President Donald Trump distanced himself from voters' ire with Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, telling Punchbowl News in an interview released Friday he thinks voters are angry with the party more generally, but not him.
"The question is will they vote? 'Cause a lot of them are very angry at Republicans to be honest with you," he said, noting that he's not on the ballot and adding, "They're not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans."
Republicans are trailing Democrats on the generic congressional ballot by 8 points among registered voters, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS out late last month, indicating the electorate is agitating for wholesale changes in Congress.
Democrats also continue to hold a significant advantage in voter enthusiasm and have a 20-point advantage in preferences among those who say they are extremely motivated to vote. And 63% of Americans say the GOP is focusing too little on cost-of-living issues, compared with 52% who say the Democrats aren't spending enough time on it.
The president defended himself from criticisms within his own party that he doesn't care about Congress and losing the majority, pointing to his endorsements and appearances on the trail while arguing that he doesn't have to campaign because he's not running.

#angry #ballot

President Donald Trump is appealing a federal judge's decision to continue investigating whether his lawsuit against the IRS was part of a greater scheme to mislead the court.
Trump filed his notice to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who ruled earlier this month that her court had the authority to continue probing a $10 billion lawsuit Trump, his family and businesses filed against the IRS for failing to safeguard his tax return information from leaks.
The parties announced a controversial out-of-court agreement in May in which the Justice Department — representing the IRS — would create a nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" to pay out purported victims of political retribution and the IRS would spare Trump and his businesses from ongoing audits.
In a blistering order July 13, Williams accused Trump of filing the lawsuit to "gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a 'settlement' that had no viable basis in law or fact." She also said exempting Trump from audits would violate a federal law that prohibits the White House from directing IRS investigations.
Williams also noted that the case itself defied legal procedure because Trump sued an administration he runs, essentially putting him in the position of both plaintiff and defendant.

#court #audits

The race to become America's next economic heavyweight may already have a frontrunner.
The latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) migration data show billions of dollars in taxpayer wealth flowing into Texas, while Census figures show the state's largest metropolitan areas continue to outpace much of the country in population growth, strengthening a decades-long shift in America's economic center of gravity.
What's more, Texas isn't relying on a single boomtown. Dallas-Fort Worth added more residents than any metropolitan area in the country over the past year, while Houston, Austin and San Antonio also ranked among the nation's fastest-growing metros.
That unusual breadth gives Texas multiple engines of economic growth, providing businesses with larger labor pools, diversified industries and a broader customer base than states anchored by a single dominant city.
Billions In Taxpayer Income Are Leaving Two Iconic States — As A New Economic Map Emerges

#taxpayer

The classic postcard images of the Chilean capital of Santiago surrounded by the snow-covered Andes in winter now seem like pictures from the past.
A yearslong drought that has plagued the country has led to a shortage of snow so severe that the main ski resorts in the metropolitan area have had to suspend the use of up to 90% of their slopes, according to the Chilean Ski Resorts **** ociation (ACESKI).
And with climate change thought to be at least partially to blame, authorities warn that in the long term the region may need to find other ways to entice tourists to spend their money.
This country in the southern hemisphere, where June through August are the winter months, has long been a favorite for tourists from the US who are looking for somewhere to ski during the North American summer. And that has proved profitable. In 2025 the region's ski resorts welcomed more than 1,240,000 skiers, with a direct economic impact of US$283 million, of which US$228 million came from foreign tourists, according to ACESKI.
But with a lack of snow, its reputation is at risk of melting away.

DETROIT (AP) — Jerry Esters proudly displays the American flag each day on his Detroit home. A few miles away, Yvonne Pistochini says there is no scenario under which she would allow the Stars and Stripes to cast its shadow where she lives.
Both are Black.
For Esters, the flag represents the opportunities that allowed the great-great-grandson of slaves to find success and flourish. Pistochini, 79, simply says the America identified by the flag is not the same country she saw growing up.
Americans' views of "Old Glory" are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The ***** ociated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation's 250th birthday celebration.
Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don't fly it. Views of the flag — and whether it's a unifying or divisive symbol — track with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country's history and accomplishments very differently.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian oil tanker made its way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday despite threats to shipping from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, using a new route close to Oman's shore that has been promoted by a U.N. maritime agency.
The transit of the Stoic Warrior and the threats come as tensions rise between Iran and the United States over the terms of their interim accord aimed at permanently ending the Iran war.
From getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the two nations are increasingly debating the terms of the deal signed last week.
Through the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a 60-day period to iron out these and other details. Until that happens — during private talks — leaders from both countries will also continue to negotiate in public, raising the risks of derailing the shaky ceasefire in the region.
On a trip to the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Thursday with Gulf Arab officials in Bahrain, the island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the Navy's 5th Fleet, trying to ****** uage their concerns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Showing off towering new flagpoles he had erected on the White House North and South Lawns last summer, President Donald Trump suggested that he wanted to make similar renovations in his first term but was worried about the negative press.
"You guys were after me," he told reporters. "I was the hunted. And now I'm the hunter."
The incident, recalled in "Regime Change," New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book on the first year of Trump's second term, encapsulates how different Trump's return to the White House in 2025 has been from his first term.
The book spells out a thesis that Trump himself believes: Had he not lost the 2020 election, he would not be as powerful in his second term as he is now — emboldening him to trample norms, dismantle established institutions and push the limits of presidential power.
Trump still falsely claims to have won in 2020. But a second term coming then might have been marred by pushback from members of his own administration, the coronavirus pandemic and the runaway inflation it caused, as well as an antagonistic Congress controlled by Democrats. He hasn't faced those issues this time.

A detransitioner who underwent a double mastectomy as a teenager is publicly confronting the surgeon who performed the procedure, accusing him in an open letter of removing her healthy ******* without adequately addressing the underlying causes of her distress.
Claire Abernathy's Thursday letter to plastic surgeon Dr. Alan Dulin details her regret over the surgery and describes the physical and emotional toll she continues to experience years later.
"You took advantage of a little girl's confusion and a family's trust to perform an unnecessary, disfiguring surgery on a child who was barely through ******* rty," Abernathy wrote. "You committed an act of violence that I have to wear on my skin for the rest of my life."
I Was A Child And Believed Gender Transition Would Heal My Pain. It Became A New Trauma
In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Abernathy wrote that she was put on testosterone at 14 years old and that eight months later, surgeons performed a double mastectomy on her.