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Tag: Donald

  • 4 Questions About Trump’s State of the Union

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    President Donald Trump will give the first State of the Union address of his second term tomorrow. He’s expected to defend his economic record and restate his position in the tense standoff with Iran, but there could be some surprises in the prime-time speech.

    I’ve written about these supernovas of presidential rhetoric for three decades – my first was President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union in 1998. To put in perspective how much time has passed, the federal budget ran a surplus of $69 billion that fiscal year. The fiscal 2025 deficit is projected to hit $1.9 trillion.

    This year’s speech comes days after the Supreme Court struck down the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. While the 6-3 ruling was a body blow to his signature economic policy, he says he will try to impose some tariffs in other ways.

    If any justices attend, they’ll be seated right in his line of sight.

    With the benefit of experience, I’m offering four questions about Trump’s remarks – and hopefully at least a couple of answers.

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    Does It Still Matter?

    Technically, we’ll be tuning in because the Constitution (Article II, Section 3) says the president has to provide this assessment “from time to time.” It does not specify a speech. This could be done in writing.

    But that would be political malpractice. As countless White House aides have told me over the decades, this is probably the largest audience an American politician will get all year, even if recent ratings are down from their heyday.

    The most recent State of the Union speeches haven’t been just for TV or radio. People follow along on their phones. Clips of key moments zip around social media for days. And I, for one, am very curious to see how the remarks do on YouTube, our most-watched television platform.

    So yes, it very much matters, even if it does not move the needle much in our hyper-polarized political context.

    What Does He Need to Say?

    One frequent inside-the-Beltway jibe is that any president might as well declare, “Tonight, I come before you to speak in ringing tones and stare into the middle distance.” The chief executive is expected to defend their record and offer some clues about how they view the way forward.

    But tomorrow’s speech will be a window into how seriously the White House and the unpopular president view the challenge of selling his economic record in a midterm election year. (I separate the two because what the speechwriters craft and what Trump delivers are often at odds.)

    Will this be more of the same language that he has used, in vain, to try to reverse his slide in the polls? Or will he try a new tack?

    There can always be surprises. In 1996, seeking reelection, President Bill Clinton declared, “The era of big government is over.” A few months after 9/11, President George W. Bush lumped Iran, Iraq and North Korea in an “axis of evil.” In 2006, Bush called for legislation to prevent the creation of “human-animal hybrids.”

    In an era of off-the-cuff presidential moments, pity the speechwriters – like Raymond Price, the aide in charge of writing President Richard Nixon’s 1970 speech. History records that Price pulled several all-nighters thanks to amphetamines known as “greenies,” courtesy of the White House doctor.

    What Will Democrats Do?

    Well. Last year’s response when Trump addressed a joint meeting of Congress included a cane-waving outburst, which led to an ejection from the House chamber. It was pretty cringey.

    But it was an effort to get beyond responding with a live televised speech of their own, a tradition for decades. These deliveries from both parties have been unmemorable at best. Those that stand out often do so for the wrong reasons, like then-Senator Marco Rubio’s 2013 remarks, which he famously interrupted to take a gulp of water.

    This year the task falls to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

    At least a dozen Democratic senators and representatives have already said they will boycott Trump’s speech, according to NBC. Some will attend a counter-programming rally, dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” on the National Mall near the Capitol, the New York Times says.

    What’s a Skutnik?

    That’s D.C. jargon for the special guests who sit in the gallery above the House floor, waiting to be invoked by the president.

    We owe the term to President Ronald Reagan’s 1982 speech, which came two weeks after an airliner crashed into the icy Potomac River. Reagan gave one of those seats to Lenny Skutnik for his heroic efforts to save survivors and paid tribute to him in his remarks.

    Trump has been adept at those moments, whether stoking partisan passions by giving right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom or drawing a bipartisan standing ovation by reuniting a soldier with his family after a deployment overseas.

    Both were surprises. What’s in store tomorrow?

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    Olivier Knox

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  • Weekly Roundup: Anatomy of a Cave and a $2,000 Check?

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    It’s the end of the week that marked the end of a record-breaking government shutdown. Federal workers went back to their jobs yesterday.

    Here’s a look at what we covered this week.

    Monday 

    Olivier scrutinized President Donald Trump’s pledge of a $2,000 “dividend” for most Americans from the revenues his import duties have generated.

    “We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion,” he said on social media. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”

    We … have some questions.

    “Analysts say the payout could total $300 billion or more,” Olivier wrote. “The Treasury Department’s final fiscal year 2025 report says the government collected $195 billion from all customs duties currently in effect. The Budget Lab at Yale University estimates Trump’s tariffs could generate an average of $260 billion annually through 2035.”

    Tuesday 

    The biggest news of the week was the end of the government shutdown, so Olivier detailed some key features of the deal, including Democrats caving on their primary ask.

    “Democrats’ main goal in rejecting Republican spending legislation and shutting down the government had been to force the GOP to negotiate over the renewal of Obamacare subsidies that are due to expire, which would send premiums rocketing skyward for millions of Americans,” Olivier wrote. “What Democrats settled for instead was a promise of a Senate vote on renewing the subsidies.”

    Other notable bits include the resumption of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and bringing back air traffic controllers who were furloughed during the shutdown.

    But, as always, don’t get too comfortable. The deal only funds the government into January.

    Wednesday 

    Artificial intelligence hasn’t caused vast economy-wide negative effects on jobs… yet.

    That’s according to a recent study we examined here from the Budget Lab at Yale University.

    “Overall, our metrics indicate that the broader labor market has not experienced a discernible disruption since ChatGPT’s release 33 months ago, undercutting fears that AI automation is currently eroding the demand for cognitive labor across the economy,” the report says.

    AI doomer Olivier noted, however, that “just because the report did not find sweeping effects from AI to date, that doesn’t mean that AI won’t eventually bring about those kinds of changes.”

    The report acknowledges that “it is too soon to tell how disruptive the technology will be to jobs.”

    Thursday 

    In Olivier’s regional rundown, he detailed the latest development in the GOP’s efforts to push for redistricting in multiple states in an effort to keep their majority in the House. In Utah, a federal judge ruled this week that an electoral map drawn up by legislators to strengthen the GOP hold unfairly favored Republicans.

    Meanwhile, a new study on the impact of a cell phone ban at a large urban district in Florida found average test scores rose by 1.1 percentiles in schools with previously high student cell phone usage in 2024-25, the year after a cell phone ban took effect.

    Lastly, the Colorado Sun reported this week that the Centennial State’s efforts to grow its wolf population are struggling, hampered by federal regulations and the death of a 10th reintroduced wolf.

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    Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder

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  • The Democrats Have a Democrat Problem

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    We’re one year away from the 2026 midterm elections and a day before voters in New Jersey and Virginia elect governors – as good a time as any to assess the political landscape.

    One takeaway from a new poll is that the Democratic Party has a problem … with its own voters.

    The survey from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, conducted before the partial government shutdown, found a whopping 67% of Democrats say their own party makes them feel frustrated. Thirty percent go so far as to say they are angry with their side.

    The frustration is way up from 2019 and 2021, when 50% and 48% of Democrats, respectively, said they felt frustrated with their party.

    • 41% of Democrats said their party isn’t fighting hard enough against President Donald Trump
    • 13% see a lack of good leadership
    • 10% complain of a lack of good messaging

    A Polling Quirk

    We saw something similar in the first polls about Obamacare. Among those expressing opposition to the law were Democrats who felt the Affordable Care Act – a heavily negotiated compromise approach to overhauling the nation’s healthcare system – did not go far enough.

    In other words, when you see disapproval in a poll, don’t assume it’s all people who hate the concept. Many may mean they’re getting too much of a thing, but some will mean they’re not getting enough of it.

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    No Clear Edge?

    On balance, the Pew poll found widespread unhappiness with both parties. Sixty-one percent of respondents said Republicans are very or somewhat too extreme in their positions. Fifty-seven percent said the same about Democrats.

    (If you want more evidence of the Democrats’ plight, an October CBS News/YouGov poll found 64% of those surveyed used “weak” as the top word to describe the party.)

    Do the parties govern in an ethical way? Just 39% said so about Republicans, and 42% said that accurately described Democrats. Do they respect the country’s democratic institutions and traditions? Forty-four percent said Republicans do, while 53% said Democrats do.

    On the economy, arguably the most critical issue, Republicans have seen their edge drop considerably from two years ago, with 38% of Americans saying they agree with the GOP’s economic policies. Thirty-five percent say the same about Democrats, only three percentage points lower. Republicans had a 12-point lead on this question in 2023.

    Unhappy With Trump, But Not Thrilled With Dems

    Thanks to a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, we’re getting a clearer picture of voters’ views of Trump and what his standing means – and doesn’t mean – one year out from midterms.

    Overall, 41% of Americans say they approve of the job he’s doing, with 59% saying they disapprove. That’s the highest disapproval since a similar poll one week after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

    The president’s doing fine with Republicans, at 86% approval. And he’s doing dismally among Democrats, with 95% of them disapproving. But Trump is struggling with independents, among whom he has a 30% approval rating while 69% disapprove.

    The Post poll had some pretty bleak findings for Democrats, with 68% of Americans saying the party is out of touch with their lives. Sixty-three percent say the same about Trump and 61% say so about Republicans.

    All of which leads to the poll’s findings about which party would win the day if the midterm elections were held today: 46% of registered voters say they’d support the Democratic candidate in their district while 44% said the Republican and 9% said they would not vote.

    Obviously, a lot can – and will – change before Americans go to vote. But Democrats need to find a way to energize their own voters if they’re going to retake the House.

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    Olivier Knox

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  • Photos You Should See – October 2025

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    Photos You Should See – October 2025

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    Michael A. Brooks

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  • Four Things to Know About Trump’s New White House Ballroom

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    Construction on the Trump administration’s controversial White House ballroom with a price tag in the hundreds of millions of dollars began this week and has stirred up considerable controversy.

    President Donald Trump and top White House officials said the ballroom will be a 90,000-square-foot, glass-walled space that “pays total respect to the existing building.” But construction crews were seen on Monday tearing into part of the East Wing’s facade. By Wednesday, the East Wing had been demolished, according to the Associated Press.

    Images and videos of heavy machinery destroying the White House structure caused alarm online, but the Trump administration called the ensuing blowback “manufactured outrage” and accused the press of “clutching their pearls” while pointing out that past presidents have also made major renovations.

    Here are four things you need to know about Trump’s ballroom plan as construction begins.

    The Blueprint

    Trump said the new ballroom is needed so the White House has a large space to entertain guests. He has complained in the past that the East Room, the largest space on the property, was too small as it can only hold around 200 people.

    Renderings show the new project looking similar to the gilded ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The new space will dwarf the main White House: The ballroom is set to be nearly twice the size of the main residence and will hold around 999 people.

    Trump told donors at a recent White House dinner that the windows on the property will be bulletproof and that the space will be big enough to fit a presidential inauguration if needed.

    The White House has said the ballroom will be ready for use before the end of Trump’s current term in January 2029.

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    The Cost

    As will happen with home renovations, the cost of the project has risen as the project expands, rising from $200 million to $300 million.

    Trump said on social media that the project won’t cost taxpayers anything because it is being privately funded by “many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly.”

    As for who will foot the bill on the project, Trump has committed to using some of his own money, and the White House has released a list of donors to the project. The list includes large corporations like Google and Amazon, defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Palantir and Booz Allen Hamilton, as well as the personal fortunes and family foundations of billionaires like Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman and casino magnate Miriam Adelson.

    An estimated $22 million will come from a legal settlement paid by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, after Trump sued the tech giant for suspending his YouTube channel following the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    The Precedent

    Past presidents have added and subtracted features to the White House dating back to its construction in 1792.

    Major projects over the years include the addition of the West Wing by President Theodore Roosevelt, the addition of the East Wing by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the creation of the Rose Garden during John F. Kennedy’s administration. But perhaps the most significant renovations came during the Truman administration, when, beginning in 1948, the mansion was gutted due to structural instability and a balcony was added to the second floor.

    The Sign-off

    Construction and major renovations to government buildings in Washington typically require approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, an agency in the executive branch.

    Trump appointee Will Scharf, a top White House aide, now heads the commission. Scharf has stressed that the commission’s approval is not required for demolition, but “if you’re talking about actually building anything, then, yeah, it should go through our approval process,” he said last month.

    Still, the process has drawn condemnation and anger from many.

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation sent a letter and statement to the National Capital Planning Commission, the National Park Service and the Commission of Fine Arts on Wednesday, voicing “deep concern” that the project will overwhelm the White House and “may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design …”

    The White House then said on Wednesday that it will submit the plans for review. A request for a response on the decision was met with an auto-reply regarding the ongoing government shutdown.

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    Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

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  • Impasse at the Education Department: Where Does it Stand Now Amid Shutdown RIFs?

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    The federal government shutdown and a judge’s order to pause a massive reduction in force ordered by the White House has left the Department of Education in yet another swirl of political and legal confusion.

    Since the start of the shutdown three weeks ago, the Trump administration has laid off hundreds of employees at the federal agency that it has targeted for elimination since taking power, following through on a threat to reduce the government workforce in the event of a funding lapse. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought – before the Oct. 1 work stoppage began – directed agencies to consider reductions in force for employees working on programs across a number of agencies that, among other criteria, were “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” The move was widely seen as an effort to pressure Democratic lawmakers to support a Republican-led stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution, that would avert the crisis.

    But a federal judge said Wednesday that the Trump administration can’t issue new layoff orders or enforce the notices already handed out while legal challenges play out in court. The order comes after a lawsuit filed by two unions – the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – argued that Vought’s use of the shutdown to support the firings was illegal.

    Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said the layoffs appear to be politically motivated.

    “There are laws which govern how we can do the things we do, including laws which govern how we do RIFs. And the activities being undertaken here are contrary to the laws,” she said.

    Illston appeared to agree with the unions’ arguments that the layoffs were an attempt to undo programs that lawmakers authorized by getting rid of the employees tasked with administering them.

    “Overturning agency mandates Congress has put in place – they can’t do that,” she said.

    Here’s what to know about the layoffs at the Department of Education:

    How Many People Received Notices?

    Roughly 20% of the Department of Education, or 466 people, received layoff notices. This follows the nearly 2,000 employees who were eliminated in March in a purge that did away with about half of the agency at the time. That number includes over 1,300 laid-off employees and more than 600 people who accepted separation packages.

    Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the shutdown is proving how “unnecessary” the department is.

    “The Democrat government shutdown has forced agencies to evaluate what federal responsibilities are truly critical for the American people. Two weeks in, millions of American students are still going to school, teachers are getting paid, and schools are operating as normal. It confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states,” McMahon said on social media.

    What Offices Were Affected?

    The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of Communications and Outreach, the Office of Postsecondary Education, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and the Office for Civil Rights were reportedly impacted by the reduction in force.

    The layoffs within the special education office – including to departments mandated by Congress to ensure federal oversight – created widespread condemnation from lawmakers, special education advocates and parents. But McMahon said their concerns are misplaced.

    “The Department has taken additional steps to better reach American students and families and root out the education bureaucracy that has burdened states and educators with unnecessary oversight,” she said. “No education funding is impacted by the RIF, including funding for special education, and the clean CR supported by the Trump Administration will provide states and schools the funding they need to support all students.”

    What Led to This?

    The federal government’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1. To fully fund the government, all 12 appropriations bills must be passed by Congress and signed by the president before the start of the new fiscal year. The last time that happened, though, was in fiscal 1997, and Congress often resorts to continuing resolutions that extend current funding while lawmakers hammer out the details of a spending package.

    But Congress can’t agree on a stopgap bill. The Republican-led House has passed a continuing resolution that would reopen the government, but repeated attempts to pass such legislation have failed in the Senate – where, despite a thin GOP majority, Democratic support is required to meet the 60–vote threshold to advance bills. Democrats in Congress don’t want to pass such a measure unless it includes extension of a tax credit due to expire at the end of the year that makes health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans. Republicans want to address the tax credit separately.

    Initially, McMahon’s shutdown contingency plan included only furloughing 95% of its staff outside of the Office of Federal Student Aid. But the OMB memo calling for layoffs raised the stakes.

    What’s Next?

    The shutdown will stretch into at least this week, possibly longer. The Senate adjourned for the weekend after failing for the 10th time to advance a bill to extend government funding and end the shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson has halted all House business and refuses to call lawmakers back into session until the Senate passes a stopgap bill.

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    Laura Mannweiler

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  • No, Donald Trump isn’t the first US president to solve a war

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    During a White House visit from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump expanded on his oft-repeated boast about ending multiple wars and made an even bolder assertion: that no president had solved even one war before him.

    Trump said Oct. 17 that people tell him, “‘Sir, if you solve one more, you’re going to be known as a peacekeeper.’ So to the best of my knowledge, we’ve never had a president that solved one war, not one war. (George W.) Bush started a war (in Iraq). A lot of them start wars, but they don’t solve the wars. They don’t settle them, and especially when they’re not, when they have nothing to do with us.”

    Trump is ignoring at least two instances of presidents personally overseeing negotiations that ended other countries’ wars, plus several others in which presidents’ designated diplomats successfully reached peace agreements following negotiations.

    “Like a lot of Trump’s statements, it massively exaggerates what he’s done, while ignoring any history of what other presidents have done,” said David Silbey, a Cornell University military historian. 

    For our analysis, we did not count wars that the United States participated in militarily and won, such as World War II. Trump said he was focusing on wars that “have nothing to do with us,” and none of the eight wars he claims to have ended have primarily involved the U.S. as a combatant.

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    White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told PolitiFact that Trump’s “direct involvement in major conflicts, leveraging tools from America’s military might to our superior consumer market, has brought peace to decades-long wars around the world in a fashion unlike any of his predecessors.”

    Wars settled by U.S. presidents

    In this 1904 file photo, Theodore Roosevelt campaigns for the presidency in 1904. Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for negotiating peace in the 1904-5 war between Russia and Japan. (AP)

    Japan became the first modern Asian power to defeat a European power in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt helped mediate a settlement at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1905. Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the war.

    President Jimmy Carter, center, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat before signing a peace treaty at the White House on March 26, 1979. (AP)

    By the time President Jimmy Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to the White House to sign the Camp David Accords on Sept. 17, 1978, Israel and Egypt had been at war for three decades, alternating between periods of hot and cold war. The agreement was the fruit of negotiations conducted at the presidential retreat, Camp David. Sadat and Begin won the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

    Wars settled by U.S. diplomats on a president’s watch

    Secretary of State Warren Christopher, center, is flanked by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, left, and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman as they sign an accord Nov. 10, 1995, in Dayton, Ohio. (AP)

    The Bosnian War

    On Nov. 21, 1995, the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia reached an agreement for peace in Dayton, Ohio, ending the Bosnian War, which began in 1992. The primary U.S. officials involved in the negotiations over the Dayton Accords were veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke and Secretary of State Warren Christopher, along with leaders from Europe and Russia. The U.S. president at the time was Bill Clinton.

    Former President Bill Clinton and, from left, former Sen. George Mitchell, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 17, 2023. (AP)

    Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’

    The sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics — known as “the Troubles” — in the United Kingdom-administered Northern Ireland persisted for roughly three decades before the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, spearheaded it, and it followed shuttle diplomacy — when an intermediary carries out a negotiation by traveling back and forth between the disputing parties — between Washington and Belfast. Clinton was also the president at the time.

    Secretary of State Colin Powell is among the witnesses of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement in  Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium on Jan. 9, 2005. (AP)

    Civil war in Sudan

    Fighting between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, based in southern Sudan, ended in 2005 with the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement, thanks to negotiations overseen by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. George W. Bush was president at the time of the 2005 agreement. In 2011, a referendum led to the creation of a new country, South Sudan. 

    What has Trump previously said about settling multiple wars?

    Trump has often repeated the exaggerated claim that he’s ended six, seven or eight wars. 

    Trump had a hand in ceasefires that recently eased conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. But these were mostly incremental accords without a strong likelihood of long-term peace. Some leaders also dispute the extent of Trump’s role. 

    The U.S. was involved in a temporary peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, but violence in the region has continued, with hundreds of civilians killed since the deal’s June signing. After Trump helped broker a deal between Cambodia and Thailand, the countries accused each other of ceasefire violations.

    A long-running standoff between Egypt and Ethiopia over an Ethiopian dam on the Nile River remains unresolved. In the case of Kosovo and Serbia, there is little evidence a potential war was brewing.

    Most recently, Trump has made notable progress by securing an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war. The agreement involves multiple stages, so it will take time to see if peace holds.

    For weeks, Trump has cited his diplomatic activity as being worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. 

    “Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements,” Trump said during a Sept. 23 speech at the United Nations.

    The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado with the prize Oct. 10 for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.”

    Our ruling

    Trump said, “We’ve never had a president that solved one war, not one war.”

    At least two U.S. presidents — Roosevelt and Carter — personally conducted negotiations that led to peace agreements, both of which resulted in Nobel Prizes for some of the participants.

    Several other presidents saw peace agreements hammered out on their watch by officials they appointed.

    We rate the statement Pants on Fire! 

    Staff Writer Samantha Putterman contributed to this report.

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  • Bad News for Farmers and Good News for News: Weekly Roundup

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    Friday? Already? Guess we’ll take it.

    Monday

    I dug into high-quality AI video generation that has the potential to make “video or it didn’t happen” obsolete, because the presence of footage won’t be a guarantee of authenticity.

    Is the ad for the (entirely fictional) New York Mets Collapse Playset entertaining? Yes, especially if you’re not a Mets fan. But apps like OpenAI’s Sora 2, which turns your text prompts into very convincing videos, could have scary applications.

    Imagine grainy, security-camera-style video of someone at night sabotaging a ballot box.

    Tuesday

    I looked at the plight of American farmers, who face ever more expensive inputs like fuel, machinery and seed and declining commodity prices, as well as trouble over President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

    “Since 2020, the USDA says, labor costs are up 47%, seed expenses are up 18%, fuel costs have risen 32% and fertilizer expenses have climbed 37%,” I noted. “Meanwhile, since reaching a high above $7 per bushel in 2022, corn prices are down to about $4/bushel today.”

    The Trump administration has doled out billions of dollars in aid to farmers since March, and the president is reportedly looking at a comprehensive bailout package of $10-15 billion. But it’s hard to know whether anything will move while the government is shut down.

    Meanwhile, a Farm Journal survey of more than 1,000 farmers in August and September found nearly 80% of respondents say the U.S. is in, or on the brink of, a farm crisis.

    Wednesday

    The Gaza ceasefire is a rapidly evolving story with many moving parts and many unanswered questions (unanswered as of this week, anyway). I looked at the parts of the agreement that have not yet been fully fleshed out.

    Does Hamas disarm? Who runs Gaza? Will the ceasefire hold? Will the regional pressure remain on Hamas? Who rebuilds Gaza and how? W(h)ither the two-state solution for Middle East peace?

    There are a lot of hard negotiations and decisions ahead.

    Thursday

    Per the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, the No. 1 thing Americans say they feel when they consume news is “informed.” And those who consume news all or most of the time are the most likely to say that.

    Pew found that 66% of the biggest news consumers said they feel “informed,” against 40% of those who said they follow current events some of the time and 21% of those who reported doing so less often.

    That’s great. It’s our mission, after all. But.

    Across all news consumers, Pew found:

    • 42% said the news makes them feel angry “extremely often” or “often”

    • 38% said it made them feel sad

    Now, I would argue that “informed” and “angry” or “sad” are not contradictory. You could be very well informed about this year’s shocking measles outbreak and not feel like dancing a jig.
    But there is a bit of a contradiction between these numbers and Gallup’s findings that just 31% of Americans trust us a great deal or a fair amount to report fully, accurately and fairly.

    As I always point out, though, everyone actually trusts the mainstream media. Americans – including this White House and Republicans in Congress – will happily cite mainstream news coverage that they feel reinforces their prior beliefs or serves their ideological purposes.

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    Olivier Knox

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  • The Case of the Missing Federal Budget

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    In the flurry of federal government action since January, you may have missed one noteworthy thing that didn’t happen.

    Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump 1.0 and Joe Biden had vastly different visions for the United States. But they all agreed to codify their ideas in comprehensive budget proposals that laid out revenues and outlays in great detail during their first year in office.

    Bush submitted his first in April 2001. Obama produced his in May 2009. Trump 1.0 submitted an early version in March 2017, then a broader budget in May of that year. Biden’s first landed in May 2021. You can get a little budget history here.

    But fiscal year 2026 dawned on Oct. 1 with just a Trump 2.0 “skinny budget” – a preliminary document with broad top lines but without program-by-program specifics of a full budget. A brief “Mid-Session Review to the 2026 Budget” added little nuance. There’s no sign of a more comprehensive assessment. (The White House did not acknowledge an email asking when the more detailed document might be landing.)

    It’s a bit of a cliché to say that a budget is a statement of values, or that it turns the poetry of campaign rhetoric into the prose of governing. But it certainly is a statement of a president’s priorities for the nation as well as a detailed look at how they view federal power.

    In 2017, Trump delivered a speech laying out his economic plans to a joint meeting of Congress in February. That was followed shortly by an overview and then more detailed budget documents.

    So what does the lack of a spending blueprint this time around tell us?

    Trump is the Alpha and the Omega

    In that sense, the second Trump presidency looks impervious to budgeting of the conventional variety.

    The administration is swallowing tens of billions of dollars every month via his tariffs – a significant source of revenues that is expected to shrink the annual deficit. (Reminder: These are taxes paid by importers, not the country of origin, with some portion being passed on to consumers.)

    But the on-again-off-again-on-again nature of the tariffs, as well as shifting exemptions for specific sectors or even individual companies, make it impossible to draw up a firm prediction of their revenue effects with any confidence.

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    It’s not just tariffs, of course, where Trump has broken with tradition and even his past decisions:

    • Trump set aside the law that banned TikTok from the U.S. unless it were sold to non-Chinese investors, delaying it repeatedly until a deal he favored materialized.
    • He has broken sharply with precedent (and Republican orthodoxy) by having the government take equity stakes in private companies or demanding a share of their sales.
    • And Trump, who signed a 2019 law designed to ensure that federal employees furloughed in a partial government shutdown would get back pay, flirted this week with the idea that they might not all be made whole.

    Why It Matters to You

    Why should you care about a document that doesn’t become law? Because every federal agency, every state and every city looks to the budget for guidance on what amount of money from Washington they can count on.

    Law enforcement assistance? Disaster aid? Infrastructure spending? Federal food programs? The clues are in the budget. It’s hard to plan in the absence of information.

    But perhaps the biggest unknown without a budget is the nation’s social insurance programs, where Trump again has past promises to reckon with.

    Running for office in 2016, Trump broke with the GOP orthodoxy by promising not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

    Why is this relevant to the question of where his budget is?

    Because detailed budgets are supposed to include 10-year projections. The trust fund from which Social Security benefits are paid is due to become insolvent in 2034. Medicare’s hospital insurance fund is expected to reach that same unhappy milestone a year earlier.

    A budget might tell us – promise us, really – how he plans to address those challenges, with ramifications for tens of millions of Americans dependent on those programs.

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  • Tracking Trump’s Crackdown on Higher Education

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    President Donald Trump wasted no time targeting higher education reform in his second term, kicking off a fight that often seemed personal.

    Education in recent years has been the battleground for culture war disputes from immigration to transgender rights along with political posturing on issues like student loan forgiveness, admissions practices and free speech on campus.

    Republicans have long been skeptical of higher education and accuse academics of indoctrinating youth with progressive ideologies, and Trump claimed that college campuses have been “infested with radicalism like never before.” Trump’s efforts revolve around curbing what he calls a “woke” agenda, with many of his steps aimed at reversing diversity, equity and inclusion policies that he says unfairly benefit some students over others.

    As president, Trump has leveraged the power of the federal government to threaten funding and restrict foreign student status, demanding an unprecedented role in university admissions, curriculum and operations. In many cases, he has used accusations of antisemitism or the credo of law and order as wedges to force broader scrutiny of higher education administrators and employed civil rights laws aimed at providing fair access and equal protection to recast the definition of discrimination and roll back safeguards for historically disadvantaged populations.

    The battle – which, at times, has escalated into an all-out war – has seen Trump focus on individual universities that refused to bend to his will, perhaps most prominently Harvard University.

    Here’s a look at the key areas of Trump’s agenda and some of the noteworthy moves he has made when it comes to higher education:

    The administration has filed lawsuits and cut or threatened to limit billions of dollars in funding in an attempt to influence policy at universities nationwide on issues ranging from DEI and LGBTQ+ interests to immigration policy and even university leadership and the academic curriculum. The funding freezes were taken by agencies across the administration, from the National Institutes of Health to the Department of Defense to NASA and others. They have been met with varying levels of resistance by administrators.

    • The Trump administration in March sent letters to 60 universities – among them many of the nation’s most elite institutions – warning them of “potential enforcement actions” for violations of Title VI, the federal statute prohibiting discrimination, relating to antisemitic discrimination and harassment. It empowered a Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism to investigate and report violations.

    • The White House in March cut $400 million in funding to Columbia University, a focal point of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses across the country, after demanding that administrators change policies regarding student protests and discipline and reorganize the leadership of the school’s Middle East studies department. Federal officials warned other universities that they could face similar actions. Columbia University in July said it reached a deal with the Trump administration to resolve several federal probes into the school. The agreement, which does not include Columbia University admitting to any wrongdoing, involves the school paying the government a $200 million settlement over three years. “Under today’s agreement, a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025 will be reinstated, and Columbia’s access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored,” the school said in a statement.  

    • Federal officials in April froze $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University after warning the school it was in violation of federal civil rights law. Harvard University ultimately rejected the administration’s wide-ranging demands that it reform its hiring and admissions practices, restructure the university’s governance and end DEI programs among a host of other stipulations. That led to an escalating dispute that has seen all additional federal funding withdrawn, new civil rights investigations initiated over hiring practices, threats to end the university’s tax-exempt status and a presidential proclamation banning foreign students from studying at Harvard, among other actions. In a major win for Harvard, a federal judge in early September ruled that the Trump administration broke the law when it terminated the $2.2 billion in grants, calling the administration’s actions part of a “targeted, ideologically-motivated assault.” It barred the White House from ending or freezing any additional funds to the school.

    • The Trump administration, embroiled in an ongoing dispute with the state of Maine over its allowance of transgender high school athletes competing in girls sports, suspended millions in funding for the University of Maine’s floating offshore wind program. In a letter to the university in April, a Department of Energy official said the funding was suspended for 90 days because the university failed to comply with the terms and conditions of the grant – which includes Title IX antidiscrimination language the Trump administration recently revised to revoke LGBTQ+ protections. In March, the Agriculture Department suspended funding to the university over Title IX concerns, but it was quickly restored after an investigation determined the school was in compliance. 

    • Cornell University, Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University were among schools that saw billions of dollars cut, frozen or suspended. The government has given several reasons for the moves, most prominently accusing the schools of tolerating antisemitism but also including race-based policies in admissions and hiring. In some cases, no clear reason was provided. 

    • The Department of Justice in June filed separate lawsuits against Texas, Kentucky and Minnesota over policies granting in-state college tuition to residents who were in the country illegally. Texas, which had the policy in place for two decades, quickly settled. The moves were foreshadowed in an April executive order on immigration. 
    • Brown University announced a settlement with Trump in late July that would see the school’s federal research funding resume and an end to the investigations into alleged discrimination. The university agreed to adopt the Trump administration’s definition of “male” and “female” as well as remove race as a consideration in its admissions. “Woke is officially DEAD at Brown,” Trump said in a social media post announcing the deal.
    • The Trump administration in October sent nine universities a proposal: priority access to federal funding if they follow a wide-ranging list of demands. The schools would have to take several steps to change their policies, like nixing consideration of race or sex in hiring and admissions and limiting foreign student enrollment. The University of Texas expressed interest in the deal, though most of the other schools would not give an answer at the time. California Gov. Gavin Newsom hit back at the controversial proposal, saying any California schools that sign it would lose “billions” in state funding.

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    Republicans have called for the elimination of the agency almost since its inception in 1980, seeing it as a symbol of government bloat, waste and federal overreach. But in recent years the issue has taken on new momentum among hard-line conservatives who bristled at pandemic-era school shutdowns and what was seen as the undermining of parental rights to implement policies that advanced DEI and LGBTQ+ interests.

    • Trump on March 20 signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” In July, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to move ahead with plans to fire about 1,200 Education Department workers. Experts say the reduced workforce could result in delays, particularly in processing FAFSA forms and efficiently distributing aid. 

    Combining the administration’s goals of restricting immigration as well as curbing protests critical of U.S. policy, universities have reported seeing student visas revoked for things like participation in demonstrations as well as criminal violations, some of them as minor as traffic infractions. Collectively, the moves have led to some students being detained or deported, including in several high-profile arrests nationwide.

    • After pledging to “quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses” during his opening days in office, Trump’s State Department in March revoked visas for more than 300 foreign-born students at schools in the U.S. who were said to have taken part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.  

    • Federal officials terminated the status of thousands of students in a database used by universities and government officials to account for their movements in the U.S., a step that jeopardized their ability to remain enrolled and could lead to their visas being revoked. However, in April, it reversed, abruptly restoring thousands of international students’ ability to study across the country. But the Trump administration made clear it was not abandoning its effort. Instead, it began working on a new system to review their records. 

    • As a part of Trump’s effort to pressure Harvard University to conform with Trump administration policies, the Department of Homeland Security withdrew the university’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas in May. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s effort in June. Trump switched strategies in June, signing a memo to “safeguard national security by suspending the entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University.” Harvard University, again, sued, and a federal judge, again, put a temporary block on the effort. 

    Student loan reform was a priority for many Republicans critical of former President Joe Biden’s moves toward student loan debt forgiveness. Biden and his administration erased some $190 billion in borrowed funds – moves that Republicans insisted were in defiance of court orders and were politically motivated to bolster the Democratic base.

    • Trump in March signed an executive order to restrict who is eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a program for people who work in public service to get their remaining student loans forgiven after making 10 years of minimum payments. Trump’s plan is to exclude people who work for organizations “that engage in activities that have a substantial illegal purpose.” But the broad language could be used to target a number of activities that might even extend to activism and the constitutionally protected exercise of free speech. However, the change must go through the rulemaking process at the Education Department.

    • The Education Department in April announced it would resume collections on student loans that were in default after not pursuing the outstanding payments since March 2020. The Biden administration began collecting student loan repayments in October 2023 after a pause during the pandemic but instituted a one-year grace period in which borrowers faced no consequences. The Trump administration said it would begin withholding tax refunds and garnishing the wages of borrowers who were in default and had not taken the appropriate steps to resume repayment. 

    • In July, the Education Department announced that roughly 8 million federal student loan borrowers would start to see interest resume on their debt balances in August after the Biden-era grace period exempted them for about a year. 

    • Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will bring sweeping changes to federal student loans in July 2026, including setting a total lifetime borrowing limit of $257,500 for all federal student loans. 

    Federal agencies, including the Education Department, have targeted what the Trump administration is calling “woke” spending, consistent with the views of many conservatives that higher education is biased and its research is used by academics to validate a Democratic agenda.

    • The Transportation Department in May terminated seven university grants that totaled $54 million, saying the grants were used to “advance a radical DEI and green agenda that were both wasteful and ran counter to the transportation priorities of the American people.” The department cited as examples a $6 million grant to New York University for research into providing “e-bikes to low-income travelers in transit deserts” and a $6 million grant to the University of New Orleans to study “how neighborhood stabilization efforts support environmental justice.”

    • The Department of Commerce in April announced it was cutting $4 million in research funding for Princeton University to study climate change. The administration said the research promoted “exaggerated and implausible climate threats, contributing to a phenomenon known as ‘climate anxiety,’ which has increased significantly among America’s youth. Its focus on alarming climate scenarios fosters fear rather than rational, balanced discussion.” The University of Washington similarly saw a $1 million grant into climate research canceled.

    • The National Science Foundation canceled hundreds of grants that “are not aligned with program goals or agency priorities,” including university researchers studying DEI, environmental justice and misinformation or disinformation.

    The Trump administration has made efforts to rollback diversity, equity and inclusion programs embraced by the Biden administration. On his second day in office, he signed an executive order to terminate “to the maximum extent allowed by law” DEI offices and positions.

    • The DEI executive order also mandated an end to such programs at universities that receive federal funding. Schools that don’t comply risk losing federal money. The move, according to the Trump administration, is meant to correct recent discrimination “against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families.”

    • A February memo from the Education Department instructed schools to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions, financial aid and hiring. It stated that personal essays for college admissions cannot be used to predict a student’s race. “Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” it said. But a federal judge in August blocked the memo, along with another one from April that requested state education agencies certify they were not using “illegal DEI practices,” saying the policy changes did not follow procedural requirements.

    • The Trump administration has launched investigations into dozens of institutions for their DEI practices. In one high-profile case, the University of Virginia president announced in June he would resign rather than “fight the federal government.” In another case, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights accused George Mason University of violating Title VI by using race and other protected characteristics in its hiring and promotion practices. The department demanded that Gregory Washington, the university’s president, apologize. In a letter, Washington’s attorney said the university president would not apologize.
    • Trump on Aug. 7 signed a presidential memorandum aimed at “ensuring transparency in higher education admissions.” The memo requires colleges and universities to submit additional admissions data to the Education Department in an effort to “ensure race-based preferences are not used in university admissions processes.” McMahon said in a statement that the Trump administration “will not allow institutions to blight the dreams of students by presuming that their skin color matters more than their hard work and accomplishments.”
    • The Education Department in September announced plans to end discretionary grant funding for several minority-serving institutions programs. It said the projects “discriminate by conferring government benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas.” The agency said it would cut about $350 million from seven programs, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions and predominantly Black institutions. “These funds will be reprogrammed into programs that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas and that advance Administration priorities,” it said. A few days later, the agency announced a $495 million investment in historically Black colleges and tribal universities with funds it redirected from other programs “that the Department determined are not in the best interest of students and families.”

    Republicans have long expressed concern with foreign funding flowing into U.S. colleges and universities. They say the money raises questions about foreign influences over research as well as national security issues relating to potential espionage and theft of sensitive information.

    • Trump in April signed an executive order to require the “full and timely disclosure of foreign funding by higher education institutions.” The order asks for stricter enforcement of a federal law that requires colleges to disclose financial ties with foreign sources. “We believe that certain universities, including, for example, Harvard, have routinely violated this law, and this law has not been effectively enforced,” White House staff secretary Will Scharf said at the executive order’s signing ceremony.

    • The Trump administration opened investigations into Harvard University; the University of Pennsylvania; the University of California, Berkeley; and, most recently, the University of Michigan over foreign funds. 

    Accreditation is a process colleges and universities are required to go through to gain access to federal financial aid. Using the accreditation process to target institutions that the Trump administration deems “low-quality” could lead to major financial fallouts for the institutions that rely heavily on federal financial aid and could give conservatives a greater say over higher education standards.

    • Trump in April signed an executive order to “overhaul the higher education accreditation system, ensuring colleges and universities deliver high-quality, high-value education free from unlawful discrimination and ideological overreach.” The Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions, a group of some of the largest federally recognized college accreditors, pushed back on Trump’s claims, adding that “ultimately, concerns about accreditor recognition can be escalated to federal court.”

    • A May letter from the Education Department detailed guidance to quicken the process of switching accreditors in an effort to “remove unnecessary requirements and barriers to institutional innovation.” McMahon said the new policy as well as the executive order will “ensure this Department no longer stands as a gatekeeper to block aspiring innovators from becoming new accreditors nor will this Department unnecessarily micromanage an institution’s choice of accreditor.”

    • The Education Department took steps to notify accreditors of violations its Office for Civil Rights found at certain institutions, including Harvard University and Columbia University. It accused both schools of violating federal antidiscrimination laws, saying, in turn, that the schools no longer appear to meet their accreditor’s standards. The agency noted in its press releases that “if a university fails to come into compliance within a specified period, an accreditor must take appropriate action against its member institution.”

    Trump has put a strong focus on banning transgender people from participating in sports, including at colleges and universities. He signed an executive order that declared the federal government recognizes two sexes: male and female. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” Trump’s executive order states. “Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality, and the following definitions shall govern all Executive interpretation of and application of Federal law and administration policy.”

    • As part of the executive order declaring that the federal government recognizes two sexes, the Trump administration rescinded Title IX protections prohibiting discrimination that were extended to the LGBTQ+ community during the previous administration.

    • Trump in February signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”

    • The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights launched investigations into several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender woman’s participation on the women’s swim team three years ago. The Ivy league school announced in July that it reached a deal with the Trump administration to limit transgender people’s participation in its athletic programs. McMahon called the agreement a “great victory for women and girls not only at the University of Pennsylvania, but all across our nation.”

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    Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder

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  • Republicans move quickly to support Ashley Hinson’s Senate bid

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    Republicans are quickly falling in line behind Ashley Hinson, the Iowa representative running to replace Sen. Joni Ernst in the red-leaning state.

    Senate Majority Leader John Thune and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott on Friday endorsed Hinson, who announced her campaign earlier this week.

    “Having traveled Iowa with Ashley, I know she is the fighter the Hawkeye State needs to deliver President [Donald] Trump’s agenda in 2026 and beyond,” Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “Iowans are all-in for Ashley Hinson, and that’s why the NRSC and I are proud to stand with my friend, a proven conservative and staunch Trump ally.”

    Though Iowa is not one of the top pickup opportunities for Democrats this year, the party hopes it could be in play as Democrats need to net four seats to flip the Senate. Avoiding a competitive GOP primary could help stave off the opportunity for a Democratic pickup.

    In addition to Thune and Scott, Senate Leadership Fund — the super PAC linked to GOP leadership — also said it would be backing Hinson.

    Trump has yet to weigh in on the race, even as Hinson and other Senate Republicans look to closely tie the Iowa hopeful to the president.

    Hinson hopped in the race the same day Ernst, who served two terms in the Senate, announced she would retire. Hinson has been viewed as a potential Ernst successor, who despite indicating last year she would run for reelection has faced several setbacks in recent months.

    The former TV news anchor is a strong fundraiser and seen as a rising star in the party. She reported $2.8 million in her campaign coffers earlier in the year.

    “We need conservative fighters in the Senate — and that’s exactly what we’ll get with Ashley Hinson,” Thune said in a statement. “Ashley has been a fierce advocate of President Trump’s America First agenda and has been instrumental in delivering big wins in the House for Iowans and the American people.”

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  • No, Donald Trump’s official schedule wasn’t ‘suspended’

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    Labor Day weekend might have been quiet at the White House, but one viral video worked overtime to add fuel to unsubstantiated social media rumors about President Donald Trump’s health.

    “In the past few hours speculation has spread suggesting that something extremely serious may have happened to President Donald Trump,” a narrator with a news-reporter cadence announced in a video posted to X on Sept. 1. “It all began when the president’s official schedule was suddenly suspended without any convincing explanation, sparking doubts about his true state of health.” The video had been viewed more than 1.4 million times as of late afternoon Sept. 2

    The video said after Trump was diagnosed with a vascular condition, “All official commitments have been canceled and the White House website has stopped displaying future events.” 

    (Screenshot of X post)

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    The White House in July announced that Trump has a common vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency. It’s not typically life-threatening.

    And although Trump’s Labor Day weekend was low-key — he golfed and met with his grandchildren — his official schedule wasn’t suspended. To the contrary, it detailed his meetings and golfing outings. 

    His schedule for Aug. 25 to Sept. 2 continued to be publicly released and chronicled numerous meetings, appearances and actions.

    Monday, Aug. 25:

    The president signed three executive orders: on Washington, D.C. crime; on prosecuting people for burning the American flag; and on ending cashless bail. He also met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

    Tuesday, Aug. 26:

    Trump led a three-hour, televised Cabinet meeting. 

    Wednesday, Aug. 27:

    Trump had lunch with Vice President JD Vance and signed a proclamation honoring Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic School shooting victims.

    Thursday, Aug. 28: 

    Trump received an intelligence briefing and signed two executive orders. 

    Friday, Aug. 29:

    Trump had no public events scheduled but sat for an interview with Reagan Reese of the Daily Caller.

    Saturday, Aug. 30: 

    Trump had no public events but went to the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., with his two grandchildren. The Associated Press photographers captured images of Trump walking with his grandchildren at the Sterling, Virginia, club.

    Sunday, Aug. 31:

    He had no public events scheduled but went back to the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers football coach, Jon Gruden. Getty Images captured multiple photos of Trump in transit. 

    Monday, Sept. 1: 

    Trump returned to his nearby golf club. AP and Getty Images published photos of Trump traveling to and from the White House. 

    Tuesday, Sept. 2:

    Trump spoke at the White House announcing his administration’s plan to move U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama. He also said the U.S. had carried out a strike to a Venezuelan “drug-carrying boat” in the southern Caribbean. Trump answered multiple media questions.

    When a reporter asked him if he knew about the social media rumor that he had died, Trump said, “I was very active during the weekend,” and that he did a Daily Caller interview, visited people at his golf club and posted on Truth Social “numerous” times. Trump’s Truth Social account published 128 posts in seven days ending Sept. 2. An Aug. 31 post read, “Never felt better in my life.” 

    The video shared on X also said the White House website had stopped displaying future events, but there was no change in the White House’s usual scheduling procedures. The White House typically sends daily guidance to the media one day in advance. On Sept. 1, the schedule included his planned Sept. 2 White House announcement.

    Where did the video originate?

    The X video was originally posted Aug. 30 by a TikTok account. Among the account’s other posts are videos that used artificial intelligence-generated images and baselessly said Trump was resigning because of his vein condition; that Trump met with a body double of Russian President Vladimir Putin; and that Republicans and Democrats had “joined forces to completely block” Trump’s administration.

    Trump’s official presidential schedule wasn’t suddenly suspended. We rate this claim False.

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  • Scottie Scheffler: World No 1 named PGA Tour Player of the Year for second consecutive season

    Scottie Scheffler: World No 1 named PGA Tour Player of the Year for second consecutive season

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    Scottie Scheffler has been voted PGA Tour player of the year over Masters champion Jon Rahm; a new season of golf begins on Thursday with The Sentry – live on Sky Sports Golf from 6pm on Thursday

    Last Updated: 03/01/24 7:54pm

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    Scottie Scheffler explained that he was thankful and relieved to win the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass but added he was very tired following the tournament

    Scottie Scheffler explained that he was thankful and relieved to win the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass but added he was very tired following the tournament

    Scottie Scheffler has been named PGA Tour Player of the Year as he won the Jack Nicklaus Award for a second consecutive year.

    Scheffler is the first player to win Player of the Year honours in back-to-back seasons since Tiger Woods won the award in three straight years from 2005-2007.

    The 27-year-old won twice during the 2022-23 season, successfully defending his title at the WM Phoenix Open and winning The Players Championship by five strokes.

    In 23 starts, Scheffler recorded 13 top-fives and 17 top-10s, both high marks for any player in a single season on the tour since 2005.

    He also set the PGA Tour record for most Official Money earned in a single season at $21,014,342, breaking his own record set last season ($14,046,910).

    The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are determined by a member vote, with PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 official FedExCup events during the 2022-23 season eligible to vote.

    Scheffler received 38 per cent of the vote for the Jack Nicklaus Award and was selected over four other nominees: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.

    Scottie Scheffler sunk a 20ft putt to win the 2023 Players Championship to return to the top of the world rankings

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    Scottie Scheffler sunk a 20ft putt to win the 2023 Players Championship to return to the top of the world rankings

    Scottie Scheffler sunk a 20ft putt to win the 2023 Players Championship to return to the top of the world rankings

    Eric Cole, the only rookie to advance to the 2023 BMW Championship, has been announced as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, receiving the Arnold Palmer Award.

    Cole recorded two runner-up finishes on the season, including the 2023 Cognizant Classic (lost in a play-off) and the 2023 Zozo Championship.

    Cole received 51 per cent of the vote for the Arnold Palmer Award and was selected over three other nominees: Ludvig Åberg, Nico Echavarria and Vincent Norrman.

    New season of golf begins on Thursday

    The 2024 PGA Tour season begins with The Sentry from January 4-7, held on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, Hawaii – live on Sky Sports Golf with the first round starting at 6pm.

    World No 1 Scheffler leads the field which includes Team Europe Ryder Cup stars Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose.

    Watch the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and all of the majors in 2024 exclusively live on Sky Sports. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – just £21 a month for six months.

    Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland

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  • Rory McIlroy concedes ‘mistake’ in being ‘too judgemental’ of initial players who joined LIV Golf

    Rory McIlroy concedes ‘mistake’ in being ‘too judgemental’ of initial players who joined LIV Golf

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    “I was probably judgemental of the guys that went at the start and I think that was a bit of a mistake on my part,” concedes Rory McIlroy; McIlroy hopes “this division” in golf ends soon amid continuing extended talks between established tours and Saudi’s PIF over framework agreement

    Last Updated: 03/01/24 11:42am

    Rory McIlroy has expressed regret at being “too judgemental” on the tranche of players who initially defected to LIV Golf.

    McIlroy, who had been initially outspoken in his criticism of the players who joined the Saudi-funded series in 2022, admitted he “basically went through the last two years with this altruistic approach of looking at the world in the way I’ve wanted to see” but had now “accepted reality” and that LIV is “part of our sport now”.

    “I was probably judgemental of the guys that went at the start and I think that was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realise not everyone’s in my position or in Tiger [Woods]’ position,” McIlroy told the Stick to Football podcast with Sky Bet.

    “You get this offer and what do you do?

    “We all turned professional to make a living playing the sports that we do and I think that’s what I realised over the past two years, I can’t judge people for making that decision.

    “So if I regret anything it was probably being too judgemental at the start.”

    Asked how his relationship was with the players who had switched from the established tours, McIlroy replied: “Most things are cool, the one thing that has bothered me is I think we have all grown up and played on European Tour, PGA Tour and that has given us a platform to turn in to who we have and give us the profile.

    Rory McIlroy say its 'certainly strange' not having Ryder Cup veterans Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter around and it'll really hit them this week.

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    Rory McIlroy say its ‘certainly strange’ not having Ryder Cup veterans Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter around and it’ll really hit them this week.

    Rory McIlroy say its ‘certainly strange’ not having Ryder Cup veterans Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter around and it’ll really hit them this week.

    “So when people have played that for, say, 15 or 20 years and then they jump to LIV and then they just start talking cr** about where they’ve come from, that’s what bothers me because you wouldn’t be in this position if you didn’t have what you had coming up.”

    McIlroy added: “I don’t begrudge anyone for going and taking that money and doing something different but don’t try and burn the place down on your way out.

    “That’s sort of my attitude towards it because some people are happy playing in the existing structure, and that’s totally fine too. But I think it’s just created this division that hopefully will stop in the near future because I think it’s the best thing for golf.”

    Relive Rory McIlroy's two wins, which saw him claim a fifth Race to Dubai title, and his starring role in Europe's Ryder Cup triumph.

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    Relive Rory McIlroy’s two wins, which saw him claim a fifth Race to Dubai title, and his starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.

    Relive Rory McIlroy’s two wins, which saw him claim a fifth Race to Dubai title, and his starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.

    The 34-year-old, a four-time major winner and current world No 2, said he had “never had an offer” from LIV to switch himself.

    “I just didn’t engage,” he added. “At this point I’ve pretty much set my stall out.”

    More to follow…

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  • PGA Tour players to join LIV Golf? Greg Norman on why Jon Rahm’s move will see ‘more apples fall from the tree’

    PGA Tour players to join LIV Golf? Greg Norman on why Jon Rahm’s move will see ‘more apples fall from the tree’

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    Masters champion Jon Rahm will feature in the LIV Golf League from the 2024 season, with the Spaniard since suspended by the PGA Tour; Greg Norman anticipates more players to join the Saudi-backed circuit before the new campaign in February

    Last Updated: 13/12/23 8:16pm

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    Butch Harmon believes Jon Rahm’s departure might increase the urgency of the PGA Tour to form their Framework Agreement with LIV Golf

    Butch Harmon believes Jon Rahm’s departure might increase the urgency of the PGA Tour to form their Framework Agreement with LIV Golf

    LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman believes more PGA Tour players are interested in signing up for the 2024 season after Jon Rahm made his switch to the Saudi-backed circuit.

    Rahm ended weeks of speculation about his golfing future when he committed to LIV Golf in a reported nine-figure deal, with the Masters champion joining a roster already containing multiple major champions.

    The Spaniard has subsequently been suspended by the PGA Tour for moving to LIV Golf, with Norman expecting “more apples falling from the tree” ahead of the new campaign in February.

    Rich Beem gave his reaction to Jon Rahm's dramatic move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf

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    Rich Beem gave his reaction to Jon Rahm’s dramatic move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf

    Rich Beem gave his reaction to Jon Rahm’s dramatic move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf

    “To have Jon [Rahm] on board was critically important to our next steps into the future and what we want to do,” Norman told the BBC’s World Business Report. “It will create a domino effect, there will be more apples falling from the tree – there’s no question about it, because LIV continues to grow and develop.”

    “Since Jon signed, less than a week ago now, I know my phone is blowing up. I know we probably have eight to 12 players who are very, very keen to sit down and talk to us about coming on board. Time will tell. Right now, our roster is very close to being filled but maybe within two or three [players].

    “It tells you the value of what our platform is, where these PGA Tour players see the opportunity that LIV offers. All the guys that play on LIV are just so happy about the decision that they’ve made.

    Sky Sports News' Jamie Weir explains what impact Jon Rahm's move to LIV Golf means for the sport as a whole

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    Sky Sports News’ Jamie Weir explains what impact Jon Rahm’s move to LIV Golf means for the sport as a whole

    Sky Sports News’ Jamie Weir explains what impact Jon Rahm’s move to LIV Golf means for the sport as a whole

    “LIV is a different platform to the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour and the players want to do both quite honestly, so we’ve created something special. It’s a franchise, it’s a team model and they have embraced it 100 per cent.”

    Could LIV move away from 54-hole events?

    Defending individual champion Talor Gooch says “discussions will be had” about expanding the LIV Golf format from 54 to 72 holes.

    Talor Gooch won three LIV Golf League events in 2023

    Talor Gooch won three LIV Golf League events in 2023

    Gooch’s comments follow the circuit’s signing of Rahm, who previously criticised the Saudi-backed league’s format of 54-hole, no-cut events with shotgun starts.

    “We haven’t had an open forum discussion with all the players,” Gooch told Golf Digest. “But you get both sides … guys who would welcome (playing 72 holes) and some guys who are opposed to it. Discussions will be had and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

    “I think LIV Golf was meant to be something different; I think it’s not supposed to be a carbon copy of the rest of professional golf. I lean towards keeping it at 54 holes.

    Former professional golfer Brandel Chamblee believes Jon Rahm's decision to join LIV Golf is motivated by money and says the move is 'short-sighted'

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    Former professional golfer Brandel Chamblee believes Jon Rahm’s decision to join LIV Golf is motivated by money and says the move is ‘short-sighted’

    Former professional golfer Brandel Chamblee believes Jon Rahm’s decision to join LIV Golf is motivated by money and says the move is ‘short-sighted’

    “Part of it, too, from my experience on the PGA Tour, was Thursdays are just irrelevant from a fan perspective (except for) only a couple times a year.”

    Playing only 54 holes was one of the reasons why LIV’s application to receive Official World Golf Ranking points was denied in October, meaning those involved in the league continue to fall down the world rankings and put their qualification status for majors under threat.

    Rahm to stay away from public events

    Rahm said on Wednesday that he has decided to lay low and would avoid public events until February after agreeing to switch to LIV Golf, with the Spaniard surprised to find TV cameras at an event he was attending in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao.

    After Jon Rahm's move to LIV Golf was confirmed, we take a look back at some of his remarks about the rival tour over the past year

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    After Jon Rahm’s move to LIV Golf was confirmed, we take a look back at some of his remarks about the rival tour over the past year

    After Jon Rahm’s move to LIV Golf was confirmed, we take a look back at some of his remarks about the rival tour over the past year

    “I didn’t think there would be any cameras and that it would be a bit more intimate,” Rahm told a select audience at the Sociedad Bilbaina hall, where he was to receive the ‘Dama Bilbaina’ prize in recognition of his sporting career.

    “I am under very strict instructions not to do public events, which I have imposed on myself a little bit for myself, and for the change I have given to the world of golf in the last week,” Rahm said, giving a categorical “No!” when asked if he was planning to give an interview.

    “There will be nothing until February, I’m not allowed to.”

    Former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley says there has been a 'seismic shift' in golf following Jon Rahm's decision to join LIV Golf

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    Former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley says there has been a ‘seismic shift’ in golf following Jon Rahm’s decision to join LIV Golf

    Former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley says there has been a ‘seismic shift’ in golf following Jon Rahm’s decision to join LIV Golf

    PGA Tour members demand information over future plans

    A group of 21 PGA Tour players have employed law firm Susman Godfrey LLP to address a letter to the PGA Tour policy board, demanding more transparency over ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and an outside equity group.

    The PGA Tour said in a memo on Sunday that it is advancing negotiations with the PIF, as a deadline to finalize details from the June 6 framework agreement approaches on December 31, but is also in talks with a consortium of US professional sports owners.

    Rickie Fowler insists he's not affected by Jon Rahm's shock move to LIV Golf, but concedes it's not good for the sport to be divided

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    Rickie Fowler insists he’s not affected by Jon Rahm’s shock move to LIV Golf, but concedes it’s not good for the sport to be divided

    Rickie Fowler insists he’s not affected by Jon Rahm’s shock move to LIV Golf, but concedes it’s not good for the sport to be divided

    With the future of men’s professional golf in the balance, players like Chez Reavie, James Hahn and former Masters champion Danny Willett were among those wanting to know what’s coming.

    “The board has recently received multiple bids by prospective capital partners that will potentially transform how the PGA Tour operates, who controls it, and who owns it,” attorney Jacob Buchdahl wrote.

    “All but a handful of PGA Tour players have been kept entirely in the dark about the prospective transaction, how it will impact them, and what conflicts of interest may impact the decision-makers.

    “We demand full disclosure of the details and analyses of any proposals by prospective capital partners, which should be shared promptly with all tour players.”

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  • PGA Tour confirm Jon Rahm’s indefinite suspension as Masters champion removed from FedEx Cup eligibility list

    PGA Tour confirm Jon Rahm’s indefinite suspension as Masters champion removed from FedEx Cup eligibility list

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    PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in memo to players: “In accordance with the PGA Tour Tournament Regulations, Jon Rahm has been notified he is suspended and no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play due to his association with a series of unauthorised tournaments”

    Last Updated: 12/12/23 9:31am

    Jon Rahm has been suspended from all PGA Tour tournament play and removed from the FedEx Cup eligibility points list

    The PGA Tour has notified Jon Rahm he has been suspended indefinitely for signing with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, a move which sees him removed from the FedEx Cup eligibility points list.

    After weeks of speculation, Rahm confirmed on Thursday that he had signed for LIV Golf in a deal understood to be worth up to £450m.

    Rahm himself had stated an intention to retain his PGA Tour membership, but as has been the approach since the inaugural LIV event in June 2022, each member to join the rival circuit has been banned, with Rahm the latest despite golf’s potential merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi’s PIF.

    Rahm, a former critic of LIV, will be the highest-ranked player to join the league, with the world No 3 enjoying an impressive 2023 that saw him win four times on the PGA Tour – including victory at The Masters – and be part of Europe’s successful Ryder Cup team.

    “As you will recall, last year we communicated our commitment to ensure that suspended members do not negatively impact other players’ tournament eligibility, position on the Priority Rankings or eligibility to compete in the Players and Signature Events,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a memo to players.

    After Rahm's move to LIV Golf was confirmed, we take a look back at some of his remarks about the rival tour over the past year

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    After Rahm’s move to LIV Golf was confirmed, we take a look back at some of his remarks about the rival tour over the past year

    After Rahm’s move to LIV Golf was confirmed, we take a look back at some of his remarks about the rival tour over the past year

    “Consequently the Policy Board established a new ranking – called the ‘FedEx Cup Playoffs & Eligibility Points List’ – that removes players who are under suspension for their participation in an unauthorised tournament or their association with a series of unauthorised tournaments from the FedEx Cup Points List.

    “In accordance with the PGA Tour Tournament Regulations, Jon Rahm has been notified that he is suspended and no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play due to his association with a series of unauthorised tournaments.”

    Mackenzie Hughes and Carl Yuan are the immediate beneficiaries of Rahm’s decision to sign with the rival league.

    PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan released a memo to players confirming Rahm's suspension

    PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan released a memo to players confirming Rahm’s suspension

    Hughes goes from No 51 to No 50, and now is eligible for all seven of the $20m signature events in 2024. It also means Yuan, who was signed up for Q-school this week, moves up one spot to No 125 and has a full PGA Tour card for next year.

    The tour last year distinguished between the FedEx Cup standings and a separate list related to eligibility for the postseason and for status. The distinction was so players defecting to LIV would not have a negative impact on those who stayed behind.

    Among those who benefited last year were Rickie Fowler, who got into the postseason because of all the players who left for LIV; and Jimmy Walker and Rory Sabbatini, who moved up on the career money list and were able to use one-time exemptions to keep full status.

    Butch Harmon believes Rahm's departure might increase the urgency of the PGA Tour to form a merger with LIV Golf

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    Butch Harmon believes Rahm’s departure might increase the urgency of the PGA Tour to form a merger with LIV Golf

    Butch Harmon believes Rahm’s departure might increase the urgency of the PGA Tour to form a merger with LIV Golf

    This year, Hughes narrowly missed out on the top 50. He kept his 51st position through the autumn, which only would have guaranteed him spots in the first two $20m events. Now the Canadian can count on the likes of the Wells Fargo Championship in his home residence of Charlotte, North Carolina.

    Social media had been buzzing about the possibility of Tony Finau – he and Rahm are close friends – also leaving for LIV. Finau took to Instagram on Monday and said he was “looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour”.

    Rich Beem gave his reaction to Rahm's dramatic move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf

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    Rich Beem gave his reaction to Rahm’s dramatic move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf

    Rich Beem gave his reaction to Rahm’s dramatic move from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf

    “See y’all in Maui!” he concluded, adding the hash tag, “#imnotleaving.”

    Monahan also said in the memo that the policy board and management recently met with a group of players upset that signature events will offer disproportionately more FedEx Cup points than the other events, leading to concerns it will be difficult for players outside the top 50 to fairly compete.

    Monahan said the board will review how the new system is working in June and evaluate whether changes are in order for 2025.

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  • Camilo Villegas: PGA Tour golfer reflects on life’s ups and downs after ending nine-year title drought

    Camilo Villegas: PGA Tour golfer reflects on life’s ups and downs after ending nine-year title drought

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    Camilo Villegas recently broke a nine-year title drought and shares his journey which includes the passing of his daughter, Mia, in 2020 and why he has the words ‘attitude’ and ‘positive energy’ as tattoos; Watch every PGA Tour event live on Sky Sports Golf in 2024

    Last Updated: 05/12/23 1:00pm

    Camilo Villegas reflects on the ups and downs of life on and off the golf course following his recent Butterfield Bermuda Championship win

    I enjoyed two very special weeks in November where I finished runner-up in the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico and then went on to win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

    It’s been a real journey, and life is a journey where it goes up and down. You’ve got to go back to that Colombian kid who came to the US with a dream, played college golf, played the Korn Ferry Tour in 2005 and then everything kicked off on the PGA Tour and I managed to win a couple of FedExCup Playoffs events in 2008.

    You would think that kid was on top of the world – and I was at a point in time. I was feeling pretty good from a performance point of view.

    After claiming his first victory in nine years, Camilo Villegas shared why his win in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship was such an emotional moment for him.

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    After claiming his first victory in nine years, Camilo Villegas shared why his win in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship was such an emotional moment for him.

    After claiming his first victory in nine years, Camilo Villegas shared why his win in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship was such an emotional moment for him.

    But as I look at where I am now and everything that has happened, I believe I’m a better person. Maybe the results haven’t been there but this journey has been interesting.

    To lose my PGA Tour card, to go through an injury, to lose my baby daughter in 2020, to create Mia’s Miracles (a charitable initiative to help others facing challenges), to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour, to keep grinding, to have doubts, to have fears, to have tears, have smiles – you just never know where life takes you.

    Despite all the doubts, I never stopped waking up early, 5-5.30am, in the morning to do what I like to do because in all honesty, the cool thing about those two weeks is not so much the results but the process and what’s been behind those results.

    As much as I enjoy reflecting on my win and the energy that I have received from the world of golf and those outside of golf, trust me, it’s been unbelievable. I had 900 messages on my phone and I’m going to reply to all of them.

    To lose my PGA Tour card, to go through an injury, to lose my baby daughter in 2020, to create Mia’s Miracles, to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour, to keep grinding, to have doubts, to have fears, to have tears, have smiles – you just never know where life takes you.

    Camilo Villegas

    It’s unbelievable to be honest. You kind of stop believing after nine years but I never stopped waking up early and putting in the work. You’ve got to keep a path and keep your mind to where it needs to be. I’m a hard worker and I love having a purpose every morning and that’s kind of what I did.

    I’ve got tattoos on my arms which says ‘attitude’ and ‘positive energy’ and sometimes, I forget to look at them. There are a lot of things you can’t control in life, but I guess these two, you can.

    You’ve got to have good attitude in life, and it’s easier said than done at times. And energy, you can bring the energy not only to yourself but to the people around you and that’s something we all should strive for.

    There were bumps but that’s life. I wish my little Mia is here with us but she’s not and she’s truly in a better place after a long battle that she wasn’t going to win.

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    I accepted that. We turned that tragedy into something very positive with Mia’s Miracles. My wife reads messages from people we help on Mia’s Miracles every week and I go, ‘Man, if Mia was here, we wouldn’t be able to do this’.

    At the beginning of the year, things were not going great and I made a little swing change. I’ve never been too excited about big swing changes but I trusted the guy I started working with, Jose Campra, and he told me he needed a year. I’m glad it took less than that, as here we are with a trophy.

    Interestingly, I never felt so comfortable being in contention during those two weeks. It’s weird, even strange. When I was in contention back in the day, I didn’t have this calmness.

    I’ve got to analyse what happened and try to replicate it more often. I was good at reacting to missed putts or lip-outs, which I’m not used to being like that before. There was a calmness in me.

    Highlights from the fourth round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course, Bermuda.

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    Highlights from the fourth round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course, Bermuda.

    Highlights from the fourth round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course, Bermuda.

    It was nice to have the Latin players come out to celebrate with me on the 18th green. I guess it was also payback as I sprayed Nico Echavarria with champagne when he won the Puerto Rico Open and he got me back. It’s great as it’s two wins for two Colombians this year, both guys growing up on the same golf course in Medellin.

    I tell my wife all the time that if we do things in the right way, people will look at you in a positive way and respect you. I think that’s what I try to do. I enjoy being around the younger generation and sharing what I’ve lived.

    Life is about experiences. You get good and bad ones and you try to learn from both. I was young once too and I had guys who helped me throughout my career.

    I always want to accomplish more but I’m at peace with what I’ve accomplished already. It’s all about sharing it with others, especially the Latin kids who represent our region and grow the game of golf in South America.

    Watch every event of the 2024 PGA Tour season and all of the majors exclusively live on Sky Sports. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more with NOW.

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  • Tigers Woods focused on golf merger talks amid Jon Rahm-LIV rumours

    Tigers Woods focused on golf merger talks amid Jon Rahm-LIV rumours

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    Jon Rahm reportedly considering LIV offer of around $600m; USA pair Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele two more names that have been tied to LIV rumours; Woods: “Hypothetically would it surprise me? Yes, but there’s so many different things that have happened”

    Last Updated: 02/12/23 12:04am

    Jon Rahm has been linked with a move to LIV, with Tiger Woods saying the rumours ‘surprise’ him

    Tiger Woods says he would be surprised if rumours that several big-name players are on the verge of signing with LIV Golf prove to be true.

    Some media reports have suggested Jon Rahm, the reigning Masters champion and world’s No 3-ranked player, is weighing an offer of around $600m to sign with the Saudi-backed league. United States Ryder Cup stalwarts Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are two more names that have been tied to LIV rumours.

    Without being asked about specific players, Woods was asked if the rumours surprise him.

    “Hypothetically would it surprise me? Yes, but there’s so many different things that have happened in the last 48 hours, but also in the last few weeks,” Woods said after his second round at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. “Things have changed and will continue to change.”

    PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this week that a December 31 deadline to finalise an agreement with the Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour remains “a firm target”.

    “Our deadline’s coming up here soon, so there’s a lot of moving parts,” Woods said. “A lot of different things are happening very quickly because we know, you know, I think today’s the first day in December. We don’t have a whole lot of time.”

    Woods, who had no knowledge of the framework agreement at the time of the announcement in June, has since joined the PGA Tour’s Policy Board as a player director. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy left the board and was recently replaced by Jordan Spieth.

    Woods instead preferred to focus on the upcoming deadline for golf's merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF

    Woods instead preferred to focus on the upcoming deadline for golf’s merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF

    Spieth, who is tied for the lead at Albany Golf Club, acknowledged that losing Rahm to LIV would be a big blow to the PGA Tour.

    “I’m not sure specifically how it would impact those negotiations, but all in all, Jon Rahm is one of the biggest assets that we have on the PGA Tour,” he said.

    “So it would be really not very good for us in general because we want to play against the best players in the world and that’s what Jon is.

    “I know there’s been some guys that have talked to him. I know he’s maybe weighing some decisions, maybe not. I really don’t know, so I don’t want to insult him and say he’s weighing decisions if he already knows he’s not or he is. You know, that’s somewhat out of my control in a way.

    “Obviously, I could speak probably on behalf of 200-plus PGA Tour players in saying that we really hope that he’s continuing with us.”

    Jordan Spieth, who has joined the PGA Tour's Policy Board as a player director, says Rahm moving to LIV would 'really not be very good'

    Jordan Spieth, who has joined the PGA Tour’s Policy Board as a player director, says Rahm moving to LIV would ‘really not be very good’

    Scottie Scheffler said this week that he’s “extremely grateful” for Woods’ involvement, and the world’s No 1-ranked player is in the Bahamas competing in his first stroke play event since the Tour Championship. Noticeably absent, however, are Rahm, Cantlay and Schauffele.

    Rahm did not commit to this year’s event, while Cantlay and Schauffele withdrew last month, further fueling speculation they may join LIV.

    Rahm also recently pulled out of the Woods and McIlroy backed TGL, citing the time commitment, although the league has since delayed its debut until 2025 after the roof of its facility collapsed and caused damage. Cantlay and Schauffele are among the marquee players who had committed to the league.

    While acknowledging the rumours swirling, Woods sidestepped a second question about whether he’d be surprised by more marquee defections to LIV.

    “Nothing has really surprised me other than the fact that there’s so many different things that have happened so fast,” he said. “That’s one of the things that all of our – all of us as player-directors we’ve been working on, just that everything is now at a time crunch.

    “It’s 24 hours a day just trying to figure it out.”

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  • When is the next Ryder Cup? All you need to know ahead of 2025 contest between USA and Europe

    When is the next Ryder Cup? All you need to know ahead of 2025 contest between USA and Europe

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    Luke Donald has been announced as Europe’s next Ryder Cup captain, while Team USA have yet to reveal who will lead their side; Europe claimed a 16.5-11.5 victory in the 2023 contest in Rome; Watch the 2025 Ryder Cup exclusively live on Sky Sports Golf

    Last Updated: 29/11/23 12:58pm

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    The best of the action from day three of the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy.

    The best of the action from day three of the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy.

    When is the next Ryder Cup? Which course is hosting? Who could feature for Team Europe? We look at the key questions ahead of the 2025 contest, live on Sky Sports…

    When is the Ryder Cup?

    The next edition will take place from September 26-28, 2025.

    The biennial contest switched back to odd-numbered years from 2023, having been postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and taking place the following year.

    Take a look at the best fancy dress from the Ryder Cup weekend with dinosaurs, astronauts, hot dogs and more!

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    Take a look at the best fancy dress from the Ryder Cup weekend with dinosaurs, astronauts, hot dogs and more!

    Take a look at the best fancy dress from the Ryder Cup weekend with dinosaurs, astronauts, hot dogs and more!

    Where is the Ryder Cup?

    The 2025 edition will be held on the Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York. The venue has previously hosted the US Open twice and was also where the 2019 PGA Championship was held.

    The public course has a warning sign at the first tee that reads: “The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers.”

    Tommy Fleetwood secured a point for Team Europe in his singles match against Rickie Fowler at the Ryder Cup, with an incredible tee shot at the par-4 16th hole at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome.

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    Tommy Fleetwood secured a point for Team Europe in his singles match against Rickie Fowler at the Ryder Cup, with an incredible tee shot at the par-4 16th hole at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome.

    Tommy Fleetwood secured a point for Team Europe in his singles match against Rickie Fowler at the Ryder Cup, with an incredible tee shot at the par-4 16th hole at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome.

    The 2027 contest will be played at Adare Manor in Ireland and the 2029 edition will take place at Hazeltine National Golf Club, having previously hosted the 2016 event. The 2031 venue has yet to be confirmed.

    Who are the current holders?

    Europe will enter as defending champions after a brilliant 16.5-11.5 victory in Rome. Rory McIlroy top-scored for the hosts that week with four points from five matches, while Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm both enjoyed unbeaten weeks.

    Team Europe took their celebrations onto the team bus after their thrilling Ryder Cup victory over the USA in Rome.

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    Team Europe took their celebrations onto the team bus after their thrilling Ryder Cup victory over the USA in Rome.

    Team Europe took their celebrations onto the team bus after their thrilling Ryder Cup victory over the USA in Rome.

    Team USA won their last home Ryder Cup by a record-breaking margin in 2021, giving them back-to-back home victories for the first time since the 1980s.

    Who will captain Team Europe?

    Former world No 1 Luke Donald will serve as Europe’s captain for a second time, having led Europe to victory in Rome. Donald won all four Ryder Cups he played in and served as a vice-captain for two editions.

    It’s the first time someone has been captain for back-to-back Ryder Cups since Bernard Gallacher held the role for three consecutive editions in the 1990s.

    A closer look at the man who will captain Team Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup

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    A closer look at the man who will captain Team Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup

    A closer look at the man who will captain Team Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup

    Who will captain Team USA?

    The PGA of America have yet to reveal who will captain Team USA in 2025, with announcement expected over the coming months.

    Tiger Woods is currently favourite for the role, having acted as a vice-captain during USA’s victory in 2016 and a playing-captain for the 2019 Presidents Cup win. Stewart Cink, a five-time Ryder Cup player and a vice-captain in 2023, is also a candidate.

    Two-time Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III has suggested that he aims to talk Tiger Woods in to becoming the next captain for 2025.

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    Two-time Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III has suggested that he aims to talk Tiger Woods in to becoming the next captain for 2025.

    Two-time Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III has suggested that he aims to talk Tiger Woods in to becoming the next captain for 2025.

    Zach Johnson was the captain in Rome and would be the first American player to captain in successive Ryder Cups since Ben Hogan in 1949, while former vice-captain and four-time Ryder Cup player Matt Kuchar is another possibility.

    How much does home advantage count?

    Europe have won the last seven home editions of the Ryder Cup, while Team USA have enjoyed dominant victories the last two occasions it has been played in America. The last five editions have also seen a winning margin of five points or more.

    The last away victory from either team came in 2012, when Europe produced their historic final-day comeback to win the ‘Miracle at Medinah’, while McIlroy wants to another victory on American soil in 2025.

    Can Europe follow their 2023 success with another in 2025?

    Can Europe follow their 2023 success with another in 2025?

    McIlroy said: ‘I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup. And that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”

    How do players qualify and can LIV players feature?

    The qualification process has yet to be announced, although both teams elected to have six automatic qualifiers and six captains picks for the 2023 edition.

    Team Europe had three qualifiers from European Points List and three eligible players from the World Points List after a year-long qualification campaign, while the top six players on the USA Ryder Cup points list automatically qualified.

    Tommy Fleetwood's brilliance saw him beat Rickie Fowler 3&1 as he earnt the winning point to ensure Europe regained the Ryder Cup in Rome.

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    Tommy Fleetwood’s brilliance saw him beat Rickie Fowler 3&1 as he earnt the winning point to ensure Europe regained the Ryder Cup in Rome.

    Tommy Fleetwood’s brilliance saw him beat Rickie Fowler 3&1 as he earnt the winning point to ensure Europe regained the Ryder Cup in Rome.

    Players must currently be DP World Tour members to be eligible to feature for Team Europe, which would rule out some of those who joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League.

    Who could play for Europe?

    McIlroy will be a shoo-in to make an eighth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance, with Rahm and Viktor Hovland likely to play big roles for Team Europe once again.

    Rory McIlroy headed into Sunday Singles fired up and puts on an impressive performance, winning 3&1 against Sam Burns.

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    Rory McIlroy headed into Sunday Singles fired up and puts on an impressive performance, winning 3&1 against Sam Burns.

    Rory McIlroy headed into Sunday Singles fired up and puts on an impressive performance, winning 3&1 against Sam Burns.

    It would be no surprise to see Ludvig Åberg in action, having impressed on debut in 2023, while the likes of Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick and Shane Lowry will be looking to feature once again.

    What team golf is there before then?

    Team USA will have the chance to extend their winning streak in the Presidents Cup next year, as Jim Furyk captains them against Mike Weir’s International Team at Royal Montreal Golf Club from September 26-29. The Americans have won 12 of the previous 14 editions of the biennial contest, losing just once.

    Next year also sees the latest edition of the Solheim Cup, having switched back to even-numbered years to avoid clashing with the Ryder Cup. Suzann Pettersen will lead Team Europe against Stacy Lewis’ Team USA at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia from September 13-15.

    How can I watch the next Ryder Cup?

    Sky Sports will continue to be the home of the Ryder Cup, with all three days of the 2025 exclusively live. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more with NOW.

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  • New Disney Movie Wish Could Have Big Ramifications For Kingdom Hearts

    New Disney Movie Wish Could Have Big Ramifications For Kingdom Hearts

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    Wish, the 62nd film released by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is a bad movie. The film is meant to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary, but instead, its incoherent story and reliance on millennial cliches for cheap jokes come off like it was fed into an AI generator and spat out onto the big screen. And the music, always a staple in Disney films, has some really lovely parts that are sadly weighed down by terrible lyrics.

    The Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History

    Overall, Wish is a hot mess, but for Kingdom Hearts fans, its core premise could have significant implications for Square Enix’s Disney and Final Fantasy crossover—that is, if Tetsuya Nomura and friends decide to incorporate it into future Kingdom Hearts games.

    What is Wish about?

    Wish is set in the kingdom of Rosas, where King Magnifico, a sorcerer with the power to grant wishes given to him by the common folk, hoards wishes as magical orbs and refuses to grant ones he doesn’t believe will be good for the kingdom. When a citizen turns 18, they give Magnifico their wish for “safekeeping” in his study until the day he decides to grant it. While he might believe himself righteous, as protagonist Asha points out, Magnifico has created a system in which he controls the fate of everyone in Rosas, rendering the townsfolk hopeless as they wait for their wishes to be granted. As the film progresses, the king’s true nature as an egomaniacal bastard becomes apparent and Asha leads a rebellion against his tyranny.

    But what does this have to do with Kingdom Hearts? As Asha learns more about the wishes in Magnifico’s clutches, it becomes clear that some of these wishes have to do with events that lead into various Disney movies. One Rosas civilian wants to fly, wears a green tunic, and is named Peter like Peter Pan. Valentino, Asha’s pet goat who gains the ability to speak because of magical shenanigans, wishes for a place where all mammals live equally, referencing the idyllic vision of 2016’s Zootopia. Asha herself becomes a Fairy Godmother and dons a cloak similar to the character from Cinderella.

    Disney

    There are other references, like Asha’s group of friends all dressing and acting similarly to the seven dwarves from Snow White. And when Magnifico is defeated, he’s trapped in a mirror, basically becoming the Magic Mirror from the same movie. There’s even a split-second frame in which his face is outlined to look like the mask that inhabits the mirror in the 1937 film.

    What does Wish mean for Kingdom Hearts’ Disney universe?

    All of this (and the 90 minutes of other Disney movie references) is part of the purpose of Wish—to celebrate Disney’s history—but there’s a larger implication here: Rosas is the center of a connected Disney universe. According to co-directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, as well as co-writer Jennifer Lee, Wish isn’t hardwired as a multiverse launch pad, but it does imply characters like Peter Pan, places like Zootopia, and songs like “When You Wish Upon A Star” are the dreams of the citizens of Rosas. Prior to this, Disney has featured the occasional crossover detail before, like Frozen featuring characters from Tangled in a crowd shot, which Disney has mostly acknowledged as cute nods. But Wish makes an entire plot point out of Disney’s most beloved characters and worlds having an inception within its kingdom.

    This raises questions as to how that world would function in a potential Kingdom Hearts’ crossover. Will Kingdom Hearts play with the abstract ideas Wish hints at? In Square Enix’s RPG series, protagonist Sora and his friends Donald and Goofy travel to various Disney worlds on a spaceship. But before these worlds were separated, they originated from Scala ad Caelum, which featured heavily in Kingdom Hearts Union χ and in the final section of Kingdom Hearts III.

    Artwork of Scala ad Caelum.

    Image: Square Enix / Kingdom Hearts wiki

    Incorporating Wish and Rosas into Kingdom Hearts’ world would require a great deal of retconning, as Square Enix has already been building out its own connected lore for 20 years. It’s unclear if it will even have to reckon with it anytime soon given Kingdom Hearts IV has been in development concurrently alongside the movie, and Disney began work on Wish in 2018, a year before Kingdom Hearts III launched. While we don’t know what Disney worlds will appear in the next game, we can reasonably assume Disney and Square have been talking about Kingdom Hearts IV while Wish was in production.

    Kingdom Hearts has released plenty of prequels and midquels in between its numbered entries that help recontextualize story beats or fill in gaps, but Scala ad Caelum’s place as the root of Kingdom Hearts’ Disney crossover is pretty well-established. So it might just be easier for Square Enix to ignore Rosas and Wish’s Disney cinematic universe entirely. However, the series is no stranger to tweaking characters, worlds, and relationships to fit its own narrative. On top of weaving the existence of the shadow-like enemy Heartless into Disney movie plots, Kingdom Hearts has continued to fold new movies into its storytelling.

    The first game made the Seven Princesses of Heart (which included Alice, Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, and Aurora) into a unified, magical force that affected the entire known Kingdom Hearts universe. Kingdom Hearts III made sure to add newcomers Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa as part of the New Seven Hearts meant to take up the mantle. So Rosas could realistically be molded to fit the needs of a new story arc—perhaps it could be the origin point of the new worlds Sora will explore in Kingdom Hearts IV, further explaining the expanding lore without stepping on the toes of the story the series told before.

    Sora, Donald, and Goofy stand below Arendelle's pink sky.

    Image: Disney

    Wish attempts what Kingdom Hearts pulled off over 20 years ago

    Kingdom Hearts’ interconnected Disney universe was a pretty novel idea back in 2002 when the first game was released. But nowadays, crossovers are so common they’re having diminishing returns. Take a look at recent Marvel Cinematic Universe box office numbers and you’ll see people are less infatuated with the concept of everything they watch and play weaving into one another. A shared Disney universe is a core theme in newer games like Disney Dreamlight Valley and Disney Mirrorverse, but Kingdom Hearts is one of the few examples where those worlds feel cleverly woven into each other, rather than thrown together in a disconnected pocket dimension. Now that Wish is at least toying with the idea of Rosas as the source of characters and ideas seen in previous Disney films, Kingdom Hearts is in an interesting position. It has to either reckon with one of the movies it may feature eating its lunch—albeit with its hands instead of a perfectly good fork and knife and just generally making a mess of the table—or find a way to wiggle out of the bind it’s put the series in.

    I do wonder if, given Wish’s middling reception and box office performance, Square Enix might opt not to touch the movie or its characters at all, as it would complicate things in ways that are probably not worth the trouble. But Kingdom Hearts has put some mid-ass Disney movies in its games in one way or another, so who knows? Yes, I’m looking at you, Chicken Little. In the meantime, let’s hope whatever Disney is cooking for 2024 doesn’t read like it was written by ChatGPT.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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