Trump News

The past 24 hours have seen a back-and-forth between the U.S. and China about the ongoing trade war, and one economist said it's clear everyone at the White House is clueless, including the president.

Speaking to MSNBC on Thursday, Brian Cheung, NBC's budget and data correspondent, and University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfer discussed the de-escalation in language from the U.S. after weeks of what the Chinese called "extreme pressure."

President Donald Trump has ended his business relationship with a Republican attorney representing Harvard University in a dispute over billions in federal grant money.

On Thursday, the Trump Organization's Eric Trump confirmed to CNN that the company had cut ties with Bill Burck after the president unloaded an angry rant about him on Truth Social.

“Democrats need to appeal to more moderate voters,” according to Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr.

He recognizes that being more moderate is “not as simple as it sounds.” However, looking at some of the Democrats who won in areas where Kamala Harris lost in November, there are 5 ways to appeal to “a moderate or centrist playbook that aspiring Democrats can easily follow and win.”

A Donald Trump-appointed judge ordered the administration to seek the return of a second man improperly deported to El Salvador.

Maryland-based U.S. District judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled the administration had violated a legally binding court settlement from last year by deporting the 20-year-old to the Central American nation, reported Politico.

President Donald Trump raged against Harvard University and one of its lawyers in a venomous Truth Social post.

The president ramped up his attacks on Harvard, which is being pushed by some donors to renew talks with the White House on its demands for control over the university, and he singled out an attorney hired by the university to engage with the Trump administration.

MAGA TV host Gina Loudon worried that "money-grubbing" welfare recipients would benefit from the $5,000 incentives President Donald Trump is reportedly considering for households with new children.

During a Thursday discussion about the so-called baby bonuses, Loudon threw cold water on the idea.

Comments made by Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday about negotiations to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine earned him a tongue-lashing on MSNBC early Thursday morning.

With Donald Trump's administration flailing in its attempts to end the war Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been hinting the U.S. may walk away from the bargaining table unless Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agrees to a White House proposal that experts say heavily favors Russia.

Speaking in Agra, India Wednesday, Vance doubled down and came to Putin's defense which led to vehement push back from "Morning Joe" co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Jonathan Lemire.

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Towards the end of his remarks, Vance stated, "I'm going to echo something Secretary Rubio said, which is: look, we've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians and it's time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process."

He then added, "We've really tried to understand things from the perspective of both the Ukrainians and the Russians. What do Ukrainians care the most about? What do the Russians care the most about? And I think that we've put together a very fair proposal."

That earned him a "What?" from Brzezinski who quickly turned to her co-host and stated, "Yeah. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I mean, right now, I mean even as the vice president said there, he said, 'We're trying to understand each side's perspective.' Trying to understand Russian's perspective?" the obviously incensed Lemire asked.

"We know what their perspective is: they invaded a sovereign nation," he exclaimed as Brzezinski chimed in with, "They want to seize territory and Trump wants to give it to them!"

"That's the bottom line," she added to which Lemire added, "Doesn't seem much open for interpretation."

You can watch below or at the link here.

According to several reports, there are a slew of changes happening inside the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. In a new column, former Prosecutor Joyce Vance claims, career employees at the DOJ “seem shell-shocked [and] many of them [are] leaving or preparing to.”

Reuters reported, “about a dozen senior career attorneys” were reassigned to lower-level attorney duties, like responding to FOIA requests. Other outlets claim missions in different sections within the Division were “radically altered.”

As Donald Trump closes in on the end of his first 100 days of his second administration, his approval numbers are plummeting as the reality of his policies –– from trade to immigration –– take hold and American voters take stock.

Early Thursday morning on MSNBC, a "Morning Joe" panel addressed a new Fox News poll that showed the president underwater by 26 points when it comes to how voters think he's doing and, according to one co-host, there was even worse polling released on Wednesday.

According to MSNBC analyst and former Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) policy adviser Elise Jordan, the honeymoon is over for the now-embattled president.

ALSO READ: 'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy

"That new Fox News poll finds Trump's overall approval rating underwater, with 44 percent approving and 55 percent disapproving," co-host Mika Brzezinski prompted her panel. "The president is also underwater on the issues that really were key to his campaign: immigration, foreign policy, the economy, tariffs and inflation ––he ran on most of those."

"Based on Trump's first 100 days, voters are also less optimistic about the future," she continued. "Thirty-eight percent say they feel encouraged about the next four years, while 51 percent are discouraged. Those numbers were 45 percent and 84 percent, respectively, at the 100-day mark of Trump's first term."

Co-host Willie Geist contributed, "The Fox News poll is actually more generous than some of the others that came out yesterday. Pew has the president at a 40 percent approval rating, also historically low at this point, and importantly, on the economy, Reuters has them at 37 percent. So it turns out, at least if you take an economy that was in most ways, not always, except for inflation, was humming along and you aggressively tank it with tariffs and other actions, voters, including Republicans, don't like it very much."

"And an economy that, in January and February, before all of the tariff nonsense came on the scene was doing quite well and was enthusiastic about Trump's presidency and optimistic," Jordan interjected. "And you see how quickly the sugar high of just the first 100 days is over now that voters are actually seeing what kind of results, or lack thereof, are coming into play."

You can watch below or at the link.

President Donald Trump pleaded with Russian president Vladimir Putin to call off a bombing campaign against Ukraine.

Russia launched its deadliest attacks against Kyiv in nine months Thursday morning, just hours after Trump accused Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy of undermining peace talks, but the U.S. president lashed out at Putin in response to the attacks.