Washington, DC

1. War fatigue
2. Progressives’ Israel push
3. Post-Leavitt plan
4. Dems’ oversight dilemma
5. OpenAI’s new grants
6. Sunshine State battles

PDB: The AI worker divide

Trump meets with teen lifeguard who saved boy in California … Canada reports inflation data … Indiana hit by historic flooding

Deadline lapses as Iran war drags

With no end in sight, the war with Iran is stretching the US’ resources thin. The US pulled its last aircraft carrier from Asia to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln (whose long deployment has reportedly led to poor conditions), shrinking America’s military presence in the western Pacific. The now-broken 60-day US-Iran ceasefire negotiated in June formally lapses today. US envoy Jared Kushner, who negotiated that deal, is instead focused on Gaza, and he’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today after a rare meeting with Hamas. The conflict has “largely morphed into one of economic warfare,” The New York Times writes; Iran plans to keep escalating, per The Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration is considering new measures. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is testing other alliances: He ordered the Pentagon to scale back military drills with South Korea, citing in part Seoul’s refusal to help him in Iran.

Progressives eye Israel policy shift

Capitol Hill progressives are homing in on the “Block the Bombs Act” as they prepare for a potential overhaul of Israel policy under a Democratic majority. The legislation would block certain weapons transfers to Israel and is cosponsored by more than a third of House Democrats. Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, said his bloc would push for it to come to the floor in a Democrat-controlled House and would oppose bills that “subsidize weaponry for a military that’s been out of control.” He framed it as a way for Democrats to rebuild relationships with voters that had frayed over the Biden administration’s handling of Israel relations. “If we want to regain voters’ trust, we have to say that the Democratic Party position in the past just has not worked,” Casar said. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently called for a “reset” on Israel policy.

— Nicholas Wu

WH mulls more Cabinet-led briefings

The White House is considering returning to a briefing plan enacted earlier this year once press secretary Karoline Leavitt formally leaves her role at the end of August, with a rotation of Cabinet officials speaking at the podium. It’s a temporary practice that satisfied Trump during the period that Leavitt was off for maternity leave, and a White House official told Semafor that it’s once again under discussion until a new permanent press secretary is named. It’s unclear how long that will take. Leavitt has long been one of Trump’s closest confidants, and administration officials openly admit that she will not be easy for Trump to replace. Officials and Trump allies are already buzzing about potential successors, and Trump has discussed the topic with top aides. The president “is not in a rush to name a replacement and [is] truly undecided,” the official added.

— Shelby Talcott

Can Democrats afford to take on Big Tech?

Juleanna Glover, a longtime adviser to CEOs navigating Washington, DC, and onetime aide to Elon Musk, spent the summer of 2020 texting Musk’s phone number to everyone she knew in Joe Biden’s campaign. The Tesla CEO had started to grouse on X about the Democratic nominee, and she could see where it was going. Could the former vice president give the billionaire a call and show him a little love? Biden’s team ignored her. Now Glover, who is firmly anti-Trump, is making a different plea to the Democrats likely to take the House majority in November: Leave the other tech giants alone. “We need their support in order to win the White House in 2028,” said Glover. Her argument is indicative of the reality in Washington that the US political system is buckling in the face of ascendant corporate and tech power.

OpenAI funds new think tank projects

OpenAI is announcing the winners of its call for grant proposals to study the economic and societal impact of artificial intelligence, and to develop solutions to address disruptions. According to details shared first with Semafor, recipients include US-based organizations across the political spectrum, like the American Enterprise Institute, the Progressive Policy Institute, the Tax Foundation, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, as well as organizations in Europe, Brazil, Singapore, and South Korea. Selected from submissions that OpenAI solicited earlier this year as part of a sweeping policy document, the 14 projects will collectively receive $1 million in funding in addition to up to $1 million in credits to use OpenAI’s models. “To democratize the benefits of the Intelligence Age, we need policy ideas as ambitious and transformative as the technology itself,” said Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer. “Democracies need to decide how AI is deployed, and organizations like these can serve as laboratories of democracy that develop new ways to ensure AI’s gains reach the many, not just the few.”

— Morgan Chalfant

Florida primaries push on familiar sore points

Three states — Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming — hold their primary elections this week, but the president’s home base is, predictably, home to the marquee contests in both parties. In the gubernatorial race, GOP Rep. Byron Donalds holds Trump’s endorsement and a clear lead in polls over challenger James Fishback. Tougher fights lie in wait for Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., whose ethical trouble on multiple fronts have prompted congressional colleagues to endorse primary challenger Ryan Elijah, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who frustrated many Black Democrats by running in a historically Black district after the state redrew its map. Alaska will winnow its 17-person gubernatorial field down to four for the general election, while Wyoming has its own jam-packed primary race for the safely red House seat that Rep. Harriet Hageman is vacating to seek the Senate.

Blindspot: Arrests and judges

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: A new Office of Legal Counsel opinion gives the US military more power to detain migrants accused of trespassing in areas controlled by the Defense Department.

What the Right isn’t reading: Federal prosecutors in Chicago scrutinized a Democratic fundraising firm that was partially owned by the daughter of Juan Merchan, a New York judge who oversaw President Trump’s hush-money trial, The New York Times reported.

White House

• President Trump quietly established a backchannel to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps earlier this year. — Axios
• Trump has been describing his ballroom project as a “National Security structure” in an effort to frame it as a military imperative.
• Trump’s legal team at Sullivan & Cromwell has shrunk to just one person. — Politico

Congress

• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told CBS he has heard “nothing” recently from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is recovering from a fall.

Campaigns

• Democrats officially made South Carolina and Nevada the first and second states to vote in the 2028 presidential primary. They also approved nonbinding policy positions targeting ICE, one calling for “concrete reforms” at the immigration agency and another calling for abolishing it.
• Micah Lasher, a Democrat running for Congress in New York, has some advice for Democrats trying to overhaul their messaging.
• California’s proposed billionaire tax is overwhelmingly popular with state Democrats, while independents are split, a new poll found.

Business

• The Trump family’s crypto business said it obtained preliminary approval to become a bank.
• The Justice Department and CFTC are investigating transactions around the iron ore trader Radiant World. — Bloomberg

Courts

• Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge that the department would act independently of the White House during an interview with NBC, building on comments he made at Semafor World Economy earlier this year.
• Blanche also said the Trump administration may ask the Supreme Court to intervene in a fight over access to state voter rolls.
• Liberals are pushing more aggressive reforms to the Supreme Court. — WaPo

Immigration

• Customs an