What strikes me most this week is not the number of broken norms, but the nature of what Trump is getting away with. This week he assumed control of the nation’s capital; ordered a mid-decade census amid mid-decade gerrymandering; shook up the way the federal government collects job data; and unilaterally imposed an export tax on two U.S. chip companies that amounted to extortion. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal Editorial Board noted that Trump was “expanding the long arm of the state into more of the private economy,” and mused, “Will any Republican object? Alas, probably not.”

Exactly. That is what stands out this week: that in the first and now second regimes, Trump kept and keeps pushing boundaries, again and again, until he met or meets pushback or resistance. Problem is, he is now not facing either.

Instead we are increasingly confronted with two sets of truths. Not only in Trump’s efforts to rewrite history, like the altered Smithsonian exhibit on impeachment in Week 39 (this week it was switched back…kinda), but also two sets of data. This is a hallmark of authoritarians throughout history as well: when the numbers don’t go your way, change the numbers to make them match your version of the truth.

Trump completely invented data in his power grab of the nation’s capital, taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department and mobilizing 800 National Guard troops, over a supposed emergency. Data from both the FBI and Metropolitan Police showed the exact opposite of what Trump claimed: that crime is actually falling and at a 30-year low. Why now? This shiny coin feeds the base and allows Trump to drive the narrative of what the media covers.

And that’s the point to much of what he does. You will notice what we are discussing a lot less this week: the Epstein files. This is an issue that united Americans across party line, release the files! In Trump’s manufactured chaos we’re also not talking about his low approval ratings on handling key issues like the economy, immigration, and foreign policy. Instead, he has once again regained control of the narrative with his manufactured chaos, and is increasingly acting more like a king than an elected official.

Noteworthy this week is that several of the most important stories received little media coverage and attention. Part of this is the continued gutting of U.S. journalism, not only in our public broadcasting, but also in mastheads taken private by billionaires. For example, the Washington Post, an important source of breaking stories about the first Trump regime, has been rendered a shell of itself by owner Jeff Bezos. We are also being continually bombarded with news and crazy antics, even in the slow summer month of August with Congress on recess. At times, the Trump regime seems to float lawless ideas, until the media catches wind, reports on it, and then suddenly the moves are reversed. That happened twice this week.

Trump has still largely maintained his ability to drive the news cycle, throwing shiny coins to distract from what he is getting away with. The exception being the Epstein files, which continue to dog him, and to be one of the few issues on which Americans across the political spectrum can agree, albeit for vastly different reasons. Trump is very purposefully trying to distract from the Epstein files, with his Justice Department convening a grand jury investigation of the Obama administration, without any clear charges. Notably, he has already investigated the so-called ‘Russia Hoax’ (recall, John Durham), and Congressional committees have been here as well.

Alarming stories this week related to not only the economy, of which Trump has assumed unilateral control with his trade war, but also with the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over a report showing the impacts of his first months in office. The firing follows the playbook of authoritarian leaders, Trump being one, who dismiss data they don’t like as scams or hoaxes. Trump also ordered Texas Republicans to redistrict their Congressional seats, another broken norm happening mid-decade, setting off a gerrymander war, that even the conservative WSJ Editorial Board referred to as “mutual assured political destruction.”

The stories not getting enough coverage, but of great import, include Trump’s DOJ and CFTC quietly closing their investigations of Polymarket (I wrote more about it here), the Smithsonian rewriting history by altering an exhibit on the “Limits of the Presidential Power” to hide Trump’s impeachments, a continual degradation of our federal agencies, and just the continual shift of the feel of our country and what is permissible.

This week, the Epstein Files scandal continued to dominate the news, despite Trump and his regime’s best efforts to distract with shiny coins and conspiracy theories. Trump didn’t help himself much in the effort to change the subject, and he continued to bring up the topic while visiting Scotland. Notably, in Scotland he showcased his golf courses while conducting presidential business, something that in the first regime would have gotten much more attention but now seemingly has been normalized.

Which brings me to covering Trump and the truth. A setback this week as the Washington Post fact checker took an early buyout, and the Jeff Bezos-owned paper made no effort to ensure the continuation of his work. Notably, Bezos has been vying for more government business after Trump’s split with Elon Musk. The Paramount-Skydance merger closed, with unprecedented contingencies put in place by the Federal Trade Commission, again in an effort to stifle media coverage and accountability for Trump.

Some shocking developments of capitulation this week, including Columbia University settling with the regime for more than $200 million, and reportedly Harvard University considering doing the same. The Senate voted 50–49 to confirm Emil Bove to a judicial role, with almost all Republicans playing along with Trump, despite three whistleblowers coming forward. Troubling stories continue at the Environmental Protection Agency, Health and Human Services, and the Pentagon. The Justice Department has also set new troubling precedents in extending what are meant to be temporary roles.

This week the Epstein files, which have turned into the biggest scandal of Trump’s second regime, continued to be front and center. As I wrote in my Substack article here, up until now, Trump has been extremely successful at throwing shiny coins to distract and change the subject. This scandal marks his first failure to control the narrative.

In the early part of this week, both he and his regime frantically threw shiny coins, including attacking Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, revealing a health issue, and firing U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey. Nothing seemed to work, but then he did get a reprieve by taking on a boogeyman for the MAGA movement, the media, as he sued News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch over a bombshell story published in the Wall Street Journal. Trump also took the remarkable step of accusing former President Barack Obama of “treason” and attempting to orchestrate a “coup” of the 2016 election, again in an effort to change the subject and steer his splintering MAGA base in another direction. Speaker Mike Johnson also took the unusual step of starting summer recess for the House of Representatives a day early to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

As we hit the six month mark of the Trump regime, and Trump attempts to take a victory lap for his actions to date, polling shows the country souring on him and his policies. His overall approval hit a new low, with just 38% approving, 59% disapproving in one poll. His signature legislation is wildly unpopular, with 6 in 10 saying it will help the rich and hurt the poor. An increasing share of Americans think he is focused on the wrong priorities. By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans believe his policies have hurt them versus helped them. Just 17% approve of his handling of the Epstein files.

There are some notable attacks on the media this week, including the aforementioned lawsuit filed by Trump against Murdoch and his companies. After the article’s publication, Trump banned WSJ reporters from the press pool on a trip to Scotland. CBS News, whose parent company Paramount settled a bogus lawsuit with Trump in Week 34, announced the cancellation of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, a Trump critic, and Trump promised more firings. The Associated Press also lost an appeal to gain full access to Trump.

This week, Trump continued to consolidate power within his regime, even as public opinion and parts of his MAGA base turned against him on key issues. On Trump’s signature issue, immigration, public opinion has turned sharply against him, with just 35% approving. Notably, the country is experiencing a broad shift in attitudes on immigration, with nearly 8 in 10 Americans now saying it is a good thing (I wrote more about this here). More than 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s signature legislation passed in Week 35. The MAGA base continues to be at odds with Trump, this time over the decision not to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, which have been the subject of a myriad of conspiracy theories. His MAGA base is also upset this week with Trump’s decision to send weapons to Ukraine, and is still seething over his strikes on Iran. For the first time, House Speaker Mike Johnson publicly broke from Trump on releasing the Epstein files, a sign this issue, which has long been flamed by Trump and members of his regime, is not going away, despite Trump going on the offense as the week came to a close and calling critics “PAST supporters.”

All the while, Trump continues to unabashedly consolidate power. Supreme Court rulings issued in the “emergency docket” (aka the shadow docket) continue to grant broad, additional powers to the presidency, without explanation. This week a ruling allowed the regime to conduct mass firings, and continue to dismantle federal agencies, disempowering Congress. Trump also expanded his trade war, and has seized on using tariffs as a tool for his personal agenda, as Congress continues to abdicate their role. Trump continues to bully, threaten, and cow members of Congress into submission on his agenda. He and his regime are starting to take some small, yet alarming steps, on the 2026 midterms.

The regime’s tepid response in Texas was further evidence that efforts to dismantle federal agencies have started to have real world effects on the well being of the American people. As with reports on the limited success of his Iran strikes, which are now squarely in the rearview mirror amid the weekly chaos, Trump deployed a strategy of shaming reporters and the media for asking about missteps in the handling of severe storms, as a way to obfuscate from a real discussion of the issue at hand.

This week we are seeing the impacts of Trump’s staffing cuts and selection of unqualified sycophants to run federal agencies. Tragedy struck in Texas, as flooding caused by a storm in Kerr County claimed more than 100 lives, with at least 173 still missing five days later. Questions arose about Trump’s and Elon Musk’s DOGE’s cuts to agencies and departments, as well as their current leadership. Also this week, the country hit another tragic milestone, as the U.S. measles outbreak climbed to a 33-year high, a reversal for a disease that was previously considered to be eliminated.

This week Trump signed his so-called big, beautiful bill into law, which was wildly unpopular according to polls, in a made-for-TV type ceremony on July 4th. Trump and his regime, as well as Republicans in Congress, have repeatedly used lies in their effort to sell and defend the bill. Some of the cruelest impacts, including cuts in Medicaid that will cause millions to lose healthcare coverage, are set to phase in after the 2026 midterm elections.

Finally, this week the MAGAverse finds itself at war with itself, as many in the movement question Trump’s decision to strike Iran, his statements on protecting immigrants in certain industries, granting aid to Ukraine, and an announcement this week by his attorney general that there is no Jeffrey Epstein client list. A social media battle has ensued. Meanwhile, Elon Musk announced the formation of a third party, the America Party, and ramped up his attacks on Trump and the Epstein files.

This week was a lot! The week opened with debate over Trump’s attack on Iran front and center, as increasing evidence came forward (I wrote more here) that the strikes did not in fact “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear sites. Trump and his regime sought to change and control the narrative on Iran by attacking the media, and calling those who questioned the outcome various forms of unpatriotic. Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ and very unpopular tax bill passed the Senate, 51–50, as details emerged that it would balloon the national debt by $3.3 trillion, benefit the top 20% of earners, harm the bottom 20%, and kick at least 17 million Americans off of Medicaid. Two Republicans who were against the bill, and have stood up to Trump and been the target of his threats, said they would not seek re-election in 2026. Meanwhile, with one week to go until July 9, the end date of Trump’s 90-day tariff pause, not a single deal has been finalized. With all this happening, he harkened back to ole faithful, immigration, with a trip to Florida’s hastily constructed ‘’Alligator Alcatraz,’ to change the subject to his comfort zone, even as his polling numbers on immigration continue to fall.

The pushback to Trump suffered a major blow this week, with a Supreme Court ruling that will limit nationwide injunctions by federal courts to state or region. Notably, the 6–3 majority opinion was written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who has previously been chastised and threatened by Trump and his supporters, but with this ruling was showered with his praise. The ruling will have major impacts on the ability to slow or halt Trump’s agenda.

While all this is happening, it is important to not lose sight of what is happening at our federal agencies. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. convened a panel of anti-vaxxers to make decisions on vaccinations, more than 200 employees of the Environment Protection Agency said in a letter that their agency is being politicized, and more. Read the full list if you can. Also noteworthy is the continued targeting of schools and colleges, with ongoing cuts, freezing of funding, and legal threats. Notably, the president of the University of Virginia resigned this week under pressure from Trump and conservatives.

The biggest story of this week is Trump potentially taking us to war, after ordering strikes on Iran. I have urged readers of my Substack to follow the facts, and maintain a healthy amount of skepticism, because on face value, and knowing Trump’s patterns, a lot of things we have been told initially do not make sense.

First off, was there any doubt after the way Trump has pushed boundaries and grabbed for power during his second regime that he would act unilaterally? Was it constitutional? Probably not. But as we cover in this project, breaking norms in turn makes them the new normal, and other presidents have done the same. What differentiated Trump is that he left senior members of Congress who are Democrats in the dark — that is a first, and a highly partisan act. And as we have covered, Republicans have abdicated their role as a check on power, neutering the legislative branch, so they likely weren’t consulted, but rather told.

What still doesn’t make sense to me is, why now? The regime has tried to pass this off as a well thought out strategy in advance, with a “ruse” or “misdirection” of Trump giving two weeks for diplomacy. In my five years of covering him, this has never been how he operates. He is impulsive, chaotic, and prone to acting based on his last conversation, which in this case, would have occurred at his Bedminster golf club, right before he gave the order. Notably, as I wrote about in my Wag the Dog? article, the strike did come at a time when Trump finds his approval at its lowest level during the second regime, and his approval on handling immigration dropping by six points in the aftermath of Los Angeles, and nearing the 80 day mark of his 90 day tariff war pause without a single finalized deal to show for it.

We also still need the facts behind what intelligence he based his decision on, the success of the mission, and what’s next. Trump is desperately trying to control the narrative here, but the facts are coming out and getting in his way. It was also notable with this attack that so many competent people are gone, and roles have gone unfilled, leaving Trump with a small circle of yes men, even in times of crisis.

This was a troubling and chaotic week for our country. At home, political violence continued to unfold, as a Minnesota man carried out a gruesome assassination of a Democratic state representative and her husband, and injured another Democrat as well, both on his long list of targeted individuals. An act of political violence would normally be a moment for the president to call for calm and a lowering of tensions. Trump, however, did the exact opposite. We are also observing a disturbing, growing trend of Democratic officials being manhandled and arrested in public view by federal immigration agents, and a Department of Homeland Security that only further escalates, rather than apologizing. As the week came to a close, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) wondered, “Do the members of Congress need security details to defend themselves from the executive branch? God, I hope not.”

Trump finally got his long sought after military parade, but as I wrote here, it was a day of humiliation. His parade drew mere thousands to Washington D.C., and Trump could be seen pouting at the mundanity of it all! Magnifying the failure of his event, on that same day, millions of Americans protested at more than 2,000 demonstrations in 50 states in what was dubbed ‘No Kings’ protests. Trump’s military parade also highlighted dichotomies in his deployment of U.S. military forces: Trump has deployed nearly 7,000 National Guard and Marine troops to Los Angeles, while being reluctant to send troops to battle alongside Israel in one of his long-stated goals of ending Iran’s nuclear program. While the Republican Party had a very public rift over U.S. involvement in the Middle East, Trump appeared indecisive and uncertain, and questions arose about whether his National Security Council, now composed mostly of loyalists, was up to the task.

This week the country finds itself on the brink of the biggest crisis of Trump’s presidency, as he deployed both the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city of Los Angeles, amid anti-ICE protests. As protests also start to pop up in other cities across the country, the question becomes whether Trump will take things one step further and invoke the Insurrection Act or declare Martial Law. The protests come after federal immigration enforcement ramped up mass arrests, a week after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller excoriated senior ICE officials (see Week 30), and demanded a sharp increase in arrests and new tactics.

It was the perfect excuse for Trump to manufacture a crisis (I wrote more about it here) to distract from what was an ugly break up with Musk; his failures on foreign policy; the lack of a single signed deal 63 days into his 90 day tariff pause; and most importantly, his failure on the main issue he ran on both times, immigration! Ironically, the week started with Trump losing or backtracking on a series of immigration cases, including returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. (read more here). This crisis is the shiny coin Trump desperately needed, and could only have dreamed of.

There are also important stories this week about the continuing incompetence and outright negligence of federal agencies. HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disbanded a panel of experts on immunizations, the EPA is gutted, and Trump said an unprepared FEMA would be shuttered after hurricane season, all while his regime tries to rehire federal workers who had been haphazardly cut by DOGE. With Musk out of the government, it is also unclear what role, if any, DOGE will play going forward. As we end this week, the country stares into a perilous abyss on so many fronts.