The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the fast-approaching midterm elections.
Also, Trump has pledged to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.
Trump also said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections. The comments were a striking acknowledgment from Trump about the conflict as his Republican administration faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran grinds on with no conclusion in sight.
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Voting and civil rights groups sue to keep ICE away from polls
The lawsuit cites a statute dating back to the Civil War that forbids armed federal officers from approaching voting sites. It says that law conflicts with Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin’s statement earlier this month that ICE Agents could appear at polls in November in response to specific threats or while pursuing suspects.
The groups, and the city of Denver, which also joined the suit, ask that a federal judge in Washington forbid the department from sending agents to polling places.
Democrats have long worried that Trump will send ICE to polls to try to scare voters away in November. Several Trump administration officials have denied this would happen, though some of the president’s allies have openly called for him to take that step.
Trump administration silence has 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants hoping they’re protected
A deadline for the Trump administration to decide whether about 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador can remain protected from deportation has passed without any public announcement, raising hopes among many for another six-month extension while also sowing confusion.
The Department of Homeland Security has been quiet about its plans, leaving attorneys and advocates scrambling to decipher what might happen next to Salvadorans who’ve been raising families in the U.S. for decades.
On Thursday, Homeland Security issued a statement saying the department would make an announcement “at an appropriate time” and that Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador would stay in effect until then. The department issued the same statement during Wednesday’s deadline.
“Let’s be clear: this is not an official extension or decision by DHS as to the fate of TPS for El Salvador,” Ben Johnson, who directs the American Immigration Lawyers Association, posted Wednesday on social media. The Trump administration is leaving TPS holders, their families and their employers in limbo, he said.
Trump promises $500 Obamacare rebate checks for 1M enrollees in 30 states
It would be for those whom the White House alleges were overcharged by the Biden administration for exchange fees.
The promise comes after Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections and as affordability has become a central issue for voters heading into November.
“The relief begins with refunding everyone who was overcharged and the rebates are going out in just a few weeks,” Trump said in a recorded address released on the White House X account Thursday.
In a fact sheet, the White House claimed former President Joe Biden’s administration “accumulated a significant surplus of funds that were not used to benefit the Americans who paid these higher premiums.”
It’s unclear where the money for the rebates would come from and whether it requires congressional approval for disbursement.
US Supreme Court decision appears to clear the way for Missouri to use the old map
There were no noted dissents in the brief order.
It comes after a pitched court battle shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections. The new map was drawn to help Republicans gain an additional seat.
The Supreme Court order came hours after a federal judge allowed Missouri’s top court to proceed with a contempt hearing against Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. Missouri’s battle over its congressional districts has spanned more than a year and spawned confusion over which districts will be in place for voters.
US Supreme Court again rejects push to use Trump-backed congressional map in Missouri
The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use Missouri congressional maps backed by President Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the fast-approaching midterm elections.
The decision appears to clear the way for use of the old maps.
It comes after a pitched court battle shortly before ballots begin going out for the pivotal November elections. The maps were drawn to help Republicans gain an additional U.S. House seat.
It’s the second time the high court has refused to intervene to keep the Trump-backed maps in place.
‘Dividend’ is the latest in a long tradition of presidents taking branding liberties
Trump’s “dividend” payments wouldn’t be true dividends. But he’s not the first politician to use labels that stretch the realities of certain policies.
Franklin Roosevelt called Social Security an “old-age insurance system.” But insurance involves premium payments from policy holders financing claims to those same customers. In Social Security, existing workers’ taxes are immediately paid out to older beneficiaries.
Barack Obama pitched his 2009 economic “stimulus bill.” Most of it was tax cuts and direct aid to state governments after the 2008 financial crash. It was more a stabilizing effort than a stimulus.
Republicans call the estate tax, adopted under Democrat Woodrow Wilson, the “death tax” and often suggest it applies broadly. The current exemption is $15 million ($30 million per couple), meaning only inheritances above that are assessed. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that fewer than 1 out of 1,000 deaths yield any federal estate tax.
Jump in oil prices comes as hopes fade that US and Iran may reach a deal soon on Strait of Hormuz
That would fully reopen the strait and allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf. President Trump said Wednesday that oil prices likely won’t come down until after the U.S. midterm elections in November.
The jump has pushed the price of a gallon of regular gasoline to an average of nearly $4.28 across the United States, according to AAA. That’s up nearly 34% from a year earlier and is not only costing people more at the pump but also through higher prices for all kinds of products that move by truck to store shelves.
Trump’s chosen ‘dividend’ branding doesn’t fit the usual definition
Investopedia, a leading online source of information about the financial markets, defines “dividends” as “periodic payments made to shareholders from corporate profits.”
That doesn’t apply to direct payments or indirect payments (such as tax credits) from the U.S. Treasury Department to taxpayers. The government is not a for-profit enterprise. Furthermore, the treasury has run an annual deficit every year since 2002 — the first fiscal year following President George W. Bush’s first tax cuts. Since there’s no surplus to divide, that means any payouts would have to be backed by debt instruments that would add to the federal operating deficit and total debt.
The current year’s deficit stands at about $1.8 trillion. The total debt surpassed $40 trillion earlier this year.
Investopedia, meanwhile, also says this about dividend payments: “They can make a stock more attractive to investors but may also signal that a company isn’t doing enough to generate better returns.”
Republicans showcase their ‘big beautiful bill’ to voters, but the law’s impact has been mixed
Working to keep the majority in Congress, Republicans at the midterm convention in Dallas are showcasing their chief legislative accomplishment — the sweeping package of tax breaks, social service cuts and immigration enforcement President Trump signed into law.
A year on, what’s known as the One Big Beautiful Bill — or, the “Big Ugly Bill,” as Democrats call it — has produced mixed results. Millions of people have received enhanced tax breaks, while millions are also losing access to federal food aid and health care. More immigrants are being arrested, many deported, some dying during the process.
House Speaker Mike Johnson calls it the kind of “common sense” governing that Republicans plan to do more of, if voters return them to power.
“Shamefully, not one Democrat voted for it,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., said Wednesday during the convention’s opening night.
One Republican senator seems to like Trump’s ‘dividend’ idea
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, who’s attending the GOP midterm convention as he seeks his second term, is among the Republicans embracing Trump’s proposed payout to American adults.
“Comment how you will spend your $5,000 Trump Dividend when Republicans win in November,” he posted on X, eliciting mostly positive responses from his online followers.
Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since the 1932 wave election in the Great Depression. But Marshall faces a surprisingly energetic challenge for reelection from Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton, pastor of the nation’s largest United Methodist congregation.
Marshall did not expound on the cost of Trump’s idea or how it should be carried out legally. The president doesn’t have appropriations power under the Constitution. That power rests with Congress.
US oil jumps above $100 and stock futures slump
The price of U.S. crude oil rose above $100 for the first time Thursday since May with no end in sight in the U.S.-Iran war.
The price for Brent crude, the international standard, rose above $105 a barrel. U.S. stock futures fell, with the S&P 500 down 0.5% and the Nasdaq off by 1.1%.
A report showed that inflation in the U.S. remains stubbornly high on the wholesale level.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by one-quarter point to try to tame inflation in the European Union. Stock indexes in Europe fell, with Germany’s DAX down 0.7%.
Market in Asia closed lower with the exception of Japan.
Americans’ individual share of the US debt payments equals 3/4 of Trump’s ‘dividend’ payment
The theoretical $5,000 payments Trump pitched would mean money going directly in Americans’ wallets. But Americans’ also are on the hook for an indirect outlay that’s almost as much: interest payments on the U.S. debt.
The national debt recently crossed the $40 trillion mark. Each year, the federal government pays interest to the investors who’ve financed that debt.
According to Treasury Department data, that interest expense for fiscal year 2026 will come to about $1.27 trillion. Using the Census Bureau’s 2026 population estimate of 340.3 million people, that comes to a per capita share of $3,732 or almost three-quarters of the payout Trump pitched.
‘We don’t have surpluses to give away’
Marc Goldwein, the senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank in Washington, said Trump has no authority to send money to Americans without approval from Congress.
Goldwein added that dividends are something companies pay when there’s a surplus, but the U.S. is running $2 trillion annual deficits and has $40 trillion in debt.
“The idea that we’ve had fiscal success is backwards and bordering on laughable,” he said. “We don’t have surpluses to give away.”
Federal judge allows contempt hearing in Missouri redistricting dispute
A federal judge has allowed Missouri’s top court to proceed with a contempt hearing Thursday for Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in a tense and twisting legal battle over whether new congressional districts supported by President Trump can be used in the November election.
Missouri’s top court previously ordered Hoskins not to use a Trump-backed map in the general election. But U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark on Tuesday barred Hoskins from using anything other than the new map Trump supports.
The state Supreme Court then ordered Hoskins to appear for a contempt hearing Thursday for not following its orders.
State attorneys representing Hoskins had asked Clark to halt the contempt hearing. But Clark declined to do so.
GOP donor doesn’t like Trump’s proposed $5,000 checks
Joe Lonsdale, a prominent Republican donor and activist, is among the Trump allies panning the president’s latest promise to send money directly to Americans.
“I am hugely in favor of winning the midterms, and love much about this (administration),” he wrote on X, “but am strongly against bread and circus bribes.”
Democrats say Trump’s ‘bizarre’ convention is a distraction from his faltering presidency
It’s not just Republicans descending on Dallas for the midterm convention — Democrats are there too as they try to convince voters that the reality of Donald Trump’s second presidency doesn’t match the spectacle of his made-for-TV event.
“This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can’t paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender, said Wednesday morning.
Besides Pritzker, several leading House Democrats were traveling to Dallas for events, as well. And Texas Democrats hope the spotlight on the state ends up benefiting their candidates.
James Talarico, a Texas state lawmaker who's running against state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a closely watched Senate race, held a food drive Wednesday at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas. He compared volunteers’ work with Republicans’ festivities.
Trump says oil prices that spiked because of Iran war likely won’t come down until after midterms
Trump said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections.
Oil prices on Wednesday jumped more than 3%, pushing international Brent crude past the $100 threshold for the first time since July as salvos between the U.S. and Iran escalated.
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”
The comments were a striking acknowledgment from Trump about the conflict as his Republican administration faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran grinds on with no conclusion in sight.
Trump, in an exchange with reporters before traveling to Dallas for the midterm Republican convention, added that he believes Iran will finally relent after the pivotal elections are held in the U.S.
Trump, hoping to salvage midterms, makes dubious pledge to give every US adult $5,000 if GOP wins
President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, an extraordinary gambit to reverse his party’s sagging fortunes in November.
The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.
“If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,” Trump said during the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas. “It will be called the Trump Dividend.”
He likened the payments to a corporation’s distributions to shareholders, citing “our tremendous strength and success economically.”
Within an hour, Vice President JD Vance appeared to try to walk back Trump’s proposal — at least in part — by suggesting the dividend payments would not go to the wealthy. Vance suggested it could be paid for by U.S. tariff revenues, though the suggested payment dwarfs what the U.S. has taken in through the protectionist measures.
