Kate Andrews

The President needed One Big, Beautiful Vote in the Senate to move forward with his One Big, Beautiful Bill. It was a close call. This afternoon senators voted 50-50 to pass the act which will solidify Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, increase child tax credits, reduce Medicaid spending – to name a few of policies in the 940-page proposal. Vice President J.D. Vance acted as the tie-breaker, passing the bill and sending it back to the House of Representatives, where it also passed by just one vote back in May. Trump, unsurprisingly, is delighted. “MAGA VICTORY,” tweeted the White House just minutes after the bill had been passed. In many ways, the knife-edge victories have boosted the President’s agenda.

Where is Tulsi Gabbard? The country’s Director of National Intelligence has been glaringly absent as the biggest national security story in years continues to develop. In both the lead-up to and the aftermath of President Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, Gabbard has barely been seen, or heard. It’s a strange time for the chief of the US intelligence community to go silent, leading to a growing number of questions that Americans – particularly MAGA Americans – would like answered.It’s Gabbard’s now-infamous testimony to Congress in March – and a video posted to social media earlier this month – that are thought to have sidelined her from the Trump administration in recent weeks.

“This is a big day for America!!! DJT” wrote on his Truth Social account, kicking off the day of his great parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Army. It was good of the President to take the time to speak directly to the public on the “big day” – his birthday – before preparing himself to see the tanks and missile launchers rolling through the streets of Washington, DC to mark his 79th year. Let’s hope he feels special: the kid in all of us deserves a cake and a $45 million parade, full of the country’s best military equipment, to mark their latest trip around the sun.  The real purpose behind the parade remains unclear.

‘America is OPEN FOR BUSINESS’, President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social, just as the details of the US-UK trade deal were coming to light. It was an important clarification. Not only did the substantial tariffs announced on ‘Liberation Day’ suggest, strongly, that this might not be the case, but the President’s rhetoric since then has ranged from ultra-protectionist to free-trade enthusiast.  ‘I’m just saying [children] don’t need to have 30 dolls. They can have three,’ Trump told NBC just days ago, when asked about the prospect of empty shelves and higher prices. ‘They don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.’ The comments came at the same time the administration was hinting that a free trade agreement with India was about to be signed.

Addressing a ballroom filled with Democratic supporters and donors in San Francisco last night, Kamala Harris asked a favor from her audience. “Please allow me, friends, to digress for a moment,” she asked with a slightly mischievous grin.  Hallelujah. Here we go: OK, it’s kinda dark in here, but I’m gonna ask for a show of hands. Who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego zoo during the earthquake? Google it if you haven’t seen it. So that scene [has] been on my mind. Everyone’s asking "what’ve you been thinking about these days"... here those elephants were, and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle, and stood next to each other, to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it.