Trump weighs Taiwan arms package after summit aimed at steadying US-China ties

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-15 10:19:00 — www.pbs.org

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump’s comments on Taiwan — a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory — came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing U.S.-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan.

“I will make a determination,” Trump said. He added: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that’s 9,500 miles away.”

Trump’s Republican administration in December authorized a record-setting $11 billion weapons package for Taipei, but it has yet to move forward. Lawmakers also approved a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan in January, but the sale cannot advance until Trump formally sends it to Congress. China opposes such sales and has suggested that Washington’s relationship with the self-governing island is the key factor in U.S.-China relations.

Trump said Xi also reiterated China’s strong opposition to Taiwan’s independence. “I heard him out,” Trump said. “I didn’t make a comment.”

Trump’s consultation with Xi about arms sales to Taiwan may violate the so-called Six Assurances, a set of nonbinding U.S. policy principles formulated in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan that have helped guide the U.S. relationship with Taipei, according to analysts.

The second of the Six Assurances states that the U.S. “did not agree to consult with the People’s Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan.” Trump said the issue of the 1982 assurances came up in the talks with Xi.

Trump also said he raised a potential three-way nuclear deal that would involve the U.S., Russia, and China. He wants each of the three countries to sign a pact that would cap the number of nuclear warheads in their arsenals. China has previously been cool to entering such a pact.

Beijing’s arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds 600 warheads and is far from parity with the U.S. and Russia, which are each estimated to have more than 5,000 warheads. But Trump suggested Xi was receptive to the idea.

“I got a very a positive response,” Trump said. “This is the beginning.”

The last nuclear arms pact, known as the New START treaty, between Russia and the United States expired in February, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. As the treaty was set to expire, Trump rejected a call by Russia to extend the two-country deal for another year and called for “a new, improved and modernized” deal that includes China.

The Pentagon estimates China will have more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.

Xi welcomed Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, on Friday for their final engagement of the summit before the U.S. leader’s return to Washington. The leaders took a short walk through the grounds that feature ancient trees and Chinese roses, and they strolled through a covered passageway with green columns and archways painted with birds and traditional Chinese mountain scenes.

Over tea and lunch, Trump and Xi — with top aides and translators in tow — huddled for nearly three hours of talks before the U.S. leader completed his three-day visit to China.

Trump appeared impressed by the bucolic grounds, remarking that the roses were the most beautiful he had ever seen. Xi promised to send him some rose seeds.

The compound is wrapped around two artificial lakes built for the pleasure of emperors. Zhongnanhai is often compared to the White House, the Kremlin, or South Korea’s Blue House. But unlike the other presidential residences, Zhongnanhai does not serve as the main venue for diplomatic visits. The invitation appeared to be an attempt by Xi to extend a personal touch to a U.S. leader who appreciates big gestures.

“It’s been really a great couple of days,” Trump told reporters.

Xi, for his part, called it a “milestone” visit. “We have established a new bilateral relationship, or rather a constructive, strategic, stable relationship,” he said.

But the optimistic outlook collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.

Beijing has shown little public interest in U.S. entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iran, even though Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Xi had in their conversations offered to help.

In recent weeks, the U.S. State Department has accused Chinese firms of providing satellite imagery to the Iranian government, and the Treasury Department has moved to target Chinese oil refineries accused of buying oil from Tehran, as well as shippers of the oil.

Xi on Thursday warned Trump during private talks that their differences on Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world’s dominant powers toward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.

But Trump, as he made his way home, said he was not concerned that the U.S.-China relationship was in danger. “I think we will be fine,” he said.

Taiwan remains the most important issue for China. Xi’s sharp language on Taiwan loomed large over the visit, with Chinese government officials amplifying his view that differences on the island pose the biggest risk to U.S.-Chinese relations.

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and cautioned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan by force. He also framed Xi’s comments as standard practice.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” said Rubio, who was among senior aides to join Trump for the talks.

China in recent weeks has sought to put more focus on its view that Taiwan sits at the “core” of its interests and is key to ensuring a stable relationship with the U.S. Trump at moments has shown ambivalence toward Taiwan, raising speculation that he could be open to loosening ties with Taipei.

Trump said he and Xi also spoke at length about Iran. The leaders agreed that the critical Strait of Hormuz — effectively closed since the start of the Iran conflict — needs to be reopened to support global energy demands. About 20% of the world’s oil flowed through the strait before the war started on Feb. 28.

“We feel very similar about (how) we want it to end,” the president said with Xi at his side. “We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.”

White House officials said Xi was also opposed to any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

Trump earlier this week downplayed the importance of talks with Xi on the 11-week-old Iran war that has led to surging energy prices and threatens to plunge the global economy into recession if the conflict does not conclude soon.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trump-weighs-taiwan-arms-package-after-summit-aimed-at-steadying-us-china-ties

Trump says sculpture garden honoring prominent Americans is planned for park along Potomac River

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-15 10:43:00 — www.pbs.org

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to build an exhibit of statues featuring prominent Americans in a tightly regulated park along the Potomac River, potentially opening a new legal fight over whether his administration is ignoring the approvals process that typically governs Washington’s monumental core as he muscles through a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s capital.

In a Friday morning social media post, Trump said the National Garden of American Heroes would be built in West Potomac Park, a space near the National Mall that includes the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The area is also home to several fields and volleyball courts regularly used by local sports groups. Trump described the area in his post as a “totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate along our Mighty Potomac River.”

The president has said the garden would commemorate America’s 250th anniversary with sculptures recognizing 250 prominent Americans who have made significant cultural, political, and other historical contributions to the country. He first raised the idea during Fourth of July celebrations in 2020 and has framed it as a response to protests that resulted in the removal of controversial monuments, including those that commemorated slave owners and Confederate leaders.

In the final days of his first term, Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order naming 244 people including Ronald Reagan and Jackie Robinson who should be honored with statues in the garden. The idea languished under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but Congress provided $40 million under Trump’s big tax and spending cuts law last year to procure the statues included in his executive orders.

That may not be enough, however, to constitute the type of approval typically needed for major projects on or near the National Mall. Federal law requires projects and memorials to get a sign-off from multiple design and planning groups.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was seeking such approvals and or whether contracts have been awarded for the statues. Washington’s monumental core is one of the nation’s most closely regulated spaces, with the goal of protecting sight lines and preventing new construction that would undermine the area’s history. Between the approvals process, design disputes, and funding challenges, changes in the area can take years — or even decades — to reach completion. One of the newest additions near the National Mall, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, took 21 years to finish after Congress initially approved it in 1999.

Trump and his supporters have shown little interest in following such procedures. He moved quickly this month to drain and repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He suddenly demolished the East Wing of the White House last year to build a ballroom. Trump’s name has been added to the facade of the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close later this summer for a two-year renovation.

Just this week, workers began preliminary surveys and testing of the proposed site of a triumphal arch Trump is seeking between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. Part of the site was fenced off, and pink flags typically used as survey markings were planted in the grass. And the Trump administration is moving forward with plans to transform East Potomac Park from an accessible public golf course into what Trump has described as a “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday released a design plan for the new course that he said would provide “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.” The plan provided few details on how open the park, which is frequently used by local runners and bikers, would remain to the general public. Virtually all of the projects have become subject to litigation.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-sculpture-garden-honoring-prominent-americans-is-planned-for-park-along-potomac-river

Why is Trump talking about action on Cuba and what could that look like?

Politics – CBSNews.com — 2026-05-15 09:53:00 — www.cbsnews.com

Washington — President Trump has continued to dangle the possibility of military action against Cuba, appearing to be emboldened by his administration’s intervention in Venezuela. He suggested earlier this month that “on the way back from Iran,” an aircraft carrier could “come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, ‘thank you very much, we give up.'” After the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Mr. Trump warned that he had his sights set on Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, standing alongside Mr. Trump at a news conference about the raid on Jan. 3, said the regime should be “concerned.” And since Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated in U.S. strikes on Iran in February, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric against Cuba has escalated. On March 16, Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he believed he would have “the honor of taking Cuba.” “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah,” he said. “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.” “Cuba’s going to be next,” Mr. Trump said later that month. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has been more direct about the administration’s possible goals in Cuba, testifying to Congress in January, “we would love to see the regime there change,” and saying it would be of “great benefit” to the U.S. Weeks later, Rubio said Cuba has to “change dramatically.” “I mean Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work and a political and governmental system that can’t fix it,” Rubio said on March 17 in the Oval Office. “The people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it. So, they have to get new people in charge.”

Rubio reiterated the need for economic reform and political reforms and predicted the administration would “have more news on that fairly soon,” he said on Fox News. “You cannot fix their economy if you don’t change the system of government,” he said. For now, experts on the region view the threats of military action in Cuba as bluster, saying it would involve much more effort than in Venezuela because of the political structure. Forcing gradual economic change, along with the resignation of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, through the threat of economic collapse and other sanctions is a more likely scenario, they said. “I think there are a number of factions within the administration where some would be happy to do a deal with most of the existing Cuban government if it gave greater access to businesses, and particularly to Cuban Americans to come back and invest,” Paul Hare, who served as the British ambassador to Cuba from 2001 to 2004, told CBS News. “The other faction, I think, is insisting on a complete regime change.”

The Trump administration has been trying to choke Cuba’s economy by imposing an oil blockade that experts say has pushed the Communist-ruled island to its most dire state since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which heavily subsidized Cuba’s economy. In mid-May, the energy minister said that Cuba has run out of fuel, largely as a result of the blockade. Still, the U.S. and Cuba have been talking, and on Thursday, May 14, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana, Cuba, for a rare meeting with senior Cuban officials, an agency official told CBS News, using the visit to deliver a message that the U.S. was prepared to expand economic and security engagement with Cuba if Havana “makes fundamental changes.” The deputy foreign minister of Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said in an interview in March with NBC News that his nation does not see U.S. military action as “probable,” but their military is “prepared” for any U.S. aggression. Cossío added that regime change is “absolutely” off the table. What regime change could look like is another question. Christopher Hernandez-Roy, a senior fellow and deputy director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said “regime management” is the “only realistic option.” “Regime change is probably harder to accomplish than in Venezuela. Regime management, I would also argue, is probably harder to accomplish than in Venezuela because you have a power structure that’s been in place for almost 70 years and is expert at repression and expert at sniffing out dissent. So is there a pressure point at which certain elements in Cuba think that it’s better to change course? I think it’s possible. But is it as easy as it is in Venezuela? I don’t think so. I think it’s probably harder,” he told CBS News. “A purely diplomatic solution that doesn’t rest on any sort of coercion, I don’t think is possible,” he added.

Raúl Castro handed the presidency to Díaz-Canel in 2018, marking the first time since 1959 that a Castro was not formally leading the country. But Díaz-Canel is widely considered a figurehead and the Castros still have considerable influence. “He’s not the person that actually wields the power in the country, but it would be seen as a symbolic win by the United States,” Hernandez-Roy said. It’s also unclear who would step in to run the country. One scenario could be a Delcy Rodríguez figure who would lead the island “very much in concert with and under the pressure of the United States,” according to Lawrence Gumbiner, a career diplomat who led the U.S. Embassy in Havana during Mr. Trump’s first term. “The first steps would be economic openings,” Gumbiner said of how the U.S. could exert pressure over a regime-aligned leader. “I think the clear message will be like it is with Ms. Rodriguez — that you will do as we say, or else.” Gumbiner said the “or else” carries the threat of military action, although he believes such a threat is minimal, and potential indictments. The top federal prosecutor in Miami has been exploring potential charges against Communist Party leadership, including economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations. And CBS News first reported on May 14 that the Trump administration is taking steps to indict former leader Raúl Castro. A more ambitious move would involve bringing in someone from outside the regime who would push for constitutional changes, Hare said.

Gumbiner said that Mr. Trump is less concerned about political change, instead seeing the nation as a big opportunity for U.S. businesses. “Whether it’s shipping, whether it’s transportation, whether it’s tourism, whether it’s construction, I think Trump sees Cuba as kind of virgin territory, where it’s been been kind of dormant for six decades, and where the U.S. business community can come in and really dominate the scene,” he said. Gumbiner said Rubio likely wants to see broader change in Cuba than Mr. Trump, but he added that “there are a number of reasons why that’s going to be complicated.” The former diplomat said an upheaval to the nation’s political structure “would involve tremendous U.S. effort.” “It’s important to realize that Trump, he does not want to do nation building,” he said. “Rebuilding Cuba would be a nation building exercise if you want to redo it in a democratic, pluralist model. Whereas, making economic changes piecemeal is easier.” Facing increasing pressure from the Trump administration, the Cuban government announced that it would allow Cuban nationals living abroad to invest in companies on the island. It marked a notable shift for the country, which had heavily restricted residents from starting private businesses until recent years. In late March, the U.S. allowed a Russian oil tanker to reach Cuba. Mr. Trump indicated it was a humanitarian gesture. “They have to survive,” he said.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cuba-action-regime-change/

Lawyers urge judge to block Trump order that would create eligible voter list, limit mail ballots

ABC News: Politics — 2026-05-15 07:02:00 — abcnews.com

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he issued an executive order to restrict voters’ ability to cast ballots by mail, attorneys for Democrats and civil rights groups told a federal judge on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols didn’t rule from the bench on the plaintiffs’ request for an order blocking officials from implementing Trump’s March 31 order, his second related to elections since winning his second term in the White House. The case is one of multiple lawsuits filed to block the order on the grounds that only states and Congress, and not the president, are given power under the Constitution to decide how elections are run.

Trump’s initial executive order to revamp elections by requiring documentary proof of citizenship, issued last year, was largely halted by multiple federal judges on similar grounds. He issued his latest order only after the voting bill he backed stalled in Congress. The current legal fight comes as the country is in the midst of primary elections and election officials are preparing for the intricacies of holding the fall’s midterm elections.

“I understand the time pressure here,” said Nichols, who questioned both sides but gave no clear indication of which way he’s leaning. The president can’t rewrite election rules to give himself and the Republican Party a partisan advantage, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. They argued that the executive order’s requirements are illegal and designed to coerce states into limiting voter registration and ballot access. “It is harming our clients every day in the middle of an election season,” said Orion Nevers, an attorney representing the NAACP.

Democrats are more likely to vote by mail. Since even before his 2020 loss, Trump has falsely implied there is mass fraud involved in the practice and fought to curtail it, even after his baseless claims led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and were repeatedly debunked by audits and reviews, including some run by Republicans. Since returning to office, Trump has said he wants Republicans to “take over” elections in Democratic areas and launched investigations of the 2020 vote.

His latest executive order calls on the Department of Homeland Security to make a list of eligible voters in each state and seeks to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list. The administration is asking the judge to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims. Justice Department attorney Stephen Pezzi on Thursday suggested that the litigation is premature, calling it “shadowboxing” for the plaintiffs to challenge a list that hasn’t yet been created. “It’s a little hard to address these questions in the abstract,” Pezzi said.

Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, asked Pezzi why it would be lawful to disseminate the list to states. “I think it would be the plaintiffs’ burden to explain why it’s unlawful,” Pezzi replied. “I don’t mean to be cute with that answer.” Trump’s executive order requires federal agencies to compile a list of adults the U.S. government has purportedly “confirmed” to be U.S. citizens and to share it with each state at least 60 days before each federal election. “There isn’t a way to lawfully compile it,” said Lalitha Madduri, an attorney for Democratic Party plaintiffs. Danielle Lang, who represents the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the executive order is aimed at creating “the maximum amount of chaos and confusion” for local election officials. “They need clear direction,” Lang said.

Source: https://abcnews.com/Politics/wireStory/lawyers-urge-judge-block-trump-order-create-eligible-132982545

Trump-Xi accord on Iran elusive as US president’s China trip winds down | China

US politics | The Guardian — 2026-05-15 00:46:00 — www.theguardian.com

Donald Trump has claimed that the US and China “feel very similar” about ending the war in Iran but offered no details about a possible breakthrough. The US president was speaking alongside Xi Jinping of China at the Zhongnanhai garden in Beijing on the second and final day of the leaders’ summit. “We did discuss Iran,” Trump said. “We feel very similar about [how] we want it to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open.” He added: “We want them [Iran] to get it ended because it’s a crazy thing there, a little bit crazy. And it’s no good, it can’t happen.”

There is much speculation about how much pressure the US is putting on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its leverage with Iran to encourage the country to reopen the strait of Hormuz. And there is a question mark over whether or not Beijing would be willing to accede to that pressure.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday that the Chinese “don’t want to be on the wrong side” on the Iran issue. “It’s really important for China to have the strait of Hormuz open,” Greer said. Earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US hoped “to convince [China] to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf.” But in an interview with NBC News on Thursday he downplayed the idea that the US was seeking support from Beijing. “We’re not asking for China’s help. We don’t need their help,” Rubio said.

China’s foreign ministry on Friday again called for a ceasefire in Iran and said the strait of Hormuz should be opened “as soon as possible.” About half of China’s crude oil passes through the waterway, but the bigger threat for the Chinese economy is if the conflict in the Middle East causes a global recession that dents demand for its exports. But many in Beijing feel that the crisis in Iran is not China’s responsibility. Zhou Bo, a retired senior army colonel and a senior fellow in the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, said: “On Iran, China definitely wants to help but I read what Rubio said: he actually seems to shift the burden to the Chinese side. In China, we have a saying: it is like, ‘Why should I clean your shit?’”

The White House readout of the more than two hours of talks between Trump and Xi on Thursday said the leaders “agreed that the strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy” and that “President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarisation of the strait.” Trump raised eyebrows during a TV interview when he suggested that finding Iran’s enriched uranium was primarily for show after Israel demanded it as a goal. “I just feel better if I got it, actually, but it’s – I think, it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else,” the US president told Fox News host Sean Hannity.

The Chinese readout of Thursday’s meeting just made a brief reference to the “situation in the Middle East.” Chinese state media rapidly published a flurry of articles echoing the language of “constructive strategic stability” that was part of the Chinese government’s readout of Thursday’s meeting. The Xinhua news agency said that the term meant “harmony without uniformity and seeking common ground while reserving differences.” The concept is “full of wisdom and demonstrates responsibility,” Xinhua said.

Trump, for his part, has revelled in Chinese hospitality and flattery. He was heard saying on his way into the tea room at the Zhongnanhai garden that Xi was giving him roses for the Rose Garden, according to a White House pool report. “This has been an incredible visit,” he said as the men sat together in an opulent wood panelled room with a huge golden carpet. “I think a lot of good has come of it. We’ve made some fantastic trade deals – great for both countries … we’ve really done some wonderful things, I believe.” Trump added: “We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve.”

He told Fox News that China agreed to buy US oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing planes. But on key issues including Taiwan, there seems to have been little by way of concrete agreement. Julian Gewirtz, a former director for China on the national security council during the Biden administration, said the new Chinese formulation about US-China relations was about “locking in this current phase of strategic stalemate for the remainder of Trump’s term and ideally beyond.” “Xi Jinping has been working for years to be ready for this moment, to bring an American president to Beijing as a peer, widely acknowledged as such around the world. And now it is happening,” Gewirtz said.

Wu Xinbo, a professor of international studies at Fudan University and a Chinese government adviser, said the balance of power between the US and China was “shifting towards greater parity.” “In the past, it always seemed as though the United States held the upper hand, constantly exerting pressure on China and taking the offensive. Now, however, it’s fair to say that the two countries have reached a new point of equilibrium,” Wu said.

At a busy intersection near Trump’s hotel, the crowds that gathered to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade were thinner on Friday morning than on Thursday evening, with the heavy police presence encouraging people not to loiter. Many grumbled about the inconvenience caused by the repeated road closures. Asked for their views on Trump, the word that came up again and again from Beijingers was “unpredictable.” “What he says isn’t necessarily what it means,” said one Trump-watcher, who declined to give his name.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/15/trump-china-visit-iran-agreement-xi-jinping-elusive

Fact-checking JD Vance on Maine Democrats, Medicaid fraud and autism coverage

PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories — 2026-05-14 17:25:00 — www.politifact.com

Visiting Maine weeks before the state’s primary election, Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats of capitulating to fraudsters. Calling Maine the “bronze medalist” in fraud after California and Minnesota, Vance predicted that federal officials will find “hundreds of millions of dollars every single month” because Maine “is not a state that takes it seriously.” Vance, tasked by President Donald Trump to uncover fraud in federal programs, said May 14 in Bangor that states that don’t go after fraud “care more about illegal aliens than the people they represent.”

Maine has experienced some fraud in Medicaid and autism coverage in recent years, but some of the things Vance said exaggerated how much fault lies with Democratic officials, and he left out that, by some metrics, Maine experiences less fraud than other states. U.S. Sentencing Commission data shows in fiscal year 2025 that New Jersey and the Southern District of Florida were tied for the most health care fraud sentencings. Nationwide, 91% of people sentenced were United States citizens. Maine has about 10,000 immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, just under 1% of the state’s population and one of the smallest unauthorized immigrant populations in the U.S.

The largest cases of fraud over a decade in MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid healthcare program for low-income people, have involved pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacies, including companies with offices in the U.S., WMTW, PolitiFact’s Maine partner, reported. Neither the White House nor the vice president’s office responded to an inquiry for this article. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills rejected Vance’s portrayal after his speech, resending a March statement that said she cracked down on fraud as a district attorney, attorney general and governor, “often by working hand-in-hand with the federal government.”

Vance campaigned with former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who is running in an open-seat race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, an area that Trump won three times. Republican Sen. Susan Collins did not attend the event, but Vance had a kind word for the senator, who voted to convict Trump in 2021 and is in a competitive Senate race. “I almost wish that she was more partisan, but the thing I love about Susan is she is independent,” Vance said. Graham Platner, the Democrats’ expected Senate candidate nominee, shared video of Vance’s comment within hours, seeking to reinforce Collins’ ties to the administration.

We fact-checked some of Vance’s comments. Vance: “The government wasn’t going after fraud. And ladies and gentlemen, that changed the moment, Donald J. Trump became the President of the United States.” That’s incorrect. The federal government and state governments, including Maine’s, have long pursued fraud cases. Trump has torn down governmental fraud-finding tools. He fired more than a dozen inspectors general whose jobs were to ferret out fraud and inefficiencies and appointed his own. He paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits businesses from taking bribes from foreign officials. He has also granted clemency to some people convicted of Medicare or Medicaid fraud.

Congress passed the Inspector General Act of 1978 in response to anti-corruption efforts that started after the 1972 Watergate break-in and cover-up that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Another federal entity, the Government Accountability Office, conducts audits. WMTW reported in January that since 2015, the Maine Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered more than $17 million in 162 cases, sometimes involving repeat offenders. That is a small percentage of the billions of dollars spent annually on MaineCare. Maine’s improper payment rate of 2.4% is lower than the national average of 3.2%, data show.

Vance: “Fraud has festered in Maine” because LePage is no longer the governor. That’s wrong. Fraud existed under both LePage and Mills, and both administrations carried out investigations and conducted routine audits. WMTW found that there were dozens of fraud investigations every year between 2015 and 2025. That includes the final four years of LePage’s tenure and most of Mills’ governorship. Assigning credit for investigations and prosecutions is tricky, because convictions can represent cases in which investigations were launched years earlier.

For example, two Lewiston men who defrauded MaineCare from 2015 to 2018 were sentenced for health care fraud in 2021. This prosecution was the result of a three-year investigation by federal and state officials during the Trump, Biden, LePage and Mills administrations. As governor, LePage’s antifraud actions included pursuing more than 1,000 cases of fraud within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program for low-income households and hiring additional welfare fraud investigators. Under Mills, the state health department in December stopped payments for MaineCare to Gateway Community Services, a nonprofit that works with Somali immigrants, because of allegations of fraud. A few employees were later charged with tax fraud.

Vance mentioned the case of Rakiya Mohamed, an Auburn, Maine, resident and owner of a language interpretation business. Mohamed in March pleaded guilty in federal court to filing a false tax return and interfering with the administration of federal tax laws. Mohamed reported the income and expenses for the business, Reliable Language Resources, on her individual income tax returns and reported false and fraudulent expenses for contract labor and office expenses. A court document said she is not a foreign national. Mohamed faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years and a $250,000 fine.

Vance: “In Maine, we’ve seen people go out there and say that they’re providing services to autistic children, when, in reality, they maybe don’t have any children at all, or they certainly don’t have autistic children.” There is evidence of payment problems within Maine’s autism-related Medicaid coverage, but the auditor cited incomplete paperwork and did not say anyone had fabricated autistic children. In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general released an audit that said Maine made at least $45.6 million in improper Medicaid payments for children with autism.

An “improper” payment in a government program refers to erroneous payments made to beneficiaries and their providers or without sufficient documentation. The Maine audit deemed some Medicaid payments improper if children did not receive all the required assessments or if filed assessments lacked required signatures of staff, parents or guardians. Others were considered improper because the notes from patient evaluation sessions were not fully documented or lacked a provider’s credentials. The agency said Maine should return $28.7 million, which was the federal share of the payments. The inspector general examined the program because of rising costs; it had grown from $52.2 million in 2019 to $80.6 million in 2023.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asked Mills in February what the state was doing to prevent fraud and recoup stolen payments. The letter came weeks after the federal government deployed immigration agents to Maine in a targeted crackdown. Mills’ response cited initiatives from her tenure, including requiring all group homes and personal care agencies in Maine to be licensed and enhancing licensing requirements for home and community rehabilitation support services. Staff Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.politifact.com/article/2026/may/14/vice-president-JD-Vance-Maine-fraud-Janet-Mills/

Yes, Florida is the only state in the nation removing children from low-cost health insurance

PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories — 2026-05-14 16:04:00 — www.politifact.com

The way Florida treats kids enrolled in its low-income children’s health insurance program is an outlier in the United States, a Democratic congresswoman said. “Governor (Ron) DeSantis is breaking the law,” U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., wrote April 29 on X. “Florida is the only state in the nation kicking children off their affordable health coverage and preventing over 40,000 children from getting KidCare coverage.”

KidCare is Florida’s subsidized health insurance for children from low-income families — the state’s version of the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. Florida officials challenged a federal rule that requires keeping children enrolled in affordable health insurance — and Florida is the only state taking children off its program because of missed payments. State officials removed about 43,000 children from December 2024 to November 2025.

The DeSantis administration has filed lawsuits against both the Biden and Trump administrations to exempt Florida or reverse the rule. The rule requires states to keep children continuously enrolled in subsidized health insurance plans for 12 months even if parents miss a payment. Two of Florida’s lawsuits have been unsuccessful; one is pending.

“There are no other states doing this,” said Joan Alker, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. “Florida is removing thousands of children, violating federal law, and saying they aren’t going to expand their program because of this federal rule.”

In her post, Castor shared an article by KFF, a health policy think tank, that described Florida’s yearslong delay of a KidCare program expansion, which state lawmakers approved in 2023. When asked for comment, Jay Rhoden, a Castor spokesperson, referenced the KFF article and said other states, such as Texas, have asked the federal government to rescind the rule requiring continuous coverage but haven’t defied the law.

DeSantis’ office directed PolitiFact’s questions to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, which helps oversee KidCare and has been involved in the litigation. The agency did not respond to our email seeking comment.

Florida’s KidCare is a Medicaid expansion program for children whose families earn too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid but do not earn enough money to buy private or marketplace insurance. The federal government pays about 69 cents of every dollar spent on KidCare, with the rest funded through state funds and monthly premiums of about $15 to $20, depending on household income.

Florida is among the states with the highest number of uninsured children, with more than 400,000, or 8.5%, lacking insurance, according to 2024 federal data. In May 2023, the Florida Legislature unanimously approved expanding KidCare’s eligibility threshold from 200% to 300% of the federal poverty level. That means children in a family of four qualify for coverage if the annual household income is $93,600 or less, up from about $66,000. DeSantis signed it into law in June 2023.

A 2023 House analysis estimated the expansion would cover 42,000 more Florida children. Studies have found that subsidized healthcare coverage improves children’s lives by increasing access to care and improving long-term health outcomes. Also in 2023, the federal government approved the “continuous eligibility” rule that required states to provide 12 months of healthcare coverage for children enrolled in subsidized programs. The rule ensures children’s coverage wouldn’t lapse in cases of nonpayment or administrative issues. Alker said children sometimes lose coverage because of a bureaucratic mistake, such as missing a notice when they move.

The DeSantis administration sued the federal government in an attempt to nix the rule, and also submitted a waiver to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to seek approval of the KidCare expansion and to ask the agency to let the state continue removing children from the program for missed premiums. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Florida’s waiver to expand KidCare in December 2024 but said the state must comply with the federal rule.

From December 2024 through November 2025, Florida removed about 43,000 children from the program for premium payment lapses, according to data obtained by KFF. “Florida is an extreme outlier. Thousands of children are losing their health insurance,” said Holly Bullard, chief strategy and development officer at the Florida Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit advocating for the state to implement the expansion. “Not only is it the only state suing, but it’s also the only one not complying with both state and federal law.”

A federal judge dismissed Florida’s first lawsuit over the rule, and the state withdrew its second lawsuit in February. Florida is now suing the federal government for a third time, accusing it of Freedom of Information Act violations related to the expansion waiver and asking the court to strike the condition that Florida must abide by the continuous enrollment requirement. Florida officials have pointed to ongoing litigation for the delay in expanding the program. “You can sue over federal policy you don’t like, but you’re supposed to comply with the law at the same time,” Bullard said.

The Trump administration has not enforced the continuous enrollment rule in Florida, or issued any warnings to the state. Florida Health Justice Project, a nonprofit legal aid group, and the National Health Law Program sued Florida’s Medicaid and KidCare agencies in March to implement the approved expansion.

Our ruling Castor said, “Florida is the only state in the nation kicking children off their affordable health coverage.” The state is the only one in the country not complying with a federal rule requiring states to keep children enrolled in subsidized healthcare for 12 months regardless of missed premium payments. Florida has removed at least 43,000 children from KidCare for nonpayment since December 2024. We rate Castor’s statement True.

Source: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2026/may/14/kathy-castor/kid-care-florida-desantis-health-insurance/

Trump Counterterror Plan Targets Leftists, Ignores Far-Right Violence — ProPublica

ProPublica — 2026-05-14 10:55:00 — www.propublica.org

For a year, White House counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka promoted the national strategy he was drafting, saying he was pouring his “life’s work” into a “massive” blueprint that would overhaul the U.S. approach to combating terrorist threats.

The finished product, released May 6 after months of delays, is a 16-page, typo-sprinkled document that ranks threats based on politics rather than intelligence assessments, according to several current and former counterterrorism officials and threat analysts.

Islamist militant groups, the perennial top concern, now come second to Latin American drug cartels. The violent far right, which the FBI has repeatedly called the leading domestic threat, doesn’t merit a mention. Meanwhile, militant leftists, a small subset of extremist violence in the United States, are portrayed as a threat on par with global terrorist networks such as al-Qaida.

“A new type of domestic terrorism has emerged,” the document says, “driven by violent extremists who have adopted ideologies antithetical to freedom and the American way of life.”

Gorka’s strategy — the subject of a recent ProPublica report — lavishes praise on President Donald Trump’s national security agenda but offers few details about plans to tackle the administration’s top priorities: Latin American “narcoterrorists,” Islamist militant groups, and violent leftist antifascists and anarchists.

Gorka, who coordinates White House counterterrorism policy at the National Security Council, has called the document a “return to common sense” after a 2021 strategy by President Joe Biden centered on mostly far-right domestic threats. The new strategy mentions Biden seven times.

“What it tells me is that this administration is not paying attention to the data, to what our allies are seeing globally, or to where the biggest threats of violence come from or how they might be prevented,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University.

Republican leaders often portrayed Biden’s focus on the violent far right as the Democrats cracking down on conservative organizing. That idea fueled Trump’s blanket pardon of more than 1,500 defendants, including those who attacked police, in the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Gorka did not reply to a request for comment. The White House, asked about criticisms of the plan, referred to a number of Gorka’s public statements touting it. Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, added in an email, “President Trump is crushing terrorist threats to the United States and will never let cartels, Jihadists, or the governments who support them plot against our citizens with impunity.”

Here are five notable aspects of the plan, compiled from interviews with counterterrorism personnel and researchers’ published critiques:

1. It’s about Trump, not terrorism.

The counterterrorism strategy begins with a signed foreword by Trump, who sets the tone by claiming credit for ending “four years of weakness, failure, surrender, and humiliation under the last administration.”

Analysts say the rest of the strategy often reads like a valentine rather than a sober national security communique. Under Trump’s leadership, it states, “America is again the world’s most powerful nation, with the largest economy in history, the most advanced technologies, and the bravest and most skilled warfighters the world has ever seen.”

The strategy’s top threat categories align with the president’s pet issues, including the villainizing of Democrats and leftist dissent. The language also echoes debunked right-wing conspiracy theories the president has shared about a stolen election, a purported genocide of Christians and existential threats to Western civilization by what the strategy calls “alien cultures.” One section refers to Christians as “the most persecuted people on Earth.”

“This was once a serious document written by serious people” across Democratic and Republican presidencies, veteran terrorism analyst and former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem lamented on X. “Now it reads like a partisan screed.”

2. Data counter the priorities.

Analysts say the most obvious hole is the omission of violent far-right movements. Federal authorities have said for years that neo-Nazi and anti-government militia groups pose the most active and lethal domestic threats, though recently authorities have noted increases in leftist and mixed-motive attacks.

For example, on Sept. 10, the same day conservative youth leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated at an outdoor event in Utah, a 16-year-old gunman who was steeped in online forums for white supremacy and mass-shooter fandom opened fire at a Colorado high school, critically wounding two students before killing himself.

The strategy is concerned only with the kind of violent extremism the White House ascribes to Kirk’s alleged shooter, who is labeled a violent left-wing “radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies.” Terrorism analysts say the attack motives do not appear so clear-cut; the suspect, who has yet to go to trial, reportedly comes from a Republican family but had shifted politically and had expressed opposition to the “hatred” he said Kirk spread.

Just last week, a lawsuit related to a deadly shooting last year at Florida State University revealed that the gunman had used ChatGPT to explore “his interests in Hitler, Nazis, fascism” and other far-right topics.

In a social media post, Jacob Ware, a terrorism researcher who has written extensively about the militant right, called the case a “friendly reminder that the #Trump administration’s new United States Counterterrorism Strategy does not mention far-right violent extremism.”

Gorka’s counterterrorism strategy begins with a signed foreword by President Donald Trump, who claims credit for ending “four years of weakness, failure, surrender, and humiliation.” Justin Lane/Getty Images

3. Policies undermine strategy.

Several of the White House’s stated counterterrorism objectives conflict with the president’s own actions, analysts say.

For one, the pledge of stepped-up efforts to thwart plots doesn’t factor in the diminished capacity of federal agencies since Trump slashed the national security workforce last year and diverted counterterrorism resources to his mass deportation campaign.

Terrorism analyst Colin Clarke, executive director of the security-focused Soufan Center and a Gorka critic, summarized the document as “highly partisan & mostly incoherent.”

It touts the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation as the important capture of a “narco-terrorist outlaw.” But weeks before the Maduro raid, Trump had granted a pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving 45 years for trafficking 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.

Another U.S. goal is to aggressively counter anti-American propaganda by Islamist extremist groups, which the administration says have been driven from strongholds in the Middle East and are “exploiting the ungoverned spaces” across Africa. Places where “a resurgent terror threat is the reality,” according to the strategy, include West Africa, the Sahel region, Sudan and Somalia.

Yet efforts to counter anti-American messaging are undermined by increased U.S. airstrikes with civilian casualties, particularly in Somalia and Yemen, and the cutoff of humanitarian programs across the continent, conflict monitors say. U.S. aid has been a lifeline for communities whose desperation can be exploited by militant recruiters.

The strategy calls for a “light military footprint” in Africa, with the expectation that African leaders will take on a greater share of counterterrorism work. But Trump’s halting of foreign aid hobbled regional counterterrorism programs. Conflict monitors, now watching with alarm as Islamist militants capture territory and stage attacks in Mali, urge the administration to pay closer attention to the restive Sahel region and other hot spots.

“Terrorists are on the verge of recreating a new caliphate sanctuary that could serve as an incubator for attacks against the US homeland and interests abroad,” Alex Plitsas, a security analyst and former Obama-era Pentagon official, wrote this month after visiting U.S. Africa Command.

“The result is a warning for Washington: when the United States and its partners step back, jihadist groups and adversarial powers fill the space,” Plitsas wrote.

The strategy also disparages “failed ‘forever war’ policies” at a time Trump’s base is wrestling with his decision to launch the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.

In a call with reporters after his plan was released, Gorka got defensive when asked how the Iran operation was not a “forever war” that could endanger Americans. He called critics “testicularly challenged.”

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, drew a distinction: “Unlike the ‘forever wars’ of the past with vague objectives and ever-expanding timelines, President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history, and he kept Americans apprised of the scope and defined objectives for Operation Epic Fury.”

4. Successes are exaggerated.

Trump’s preface opens by celebrating counterterrorism achievements that analysts describe as inflated or lacking in nuance.

One example is the claim that, within 43 days of Trump’s return to office, the U.S. had apprehended “the terrorist mastermind” of the deadly Abbey Gate attack in Kabul. In 2021, a suicide bomber detonated in a crowd of civilians outside an airport gate during the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, killing more than 150 Afghans and 13 American service members.

In March, the Justice Department hailed the arrest of Afghan national Mohammad Sharifullah, an Islamist militant it said had “orchestrated” the attack. Gorka has publicly recounted the dramatic scene of waiting on the tarmac in the cold at 3 a.m., alongside several Cabinet members, to welcome the plane carrying the handcuffed “man who was responsible for the murder, the massacre.”

Last month, just before Gorka’s strategy was released, a federal jury dealt a blow to the “mastermind” narrative by returning a mixed verdict. Sharifullah was convicted of aiding the terrorist group known as Islamic State Khorasan, but the jury deadlocked on whether there was sufficient evidence to hold him responsible for the Abbey Gate deaths. The difference shapes how much time Sharifullah could spend behind bars — the more serious charge was eligible for a life sentence.

A Justice Department news release about the conviction (but not the deadlock) was scrubbed of references to Sharifullah as an orchestrator and did not use the “mastermind” language that appeared days later in the White House strategy.

Analysts also expressed skepticism about the blueprint’s claim that “hundreds of Jihadist terrorists in multiple countries” had been killed in recent U.S. counterterrorism operations. The administration releases virtually no details about the identities of those targeted or the circumstances of their deaths. Humanitarian groups say they fear the operations could be causing uncounted civilian casualties.

5. Opponents are targeted.

Rights watchdogs say the strategy hints at ways Trump administration officials will attempt to build terrorism cases against U.S. leftist and Muslim activists through nebulous or nonexistent ties to transnational militant movements.

A link to a foreign entity formally designated as a terrorist group opens the door for government surveillance and potential charges related to providing aid — “material support” in legal jargon — to a foreign terrorist organization.

Analysts say that’s why the Trump administration has pursued designations targeting leftist militant groups in Europe under the label of antifa, as well as some branches of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood is a century-old Islamist group that renounced violence in the 1970s, though spinoffs such as Hamas remain active and on the U.S. blacklist. Republicans have long tried to portray U.S.-based Muslim advocacy groups as a foothold for the Brotherhood.

The document also calls for the rapid “neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.” Researchers called the terms ill-defined and said they aren’t used in international counterterrorism work.

Miller-Idriss’ overarching concern about the Trump counterterrorism doctrine: “How damaging could it be? Both in the things it’s ignoring and the things that it’s emphasizing.”

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-counterterrorism-plan-ignores-far-rights-gorka

Elon Musk and other CEOs among those invited to be in Trump’s delegation to China

Politics – CBSNews.com — 2026-05-11 15:26:00 — www.cbsnews.com

Washington — Billionaire and former Trump administration official Elon Musk is one of the high-powered business leaders who have been invited to be a part of the U.S. delegation to China this week, according to a list of names from a White House official. President Trump is meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for a high-stakes meeting as uncertainty over the war with Iran roils global oil markets and supply chains. Musk and other business leaders in the U.S. delegation have significant business interests in China. Others invited to be a part of the delegation include: Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, Micron’s Sanjay Mehrotra, Qualcomm’s Christiano Amon, Illumina’s Jacob Thaysen, Mastercard’s Michael Miebach, Visa’s Ryan McInerney, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, Citi’s Jane Fraser, Cisco’s Chuck Robbins, Coherent’s Jim Anderson, and GE Aerospace’s H. Lawrence Culp.

Mr. Trump on Monday said he plans to talk about economic and energy matters. “I have a great relationship with President Xi,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re doing a lot of business, but it’s smart business. We used to be taken advantage of for years with our previous presidents. And now we’re doing great with China. We make a lot of money with China.” The president delayed his trip to China due to the war with Iran. On Monday, Mr. Trump blasted the Iranians’ response to a U.S. proposal to bring the war to an end, calling it “unacceptable” and “garbage.” He also said the ongoing ceasefire is “unbelievably weak” and “on life support.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that the executives have been invited to be a part of the delegation, and have not necessarily committed to participating.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-trump-china-us-delegation/

‘I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,’ says Trump amid Iran talks | US news

US politics | The Guardian — 2026-05-13 09:03:00 — www.theguardian.com

Donald Trump has said the growing financial pressure inflicted on Americans by the war on Iran is “not even a little bit” motivating him to make a peace deal with Tehran. With US inflation at a three-year high and fuel costs still climbing after a sharp rise in oil prices, the US president stated on Tuesday that he is not focused on the economic hardship sparked by the conflict. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran [is] they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters at the White House before boarding a plane to China. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”

These remarks come as the US midterm election campaign season approaches, a time marked by increasing concerns about affordability. Trump made his comments shortly after official figures revealed that US prices had risen 3.8% in April—the fastest pace since 2023—largely driven by energy costs that have surged since the US and Israel first attacked Iran in late February. Gasoline now averages over $4.50 a gallon, the highest price in four years, while food prices have also increased nearly 4%, and utility bills have climbed significantly.

Trump’s administration has faced challenges in addressing these economic pressures. Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously indicated that fuel prices could return to prewar levels by summer, but later admitted he “can’t make predictions.” Trump himself has offered vague forecasts about prices potentially going lower, remaining the same, or possibly increasing by November. His top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, claimed that relief would come “relatively quickly and certainly ahead of the election,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Americans should consider themselves fortunate compared to other countries suffering more severe economic strains.

On Tuesday, Trump pointed out that inflation was running at 1.7% before the war and predicted that a resolution would lead to a “massive drop in the price of oil.” He noted that dire forecasts—such as $300-a-barrel crude or a stock market crash of 25%—had not materialized, stating, “A lot of people predicted that. Well, it didn’t happen.” Despite rising inflation and consumer confidence dropping to levels last seen in 2022, Trump maintained that his economic policies were working “incredibly” and that once the war ends, Americans would see significant benefits. “When this war is over, oil is going to drop, the stock market is going to go through the roof, and truly, I think we’re in the golden age right now,” he said. “You’re going to see a golden age like we’ve ever seen before.”

### How this sits against verifiable accuracy
Trump’s statements imply that he is not influenced by the economic pressures facing Americans due to the war on Iran and that his primary concern is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He has dismissed the impact of rising inflation and fuel prices on his decision-making. However, the economic context surrounding his remarks—rising prices and inflation—contradicts his assertion that these factors do not motivate him. The excerpt highlights a disconnect between Trump’s focus on foreign policy and the domestic economic realities affecting American citizens.

### How this compares to what he has said before
In previous statements, Trump has emphasized the importance of economic stability and the impact of inflation on American families. During earlier discussions, he often linked economic performance to his administration’s policies, suggesting that a strong economy would bolster national security. His current dismissal of economic concerns in favor of a singular focus on Iran’s nuclear capabilities marks a shift from his earlier stance, where he acknowledged the interconnectedness of domestic economic health and foreign policy decisions.

### Targets and tone
The excerpt does not show Trump singling out, insulting, demeaning, threatening, or speaking in a hostile way about specific people or groups.

In summary, Trump’s recent comments reflect a prioritization of foreign policy over domestic economic concerns, which may raise questions about his administration’s responsiveness to the financial pressures faced by Americans. This shift in focus could have implications as the midterm elections approach, where economic issues are likely to be a central theme.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/trump-iran-war-americans-finances