June 24, 2026

Trump Watch

News Source
EXCERPT:

President Donald Trump’s declaration that, for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “the party is over” was treated like a barbarian shout in the salon. Yet his statement has the impolite virtue of being true. For 75 years, Europe has hosted the most expensive open bar in history, all of it paid for by the United States, and called this dependency an “alliance.” Now, when the bill is presented and the host suggests perhaps the guests might behave as if they own something besides opinions, they are scandalized.

News Source
EXCERPT:

U.S. importers, ranging from Target to Walmart, are due more than $160 billion in tariff refunds following a February Supreme Court decision as the Trump administration launches its claims filing portal Monday.

Hopes are high for a smooth launch of the system that will facilitate the refunds, but companies and Wall Street analysts are tempering their expectations that companies will get the money back quickly.

Trade lawyers are warning of bureaucratic hurdles, legal vulnerabilities, as well as the possibility of a last-minute appeal by the Trump administration.

“[Importers] are pessimistic that the government is going to make this easy. They’re anticipating that the government is going to make it as difficult as possible to get their money back,” said trade attorney Matthew Seligman, principal at Grayhawk Law.

“There’s frustration because the Supreme Court already ruled that these tariffs are unlawful,” he added.

News Source
EXCERPT:
The Trump administration has made it clear since its pullout from Minneapolis that the era of mass deportation is over and the administration will instead focus on criminal aliens. But sanctuary cities, which defend the worst of the criminal aliens, remain fully funded and undeterred well into Trump’s second term, with zero strategy to harness the news of endless heinous crimes committed in these fugitive jurisdictions.

How can it be that Republicans are planning one last party-line bill to fund ICE and aren’t even broaching the issue of sanctuary cities?

Just 15 months into this administration, the central campaign promise is dead.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, there were over 300 sanctuary jurisdictions in 2016. In response to Trump’s rise to power and his threat to enforce our sovereignty, this number rose to 564 by 2018 — an increase of roughly 88% in the first two years of the Trump administration. As of last year, FAIR identified at least 1,003 by May 2025.

The parent company of Facebook, Meta, has announced plans to lay off nearly 10% of its total workforce, 8,000 positions, starting in early May 2026. These layoffs may not be the only layoffs, as more might be announced after May of this year.

Meta Reportedly to Cut 8,000 Jobs in Upcoming Layoffs Amid AI Cost Pressures – MLQ.ai news.google.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Key Points

  • Meta to eliminate about 8,000 positions, roughly 10% of its global workforce of nearly 79,000, starting May 20.1
  • Cuts aim to offset costs of AI infrastructure investments and streamline operations with AI-assisted workers.1
  • Additional layoffs expected in second half of 2026, though details on scale and timing unclear.1
  • Follows earlier reports of potential cuts up to 20% of staff.1
  • Meta declined to comment on the reports.1

 

President Trump’s approval ratings have fallen to 37% according to an NBC News poll. This is the lowest rating the poll has recorded during the President’s second term. His disapproval rating has hit 62%, with 50% now strongly disapproving.

Trump’s Approval Rating Sinks to Lowest Point of His Second Term – Mother Jones www.motherjones.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while speaking during an executive order signing event in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2025 in Washington, DC.Andrew Harnik/Getty

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have dropped to their lowest level since the start of his second term.

According to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll released on Sunday, only 37 percent of adults approve of Trump’s work as president. Meanwhile, 63 percent disapprove, including 50 percent who disapprove strongly. Some of that strong disapproval comes from Trump’s handling of skyrocketing costs for most households: Among the over 32,000 American adults that NBC News surveyed over two weeks in March and April, 52 percent said they “strongly disapprove” and 16 percent “somewhat disapprove” of Trump’s handling of inflation and the cost of living.

News Source
EXCERPT:

Data released by Pew Research shows that 9 percent of all US births in 2023 were to those that were here in the US illegally, or in the country temporarily.

Children born to illegal immigrant parents in the US were nearly 10 percent of all new births in the US in 2023, according to new data. The figures were published about data that came during the Biden administration, which had lax border policies.

New data released by Pew Research shows that 9 percent of all US births in 2023 were to those who were here in the US illegally, or in the country temporarily. The Supreme Court is currently considering the legality of an order from President Donald Trump that would restrict birthright citizenship from some of those born to foreign nationals in the US.

News Source
EXCERPT:

President Trump had criticized the pope on April 12 following remarks Leo made about ongoing global conflicts.

Vice President JD Vance responded to Pope Leo XIV’s comments downplaying the divide between him and President Donald Trump, after the pontiff called the reporting of the situation inaccurate.

Leo addressed the issue Saturday while speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane during a trip from Cameroon to Angola as part of an 11-day tour of Africa.

“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” Leo said. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

News Source
EXCERPT:

The White House recalibrated its approach to immigration in the wake of the backlash against the death of two Americans at the hands of federal officials in Minneapolis, shifting leadership and softening its rhetoric. Yet three months later, Americans’ views of President Donald Trump’s deportations campaign remain broadly negative.

New results from The POLITICO Poll show that even as the spotlight has moved away from Trump’s mass deportations campaign and onto issues such as the economy and the war in Iran, public opinion has hardly changed, underscoring how difficult it will be for the administration to reset the immigration narrative.

In the poll conducted April 11 to April 14, half of Americans — including one quarter of his 2024 voters — said Trump’s mass deportations campaign, including his widespread deployment of ICE agents, is too aggressive. Roughly a quarter said his immigration posture is about right, while 11 percent say it is not aggressive enough.

News Source
EXCERPT:

A billionaire running for governor of California just released a plan so radical it makes Gavin Newsom look like a moderate.

Tom Steyer, the hedge fund billionaire and failed 2020 presidential candidate who now leads the Democrat primary field for California governor, published a five-point immigration platform this week that calls for abolishing ICE, jailing federal immigration agents, and using state funds to bring deported illegal aliens back to California.

You read that right. He wants to arrest the people enforcing federal law and roll out the red carpet for those who broke it.

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin laid out the details:

News Source
EXCERPT:

The US president has lashed out at the pontiff over his criticism of the war in the Middle East

Pope Leo has sought to downplay his public spat with US President Donald Trump, rejecting claims that he was trying to challenge the president with his criticism of the war in Iran and calls for peace.

Speaking to reporters on a flight to Angola on Saturday, the US-born pontiff insisted that his remarks were not meant to be confrontational, while criticizing the media for inflating the row through excessive commentary and speculation.

“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects… much of what has been written… has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” the Pope said. He stressed that his remarks in Cameroon earlier this week, blasting leaders who spend billions on wars and describing the world as “ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” were not directed at Trump.

News Source
EXCERPT:

Sergeant First Class Jose Serrano, an active-duty US Army sergeant who served the military for 27 years, including several in Afghanistan, said the ICE is out of control after his wife Deisy Rivera Ortega, an El Salvadorian by birth, was detained by the ICE on April 14 in Texas. Ortega had an appointment at the immigration office in El Paso when she was arrested.Ortega came to the US in 2016 and was granted legal protection in 2019, CBS News reported.

Because of her legal protection, Ortega can’t be deported to El Salvador but the administration told 51-year-old Serrano that his wife could be deported to Mexico. “I don’t really understand why, because she followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one,” Serrano said, adding that his wife had an active work permit at the time of her arrest.”I love the Army.

(The) Army helped me out for almost 28 years. It’s not the Army, sir. It’s ICE,” Serrano said in his interview to the CBS. “ICE is out of control right now, taking away rights, as soldiers, that we have.”Serrano was born in Puerto Rico and the duo got married in 2022 He also submitted a Parole in Place application on behalf of his wife last year, a special program designed to offer deportation protections to military spouses or parents who are in the U.S. without legal status, but the case remained pending. The wife had a military ID labeling her as a spouse of an active-duty Army soldier.

News Source
EXCERPT:

After visiting Cameroon, Pope Leo XIV landed in Luanda, Angola on Saturday, where he was welcomed by faithful. The Holy Father is about to become the third pontiff to visit Angola, after John Paul II (1992) and Benedict XVI (2009).

Meanwhile, during Pope Leo XIV’s plane journey on Saturday he said that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate President Donald Trump about the US-Israeli war in Iran.

But the American pope also took the opportunity to set the record straight, insisting that not everything he says was directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

As soon as Pope Leo XIV landed in Luanda he was scheduled to meet with Angola’s president, João Lourenço, and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip during which he has been stepping up his rhetoric, after becoming the target of criticism from Donald Trump.

News Source
EXCERPT:

While the left would like it if you believed millions of Americans are suffering as a result of losing their health insurance, that is not reality, according to RFK Jr.

Democrat Rep. Greg Casar asked if RFK has sat down and spoken with any of the people who have lost health coverage this year. According to RFK, however, “they are almost all illegal immigrants.” And if you are surprised by this, you are not paying attention.

It is also comical how Casar had no response to this claim, as the best excuse he got was that one person in his district lost health coverage.

According to the Budget Committee:

1.4 million of those estimated to be without health insurance in 2034 are illegal immigrants.

1.3 million of those estimated to be without health insurance in 2034 are already ineligible for the Medicaid program. The OBBBA ends Biden-era regulations that kept ineligible individuals enrolled—restoring integrity to the program.

CBO projects Medicaid enrollment in 2034 to be 79.5 million people under the OBBBA—higher than the total number of people enrolled in Medicaid as of January 2025.

News Source
EXCERPT:

Ever since Pope Leo assumed the papacy, PBS News Hour Friday contributors MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart and The Atlantic staff writer David Brooks have tried to claim him as one of their own in their fight against the Trump administration. That continued this Friday as the duo essentially told Vice President JD Vance to shut up when it comes to criticizing Leo’s remarks about the Iran War, with Capehart claiming they are among “the most insulting things” a VP could say and Brooks arguing the Iran War is permissible under just war theory, but also isn’t because Trump.

Host Amna Nawaz began with Capehart and wondered, “Pope Leo issued a pretty strong statement rebuking the war in Iran. Trump then unloaded on him online. Vice President Vance jumped in to criticize him as well, telling him to be careful on matters of theology. Is it smart for the president to be getting into it with the pope? What does he stand to gain from that?”

Using logic he would never apply to abortion, Capehart replied:

No, it’s not smart at all to be getting into it with the pope, to be fighting with the pope, even though the president says, ‘I’m not fighting with the pope.’ Yes, you are, and over something where it’s like the president is taking the words from the pope very, very seriously, when any pope, Pope Leo, Pope Francis, Pope John Paul, would have been saying the same thing, because this is about life and death. This is about right and wrong. And it’s something big that’s happening in the world that has commanded the pope’s attention.

News Source
EXCERPT:

The Department of Homeland Security just rolled out a new website for its city-occupying task forces that looks, more than anything, like a vibe-coded pitch deck. Launched on Friday, HSTF.gov was first announced on the FBI’s X account.

We don’t negotiate. We dismantle. The site’s slogan is displayed in the same sans-serif font stylings as direct-to-consumer deodorant companies and AI-powered lease abstraction platforms. The main page is largely consumed by a macho image, presumably AI-generated, of gas-masked officers with AR-15 style weapons advancing in formation through a cloud of tear gas.

News Source
EXCERPT:

The left’s key trick to import new citizens to replace current citizens is to have migrants claim “asylum.” See, if you just enter a country illegally, it’s illegal. However, if you claim “asylum” because you’re afraid for your life in your own country, then it’s considered compassion and equity. There are Marxist open-border NGOs set up to coach illegals on how to claim asylum in order to be migrants. In the UK, that means claiming you are on the rainbow spectrum and might get thrown off a roof if you can’t move in.

I don’t know if you’re aware, but there are people on the internet who believe that the UK has a migrant problem. More so, a UK citizen having an issue with migrants problem, but…know what I mean?

What’s interesting is that this video is from an undercover operation conducted by…the BBC. You have to wonder how bad the migrant crisis has gotten that even the BBC is calling it out. You also have to wonder if the BBC calling it out could have them arrested for hate crimes.

A shadow industry of law firms and advisers is charging thousands of pounds to help migrants pretend to be gay in order to stay in the UK, the BBC has found.

They then apply for asylum claiming to be gay and in fear for their lives if they return to Pakistan or Bangladesh.

This group now makes up 35% of all asylum claims, which topped 100,000 in 2025.

News Source
EXCERPT:

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed Tuesday to take a harder line against the U.S. over the deaths of Mexican migrants in its immigration detention centres.

Sheinbaum had previously responded to U.S. President Donald Trump‘s anti-immigration provocations by defending Mexico’s sovereignty while meeting his requests to crack down on drug cartel activity. At the same time, the threat of tariffs and other economic or military-style sanctions loomed.

News Source
EXCERPT:

The Trump administration abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami to shelter and care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship between the Catholic Church and the U.S. government dating back more than 60 years to the first arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida.

Gee, do you think this has anything to do with Pope Leo not kissing his ass like the evangelical fundies do?

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has paid Catholic Charities in Miami for several years to house immigrant children who enter the U.S. without parents or adult supervision. The non-profit operates the equivalent of a federally funded foster care system, separate and apart from state agencies that have custody of abused and neglected children. The federal government reached out to the charity in late March about the cancellation of the funding.

Amid his one-way feud with the pope, Trump has abruptly canceled funding for Catholic Charities of Miami to provide housing and foster families for unaccompanied immigrant children, ending a 60-year partnership and possibly forcing hundreds of children to be relocated.
-Keith Boykin

Audrey (@parickards.bsky.social) 2026-04-15T17:15:47.031Z

News Source
EXCERPT:

Hal Lambert, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump and CEO of Point Bridge Capital, has sparked controversy by warning that former President Barack Obama’s political network is working in coordination with Pope Leo XIV to weaken Republican support among Catholic voters ahead of the midterm elections.

Lambert made the remarks during an appearance on CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip.

He laid out what he described as a coordinated political effort involving the Vatican and top Democrat strategists.

Lambert Alleges Coordinated Political Effort

“This is 100 percent political, ok?” Lambert said.

“This is all about trying to hurt President Trump’s Catholic vote during the midterms and Republicans in the midterms.”

News Source
EXCERPT:

A federal appeals court has halted a controversial attempt by a Democrat-aligned district judge to pursue criminal contempt proceedings against several Trump administration officials, delivering a sharp rebuke to the lower court’s actions.

In a brief, unsigned order issued April 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

The appeals court ordered the activist judge to terminate the contempt investigation he launched.

The dispute stems from the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants, identified as suspected gang members, to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).

Blurb:

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday postponed the termination of temporary protected status for Ethiopians living in the U.S., finding the Trump administration unlawfully attempted to end it. 

In the order, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy said the Trump administration terminated the designation “without regard for the process delineated by Congress.”

Under the Biden administration, thousands of Ethiopian immigrants in the country were granted the status beginning in 2022. The designation allows immigrants to temporarily live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation because of armed conflict, environmental disasters or other humanitarian emergencies in their home country. The status was extended in 2024.

The Department of Homeland Security announced in December that Ethiopia “no longer met the conditions” for the TPS designation and the protections would terminate on Feb. 13.