceasefire collapse; he plans a Georgia school visit next Wednesday to promote his affordability agenda. He signed an executive order auctioning 33 million acres off American Samoa for deep-sea mining (auction Nov 19) to counter China's critical-minerals grip, and his administration rejected Canada's trade concessions as non-creditable, declined to extend CUSMA in favor of annual rolling reviews, and imposed sector-specific tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and automobiles; USTR Jamieson Greer says any breakthrough requires a direct Trump-Carney understanding. A House committee advanced his March 2025 plan to dismantle the Education Department via a 10-bill package transferring functions across five agencies, though it faces a Senate filibuster with only 53 Republican seats. The Commission of Fine Arts approved an underground White House visitor screening center (operational by July 2028) but deferred on a permanent Lafayette Park fence, which Trump said 'will be completed very shortly and it'll be incredible,' while Sen. Mark Warner called the fencing an attempt to suppress First Amendment protest rights. He nominated former personal defense attorney Todd Blanche for permanent attorney general — facing Senate Judiciary review and criticism for allegedly prioritizing Trump's personal interests — and dropped two BBC subsidiaries from his defamation suit while continuing a multi-billion-dollar claim against the broadcaster over a 2024 Panorama documentary, with trial set for February 2027.