Today’s notice: A foreign affairs test awaits Trump in New York. The anti-corruption script coming to your TV. How U.S. policies are affecting Germany’s right turn. And: Farm country ain’t happy with Trump.
THE LATEST
Ahead of Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations this week, the president posted an image of himself peering over a globe that includes Greenland and the Arctic Circle but with his gaze seemingly centered on Europe. “His Hemisphere,” the text over the image reads, as though he is staking a claim to the northern half of the world.
It was apropos, perhaps, to the moment as the world awaits Trump’s actions on a host of Earth-defining crises, including the war in Iran, the 4-year-old Russia-Ukraine war, ballistic missiles just launched from North Korea and a friendly visit from the leader of China to Washington while the two superpowers continue to grapple economically, especially in an AI race.
Trending
As nearly 130 world leaders assemble in New York for this week’s U.N. General Assembly, Trump has the chance to lay out his foreign policy agenda at a uniquely frustrating period in his second term. A senior U.S. official said the president plans to highlight the “peace deals that he has driven to conclusion or is in the process of driving to conclusion,” as well as many issues “frankly neglected by past administrations.”
Topping the list: Iran. Over the weekend, the president questioned when it was time to “blow the entire nation up” but also expressed willingness to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian while at the U.N.
Trump speaks Tuesday, and will also hold face-to-face meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, the heads of state for U.S. allies in the Middle East and the person Trump calls the “communist” leader of New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
One foreign leader will get his own high-profile summit with Trump. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump will be back in Washington on Wednesday with an arrival ceremony, a state dinner Thursday and a tour of the National Archives on the schedule.
More: Trump Says His Planned Arch Would Also Become a ‘Military Complex’ • Trump Pledges to Appoint an ‘AI Czar’ as He Defends the Technology • Trump Says U.S. Will Have ‘Permanent Control’ Over Military Presence In Greenland
Open tabs:
- Trump asked budget chief to draft order bringing health research funding under his control (Politico)
- Secret contracts reveal undisclosed terms in Trump’s drug-pricing deals (WaPo)
- Trump Ramps Up Bid to Dismantle International Criminal Court (WSJ)
- How President Trump Broke the Kennedy Center (NYT)
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
Or more accurately, from outside the White House: MS NOW hosted live shots on the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday after the network’s team was barred from entering the Northwest Gate, as were journalists from Politico and CNN. Trump threatened to add more outlets to his banned list, including The Washington Post and The New York Times.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said on ABC’s “This Week” that he didn’t know why the president blocked the outlets but touted Trump as the most open-to-the-press president on record. When pressed on whether the ban violated the Constitution, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”— multiple times — that he believes “the press has an obligation to report fairly” and he doesn’t think it will have an impact on the coming midterms.
The president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, Fox News’ Jacqui Henrich, talked yesterday with her predecessor, CBS News’ Weijia Jiang.
“Let’s be very clear: It is an absolute privilege to cover the White House and the president, and we don’t take that for granted,” Jiang said. “But when you start selecting who’s allowed to do that, the viewpoint shrinks.”
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Everyone’s running against corruption: It’s becoming the central line of attack in the 2026 midterms, The Sun’s Elena Schneider and Alex Roarty report, with both parties and their allies spending millions on ads employing the topic as their main cudgel.
The ads follow a similar script: Costs are rising because the opposing politician is taking donations from special interests, which then receive the green light to raise prices on utilities, health care, etc., etc., while the politician turns a blind eye, Elena and Alex write. Democrats generally don’t name-check Trump in their ads. (We explored one reason why last year.) Republican spots are designed to do this: “Your job is to remind Republican voters, who are depressed in these red districts and states, that these candidates are unacceptable alternatives,” GOP pollster Robert Blizzard said.
First on The Sun: mobilizing natural disaster survivors. Tides, a progressive mega-spending group, is funding a new nationwide effort aimed at mobilizing voters in states affected by recent deadly weather events as scientists say human-caused climate change is making extreme weather more common. The nonprofit Extreme Weather Survivors launches the push today, and plans to hold events in states affected by extreme weather: North Carolina, Texas, Colorado and California, according to a release shared with The Sun. The goal is to “engage and motivate survivors of disasters ahead of the midterm election.”
FROM GERMANY
Facing recession from U.S. policy choices: Trump’s tariffs and the energy price spikes caused by the war in Iran are battering Europe’s most powerful economy, The Sun’s Daniella Diaz reports from Berlin. German companies are also falling behind their Chinese competitors, and the stagnant economy is spurring German voters to turn toward far-right parties, Daniella writes. The German government is trying to adapt, but is limited in what it can do because of the nation’s dependence on American markets. “Europe must become economically more independent,” Rolf J. Langhammer, a researcher at the Kiel Institute, told The Sun.
FROM THE REDISTRICTING WARS
After the new lines: “I think they made a miscalculation about what the impact of them doing this actually will mean for them.” That’s the take from Ashley Shelton, a Louisiana organizer focused on Black voters, about Republican lawmakers in the state who successfully redrew district lines after the Supreme Court’s Callais decision. The Sun’s Adora Brown reports on efforts across the redistricted South to drive up Black turnout in protest, and make the new gerrymandered seats less of a foregone conclusion.
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
Farmers’ beef with Trump: Farmers and the Republicans who represent most of farm country in Congress are increasingly vocal in their frustration with White House moves to import foreign beef and continue with tariffs that affect the export markets they rely on. The Sun’s Tyler Spence takes a deep dive into the political fallout in places Republicans generally count on in statewide contests. “Rural Americans are feeling the pinch just like everybody else is,” a Republican insider said. “Anytime you raise the cost of goods, that’s a bad thing, and so it’s going to have an impact on voter apathy or voter excitement.”
Some doubt this is a situation Democrats can actually take advantage of. The party’s standing in these parts of the country remains not great. “They call the Democratic Party the big tent party,” Nicholas Jacobs, a Colby College professor who is an expert on rural politics, told Tyler. “Sometimes I wonder if there’s still room for rural people in that big tent.”
More: Activists Rally to Reopen Kennedy Center As Its Future Remains Uncertain • An ICE Shooting Wounds a Man in Austin, Texas • The NRSC’s Spending Surges for Key Midterm Races
NOT US
- The Company Trump Can’t Ignore, by Sophia Cai and Cheyenne Haslett for Politico
- On the Shores of Trump’s Lake America, It’s Still Lake Ontario, by Maya Davis for The Wall Street Journal
- Trump’s Census Proposal Could Cut House Seats From Red States, by Jeff Adelson and Albert Sun for The New York Times
- How the surging cost of going out is changing American life, by Julie Z. Weil and Miriam Waldvogel for The Washington Post
WEEK AHEAD
Today
Trump heads to New York City for the U.N. General Assembly and meets with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
JD Vance visits North Carolina.
Tuesday
Kamala Harris campaigns with Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
Wednesday
President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington.
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee holds a hearing on Flock cameras and AI surveillance.
Thursday
Trump hosts a state dinner for Xi.
The Senate HELP Committee holds a hearing to consider Heidi Overton’s nomination to be FDA commissioner.
Saturday
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito speaks at Pepperdine Law School in Malibu and Justice Brett Kavanaugh speaks at the St. Thomas More Society dinner in Dallas.
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr, Nikie Johnson and Gaby Morera Di Núbila.
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