With his tax agenda finally passed, President Donald Trump has turned back to his true passion: making America poorer and more geopolitically isolated for no good reason. Last week, he threatened 25 of America’s trading partners with punishing tariffs, unless they present him with an agreeable trade deal by August 1. These represent a modified […]

Late on Monday night, July 14, 2025, the ninth richest man in the world broke some momentous news: The US government would allow him, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, to sell H20 processors to Chinese customers again. To people following the Trump administration and its seemingly unending announcements and reversals of trade restrictions, this might not […]

A truism about stories (courtesy, more or less, of the novelist John Gardner) is that there are only two plots: A person goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town. The joke is that they’re the same story, from two different perspectives. In the first half of 2025, I’ve found that my favorite […]

In the wake of the record-breaking wildfires in Los Angeles in January — some of the most expensive and destructive blazes in history — one of the first things California Gov. Gavin Newsom did was to sign an executive order suspending environmental rules around rebuilding.  The idea was that by waiving permitting regulations and reviews […]

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: Donald Trump announced a new plan to get American weapons into Ukrainian hands on Monday, as his patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be […]