Author: Robert Jones

President Donald Trump has doubled down on his claim of reducing drug prices by amounts that are mathematically impossible.Trump told reporters on Sunday that his administration had cut the price of some prescription drugs by as much as 1,500 percent.”Well, one of the things they’re going to be talking about pretty soon are the tremendous drop in drug prices. You know, we’ve cut drug prices by 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,500 percent. I don’t mean 50 percent. I mean 14-, 1,500 percent,” the president said.When asked to clarify the president’s remarks, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Newsweek, “It’s an objective…

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Chinese officials may be able to settle many of their differences to reach a trade deal and avert punishing tariffs, but they remain far apart on one issue: the U.S. demand that China stop purchasing oil from Iran and Russia. “China will always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests,” China’s Foreign Ministry posted on X on Wednesday following two days of trade negotiations in Stockholm, responding to the U.S. threat of a 100% tariff. “Coercion and pressuring will not achieve anything. China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development…

Analysts expect U.S. jobs figures to face further revisions this year, after downward adjustments to recent data angered President Donald Trump and led him to the fire the country’s top employment statistician.According to a note released by Goldman Sachs over the weekend, preliminary revision estimates set to be published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in September will reveal a 550,000-950,000 downward revision for the 12-month period through March 2025.Why It MattersAlthough the period subject to such change overlaps with more of Joe Biden’s presidency than Trump’s second term, these substantial revisions will be viewed against the backdrop of…

ATLANTA (AP) — Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley on Monday announced his 2026 Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in Georgia against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff.The 57-year-old Dooley is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp and has been teasing a bid since June. He joins a GOP field that includes U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as activist Reagan Box.Kemp turned to Dooley after deciding not to run for the seat himself. Georgia Republicans are looking to topple Ossoff, considered the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent seeking reelection next year. “Professional politicians like Jon Ossoff…

President Donald Trump on Monday said July’s jobs report was “rigged” to favor Democrats in a post on Truth Social.Why It MattersTrump fired Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Erika McEntarfer last week after the July jobs report, which reported 73,000 jobs added across the country, lower than the projection of 100,000 jobs. The report also indicated the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percentage points, as well as the largest downward revision in years, across May and June, with 258,000 fewer jobs added.The firing sparked a wave of backlash against Trump, as economists and Democrats warned about how…

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Thai and Cambodian officials met in Malaysia on Monday for the first round of cross-border committee talks since a tense ceasefire was brokered last week after five days of deadly armed border clashes that killed dozens and displaced over 260,000 people.The four-day General Border Committee meetings were initially due to be hosted by Cambodia, but both sides later agreed to a neutral venue in Malaysia, the annual chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which mediated the halt in hostilities last month.The July 28 ceasefire followed economic pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who…

Texas Democrats who left the state in a bid to block redrawn U.S. House maps have responded to Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s threat to remove them from office if they don’t return by Monday afternoon.In a statement on Sunday, Abbott threatened to expel the Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives and said they may have committed felonies.”This is ridiculous and absolutely unacceptable,” Texas State Representative Elizabeth Campos, a Democrat, wrote on X early Monday. “Threatening legal action against lawmakers for standing up to protect our democracy is not leadership, it’s intimidation. We have every right to fight. Fighting for…

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan is seeing its sharpest-ever surge of child malnutrition, the World Food Program said Monday, adding it needed $539 million to help the country’s most vulnerable families. Almost 10 million people, a quarter of Afghanistan’s population, face acute food insecurity. One in three children is stunted. The WFP said the rise in child malnutrition was linked to a drop in emergency food assistance over the past two years because of dwindling donor support. In April, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump cut off food aid to Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries.The U.S. had been…

President Donald Trump’s net favorability rating is even among American voters, according to the latest Issues & Insights/TIPP Poll.The survey found that 45 percent of voters view Trump favorably, while another 45 percent view him unfavorably. Six percent said they were not familiar enough to say and another four percent said they were not sure.”The TIPP Poll has the much-coveted distinction as the most accurate poll of this century, being the only poll to accurately predict the winner of the last five U.S. presidential elections,” TIPP Insights says.Why It Matters Trump’s approval rating has been fluctuating since he returned to…

The coming week could mark a pivotal moment in the war between Russia and Ukraine, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal approaches — or it could quietly pass without consequence.Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow midweek, just before Trump’s Friday deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing or face potentially severe economic penalties from Washington.So far Trump’s promises, threats and cajoling have failed to shift the Kremlin’s position, and the stubborn diplomatic stalemate remains in place. Meanwhile, Ukraine is losing more territory on the front line, although there…