The 1600: Annoyance Politics
Good morning,
Lots of political news to cover this week. Tariffs are back, maybe...Trump is doing a U-turn on Ukraine and sending them more aid... his base is furious about the mess that is the Jeffrey Epstein saga... Elon's making a run at a third party. But the thing I want to focus on today is something rather small, which didn't get a lot of notice, but is near and dear to my heart as you'll know if you've been reading for a while: As of this week, you no longer have to take your shoes off when going through airport security.
The TSA is in the process of dropping the hated "shoes off" rule, which has been in place for almost 20 years. The agency, part of Homeland Security, has not officially made the announcement but an internal memo is going around showing it is indeed taking effect nationwide. This is a big win for common sense and good on DHS for finally seeing the light! Is it the biggest thing happening right now? No. But it illustrates something about the Trump admin's political priorities that gets far too little attention... that is, they are willing to do things that makes life slightly less annoying for regular Americans.
Contrast that with the Democrats. Here in the People's Republic of New York City, there's a new law called "Skip the Stuff" which bans food establishments from offering customers complimentary utensils, straws, napkins, condiments, etc. The effect of this law is when you're grabbing a bite, you now must remember to specifically ask for the tools you will need to consume your sad little lunch. If you don't remember, you end up like me the other day: eating pasta salad on a bench with my hands and having to ask a passerby for a napkin like a bum.
The point I am trying/failing to articulate here is that if you become known as the political party of annoying and stupid bullshit, while the other party is busy making peoples' lives slightly less annoying, you will never win another national election. Trump is a political savant who understands this innately. His "no tax on tips" campaign pledge is a great example. The deduction codified in the new tax law is a drop in the bucket compared to the tax savings you get if you're a millionaire business owner, but it'll save some service workers a couple bucks and it's a great, easy-to-remember slogan.
Another one that didn't get much attention: The EPA is eliminating credits to automakers who adopt the much-despised "stop/start" function, that feature of new cars that automatically turns off the engine when you're stopped in traffic or at a light. This was an Obama-era fuel-savings rule that didn't save much fuel, added wear-and-tear to the starter, and was otherwise just simply annoying, especially if you drive in a lot of stop-and-go traffic.
You could take the other side here and argue that these are all unimportant, shiny baubles to distract the public while the administration rips the copper wiring out of the walls of the federal government. Maybe so, but these things have political salience to regular folks who don't spend all their time reading about how the tax bill heavily favors the rich, or how Trump and his family are profiting off the office of the president to a degree we've never seen. None of that matters to a rushed parent trying to herd their kids through TSA, who now won't have to worry about stopping to take off and then put back on their shoes.
Conversely, every time I forget to ask for a fork for my overpriced pasta salad, I will think poorly of my local elected officials who seem to go out of their way to make my life just a little bit harder.
The Rundown
Former vice president Kamala Harris has kept a fairly low profile since losing the 2024 election to President Donald Trump. But as she weighs whether to run for California governor next year, experts say that might be a safer bet than mounting another bid for the White House. Harris has said little about her future plans, though she is expected to announce her decision by the end of the summer. Read more from Newsweek's Khaleda Rahman.
Also happening:
New tariff deadline: President Donald Trump is set to convene his Cabinet at the White House on Tuesday, as a deadline approaches that could trigger a sharp increase in tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners. Read more.
National parks feedback: The Trump administration has placed signs up across National Parks asking for visitors to report any "negative" sentiments about American history shared at the park. Instead, much of the feedback so far expresses negative sentiments about the administration, as seen in responses sent to Newsweek by a National Parks Service employee. Read more.
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Trump has reportedly been fixated on the idea that the iPhone can and should be manufactured in the US, an idea that experts have dismissed as a fantasy. Estimates have also suggested that a US-made iPhone would cost as much as $3,500. Something to note about this graph: The price listed is the one you'll see if you buy your phone through a major carrier. If you, say, buy direct from Apple or Best Buy without a carrier involved, you'll be charged an extra $30, so in some places, you might see the list price of the standard iPhone 16 listed as $830. Apple's been taking a few steps to protect its prices in the face of these tariffs, flying in bulk shipments of product before they took effect and planning to move production for the US market from China to India. A new Reuters report found that a staggering 97% of iPhones imported from the latter country, March through May, were bound for the US. 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Samsung DU7200 TV Alongside smartphones, televisions are some of the most popular tech products out there, even if they're an infrequent purchase. This particular product is a popular entry-level 4K TV and was CNET's pick for best overall budget TV for 2025. Unlike a lot of tech products that have key supply lines in China, Samsung is a South Korean company, so it might have some measure of tariff resistance. After spending most of 2025 hovering around $400, this item has now seen some notable upticks on Amazon, most recently sitting around $450. This could potentially be in reaction to Trump's announcement of 25% tariffs against South Korea this week. Xbox Series X Video game software and hardware are a market segment expected to be hit hard by the Trump tariffs. Microsoft's Xbox is the first console brand to see price hikes -- the company cited "market conditions" along with the rising cost of development. Most notably, this included an increase in the price of the flagship Xbox Series X, up from $500 to $600. Numerous Xbox accessories also were affected and the company also said that "certain" games will eventually see a price hike from $70 to $80. Initially, we were tracking the price of the much more popular Nintendo Switch as a representative of the gaming market. Nintendo has not yet hiked the price of its handheld-console hybrid and stressed that the $450 price tag of the upcoming Switch 2 has not yet been inflated because of tariffs. Sony, meanwhile, has so far only increased prices on its PlayStation hardware in markets outside the US. AirPods Pro 2 The latest iteration of Apple's wildly popular true-wireless earbuds are here to represent the headphone market. Much to the chagrin of the audiophiles out there, a quick look at sales charts on Amazon shows you just how much the brand dominates all headphone sales. For most of the year, they've hovered around $199, but ahead of Prime Day sales this week they are currently on sale for $149. HP 962 CMY printer ink This HP printer ink includes cyan, magenta and yellow all in one product and recently saw its price jump from around $72 -- where it stayed for most of 2025 -- to $80, which is around its highest price over the last five years. We will be keeping tabs to see if this is a long-term change or a brief uptick. This product replaced Overture PLA Filament for 3D printers in this piece, but we're still tracking that item. Anker 10,000-mAh, 30-watt power bank Anker's accessories are perennially popular in the tech space and the company has already announced that some of its products will get more expensive as a direct result of tariffs. This specific product has also been featured in some of CNET's lists of the best portable chargers. Bose TV speaker Soundbars have become important purchases, given the often iffy quality of the speakers built into TVs. While not the biggest or the best offering in the space, the Bose TV Speaker is one of the more affordable soundbar options out there, especially hailing from a brand as popular as Bose. You can currently get this model at a healthy discount for Prime Day, down to $200 from $280. Oral-B Pro 1000 electric toothbrush They might be a lot more expensive than their traditional counterparts but electric toothbrushes remain a popular choice for consumers because of how well they get the job done. I know my dentist won't let up on how much I need one. This particular Oral-B offering was CNET's overall choice for the best electric toothbrush for 2025. Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Lenovo is notable among the big laptop manufacturers for being a Chinese company making its products especially susceptible to Trump's tariffs. Starbucks Ground Coffee (28-ounce bag) Coffee is included in this tracker because of its ubiquity -- I'm certainly drinking too much of it these days -- and because it's uniquely susceptible to Trump's tariff agenda. Famously, coffee beans can only be grown within a certain distance from Earth's equator, a tropical span largely outside the US and known as the "Coffee Belt." Hawaii is the only part of the US that can produce coffee beans, with data from USAFacts showing that 11.5 million pounds were harvested there in the 2022-23 season -- little more than a drop in the mug, as the US consumed 282 times that amount of coffee during that period. Making matters worse, Hawaiian coffee production has declined in the past few years. All that to say: Americans get almost all of their coffee from overseas, making it one of the most likely products to see price hikes from tariffs. Other products As mentioned, we occasionally swap out products with different ones that undergo notable price shifts. Here are some things no longer featured above, but that we're still keeping an eye on: Nintendo Switch: The baseline handheld-console hybrid has held steady around $299 most places -- including Amazon release of the Switch 2 remains to be seen. This product was replaced above with the Xbox Series X. release of the Switch 2 remains to be seen. This product was replaced above with the Xbox Series X. Overture PLA 3D printer filament: This is a popular choice on Amazon Here are some products we also wanted to single out that haven't been featured with a graph yet: Razer Blade 18 (2025), 5070 Ti edition: The latest revision of Razer's largest gaming laptop saw a $300 price bump recently, with the base model featured an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card now priced at $3,500 ahead of launch, compared to the $3,200 price announced in February. While Razer has stayed mum about the reasoning, it did previously suspend direct sales to the US as Trump's tariff plans were ramping up in April. Asus ROG Ally X: The premium version of Asus's Steam Deck competitor handheld gaming PC recently saw a price hike from $799 to $899, coinciding with the announcement of the company's upcoming Xbox-branded Ally handhelds.
