Tariffs, redux: Just after midnight Friday, Trump’s 10% global tariffs expired after a 150-day deadline. At the same time, a new set of tariffs set at 10% and 12.5% on more than 60 trading partners went into effect, write Akayla Gardner, Lindsey Pipia and Julianne McShane. The new tariffs are being justified by an investigation into whether the countries properly enforced prohibitions on the importation of goods produced by forced labor. But critics argue they’re just a new legal justification for the same tariffs he imposed earlier this year. Read more.
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Art of the bad deal: Since the dawn of the Nuclear Age, U.S. policy has denied the ability to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium to other nations because it is a shortcut to nuclear weapons. But this week the Trump administration inked an agreement that would let Saudi Arabia do just that. With the deal, Trump has effectively green-lit a Saudi nuclear bomb program, argues Joseph Cirincione, vice chair of the board at the Center for International Policy. Given the enormous construction costs, most countries don’t try to produce their own fuel until they have 20 or more reactors. Saudi Arabia doesn’t even have one yet. Read more.
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‘An amazing job’: It’s not that Republican lawmakers think Trump has had a perfect second term. But if you ask them about their disagreements, they struggle to name any. When MS NOW’s Jack Fitzpatrick asked more than two dozen Republicans on Capitol Hill if Trump had done anything they disagreed with, many struggled to come up with anything at all. While some praised his record as perfect, others found a way to answer the question tactfully. Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said there’s probably something he disagreed with, but he couldn’t “think of anything off the top of my head.” Read more.
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Crypto loopholes: Congress is considering a bill to rein in crypto, with sponsors saying it’s needed to give federal regulators clear jurisdiction over crypto markets that currently fall through the cracks. But the bill is riddled with dangerous loopholes that could be exploited by bad actors, argues former White House National Security Council member Carole House. Under the CLARITY Act, the more a crypto or artificial intelligence system spreads control across algorithms, token holders and automated contracts, the less accountable it becomes. That encourages developers to design systems so that when fraud happens, nobody is left holding the bag. Read more.
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Carte Blanche: Former Trump personal lawyer Todd Blanche’s replies to questions from senators make clear he should not be confirmed as attorney general, argues former federal prosecutor Nick Akerman. He said an IRS immunity deal with Trump is still in effect, even though a federal judge effectively prohibited Trump from relying on it. He was also evasive about who in the Trump family it covers, who was involved in drafting it and which agencies are bound by it. These non-answers show that Blanche is still acting as Trump’s personal attorney and not with the interests of the Department of Justice in mind. Read more.
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Andrew and Tristan Tate are stars of the so-called manosphere, self-described misogynists who command a following of young, angry men on the internet. They’re also under arrest in Miami on rape and sex trafficking charges from the U.K. It’s not the first time, either. The pair were arrested in 2022 in Romania on rape and sex trafficking charges in a case that was thrown out on legal and procedural grounds. (The brothers have previously denied all wrongdoing.) When Trump was re-elected, the Tates were hailed as political heroes who helped deliver the votes of young, disaffected men who crave power, money and domination over women, argues Lyz Lenz, author of the Men Yell at Me newsletter. Some Democrats think winning over the manosphere will help them in November, but the arrest of the Tates shows once again how damaging that can be. Read the column here.
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