President Trump renews his push to eliminate mail-in voting by executive order ahead of the 2026 midterms. The U.S. Navy deploys three destroyers off the coast of Venezuela as part of the Trump administration&#8217;s escalating war on drug cartels. The White House touts a string of recent victories, including progress on a Ukraine peace deal, a sharp drop in D.C. crime, and a record-high stock market.
It’s Wednesday, August 20, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2>Trump Vows to End ‘Corrupt’ Mail-In Voting</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-962611" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_21_19.Still001-3-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_21_19.Still001-3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_21_19.Still001-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_21_19.Still001-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_21_19.Still001-3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_21_19.Still001-3.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: President Trump announced on Monday that he is renewing his push to eliminate mail-in voting nationwide by executive order ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, calling the practice a &#8220;fraud.&#8221; 
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to stop mail-in ballots because it&#8217;s corrupt,&#8221; Trump said Monday, arguing that it is the &#8220;only way&#8221; Democrats can win elections. The president is also taking aim at electronic voting machines, which he called &#8220;seriously controversial,&#8221; in favor of watermarked paper ballots. The expected executive order is likely to face immediate legal challenges, as states constitutionally control election administration. 
Democrats have vowed to fight the move. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) said any measure making it harder to vote would be &#8220;dead on arrival in the Senate.&#8221; Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Trump a &#8220;weak president grasping at straws,&#8221; and claimed that mail ballots do not help one party over another. However, data from the 2024 election shows that Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, with an 18-point split between the two parties. 
<h2>U.S. Deploys Warships to Confront Venezuelan Cartel</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-962609" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_20_23.Still002-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_20_23.Still002-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_20_23.Still002-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_20_23.Still002-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_20_23.Still002-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_20_23.Still002.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The U.S. Navy has deployed three guided-missile destroyers to international waters off the coast of Venezuela as part of the Trump administration’s escalating military confrontation with Latin American drug cartels. 
The deployment includes three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, 4,000 sailors and Marines, P-8 spy planes, and at least one attack submarine. The move is a direct challenge to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. has indicted and designated as the head of a &#8220;narco terror cartel.&#8221; Maduro responded by threatening to deploy 4.5 million of his own militiamen. 
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump &#8220;is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.&#8221; The U.S. currently has a $50 million bounty on Maduro. 
The military action has a historical precedent. In 1989, former President George H.W. Bush sent 20,000 troops into Panama to arrest dictator Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges. That invasion was justified by a legal memo asserting the president&#8217;s authority to arrest fugitives in other countries. 
<h2>White House Touts Wins on Peace, Crime, and Economy</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-962613" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_17_05.Still004-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_17_05.Still004-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_17_05.Still004-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_17_05.Still004-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_17_05.Still004-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_17_05.Still004.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The Trump administration is touting a series of major victories on foreign and domestic policy, including significant progress toward a peace deal in Ukraine, a dramatic drop in D.C. crime, and a record-high stock market. 
Following his summit with Vladimir Putin, President Trump is pushing for a trilateral meeting with the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to finalize a peace deal immediately. European leaders, who had previously been critical of Trump, are now expressing optimism about his approach after he secured a major concession from Putin on a U.S.-backed security guarantee for Ukraine. 
At home, the federal takeover of the D.C. police is yielding dramatic results. The D.C. Police Union reports that in the last seven days, carjackings are down 83%, robberies are down 46%, and violent crime is down 22%. Attorney General Pam Bondi says nearly 500 arrests have been made since the crackdown began. 
The economic news is also positive. The DOW Jones Industrial Average touched an all-time high on Tuesday, defying predictions of a bear market. A new poll of economists shows that a majority now expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September, a move Trump has long advocated for that would likely boost the housing market.

MRN 8.20.25 Thumbnail V1

Morning Brief: Trump Vows To End ‘Corrupt’ Mail-In Voting, Moves Ships To Venezuela To Fight Cartels

Donald Trump

Economy

Elections

Mail-In Voting

Politics

U.S. Navy

Ukraine-Russia War

Venezuela

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects a big jump in revenues from sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, and said the money would be used first to start paying down the federal debt, not to give rebate checks to Americans.
Bessent, speaking in an interview on CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box,&#8221; said he expected to substantially revise upward his earlier estimate of $300 billion in revenues from the tariffs, but declined to be more specific.
Bessent said he had not spoken with Trump about the idea of using funds from the tariffs to create a dividend for Americans, but stressed that both of them were &#8220;laser-focused&#8221; on paying down the debt.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been saying that tariff revenue could be $300 billion this year. I&#8217;m going to have to revise that up substantially,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to bring down the deficit to GDP. We&#8217;ll start paying down the debt, and then at that point that can be used as an offset to the American people.&#8221;
The U.S. economy could return to the &#8220;good, low-inflationary growth&#8221; of the 1990s, Bessent said, but he blamed higher interest rates for problems plaguing some pockets of the economy, singling out housing and lower-income households with high credit card debt.
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A cut in the Federal Reserve&#8217;s key interest rate &#8211; which Trump has continually pressed for &#8211; could help facilitate a boom or pickup in home building, which would help keep prices down in one to two years, he said.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday reported a small increase in groundbreaking for single-family homes and permits for future construction in July, even as high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty continued to hamper home purchases.
Trump&#8217;s wide-ranging import tariffs have kept the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates this year, with most central bank policymakers wary of easing borrowing costs until they have more confidence the levies will not rekindle inflation, which has yet to return to the Fed&#8217;s 2% target.
Recent indications of softening in the job market, however, have largely convinced investors that the Fed will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point when it meets in mid-September. That expectation has helped bring down mortgage rates in recent weeks.
Bessent has previously said a 50-basis-point cut in rates was warranted.
(Reporting by Andrea ShalalEditing by Mark Potter and Leslie Adler)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Bessent Says U.S. Tariff Revenues To Rise ‘Substantially,’ Focus On Reducing Debt

National Debt

Scott Bessent

Tariffs

Trump Administration

U.S.

Beyond Meat, the plant-based food company that makes vegan burgers that look like the real thing, is denying rumors it is planning to file for bankruptcy soon amid plummeting sales.
The company, which pioneered and popularized hyper-realistic plant-based &#8220;meat&#8221; products that resemble burgers, chicken tenders, and more has been struggling financially, and recent media reports <a href="https://vinnews.com/2025/08/14/beyond-meat-heads-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy/">suggested</a> it is headed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“We have not filed, nor are we planning to file, for bankruptcy,” a Beyond Meat spokesperson <a href="https://plantbasednews.org/news/economics/beyond-meat-denies-filing-for-bankruptcy/">said</a> in a statement to Plant Based News, calling the rumors &#8220;unequivocally false.&#8221;
However, the numbers do not look good.
Beyond Meat&#8217;s revenue <a href="https://investors.beyondmeat.com/news-releases/news-release-details/beyond-meatr-reports-second-quarter-2025-financial-results-0">fell</a> 19% year-over-year to $75 million in the second quarter this year. It has seen a total net loss of $29.2 million and an operating loss of $34.9 million this year.
The company&#8217;s CEO Ethan Brown <a href="https://investors.beyondmeat.com/news-releases/news-release-details/beyond-meatr-reports-second-quarter-2025-financial-results-0">said</a> they were &#8220;disappointed&#8221; with the low numbers and blamed &#8220;ongoing softness in the plant-based meat category.&#8221;
In the wake of its money problems, the company has slashed its workforce and says it plans to eliminate about 6% of its workers in hopes of becoming profitable by 2026. It also suspended operations in China.
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Beyond Meat is also doing a major rebrand — it will reportedly <a href="https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/beyond-to-drop-meat-major-rebrand/">drop</a> &#8220;Meat&#8221; from its name and be known as simply Beyond to distance itself from meat and emphasize its plant protein ingredients.
Some of Beyond Meat&#8217;s vegan burgers are concocted in a way that makes them sizzle, sear, and even bleed like real burgers.
However, after years of promises that vegan &#8220;meat&#8221; was here to stay, plant-based meat companies are still grappling with the fact that Americans overwhelmingly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919220301354?utm_source=chatgpt.com">prefer</a> real meat, which is also usually cheaper.
Also, in the years since Beyond Meat&#8217;s launch, grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe&#8217;s, as well as other food companies, have launched their own versions of vegan &#8220;meat&#8221; products, eating into Beyond Meat&#8217;s market.
The company&#8217;s share price has plummeted 97% over the past five years despite much hoopla when the company went public in 2019. At its peak, Beyond Meat was trading at a whopping $10 billion. Now its market capitalization is around $200 million.
Other vegan meat companies like Impossible Foods, known for its &#8220;Impossible Burger,&#8221; are <a href="https://qz.com/fake-meat-plant-protein-industry-impossible-foods-beyond">also</a> struggling — the company has had multiple rounds of layoffs despite originally attracting billions in funding from investors like Bill Gates and Google Ventures.
The CEO of Impossible Foods even suggested his company might start blending real beef into its burgers in a bid to attract people who eat both real meat and plant-based meat.

Beyond Meat Earnings Beat Expectations

Plant-Based Beyond Meat Denies It’s Filing For Bankruptcy Amid Falling Sales

Plant-Based Beyond Meat Denies It's Filing For Bankruptcy Amid Falling Sales

Business

Veganism

Vegetarian

Multiple antiseptics, cleansers, and hand soaps have been voluntarily recalled over bacteria that could cause &#8220;life-threatening sepsis.&#8221;
DermaRite Industries is recalling DermaKleen antiseptic lotion with Vitamin E in 1,000- and 800- milliliter sizes, KleenFoam antimicrobial foam soap in 1,000-milliliter sizes, DermaSerra external analgesic in 7.5-ounce sizes, and PeriGiene antiseptic cleanser in 7.5-ounce sizes.
The products have expiration dates ranging from July 2025 to February 2027, the company <a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/dermarite-industries-issues-voluntary-nationwide-recall-dermakleen-dermasarra-kleenfoam-and">said</a> in a press release. They were distributed in the United States and in Puerto Rico.
The company recalled the products, which were intended to &#8220;decrease bacteria,&#8221; because of a bacterial &#8220;contamination identified as Burkholderia cepacia.&#8221;
&#8220;The contaminated products may be used by immunosuppressed individuals or by people attending to immunosuppressed individuals,&#8221; the press realease said. &#8220;In healthy individuals with minor skin lesions the use of the product will more likely result in local infections, whereas in immunocompromised individuals the infection is more likely to spread into blood stream leading to life-threatening sepsis.&#8221;
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The company told distributors and customers &#8220;to immediately examine available inventory and destroy all affected products.&#8221;
DermaRite said it &#8220;has not received any reports of adverse events.&#8221;
Burkholderia cepacia complex, also called B. cepacia or Bcc, is a bacteria group often found in soil and water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is dangerous for people with compromised immune systems or chronic lung diseases, especially cystic fibrosis. It poses little risk to healthy individuals.
The CDC said B. cepacia can cause serious respiratory infections, as well as fever and fatigue. Individuals may also experience no symptoms. The bacteria&#8217;s resistance to antibiotics can make it difficult to treat.

Wash your hands

Hand Soaps, Antiseptics Recalled Over Bacteria That Could Cause ‘Life-Threatening Sepsis’

Disease

Health

Inflation remains low despite media warnings about tariffs, as the U.S. extends its trade truce with China. The fallout from President Trump&#8217;s federal takeover of the D.C. police intensifies, with the city&#8217;s mayor and the media clashing over the reality of the crime crisis. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu lays out his post-war plan for Gaza and pushes back on a &#8220;global campaign of lies&#8221; as international pressure mounts.
It’s Wednesday, August 13, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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<h2>Trump Economy Holds Strong as Inflation Defies Predictions</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-960189" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: New data show U.S. inflation held steady at a lower-than-expected rate in July, defying dire predictions that President Trump’s tariffs would cause prices to skyrocket. 
Despite warnings from many experts and media outlets, inflation held steady at 2.7% in July, below the 2.8% predicted by economists. The new numbers show that prices for key goods are falling, with gasoline down 10% and eggs down 20%, while real wages are up 1.3% compared to last year. While outlets like The New York Times have tried to frame the numbers negatively, even CNN was forced to acknowledge falling energy and grocery prices. 
The good news comes as the U.S. and China agreed to extend their &#8220;trade truce&#8221; for another 90 days, holding tariffs at a reduced rate while negotiations continue. The administration’s massive trade deals with the European Union, U.K., South Korea, and Japan are already paying dividends. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the new tariffs have already brought in over $100 billion and are projected to reach $300 billion by the end of the year. 
<h2>Fallout Intensifies Over Trump’s D.C. Takeover</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-960187" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The fallout from President Trump’s decision to federalize the Washington, D.C., police force has intensified, sparking a furious debate between city leaders and the media over the reality of the capital&#8217;s crime crisis. 
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has admitted she has no legal recourse to stop the federal intervention, but claims the crime wave is a fiction, stating that the city is at a &#8220;30-year violent crime low.&#8221; She is using the federal takeover to renew her calls for D.C. statehood. That narrative has been echoed by some in the media, with a New York Times reporter referring to a &#8220;nonexistent crime crisis.&#8221; 
However, journalists on the ground in D.C. tell a different story. An ABC News anchor detailed multiple recent shootings near her downtown office, while a CNN contributor said he witnessed a murder in Union Station just a few months ago. 
The D.C. police union is backing the president&#8217;s move, saying crime is &#8220;out of control.&#8221; The union&#8217;s president blamed a 2020 law that &#8220;handcuffed police officers&#8221; for creating a shortage of over 800 officers and making it impossible to properly police the city. 
<h2>Netanyahu Outlines Gaza Plan, Pushes Back on ‘Lies’</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-960185" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid out a five-point vision for a post-war Gaza and is pushing back against what he calls a &#8220;global campaign of lies&#8221; regarding the humanitarian situation in the territory. 
During a press conference, Netanyahu said Israel&#8217;s goal is to &#8220;free Gaza from Hamas terrorists,&#8221; not to occupy it. His five-point plan includes the defeat of Hamas and the release of all hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza, an established security zone on the border, and a new civilian administration that can live in peace with Israel. 
Netanyahu also pushed back on claims that Israel is causing a humanitarian crisis, stating that his country has allowed nearly two million tons of aid into Gaza. &#8220;Our policy throughout the war has been to prevent a humanitarian crisis, while Hamas’ policy has been to create it,&#8221; he said, noting that Hamas loots nearly 90% of aid trucks. A recent Daily Wire exclusive report from Kassy Akiva supported this, debunking a viral story about a Gazan boy who was allegedly killed by Israeli forces at an aid site. 
The comments come as international pressure on Israel mounts. Several European nations, including France, the U.K., and Canada, have recently moved to recognize a Palestinian state. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the move, saying that by rewarding the Palestinians while Hamas still holds hostages, these countries have &#8220;emboldened&#8221; the terror group and made a ceasefire harder to achieve.

MRN 8.13.25 Wed SH1

Morning Brief: Low Inflation, Tariff Truce w/China, D.C. Takeover Fallout, Plans For Post-War Gaza

Gaza

Hamas

Inflation

Israel

Law Enforcement

Muriel Bowser

Washington D.C.

World

To no one&#8217;s surprise, besides the &#8220;experts&#8221; who get paid for their predictions, the consumer price index increased just 0.2% month-over-month in July and remained at a steady year-over-year rate of 2.7%.
The consumer price index (CPI), which is a widely viewed measure of inflation, once again showed a lower year-over-year increase than what economists predicted as more of President Donald Trump&#8217;s tariffs go into effect, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/12/cpi-inflation-report-july-2025.html">reported</a>. The economic report published Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics marked the second-straight month showing an annual inflation rate of 2.7%.
With another solid inflation report under his belt, Trump is again putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates at its next meeting, which is scheduled for September 16-17. In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115016089386029482">post</a> on Tuesday morning, Trump said that &#8220;Jerome &#8216;Too Late&#8217; Powell must NOW lower the rate.&#8221;
&#8220;The damage he has done by always being Too Late is incalculable. Fortunately, the economy is sooo good that we’ve blown through Powell and the complacent Board,&#8221; Trump added.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.3% for the month and 3.1% for the year. The monthly increase was in line with expectations, while the annual core CPI rise was slightly above what economists predicted, according to CNBC. Most of the CPI increase was driven by a rise in shelter prices, the BLS reported. Energy prices, meanwhile, dropped 1.1% and food prices remained steady. Prices for used cars and trucks jumped 0.5% while transportation and medical care services also saw a rise of 0.8%.
The CPI report showed that Trump&#8217;s tariffs have had little to no effect on prices. Household furnishings and supplies showed a slight increase of 0.7%, but other products that are largely imported, including clothing and canned fruits and vegetables, remained mostly flat.
Former White House economist Jared Bernstein, who worked under former President Joe Biden, even admitted that tariffs are not having a major effect on inflation &#8220;at this point.&#8221;
“The tariffs are in the numbers, but they’re certainly not jumping out hair on fire at this point,” Bernstein told CNBC.
CNN was also <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1955257297514451012">surprised</a> by the low inflation numbers reported on Tuesday.
&#8220;Look at that food. This is where people spend their money, right? &#8230; Food [is] flat, 0%, and actually down at the grocery store by 0.1%.&#8221;
Stocks <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/stock-market-today-live-updates-.html">rose</a> Tuesday morning following the lighter-than-expected inflation report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&amp;P 500 jumping 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.8% on the good economic news.
Trump&#8217;s tariffs on over 90 countries finally went into effect last week after he extended the deadline and struck numerous trade deals. Some of the president&#8217;s highest tariff rates include 50% tariffs on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-doubles-tariff-on-india-for-fueling-russian-war-machine">India</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/extraordinary-threat-trump-unleashes-on-brazil-with-massive-tariff-sanctions-on-extremist-judge">Brazil</a>, while other tariff <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/further-modifying-the-reciprocal-tariff-rates/">rates</a> range from 15% to 40%. On Monday, the president <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-china-tariffs-deadline-extended.html">extended</a> the tariff deadline for China for an additional 90 days as his trade officials seek to work out a deal with the communist country.

‘Experts’ Wrong Again: Inflation Remains Steady, Comes In Below Expectations

According to newly released Census Bureau data, all income groups in America advanced more during President Donald Trump’s first term than they did during the Biden administration.
Stephen Moore, a senior visiting fellow in economics at The Heritage Foundation, presented the unpublished data for the first time in an Oval Office presentation with Trump on Thursday. The data divided Americans into three groups: lower income (bottom 25% of earners), middle income (middle 50%), and upper income (top 25%).
“What I find fascinating about this, Mr. President, is every income group did better,” said Moore, displaying a chart showing the percentage gain that accrued on average in each income bracket.
Under President Joe Biden, the lower class, after adjusting for inflation, lost income over the course of four years. The middle-income earners stayed about the same. But the upper income earners did noticeably better, according to Moore.
“The rich were the only group that did better under Biden, which is ironic because Biden keeps saying he was trying to get rid of income inequality. He made income inequality worse, not better,” Moore said. “It was President Trump that reduced income inequality.”
The economist tallied the numbers in dollars, as well, showing that the lower income gained about $4,000 in annual revenue over Trump’s first term. The middle income gained about $6,400 in annual earnings, and the wealthiest earned $10,000 more a year from the start of Trump’s first term to its end.
The data takes into account the COVID pandemic, which hit at the end of Trump’s first term and caused a general dip in income.
In addition to data on income growth, Moore also showed graphs on Bureau of Labor Statistics data and median household income during Trump’s first months of his second term. In the first five months of Trump’s second term, the average household’s income has increased by an inflation-adjusted $1,174, Moore said.
Trump last week fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after the bureau, responsible for collecting and releasing jobs data on the U.S. economy every month, issued a significant downward correction this month on data for May and June.
“Revisions for May and June were larger than normal,” the agency <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fewer-jobs-than-expected-added-in-july-as-unemployment-holds-steady">said</a> in a report issued August 1. “The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised down by 125,000, from +144,000 to +19,000, and the change for June was revised  down by 133,000, from +147,000 to +14,000.”
Moore supported Trump’s decision to fire the agency head, citing similar significant corrections that were made to jobs data under Biden, which Moore said showed “incompetence.” Trump, however, told Moore he believed the figures had been deliberately manipulated.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/StephenMoore?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StephenMoore</a> presents new economic data in the Oval Office with <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>:
&#8220;Mr. President, you gained ten times more income for the average family than Joe Biden.&#8221;
&#8220;Every income group did better under Trump than Biden — by a wide margin.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/VIGjGf14YO">pic.twitter.com/VIGjGf14YO</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1953554707668254767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2025</a></blockquote>

Stephen Moore, Donald Trump

Trump Economy Beat Biden’s For All Americans, Economist Says

Trump Economy Beat Biden’s for All Americans, Economist Says

Economics

Executive

Heritage Foundation

Joe Biden

After he graduated from Vanderbilt, a man named Nathan Halberstadt began working at the Boston Consulting Group. This is a familiar path for students who attend schools that are highly ranked. Often they&#8217;re hired by one of the &#8220;Big Three&#8221; consulting companies, which on paper, means that they&#8217;ll provide useful advice for large businesses and the government.
Very quickly, though, Nathan realized what the job actually entailed. In his words, working for a big consulting group meant that you had to promote, &#8220;the bureaucratic optimization of opioid sales, mass migration, off-shoring, and DEI.&#8221; You had to churn out bogus <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLMG7C6oF4">statistics</a> to advance anti-American agenda items — like that fake McKinsey study a few years back, which claimed that &#8220;diversity&#8221; somehow makes companies more profitable. That&#8217;s what &#8220;consulting&#8221; actually means, in practice.
New graduates from Vanderbilt aren&#8217;t really walking into companies like Boeing and Apple and blowing their minds with their unique insights. Instead, in many cases, they&#8217;re simply giving executives a pretext to do exactly what they wanted to do all along.
Seeing all this, Nathan decided to quit. Instead of manipulating data to promote the destruction of the United States, he decided to spend his time identifying statistics that actually matter. He would look through government data and try to find important connections that no one else has made before. And the other day, as you may have seen, Nathan accomplished that goal. He published this remarkable chart, which has already been cited by several members of Congress and seen by millions of people. Here it is:
<div id="attachment_958477" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958477" class="wp-image-958477 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-05-32-PM-8972-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Nathan Halberstadt" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-05-32-PM-8972-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-05-32-PM-8972-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-05-32-PM-8972-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-05-32-PM-8972-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-05-32-PM-8972-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Nathan Halberstadt</div>
It&#8217;s a graph that shows the estimated percentage of 30-year-olds who are both married and own a home. The data runs from 1950 all the way through 2025. In the 1950s, the number was more than 50%. In other words, in 1950, well over half of the 30-year-olds in this country were both married and living in a home that they owned.
But as you can see, the percentage has been steadily dropping since then, until it fell off a cliff in the 1990s. And now, in 2025, the percentage is well below 20%. In fact, according to this estimate, only around 15% of 30-year-olds are married and own a home. Something that was once commonplace in this country is now rare. 50% to 15%.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1637-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
Right off the bat, it&#8217;s impossible to look at an estimate like this without immediately asking: Why haven&#8217;t we heard these numbers before? For all of the very granular information we have about gross domestic product and unemployment numbers and per capita manufacturing output, it took a random Vanderbilt graduate to produce this particular chart. To be sure, we all knew that these numbers were bad. It was very evident that fewer young people were getting married or owning homes. But the scale, and the timing of the decline, weren&#8217;t remotely clear. Frankly, this is a lot worse than anyone realized, which is why the chart has attracted so much attention.
But the numbers were always available to anyone who wanted to look for them. All you have to do is look up the marriage data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which tabulates the &#8220;median age of first marriage&#8221; — along with Pew surveys on the percentage of people who are married at 30 — and then factor in home ownership data from the Census. It&#8217;s not a perfect calculation; some estimation is involved. We recently covered the problems with Census data and how unreliable it can be. But the overall story is pretty clear, and it&#8217;s corroborated by other sources.
In Ohio, for example, researchers at Bowling Green State University have <a href="https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/FP-25-10.html">compiled</a> similar estimates.
Amazingly, though, very few of our political leaders are talking about this. It&#8217;s not a topic of mainstream conversation at all. Making sure that Americans are getting married and acquiring homes by the age of 30 should be the urgent priority of every politician in the country. It&#8217;s hard to think of many other things that could possibly be more important. But it&#8217;s not getting anywhere near the attention it should.
To the extent that some action is being taken in Washington, it raises some unanswered questions. For example, this week a very unusual alliance <a href="https://www.wsaz.com/2025/08/02/sen-kennedy-warrens-new-bill-aims-build-more-affordable-housing/">formed</a> in Washington between Elizabeth Warren — the socialist from Massachusetts — and John Kennedy, the Republican from Louisiana. The two senators have introduced legislation called the &#8220;Build Now Act,&#8221; which would withhold taxpayer funds from states that don&#8217;t build enough housing, while sending taxpayer money to states that build more housing. Unlike most proposed legislation that you hear about, this particular bill actually has a good chance of passing, because it was just unanimously approved by a Senate committee. Here&#8217;s Kennedy&#8217;s explanation of the plan:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It is stunning that the median age of a first-time home buyer in America today is 38.
We’ve got a problem.
By incentivizing cities to slash red tape and start building homes again, my Build Now Act would help open the door to homeownership. <a href="https://t.co/LfCV7k3Y1T">pic.twitter.com/LfCV7k3Y1T</a>
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy/status/1950234826381918263?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @SenJohnKennedy/X
As a general rule, whenever Democrats and Republicans — and in this case, a conservative like John Kennedy and a socialist like Elizabeth Warren — team up to promote legislation, it&#8217;s usually a good idea to be skeptical. The only ideas that have bipartisan support in Washington are bad ones, generally speaking. And as we all know, socialists are well-known for making housing even less affordable, by introducing high-minded plans to manipulate markets (as New York City is about to discover the hard way).
That said, more housing is obviously a good idea. Increasing the supply of housing usually means that prices will go down. That&#8217;s basic economics. And although it&#8217;s reasonable to be concerned about the federal government throwing taxpayer money around, this is one of those rare times where it makes sense. Certainly, the federal government helped many homeowners in the 1950s, with the GI bill and so on.
At the same time, it&#8217;s reasonable to ask whether this kind of legislation will simply provide incentives for the creation of, say, more dilapidated housing for the homeless to use as drug dens, or more rental units for neighborhoods that are already flooded with them. This is a problem that&#8217;s becoming increasingly apparent, as you may have noticed. Large institutions are buying up homes in suburbs and renting them, instead of putting them up for sale. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Priced out: More Americans renting rather than buying" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5lW0ruPVNbg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Credit: NBC News/YouTube.com
Constructing new housing doesn&#8217;t necessarily address this particular problem, if the houses are being purchased by institutions and rented out as apartments. A lot depends on why the homes are being constructed, and where they&#8217;re located. Kennedy&#8217;s bill does have provisions that provide incentives for new construction in high-demand areas, but again, you still might wind up with apartment complexes where you actually want single-family homes.
That&#8217;s not to disparage this particular bill, or to declare that it can&#8217;t possibly help matters. But it&#8217;s safe to say that this legislation won&#8217;t come close to solving the underlying problem, which again, is that young people aren&#8217;t getting married and can&#8217;t afford homes. Those are problems with a lot of different causes — probably too many to list. Compared to the 1950s, we have tens of millions more illegal aliens living inside our borders. We&#8217;ve devalued the dollar to an almost unprecedented degree. We&#8217;ve opened up our job market to the entire world, driving down employment. And on and on. There are also many cultural factors that have — in many cases deliberately, by design — make marriage and family life seem less appealing to younger generations.
But there is one aspect of this new data that&#8217;s worth homing in on, because it does suggest one practical way forward. In the 1950s, roughly 90% of 30-year-olds were married, and more than 50% were homeowners. By contrast, right now, only around 50% of 30-year-olds are married, and roughly 30% are home-owners. So both numbers dropped by huge margins. But the marriage decline has been drastically more significant than the drop in home ownership. More than any other time in this country&#8217;s history, men and women are choosing not to get married. And there&#8217;s reason to believe that this broader cultural trend is what&#8217;s convincing a lot of young adults to forgo home ownership, as well.
After all, if you&#8217;re single, the prospect of paying most of your savings to a bank in the form of a down payment for a house isn&#8217;t exactly appealing. You don&#8217;t need all of that space for yourself and your dog. Before I was married, I never even considered trying to buy a home. As soon as I got married, I felt a sudden and very strong pull to buy a home and have a piece of land that we could call our own. Within about three years of getting married, we bought our first home. But for single people the financial sacrifice seems irrational and unnecessary, so if they have any extra money to throw around, they’re more likely to put it into Bitcoin or something else instead. On the other hand, if you&#8217;re intent on starting a family, then the cost of a mortgage makes a lot more sense. People can make it work, in many cases. I&#8217;ve said before that home ownership is attainable for almost anyone with a full-time job and decent credit. It&#8217;s often a matter of priorities. And as we look at the plummeting numbers of homeowners who are young and married, it&#8217;s a fact that needs to be restated. In this case, as in many other cases, decline is actually a choice.
And make no mistake — this is decline. Millions of young adults (who aren&#8217;t even that young at 30) have no skin in the game, no real stake in the country or its future. Getting married, starting a family, and owning property are the basic fundamental pillars of the American dream. They&#8217;re the starting point for a fulfilling and productive life, and a well-ordered society. As this new data reveals, most young people were able to achieve those milestones in the 1950s. But they&#8217;re not achieving them anymore. And those numbers are only getting worse by the year. Things are trending in the wrong direction, and quickly. If we want the kind of country we had in the 1950s — which is to say a country that has the potential to survive for another century — then one way or another, that needs to change.

Suburban homes photo

This One Shocking Stat Proves That The American Dream Is Dying

Gen Z

Housing

Marriage

Matt Walsh

Mortgages

Opinion

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he will not compromise the interests of the country&#8217;s farmers even if he has to pay a heavy price, in his first comments after U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s salvo of a 50% tariff on Indian goods.
&#8220;For us, our farmers&#8217; welfare is supreme,&#8221; Modi said at an event in New Delhi. &#8220;India will never compromise on the wellbeing of its farmers, dairy (sector) and fishermen. And I know personally I will have to pay a heavy price for it,&#8221; he said.
Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday, raising the total duty to 50% — among the highest imposed on any U.S. trading partner. The new tariff, effective August 28, is meant to penalize India for continuing to buy Russian oil, Trump has said.
While Modi did not explicitly mention the U.S. or the collapsed trade talks, his comments marked a clear defense of India’s position.
Trade talks between India and the United States broke down after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India&#8217;s vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases.
India’s foreign ministry has called the U.S. decision “extremely unfortunate” and said it would “take all necessary steps to protect its national interests.”
The U.S. has yet to impose similar tariffs for China, the biggest buyer of Russian oil. Experts say China&#8217;s dominance in rare earth minerals — critical to high-tech industries — gives it leverage that India currently lacks.
&#8220;The U.S. tariff hike lacks logic,&#8221; Dammu Ravi, secretary of economic relations in India&#8217;s foreign ministry, told reporters.
&#8220;This is a temporary aberration, a temporary problem that the country will face, but in course of time, we are confident that the world will find solutions.&#8221;
India is already signalling it may seek to rebalance its global partnerships. Modi is preparing for his first visit to China in over seven years, suggesting a potential diplomatic realignment amid growing tensions with Washington.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he would initiate a conversation among the BRICS group of developing nations about how to tackle Trump&#8217;s tariffs.
He said he planned to call Modi and China&#8217;s Xi Jinping. The BRICS group also includes Russia and South Africa.
India&#8217;s Ravi added that &#8220;like-minded countries will look for cooperation and economic engagement that will be mutually beneficial to all sides.&#8221;
MODI FACES MOUNTING DOMESTIC PRESSURE
Both supporters of Modi and the opposition Congress party have called on him to respond firmly to the U.S. tariffs, urging action &#8220;with self-respect and dignity.&#8221;
&#8220;India&#8217;s national interest is supreme. Any nation that arbitrarily penalizes India for its time-tested policy of strategic autonomy, rooted in the ideology of non-alignment, does not understand the steel frame India is made of,&#8221; Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Indian industry, already struggling with global headwinds, has expressed alarm.
Sudhir Sekhri, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, said: &#8220;There is no way the industry can absorb such a steep hike&#8221;. He demanded fiscal support from the government.
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani&#8217;s Reliance Industries in its annual report said continuing geopolitical and tariff-related uncertainties may affect trade flows and demand-supply balance.
India&#8217;s equity market, which has been weakening due to tariff risks and muted earnings growth slipped another 0.5% on Thursday to three-month lows. The reaction was muted as investors bet on the tariffs being negotiated down.
(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Manoj Kumar Sarita Chaganti Singh, Nikunj Ohri in New Delhi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

FILE PHOTO: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a joint press statement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in New Delhi

Modi Says He Won’t Back Down After Trump Slaps 50% Tariff On Indian Goods

India

WASHINGTON — Apple is expected to invest another $100 billion in the United States, a White House official shared with The Daily Wire.
President Donald Trump will make the announcement at 4:30 pm on Wednesday in the Oval Office, the official said, sharing that Apple will boost the company&#8217;s U.S. commitment to a total of $600 billion over the next four years.
“President Trump’s America First economic agenda has secured trillions of dollars in investments that support American jobs and bolster American businesses,&#8221; White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Today’s announcement with Apple is another win for our manufacturing industry that will simultaneously help reshore the production of critical components to protect America’s economic and national security.”
<div id="attachment_957493" style="width: 872px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-scores-another-win-apple-to-pump-100-billion-more-into-u-s-economy/the-inauguration-of-donald-j-trump-as-the-47th-president-34" rel="attachment wp-att-957493"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957493" class="wp-image-957493 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2194398447-862x576.jpg" alt="" width="862" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2194398447-862x576.jpg 862w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2194398447-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2194398447-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2194398447.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 862px) 100vw, 862px" /></a>Apple CEO Tim Cook smiles attends the inauguration of Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson &#8211; Pool/Getty Images)</div>
The Wednesday announcement will include a new American Manufacturing Program (AMP), which will be focused on bringing even more of Apple&#8217;s supply chain and its advanced manufacturing to the United States. The company will use AMP to increase investments across the country and incentivize companies across the globe to manufacture critical components in the U.S., the White House official shared.
Apple supports more than 450,000 jobs and thousands of suppliers and partners in the United States.
Apple <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/apple-plans-texas-factory-ai-servers-20000-research-jobs-2025-02-24/">initially announced in February</a> that it would spend $500 billion in U.S. investments during the president&#8217;s time in office, including a massive factory in Texas and around 20,000 jobs focused on research and development. The $500 billion sum includes purchases from U.S. suppliers and the production of U.S. television shows and movies for Apple TV+, among other content.
<div class="text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body__paragraph__2-BtD" data-testid="paragraph-1">Apple shares <a href="https://www.cnn.com/markets/stocks/AAPL">were up 3.95% Wednesday morning</a>, on track for their most significant single-day gain since May, CNN reports.</div>

President Trump Travels To Bedminster For The Weekend

Trump Scores Another Win: Apple To Pump $100 Billion More Into U.S. Economy

Apple

White House

As President Donald Trump considers his options for replacing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May, he said on Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doesn&#8217;t want the job. Trump added that the field of candidates to replace Powell has narrowed to four candidates.
The president discussed the upcoming Fed Chair job opening during a nearly 40-minute phone interview with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/05/trump-says-treasury-secretary-bessent-does-not-want-to-be-fed-chair-but-4-others-in-running.html">CNBC</a>. Trump did not explicitly reveal who made his list of final candidates for the position, but gave a couple of hints at who he could be considering after Bessent, who was considered one of the top candidates, told Trump that he wanted to remain as Treasury Secretary.
“I love Scott [Bessent], but he wants to stay where he is,” Trump told the hosts of &#8220;Squawk Box.&#8221; “I asked him just last night, ‘Is this something you want?’ [Bessent said], &#8216;Nope, I want to stay where I am. He actually said, ‘I want to work with you.’ It’s such an honor. I said, ‘That’s very nice. I appreciate that.’”
Trump said that both former Federal Reserve Board Governor Kevin Warsh and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett &#8220;are very good,&#8221; adding, &#8220;there are other people that are very good too.&#8221; Both Warsh and Hassett have recently criticized the Fed&#8217;s refusal to lower interest rates. Warsh, who served as Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, was interviewed for the Fed Chair position in 2017 before Trump nominated Powell, Yahoo Finance <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-rules-out-bessent-as-next-fed-chair-says-may-name-powell-replacement-soon-132550942.html">reported</a>. Hassett&#8217;s ties to Trump include his current position as one of the president&#8217;s top economic advisers, as well as serving as an adviser in the first Trump administration.
The announcement of who will replace Powell could be coming &#8220;soon,&#8221; Trump said. He also commented on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-appointed-fed-governor-resigns-as-trump-calls-for-interest-rate-cuts">resignation</a> of Biden-appointed Federal Reserve Board Governor Adriana Kugler last Friday, calling it a &#8220;pleasant surprise.&#8221;
Trump added that he will nominate a replacement for Kugler in the coming days. Asked if his pick to replace Kugler could also be his nominee for the Fed Chair, Trump said it was possible. Kugler will officially step down from her role on Friday.
While Trump didn&#8217;t name the other candidates in the running, multiple names have been floated in the media, including Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, who both dissented against the Fed&#8217;s decision last week to keep interest rates steady.
Waller and Bowman, who were both nominated by Trump to serve on the board, have been pushing for lower interest rates as Trump ramps up pressure on Powell. In their dissent, Waller and Bowman said that the central bank&#8217;s decision to keep interest rates between 4.25% and 4.50% <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-delay-on-rate-cuts-threatens-u-s-economy-say-two-dissenting-governors-eyeing-top-job">threatens</a> the economy.

Trump Narrows Fed Chair Shortlist To Four After Leading Contender Opts Out

Federal Reserve

Interest Rates

Jerome Powell

President Donald Trump said Monday that the lackluster July job report was “rigged” and vowed to appoint a new statistician to oversee the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
Trump’s criticism of the monthly jobs report came after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fewer-jobs-than-expected-added-in-july-as-unemployment-holds-steady?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Fewer+Jobs+Than+Expected+Added+In+July+As+Unemployment+Holds+Steady">it found</a> that just 73,000 jobs were added to the economy in July, and that previous reports had significantly overcounted job growth. In response, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-fires-biden-appointed-labor-statistics-boss-after-major-revisions-to-jobs-reports">fired</a> Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday, saying that she had manipulated the numbers for political purposes. 
“Last weeks Job’s Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions, in favor of the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114970631477859993">posted</a> on Truth Social on Monday morning. “Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Trump told reporters on Sunday that he would name a replacement for McEntarfer sometime in the next three to four days. 
“We had no confidence. The numbers were ridiculous,” he said. 
In addition to July job growth coming in lower than what had been projected by economists, the reports from May and June were revised down by 258,000 jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics described these revisions as “larger than normal.”
On Sunday, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-econ-director-cites-revisions-as-hard-evidence-to-fire-labor-statistics-chief?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Econ+Director+Cites+‘Revisions’+As+‘Hard+Evidence’+To+Fire+Labor+Statistics+Chief">pointed</a> to the massive revisions made to the jobs report within the last year as justification for the firing. He specifically referred to the 818,000 downward jobs revision that came in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/us-added-818000-fewer-jobs-thought-adding-concerns-economy-rcna167555">August</a> 2024, covering the time from March 2023 to March 2024.
“Well, I mean, the revisions are hard evidence,” Hassett replied. “For example, there was an 818,000 revision making the Joe Biden job record a lot worse that came out after he withdrew from the presidential campaign. There have been a bunch of patterns that could make people wonder. And I think the most important thing for people to know is that it’s the president’s highest priority that the data be trusted and that people get to the bottom of why these revisions are so unreliable.”

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