A major rift has appeared within the highest ranks of the Trump administration. Follow our live coverage.
Welcome to our coverage of US politics.
Rifts continue to emerge in Donald Trump’s inner circle regarding the possibility of striking Iran.
The US president has already chided national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard who stated that Tehran wasn’t actually that close to getting a nuclear bomb.
Now, despite her critical role, Ms Gabbard has reportedly “fallen out of favour” with Mr Trump.
On Thursday, US time, Mr Trump took his intelligence briefing in the White House Situation Room — where he has been co-ordinating plans.
Meanwhile, former US president Bill Clinton has made an intervention with a direct message to Mr Trump.
And Vice President JD Vance has been kicked off a competitor to Elon Musk’s X just minutes after joining.
Terrifying new Donald Trump ‘order’ rocks US
Donald Trump has issued a terrifying new order that will rock the United States a day after huge protests about deportations.
Welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
President Donald Trump hosted a military parade to honour the 250th anniversary of the US Army in Washington on Saturday. But the large-scale event – which Mr Trump said celebrated the “fighting spirit” of the US military – has been mocked online, with many criticising soldiers for their ‘sloppy’ marching style.
The parade came as hundreds of thousands of “No Kings” protesters took the streets in major US cities, including in New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta.
Meanwhile, the man suspected of assassinating a US politician and her husband, and wounding another couple, has been detained after a two-day manhunt.
‘Get the job done’: Trump doubles down on deportations
Donald Trump has ordered authorities to ramp up deportation efforts in US cities, which he said “are the core of the Democrat Power Center”, directing ICE officers to “do all in their power” to achieve their goal.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, the President praised the determination of ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers, declaring “nothing will stop us from executing our mission”.
“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” he wrote, while travelling to Canada for the G7 summit.
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.
“These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center,” he added, before claiming that undocumented immigrants used to “expand their voter base, cheat in elections, and grow the Welfare State”.
He added he has directed his entire administration “to put every resource possible behind this effort, and reverse the tide of Mass Destruction Migration that has turned once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia.”
“To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE!”
Picture exposes Kate’s Trump nightmare
The Princess of Wales is about to face her biggest royal test when she comes face-to-face with the US President.
What. About. The. Lawn.
In 2019 Donald and Melania Trump packed up their his and her medical-grade bronzer tubs and headed to London for a State visit, landing on the Buckingham Palace lawn in Marine One, the presidential helicopter.
One was not amused. Days later Scott ‘I don’t hold the hose’ Morrison visited the Palace and the late Queen, per the Times, “marched him to a window to look out at the once green and pleasant grass and said: ‘Come and look at my lawn. It’s ruined.’”
Let’s hope the royal family’s under gardeners are ready given that Mr Trump is set to return to London for an historic second State. (It is reportedly “pencilled in” for September.)
And let’s hope that Kate, The Princess of Wales is already working on her game face for what will be the most charged, if not hardest, assignment of her royal career.
Kate and Trump. Smiling side-by-side. Just imagine it. You can’t quite, right?
But this moment will happen, along with 98 other smiley, pose-y, ‘say fromage for the cameras’ instances during the visit, during which Mr Trump will try and impress the princess with big talk of his putting game and she will attempt to explain why her father-in-law is not interested in invading Iceland. What a meeting of minds.
And what diplomatic heroics will the expected of Kate as she faces assuming a major role for the trip.
In 2019, the last time that the Trumps and their individual hair care crates were in the UK, Kate was the Duchess of Cambridge, a significant place removed from the throne. Back then, she and Prince William were able to fly under the radar and take relatively back seat roles.
Her responsibilities extended entirely to sourcing an Alexander McQueen gown and remembering to wash her hair or the State dinner.
Not this time.
If the 2025 trip is anything like the one six years ago, as the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate will be expected to host the Trumps for tea and to step up to help King Charles and Queen Camilla shoulder the hoisting load during the scheduled-to-the-millisecond, multi-day Cirque du Soleil-level formal production.
Queen Camilla winking. Picture: X
Kate might have a few State visits as a princess under her belt (South Africa, South Korea, Japan and Qatar) but nothing like this year’s American one given the involvement of the world’s most famous McNugget consumer.
Even months out, the Trump visit is already shaping up to be the most charged State event of Kate’s 14 years on the royal clock, surpassing that time in 2015 when China’s President Xi Jingping turned up for his go in a gold carriage down The Mall and faced protesters.
(Courtiers no doubt all let out a collective sigh of relief that Prince Philip was several hours away in Norfolk glueing together an Airfix model of a Spitfire and couldn’t be bothered to try out any new material.)
For this visit, the demands put on William and Kate for a note perfect performance will be that much greater.
Princess Kate is seen walking well behind Donald Trump in footage from 2019. Picture: YouTube
The prince has already gotten a taste of this, having what was by all accounts a very warm and chummy meeting with Trump in Paris in December last year. (William does know something about being an apprentice after all.)
Trump meets Prince William on December 7, 2024 in Paris, France. Picture: Aaron Chown – Pool/Getty Images
The success of that face-to-face speaks to the demands put on working members to put aside all personal thought and feeling and to quiescently do what Whitehall asks of them.
After all, William’s marquee project is The Earthshot Prize, giving away nearly $100 million to creative and exciting climate crisis solutions; the Trump administration is opening up Millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness to drilling and mining.
For Kate and William, this US State visit will be a major taste of what lies ahead for them – having to do the glad-handing bidding of Downing Street. (State visits are organised at the request of the government of the day, not based on who the sovereign fancies having over for a Scotch Finger.)
Kings and Queens are required to remain blandly, politically neutral at all times, to be perpetually smiling milquetoast automatons in good quality wool separates. Their personal tastes, preferences and ideological inclinations can and will never enter the equation.
Come September, the realpolitik demanded of royalty will be on full display.
Even then, no matter how much hot air there will be coming out of governmental and royal functionaires about special relationships, the rest of the UK’s 68 million people might not feel the same way. William and Kate will be working their smiling muscles and playing very very nice with the Cousins but on the streets of the capital public feeling could be running high.
Mr Trump’s trips to the UK in 2018 and 2019 were met with large-scale public resistance.
There were mass protests, nearly 1.9 million people signed a petition opposing his visit; newly knighted London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan forcefully denounced the president; and then speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow barred him from addressing parliament.
Anti-Trump demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside of Buckingham Palace in central London on June 3, 2019. Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP
Queen Elizabeth II laughed with Donald Trump during a State Banquet in 2019. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/Pool/AFP
Things already sound a tad tense. Meeting Mr Trump’s “sky high” expectations of the visit is reportedly proving quite the royal headache. Tim Shipman, the Sunday Times’ chief political commentator, reported this week that the Palace and Downing Street “have struggled to agree the details [of the trip] with the White House”.
Unlike say Mr Xi who got to enjoy the pomp of being jostled and jigged in a wooden coach around central London beside the late Queen, “officials say Trump is a far bigger assassination threat and there is no coach sufficiently armoured to allow him to use it.”
There is also the question of where to stash Mr and Mrs Trump. Buckingham Palace is in the midst of a ten-year renovation and King Charles has, and may very well never, live there.
Adding another possibly testy element – Charles is the King of Canada, a country that Mr Trump has threatened to annex. A visit earlier this month to Ottawa saw the King very obviously demonstrate his support for the country, and his speech to their parliament was “a coded rebuke to Trump’s expansionist urges,” per the Times.
Unlikely to impress the president either is that French President Emmanuel Macron is set to get his own royal State visit months before the American one. “It is an open secret,” Shipman wrote, “that the King is happy” about this trumping.
Egos, a lack of carriages, dogs, aides, renovations, helicopters, dinners, finger sandwiches, nerves, sensitivities: There is a lot involved in the Trumps’ arrival, any – all – of it could go pear-shaped and Kate will be at the heart of things. Lucky girl.
There is one perfect moment though that, let us pray, gets recreated somehow. In 2019, Queen Camilla went viral after being caught on camera winking behind Mr Trump’s back.
Oooh errrr Your Majesty. Give us another one, please.
Pakistan to recommend Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
As the world nervously watches escalating tensions in the Middle East, one nation says it will formally recommend Donald Trump for the world’s top peace prize.
Pakistan says it will formally recommend Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his work to resolve its recent conflict with India — as the US President complains he’s not being credited for his peacekeeping efforts in other global conflicts.
News of Mr Trump’s nomination for the esteemed prize came moments before he confirmed strikes on nuclear sites in Iran.
It also follows Mr Trump complaining he would not be recognised for his role in broking a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
The warring African nations said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they had initialled an agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern DRC, which will be formally signed in Washington next week.
“This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World!” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post, confirming the breakthrough.
But his triumphant tone darkened as he complained that he had been overlooked by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his mediating role in conflicts between India and Pakistan, as well as Serbia and Kosovo.
Pakistan says it is formally recommending US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Picture: AP/Alex Brandon
He also demanded credit for “keeping peace” between Egypt and Ethiopia and broking the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements aiming to normalise relations between Israel and several Arab nations.
Mr Trump campaigned for office as a “peacemaker” who would use his negotiating skills to quickly end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, although both conflicts are still raging five months into his presidency.
Indian officials have denied that he had any role in its ceasefire with Pakistan.
VP banned from social media site minutes after joining
Vice President JD Vance was suspended from a competitor to X just minutes after he joined.
He was later unblocked.
In likely an act of trolling from the second in command of the US, Mr Vance began posting on social media site Bluesky.
Bluesky is similar to X. However, since what was Twitter has become a favourite home for commenters on the right – and particularly Trump supporters – Bluesky has become more popular with those who are no fans of Mr Trump or his administration.
“Hello Bluesky, I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis,” Mr Vance wrote on Wednesday, potentially with a note of sarcasm? You decide.
“So I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you.”
Mr Vance then did a post cheering the Supreme Court’s decision that upheld Tennessee’s restrictions on transgender medical treatments for minors.
“I found Justice [Clarence] Thomas’s concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating.
“He argues that many of our so-called ‘experts’ have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth.
“I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids,” he alleged, before adding “what do you think?”
A little more than 10 minutes later, Mr Vance’s Bluesky account was suspended, according to Axios journalist Marc Caputo.
“Not found. Account has been suspended,” said the page.
But, minutes later it was reinstated.
It didn’t appear that the vice president’s post ran afoul of any of Bluesky’s community guidelines.
Bluesky said the account was suspended not because it was the vice president, but because they were concerned it was not
“Vice President Vance’s account was briefly flagged by our automated systems that try to detect impersonation attempts which have targeted public figures like him in the past,” the firm said in a statement.
“The account was quickly restored and verified so people can easily confirm its authenticity.
“We welcome the Vice President to join the conversation on Bluesky.”
‘Iced out’: Top Trump official sidelined further
Key administration official Tulsi Gabbard has reportedly further “fallen out of favour” with Donald Trump with the national intelligence director sidelined over Iran.
Ms Gabbard’s role is critical and should help inform the president of key decisions – such as bombing another nation.
But Mr Trump appears to have been displeased with Ms Gabbard’s statements to Congress last week where she said it was not believed Iran was building a nuclear weapon – the prevention of which is a central justification for Israel’s bombing campaign.
That doesn’t mean Tehran didn’t have the means to make a bomb, merely it wasn’t actively doing so.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” said Mr Trump several days ago.
NBC News has reported that the intelligence community’s view of Iran’s capabilities, as relayed by Ms Gabbard, have not changed since the rift emerged between her and Mr Trump.
But Mr Trump’s chiding of her now suggests she is all but “iced out” of decision making.
“Multiple senior administration officials said Gabbard has been sidelined in internal administration discussions about the conflict between Israel and Iran,” the report said.
A June 8 Camp David meeting attended by Mr Trump with senior administration officials where Iran was discussed did not include her. The White House said she had to attend another event.
For now, it seems like her position is safe.
On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance was effusive with praise for her.
“Tulsi is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of Pres Trump…
“She’s an essential member of our nat sec (sic) team, and we’re grateful for her tireless work to keep America safe from foreign threats.”
But being in the post and being in the inner circle are different things.
‘Devastating’: US Gov axes LGBT suicide helpline
The Trump administration has cut a phone service that aims to help young gay and trans Americans at risk of suicide.
Instead, all calls to the helpline will be transferred to a more general mental health service.
The announcement of cutting the LGBT service came during Pride Month which marks gay and trans people overcoming discrimination.
The Trump administration has cut funding to almost everything it deems orientated towards diversity, equity and inclusion as well as refusing to recognise transgender people.
Trump extends TikTok ban deadline – again
For a third time, President Donald Trump has extended the date for when a US ban of Chinese owned social media site TikTok was due to come into effect.
Under former President Joe Biden, Congress announced a TikTok ban would take place on January 20 unless Chinese owners ByteDance sold off the US operations.
But when in office, Mr Trump delayed the deal deadline not once but twice – by 75 days each time.
But a solution has yet to be found.
The ban was due to come into effect on June 19, today in the US.
On Thursday, Mr Trump signed an executive order further pushing out the deadline.
He announced he signed an executive order on Thursday extending the deadline for TikTok’s ban.
Now, ByteDance has until September 17 to work out what to do with TikTok. Unless that deadline is extended again too…
Small business owners aren’t jumping for joy about the US economy – but they still aren’t jumping ship
Small businesses in the US account for approximately half of the country’s jobs, so when small businesses are doing well, it’s likely that the economy is doing well. Media reports recently indicated that many small businesses are challenged by Trump’s tariffs, ongoing inflation, labor shortages and higher financing costs. So how are small businesses doing so far in 2025? Not great. But not that bad either.
In just the past two months, there have been no less than seven comprehensive surveys conducted by well-known companies and brands that altogether surveyed or drew from their internal data of tens – even hundreds – of thousands of small businesses. And they give a pretty good idea of how they’re doing.
Wealth management firm Principal Financial’s Well-Being Index from June found that 56% of the companies they surveyed reported business growth and 90% of employers have either maintained or grown their workforce over the past year, with 49% increasing wages in just the past three months.
However, optimism remains tempered by a weakening outlook on future economic growth and many have reported “significant declines” in the financial health of their business, their local economy and the US economy, “eroding the sense of optimism expressed in years past”.
According to a survey by accounting giant EY, 95% of those polled were “confident in business growth” over the next year. Additionally, 73% of entrepreneurs reported experiencing revenue growth this year compared with last year, with 29% reporting growth of 20% or higher. However, 43% said that current economic conditions are hurting them, but many still plan to pursue funding and strategic transactions, with investment in AI and M&A considerations leading the list.
Software provider Intuit’s QuickBooks Small Business Index draws on actual information from its customers, derived from anonymized employment and payroll data. The company found that job growth among small businesses – the great majority of their customer base – was stable, with employment increasing in seven of the 12 sectors tracked. That’s good, but unfortunately the study also found that average real monthly revenue for small businesses with one to nine employees decreased about 0.06% from the month before.
Like Intuit, HR services giant Paychex said in its Small Business Employment Watch reports that job growth derived from its 350,000-plus customer database in May “stayed flat” month over month and hourly earnings growth decreased to a four-year low. “Caution persists” in both wage and hiring trends.
The closely watched Small Business Optimism Index published monthly by the National Federation of Small Businesses reported a tick up in small business optimism in May to a level above its 51-year average. The survey found that the top concerns of the federation’s members shifted from inflation to taxation and that although sales expectations and hiring plans were “improving”, uncertainty remained.
Finally, in its June Small Business Perspective report, US Bank said that 96% of the small business owners it surveyed reported their business as currently successful and 88% saw growth in the past year. Two-thirds said the country’s economy was “moving in the right direction”, with only 18% saying it was going in the wrong direction.
Interestingly, this sentiment was even stronger among younger business leaders (gen Z and millennial), with 74% saying it was moving in the right direction, versus 52% of leaders from older generations (gen X and boomer). Although four out of five owners felt at least “somewhat stressed” about tariffs, those leaders were “slightly more likely to anticipate a positive rather than negative impact”.
My take? Despite all the headwinds and uncertainties such as tariffs, federal and local policies, geopolitical conflicts, inflation, labor shortages and other challenges – small businesses, so far, in 2025 remain optimistic about the future and are maintaining employment levels mostly reporting average financial results. Few are jumping for joy. But it seems that fewer are jumping off the ship.
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