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DOGE sought access to Government Publishing Office - Live Updates

DOGE sought access to Government Publishing Office - Live Updates

Politico22-05-2025
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative sought last week to gain access to the government's central publishing operation, a congressional offshoot that provides public access to federal documents. The Government Publishing Office is the fourth legislative branch agency that President Donald Trump's administration has recently attempted to access. DOGE made an inquiry about placing a cost-cutting team at GPO, and leadership of the legislative branch agency declined, according to two people on Capitol Hill with oversight responsibility for the agency. The GPO prints official documents and provides digital access to publications across the legislative, executive and judicial branches. While it services all three branches of government, the GPO is overseen by Congress and funded alongside other congressional support agencies. A GPO spokesperson declined to comment. GPO Director Hugh Halpern testified last month to House and Senate spending subcommittees that the agency's head count is currently 1,644 — down from 2,284 in fiscal 2010 when its budget was 8.2 percent higher. Last week DOGE made attempts to place a downsizing team at the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog that roots out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, which fields and manages complaints about discrimination, harassment, accessibility and other workplace issues. Both legislative branch agencies declined access to DOGE teams. 'Everybody has been saying 'get lost,'' New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said of legislative branch agencies who have been approached by DOGE. 'As they should — they have no business.' House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) said Monday evening that his panel already works with legislative support agencies on possible improvements. "There's efficiencies we can create at all these agencies while also maintaining Article One authority, so I think we're in a good spot," Steil said in a brief interview. The White House also launched a purge of officials at the Library of Congress, including Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and the head of the copyright office two weeks ago and attempted to install hand-picked replacements from within Trump's Department of Justice.
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Donald Trump's Disapproval Rating 'Stuck'
Donald Trump's Disapproval Rating 'Stuck'

Newsweek

timea few seconds ago

  • Newsweek

Donald Trump's Disapproval Rating 'Stuck'

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Donald Trump's approval rating is "stuck," according to a new poll. The survey, conducted by Quantus Insights between July 21 and 23 among 1,123 registered voters, showed that Trump's approval rating stands at 47 percent, while 50 percent disapprove. That is relatively unchanged from the previous poll conducted earlier this month, which put Trump's approval rating at 48 percent, with 50 percent disapproving. Every poll conducted by Quantus Insights since early April has put Trump's approval rating between 47 and 48 percent, while his disapproval rating has stayed between 48 and 50 percent. "For a president who thrives on momentum, the static nature of these numbers is a signal: the base is holding, but the middle isn't moving," Quantus pollster Jaon Corley wrote. The poll shows that the ceiling that is forming among Trump's supporters is being defined by sharp and widening demographic splits—by gender, race, education, and geography—that limit Trump's reach even as his base remains intensely loyal. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Washington. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Washington. Alex Brandon/AP But according to Democratic pollster Matt McDermott, this could be a problem for the Republican Party heading into the 2026 midterms. "You don't win elections by doubling down on your base while bleeding swing voters," he told Newsweek. A Firm Republican Backbone Among Republican voters, Trump remains overwhelmingly popular. Eighty-seven percent of Republicans approve of his performance, including 91 percent of white Republican men and 91 percent of white Republican women, virtually unchanged from the July 14—16 wave, when approval stood at 90 percent among Republicans overall. His approval is also strong among white noncollege voters (46 percent), rural residents (49 percent), and white men overall (56 percent), many of whom formed the backbone of his 2024 electoral coalition. In particular, rural white males give Trump 54 percent approval, with just 46 percent disapproving, reinforcing the president's solid hold on the white working-class male vote. Cracks Emerge Among Women and Younger Voters By contrast, Trump is struggling with key swing constituencies. Among women, his net approval is -10 points (43 percent approve, 53 percent disapprove), and the gender gap remains stark. While 52 percent of men approve of his job performance, just 43 percent of women do—a nine-point gap that has remained consistent since mid-July. Younger voters also continue to show deep dissatisfaction. Just 46 percent of voters aged 18—29 approve of Trump, with 51 percent disapproving, similar to the earlier July poll. Among women aged 18—29, approval is just 38 percent, while disapproval reaches 58 percent. But young men have a very different view of Trump. Among men aged 18—29, Trump hits 57 percent approval with a +17 net margin. As a result, Corley said that the notion that young voters broadly oppose Trump is outdated. "Trump's support is male-heavy, younger than expected, and hardening along gender lines. The idea that 'young voters oppose Trump' is outdated. True for women, increasingly false for men," Corley wrote. Independent Voters Slipping Away Meanwhile, the poll shows that as the 2026 midterms approach, Trump's support among independents is eroding. Just 38 percent of independents now approve of his performance, compared to 58 percent who disapprove—a stark 20-point deficit that has worsened since earlier in the month, when his net approval among independents stood at -17 percent. Notably, white independents, once a potential swing bloc for Trump, now disapprove of him by a 57 to 39 percent margin. Approval among nonwhite independents is even lower at 34 percent, with nearly two-thirds disapproving. Racial Gaps Widen Among Black voters, Trump posts 39 percent approval overall, with 50 percent of Black men backing him, a historic high for a Republican. But the poll also reveals a wide gender split, with just 30 percent of Black women backing him. But overall, Trump has seen a boost in support from Black voters, who broke for him 32 percent to 63 percent in the last poll. Among Hispanic voters, the divide is less pronounced. Trump draws 42 percent approval overall, with slightly higher ratings among Hispanic men (46 percent) than women (39 percent). His overall support from Hispanic voters is unchanged from mid-July. "The racial polarization that has long defined American politics is still in place but it's fraying at the edges, and in a country decided by razor-thin margins, the edges matter," Corley wrote. Trump's Approval Plateaus—But Cracks Are Growing Beneath the Surface Quantus' latest poll aligns closely with other recent national surveys, all of which suggest that Donald Trump's support has hit a ceiling, with his approval ratings stabilizing but showing little sign of growth. RMG Research, for example, currently has Trump at 50 percent approval and 48 percent disapproval—a nearly identical pattern to Quantus. Since late May, RMG has shown Trump's approval hovering between 50 and 52 percent, with disapproval consistently in the 46 to 48 percent range. This points to a remarkably steady public perception of the president, without major gains or losses. Emerson College Polling paints a similar picture. Their latest numbers place Trump at 46 percent approval and 47 percent disapproval. That net disapproval of +1 has been unchanged across their past three surveys, underscoring how locked-in public opinion has become. Fox News polling shows Trump at 46 percent approval and 54 percent disapproval—identical to their June findings. Despite shifts in the news cycle, these figures have shown no movement over the past month. The Trafalgar Group and Insider Advantage also register Trump at 50 percent approval and 48 percent disapproval in their most recent poll. Back in April, their numbers were 46 to 44, indicating that while Trump's approval has ticked up slightly and disapproval has edged down, the overall net approval has remained steady at +2. Meanwhile, the YouGov/Economist poll continues to show Trump underwater, with 41 percent approval and 55 percent disapproval. That's virtually unchanged from a month ago, reinforcing the broader narrative: Trump's support base is solid, but stagnant. But other polls have shown Trump's approval ratings dip to a second-term low nationwide. Newsweek's approval tracker currently places Trump at a net minus 7 rating, with 45 percent of Americans approving and 52 percent disapproving. It is one of his lowest net approval scores in recent weeks. The most recent Marquette University survey shows Trump at 45 percent approval and 55 percent disapproval, a net rating of -10, down two points from -8 in May. It is the lowest rating Marquette has recorded for Trump during his second term. Similarly, Navigator Research found his approval at 42 percent, with 54 percent disapproving, marking a net disapproval rating of +12—a four-point drop from June and also his worst rating from Navigator since returning to office. More dramatic declines appear in Gallup's latest polling, which shows Trump with just 37 percent approval and 58 percent disapproval—a net rating of -21, down from -17 last month. The Bullfinch Group also reports weakening support, with Trump now at 41 percent approval and 55 percent disapproval, a net rating of -14, down slightly from -13 in June.

Donald Trump goes golfing as protesters speak out against his visit to Scotland
Donald Trump goes golfing as protesters speak out against his visit to Scotland

Yahoo

time28 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Donald Trump goes golfing as protesters speak out against his visit to Scotland

Protesters have insisted that Donald Trump is 'not welcome here' as the US president took to the golf course on the first full day of his visit to Scotland. Tight security around the Trump Turnberry course meant no demonstrators were seen when the president took to the greens on Saturday morning. Dressed in black, with a white cap that said USA on it, Mr Trump could be seen driving a golf buggy, flanked by a fleet of security personnel, as he played on the famous course which he bought in 2014. However hundreds gathered in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen – near the site of Mr Trump's other Scottish golf resort – to make their opposition to the president known. As the visit got under way Scottish First Minister John Swinney – who is due to hold talks with the president later in the trip – announced public money to support a tournament at the Trump International golf links in Aberdeenshire. The 2025 Nexo Championship – previously known as the Scottish Championship – is set to take place there next month, supported by £180,000 of public funding. Mr Swinney said: 'The Scottish Government recognises the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy.' But Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie likened the awarding of public cash to the tournament to 'handing some pocket money to the school bully'. Mr Trump will head to his golf resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire later on in his five-day long private visit. As part of his trip he will also hold talks with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, where the two men will refine a trade deal between the UK and the US that was agreed earlier this year. The president is also expected to talk trade with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday. But with no talks apparently scheduled for Saturday, the president, who is well known for his love of golf, was free to take to the famous course at Turnberry. A major security operation surrounded him, with police officers and military personnel seen scouring the grounds ahead of Mr Trump teeing off. After touching down in Scotland in Air Force One on Friday night, the president was seen on the course at Turnberry on Saturday morning – although security fencing had also been erected around the resort, with road closures also in place to help protect Mr Trump, who last year survived an assassination attempt. Police Scotland has asked for support from other forces across the UK to bolster officer numbers for the high profile visit – with Mr Swinney appealing to people to protest 'peacefully and within the law'. In Aberdeen Green north east Scotland MSP Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: 'We stand in solidarity not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.' Speaking about the US president, Ms Chapman said: 'He believes that climate change isn't real, he believes that cutting services for those in the world with the least is the right thing to do. 'We say no to all of those things, not in our name, never in our name.' With Mr Trump having last year been convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records, she said the president was a 'convicted felon'. And she told the PA news agency: 'He is not welcome in Scotland, he is certainly not welcome in Aberdeenshire. 'We know that he is a convicted felon. 'We also know that all of the promises he has repeatedly made to Scotland have come to nothing, there hasn't been the development of jobs or houses that he promised when he opened his course in Aberdeenshire a few years ago.' Mr Harvie was also critical of the president, telling the PA news agency: 'He's attacking our renewables industry once again, one of the success stories of Scotland, and he is trying to attack and undermine it. 'And that is after having trashed part of our natural environment on the Aberdeenshire coast to build his golf resort.'

Online MAGA cope is now Congressional strategy
Online MAGA cope is now Congressional strategy

The Verge

time28 minutes ago

  • The Verge

Online MAGA cope is now Congressional strategy

When it comes to defending Donald Trump from the worst accusations, the MAGA influencer-industrial complex, whether out of loyalty or self-preservation, often defaults to whataboutism, arguing that the Democrats are just as guilty as Trump, or (ideally) worse. This principle has held true with the current Jeffrey Epstein saga, and as their audience's anger against the Trump administration skyrockets, the MAGA influencer world is trying a new tack: blame the Democrats, not Trump, for keeping the 'Epstein Files' under lock and key. Trump, the person who could feasibly order the release of said documents, has spent the past few weeks trying to smother the drama from a few different angles, ultimately only fanning flames every time he attempted to deemphasize Epstein. He tried dismissing it during a Cabinet meeting ('Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?'), downplaying it on Truth Social ('Let's … not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about'), and criticizing a reporter for asking about Epstein ('Are people still talking about this guy?'). But there's no indication that the MAGA-influencer complex will ever stop talking about Epstein, or that their audiences will ever let it go. But over the past week, the influencer class, and subsequently the GOP, has started to maneuver Trump's spin into a more acceptable talking point, inspired by a recent Wall Street Journal bombshell reporting that the Justice Department had told Trump back in May that his name was in the pile of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. 'Of course there's going to be mentions of Epstein, who was a member of Mar-a-Lago until Trump kicked him out' over a decade ago, said Alex Jones, the Infowars host who'd spent the past several days raging about the Epstein Files. But while he had been calling for the head of anyone in the administration for failing to deliver, it was much easier to circle the wagon around Trump the moment that a mainstream publication tied him to bad behavior. Laura Loomer, another prominent influencer who'd been criticizing the administration for its underwhelming response, also took the opportunity to try coming home by questioning where exactly Trump's name appeared in the files, while also glazing Trump. 'Are they trying to say that a file is somebody's name in an address book?' she rhetorically asked Politico Playbook on Thursday, adding that she, too, had a large address book. 'Some of those people in my address book have committed crimes. Does that mean I'm implicated in their crimes? President Trump is not a pedophile. And I look forward to seeing him sue every journalist and publication that is trying to imply that he is one.' Either cater to their audience's demand to keep asking what the elites are hiding about Epstein, or maintain their relationship and standing with the White House In the days and weeks since the Trump administration released their brief memo about the Epstein files, the MAGA influencer world — specifically, those who built their careers 'just asking questions' about Epstein while also cozying up to Trump — has grappled with a difficult choice: either cater to their audience's demand to keep asking what the elites are hiding about Epstein, or maintain their relationship and standing with the White House. Some have chosen their audiences, gambling that their following is loyal beyond Trump, and that their influence isn't contingent on their White House access. (Tucker Carlson, for instance, published a two-hour episode that was entirely focused on the Epstein conspiracies — one week after he implied that Epstein was a Mossad agent.) Others have completely flipped back to Trump, such as the influencer Catturd, an onetime Epstein truther who began implying that 'the podcast bro 'influencers'' now criticizing Trump may have taken Russian money to do so. (In 2024, US prosecutors indicted two employees of RT for illegally funneling money to spread Kremlin propaganda, alleging that they had put $10 million into a Tennessee-based media company whose description matched up with Tenet Media, which worked with Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and others.) Catturd then tweeted that he was 'never abandoning Trump', and spent the subsequent week calling for Barack Obama's indictment and posting memes of press secretary Karoline Leavitt. But for everyone else, it's been difficult to have it both ways. Loomer's attempt to pin the blame on Attorney General Pam Bondi, for instance, failed when Trump refused to fire Bondi, while influencers who attempted to convince their audience to move onto different topics saw their audience revolt (particularly if those influencers, such as Benny Johnson, cited their conversations with government officials as reason enough). Normal, everyday constituents also hold deep suspicions about the entire Epstein matter And before you dismiss it as sturm-and-drang on the internet, the very same dynamic can be seen in Congress, where the Republicans are trying their best to satisfy the base while appeasing the President — a task made difficult because their normal, everyday constituents also hold deep suspicions about the entire Epstein matter. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found that the vast majority of voters — including a majority of Republicans — believe that the government is hiding information about the infamous 'client list'. And tellingly, only 35 percent of Republicans believed that the Trump administration was handling it well. (30 percent said Trump was not, and 35 percent were unsure.) On Wednesday, a House Oversight subcommittee voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for the Epstein Files, with a majority composed of five Democrats and three Republicans. The two Republicans who opposed the subpoena ended up tacking on other requests for Epstein-related communications from Biden officials and the DOJ. Per ABC News, the 'officials' included the Democratic subjects of MAGA's most enduring conspiracy theories: 'Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales.' In other words, no one seems to be able to run with Trump's assessment that Epstein is 'somebody that nobody cares about.' Unable to quell the belief that there's a conspiracy afoot, the only thing to do is try to implicate Democrats. Even Speaker Mike Johnson, who abruptly called a five-week recess last Thursday to prevent his Democratic counterparts from voting to release the Epstein files, leaned in on a potential conspiracy. 'One of our concerns is, of course, that it was held in the hands of the DOJ leaders under the last administration, the Biden-Harris administration,' he told a Newsmax reporter on Wednesday. 'And we all know how crooked and corrupt so many of those officials were, how they engaged in lawfare against President Trump. He has a concern, and I do as well, that things could have been doctored in those records.' When it comes to right-wing talking points based on sordid, unproven allegations, it's best to start winking early — and in sync with the president, too. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Tina Nguyen Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. 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