Principals

1. Presidential policy asks
2. Dem response
3. Tariffs roil Republicans
4. Zelenskyy’s olive branch
5. Trump-Vance border push
6. Oil moves
7. CEO security

Read Trump’s speech… China sets 5% economic growth target despite tariffs … WaPo: DC prosecutor abandons plans to investigate Schumer

Trump gives Republicans his wish list

President Trump gave marching orders to Republicans during an unapologetic Tuesday night address to Congress, reiterating his must-haves for a tax cut bill and demanding border funding “without delay.” It’s possible all those items will get rolled together in one big party-line bill, though quickly delivering border money could be tough for lawmakers who are still haggling over Trump proposals like ending taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security. “I did interpret that as, we need to get busy on this,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Semafor of Trump’s agenda. “What I’m hearing from it is … get it to me as fast as you can.” Trump also asked Congress to scrap the “horrible” CHIPS and Science Act, a microchip manufacturing bill supported by a decent chunk of Republicans three years ago. It’s hard to see that happening — and it wasn’t a huge applause line, either.

— Burgess Everett

Democrats showed up and showed out

In a coordinated show of unity, Democrats protested Trump’s entire address to Congress. From an aisle seat, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., held up a small sign that read, “This is not normal” as Trump greeted GOP members upon enticing the chamber — until Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, ripped the paper out of her hand, before the president had even begun to speak. Most Democrats sat stone-faced while holding black-and-white signs that read “MUSK STEALS” and “SAVE MEDICAID.” One exception: Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was ultimately escorted out after shouting, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” as Speaker Johnson called the chamber to order. Shortly after, a handful of Democrats walked out of the chamber wearing “RESIST” T-shirts while others trickled out of the chamber throughout the evening.

— Kadia Goba

Tariff man meets Republican resistance

Republicans are not settling in for a long trade war with Canada and Mexico, Semafor’s Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott report. That’s because they want the 25% tariffs and the retaliatory responses from two key allies to end quickly through negotiations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signaled they just might in an interview Tuesday afternoon on Fox Business, but Trump gave no indication of plans to ease them during his address while touting his plans for broader reciprocal tariffs next month. “Whatever they tariff us — the other countries — we will tariff them,” he said. Trump says the Canada and Mexico tariffs are all about stopping fentanyl flows, but even some Republicans aren’t quite sure what the end goal is. “I do know the harm it’s going to cause the economy, and the stock market is showing it,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Zelenskyy tries to fix things with Trump

Trump sounded a positive note on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his speech, a sign of a potential breakthrough following last week’s Oval Office spat and the White House’s decision Monday to pause military aid shipments. Trump said he “appreciate[d]” Zelenskyy’s message and had gotten “strong signals” that the Russian side was “ready for peace,” but didn’t mention the proposed US-Ukraine critical minerals bargain that veered off track on Friday. His remarks came hours after Zelenskyy offered an olive branch by posting on X that the country is “ready to come to the negotiating table” and laying out the beginning stages of a peace proposal that could see prisoners released and a ban on aerial attacks. Zelenskyy described his Friday blowup with Trump as “regrettable” but stopped short of apologizing, as some Republicans have suggested he should.

Vance set for border trip after Trump speech

Trump made immigration a major focus of his address to Congress, touting new data that indicates southern border crossings plummeted last month. The president’s special guests included family members of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray, two girls killed by migrants who entered the country illegally. He at one point presented a signed executive order renaming the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge the “Jocelyn Nungaray National Refuge” and called on Congress to quickly approve new funding to assist his administration’s mass deportation proposal. Today, the administration’s focus on immigration and the border will continue: Vice President JD Vance is heading to the US-Mexico border, where he’s expected to discuss the efforts to curb crossings.

— Shelby Talcott

What Trump tariffs mean for gas prices

One casualty of Trump’s trade wars could be gas prices. Forty percent of the crude oil that US refineries process to make fuels like gasoline is imported from abroad, with Canada and Mexico together supplying the majority of it, Bloomberg notes, meaning that tariffs could boost prices at the pump. On the flip side, oil prices fell this week as OPEC+ stuck to a plan to increase production for the first time since October 2022. While the move followed public pressure from Trump, the increase had long been in the works, Amena Bakr, who heads up Middle East Energy & OPEC+ research at Kpler, writes in Semafor. “Trump’s broader policy direction, including tariffs and tighter sanctions on Iran, remains a major factor that OPEC+ is keeping in the ‘wait and see’ column for now,” she writes.

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Taser supplier Axon developing defense weapons for CEOs

The company that makes Tasers is looking to arm CEOs’ security teams with its “less lethal” weapons following the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s Brian Thompson, Semafor’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson reports. “Over the next year, you might start to hear more about certain CEOs being protected by Taser,” said Josh Isner, president of Axon Enterprise, who said his business had received several inquiries from companies since Thompson’s killing. In addition to the signature weapon it sells to law enforcement, Isner said the company was developing “more covert” devices that could be worn more comfortably in “an executive security type of scenario.” Axon told investors on a recent earnings call that corporate customers represented one of its largest growth opportunities. It has separately begun to sell them equipment to defend their headquarters and warehouses against drone attacks, he said.

Blindspot: Savings and town halls

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The Pentagon claimed to have identified $80 million in wasteful spending in its initial work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

What the Right isn’t reading: NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., instructed Republicans to stop holding in-person town halls due to protests.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: A handful of Senate Democrats are considering supporting a GOP continuing resolution through September if it gets through the House. “I think the implications of a full-year CR are really horrible, especially for the military,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. “And for a state like ours, a shutdown is even worse.”

Playbook: Some Democrats weren’t impressed with their party’s objections to President Trump’s address. The protests were “very silly, and unserious, but I can’t help but feel some level of empathy for them,” one Democratic strategist said. “I’m sure they feel like they have to do something, anything … That wasn’t it.”

Axios: Members of Trump’s inner circle are privately concerned about the speed and scope of change. “Of course I’m worried,” said one top adviser. “We’re still in the honeymoon phase here. But the stock market and that data and the noise from Elon [Musk] aren’t great.”

WaPo: A few Democrats are getting an early jump on the 2026 election cycle, launching challenges to Republicans in competitive House districts “to capitalize on outrage over Trump’s first weeks in office.”

White House

• President Trump will meet with the House Freedom Caucus today to encourage its members to support a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through September. Elon Musk is separately meeting with House Republicans at the US Capitol.
• The IRS is preparing to halve its staff, under pressure from the White House. — NYT
• Some DOGE staffers appear to be drawing salaries from the agencies they’ve been tasked with cutting. — WIRED

Congress

• The theme of Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s Democratic rebuttal to President Trump’s speech: “He’s going to make you pay in every part of your life.”
• During an otherwise fireworks-free hearing for Trump’s No. 3 nominee at the Pentagon, Elbridge Colby, on Monday, Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., raised a question about two Pentagon aides, Michael Dimino and Andrew Byers. Some Republican senators believe they are too soft on China and Iran — making them canaries in the coal mine for Republicans’ internal foreign policy battles.

Outside the Beltway

• The federal government is looking at potentially selling 443 properties across 47 states as part of the Trump administration’s push to cut costs. — Bloomberg
• The Florida attorney general’s office is opening a criminal probe into right-wing influencer Andrew Tate.

Business

• President Trump said during his speech he wants to make interest payments on car loans tax deductible for US-made vehicles.
• Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison is selling ports along the Panama Canal to a group of investors led by BlackRock, under pressure from the US.
• The Senate voted to rollback a Biden-era cryptocurrency tax rule.

Courts

• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of San Francisco in a case challenging EPA water quality regulations.

National Security

• A draft version of an executive order teased by President Trump in his speech Tuesday night would attempt to expand the US’ shipbuilding capacity, impose fees on Chinese ships and cranes, and offer tax incentives for US-based ship manufacturing. — WSJ
• The Pentagon denied reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered a stop to offensive cyber operations against Russia.

Education

• Trump warned colleges he would try to restrict federal funds over “illegal” protests.

Energy

• The Trump administration gave Chevron one month to wind down oil production in Venezuela.

Foreign Policy

• President Trump told Greenlanders that Americans “strongly support your right to determine your own future” — but that the US needs the land “for international world security, and I think we’re going to get it, one way or the other.”
• Europe reacted with outrage after Vice President Vance dismissed nations’ offers to send peacekeeping troops to a postwar Ukraine, telling Fox News on Monday night that giving the US an economic stake in Ukraine would be a “way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” “JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong,” said Trump ally and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
• Russia offered to help broker nuclear talks between the US and Iran. — Bloomberg

Media

• Jackie Alemany is leaving The Washington Post for MSNBC.

Ben and Max break down the most interesting moments from the Innovating to Restore Trust in News summit in a special bonus episode of Mixed Signals. They discuss Gallup’s findings on the worsening trust in news media, New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn’s acknowledgment that Donald Trump is good for business, and FCC chair Brendan Carr’s plans to go after liberal media. Plus, Ben responds to Megyn Kelly’s take on what she called a “tense interview.”

Rep. Melanie Stansbury is a Democrat from New Mexico.