Axios · 实时热榜

House Democrats who have comfortably held their seats for decades are suddenly finding the ground shifting beneath their feet as primary voters revolt against the party's old guard. Why it matters: The anti-establishment revolution that has swept Democratic primaries this year is poised to drastically alter the makeup of the party caucus and Congress as a whole. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) became the latest victim of this trend: The 78-year-old lost his primary by more than 20 percentage points t

Photo: Marc Caputo/Axios Marco Rubio has three official Trump administration jobs and a fourth unofficial title: Viral meme star. He's been featured in countless "Rubio Realizing" images doctored to capture his grim reaction to being "assigned" more jobs, depending on the news of the day or the crisis du jour in the White House. Why it matters: For his 55th birthday on May 28, White House staffers and President Trump gifted Rubio with a gold-framed collage of their 68 favorite "Rubio Realizing"

House Democrats went into the vote on the Stop Insider Trading Act last month groaning that it was all a big Republican set-up. Now they're fuming that the trap has been sprung. Why it matters: A well-funded Republican group is blanketing the airwaves lauding GOP lawmakers in key swing districts — including some with reputations for prolific stock trading — as champions on the issue. "Corrupt congressmen treat the House floor like a trading floor. Thankfully, Congressman Rob Bresnahan voted to s

Republicans have a new name on their growing list of progressive midterm targets: Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan , fresh off a landslide Senate primary win. Why it matters: With President Trump 's approval ratings in the 30s, Republicans are trying to turn the midterms from a referendum on him into a choice between the GOP and a Democratic Party they argue has moved sharply to the left. That means portraying some progressive Democrats who've won statewide primaries as national foils. The stra

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to stalking charges tied to the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson , per multiple reports . Why it matters: Mangione was facing a potential life sentence if convicted in a federal trial, and the guilty plea could mean his lawyers ask to dismiss separate state charges, including second-degree murder . Mangione's legal team has argued that charging him in both federal and state courts constituted double jeopardy, a legal protec

A wave of top OpenAI executives — including Sam Altman's top deputy, a longtime chief operating officer and the chief revenue officer — has left in the span of a month as the company retools its leadership ahead of an expected IPO. Why it matters: Co-founder Greg Brockman is getting more involved across every level of the company to build out a leadership team he hopes will catapult OpenAI past Anthropic in enterprise adoption, according to a source familiar with the matter. Zoom in: OpenAI's re

Jared Kushner, President Trump's envoy and son-in-law, is planning to visit Israel next week for talks on the situation in Gaza , according to five sources with knowledge of the plan. Why it matters: This would be Kushner's first trip to Israel since January. It comes as the White House and Trump's Board of Peace are trying to push forward with the next phase of the Gaza plan, which focuses on disarming Hamas and a potential Israeli withdrawal. The Netanyahu government is highly skeptical of the

President Trump's top political hands had some surprising advice for Senate Republicans last week: Talk more about health care. Why it matters: Trump and the MAGA base are fixated on the voter-ID and proof-of-citizenship SAVE Act . But Republican message testing from Trump's own pollster suggests candidates are better off focusing elsewhere. Driving the news: Top Trumpworld campaign officials, including James Blair, pollster Tony Fabrizio and Senate Leadership Fund executive director Alex Latcha

The East Wing is gone, a new helipad is spreading across the lawn, and scaffolding wraps the White House's front columns, but the price tags for President Trump's renovations are far less obvious. The big picture: The muddled mix of funding streams — whether from private donors, the president himself or taxpayers — has fueled ethical questions about who's footing the ever-rising bill for the HGTV-reminiscent White House redesign. The latest: Senate Democrats urged the Government Accountability O

White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker is leaving the administration in the coming weeks. Why it matters: Baker, who also served as national security advisor to Vice President Vance, was among the staffers most central to the administration's foreign policy and national security decision-making over the last 18 months. Baker was also personally involved in negotiations with Iran this year. Cliff Sims, who succeeded Baker as Vance's national security adviser earlier this summer,

Data: U.S. Census, USDA ; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals The U.S. is projected to become majority-minority in 2046, but hundreds of rural pockets crossed that demographic benchmark years ago, an Axios analysis finds. Why it matters: The evolving face of rural America, driven both by immigration and increased mobility, has invigorated communities, increased their diversity — and presented new challenges. Rural governments dealing with rapid change, for example, often have few interpreters, bilin

The New York Times' Maggie Haberman tells me 70% of President Trump's mindshare ("maybe plus or minus 5%") goes to his gilding, construction, renovation, renaming and tribute projects. "He is spending a huge amount of energy, mental and otherwise, on these renovation projects, beautification projects around Washington, and then monuments to self," Haberman told me for Axios' "Behind the Curtain" video series . "[T]here is no precedent in U.S. history of a sitting president devising such endeavor

The Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to again add President Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, two anonymous sources told Axios. Why it matters: The move challenges a federal judge's ruling back in May that only Congress could change the name of the performing arts venue, and that Trump's name must be removed . That process was completed in June. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded that the board had "overstepped its statutory bounds by unilateral

Willie Nelson has become an unlikely barometer of America's biggest infrastructure fights. He once protested the Keystone XL pipeline and fracking. Today, he's fighting data centers. Why it matters: The American icon's latest cause underscores how the politics surrounding AI infrastructure are beginning to resemble the last decade's fights over fossil fuels. "The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter)," Ne

When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump met in the Oval Office two weeks ago, the president asked the Israeli prime minister how he was doing in the polls ahead of an Oct. 27 election. Netanyahu paused. Then one of his advisers piped up: "Mr. President, he is winning," the aide said, according to a U.S. official familiar with the exchange. Why it matters: Netanyahu is not winning. And so far, Trump hasn't given him the endorsement he hopes for, despite being asked about it repeatedly by reporte

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have muscled their way back into AI's elite ranks, defying early obituaries to close the gap on a new generation of Silicon Valley startups. Why it matters: Recent gains by tech giants SpaceX and Meta — long stuck in AI's second tier — are putting new pressure on a hierarchy dominated by OpenAI and Anthropic. State of play: Both companies released models this week featuring a combination of performance and price that would have been hard to imagine from either lab a

The search for a winning message on AI is pushing candidates and lawmakers into unexpected political territory. Why it matters: With the midterms approaching, AI is creating alliances across party lines while opening fissures within them. Here are three ways AI is scrambling the political map. 1. Centrist Democrats versus progressives on data centers New York made waves as the first state to impose a data center moratorium — a product of Gov. Kathy Hochul joining forces with progressive state Se

Pollsters appeared to blow another high-stakes Midwest election Tuesday, as center-left Democrat David Crowley stunned socialist Francesca Hong in Wisconsin's primary for governor. But on Wednesday, the reasons for the miss seemed clear: Surveys a week before the primary captured only a hint of a rapidly changing roller coaster of a race in which Crowley was gaining fast, and Hong was playing defense. Driving the news: Two polls had shown Hong up by about 20 points over Crowley. But Crowley woun

A federal trade court ruled Thursday that President Trump can block cheap imports — including from Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein — from entering the U.S. tariff-free . Why it matters: It's a win for the Trump administration's trade agenda after a major legal setback forced officials to find new legal avenues for imposing sweeping tariffs. The Court of International Trade ruling means that Trump's suspension of the so-called de minimis exemption, which allowed packages worth $800 or less

Data: Generation Lab; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios More than a quarter of younger Americans (27%) believe they or someone they know has lost a job because their employer replaced them with AI, according to a new Axios-Generation Lab poll of 18- to 34-year-olds. Why it matters: Research suggests the actual share of job losses from AI is smaller. But the survey reflects the suspicion, mistrust and fatalism in how Gen Zers and young Millennials see the technology — sentiments driving their views o

Rep. Mike Lawler 's (R-N.Y.) fight to hold on to a key battleground seat is getting a behind-the-scenes assist — for now, at least — from an unlikely group: House Democrats. Why it matters: Kamala Harris carried Lawler's district in 2024, but some Democrats are privately wary of spending the small fortune it would take to oust one of the GOP's most bipartisan — and electorally savvy — members. "If you're going to have a Republican, it's the kind of Republican we want in the Congress," a Democrat

It's August, which means lawmakers are fanning out across the country to campaign for themselves and their colleagues. Why it matters: A friendly senator or House member can help on the stump. But only a handful can juice fundraising , draw a real crowd or make a mark with an endorsement. And Democrats have more of them. Zoom in: Axios asked strategists in both parties which lawmakers have enough star power to move voters, draw crowds or open wallets for candidates far from home. There aren't ma

Karoline Leavitt will be stepping down from her role as White House press secretary at the end of the month, President Trump announced Wednesday in a Truth Social post. The big picture: Leavitt is leaving to spend more time with her family, the president said. A member of Trump's team who followed him from his presidential campaign to the White House, she's been a fiercely loyal face of the White House. Driving the news: Trump said in the surprise post that Leavitt will become one of his top out

The development costs of President Trump's White House ballroom keep rising — as does speculation about what the finished project, including its underground complex, will look like. The big picture: Trump 's ballroom project is more than a simple remodel of the East Wing. It's a complete overhaul featuring what appears to be a military-grade underground bunker, meant to protect and secure the president. The project remains in legal limbo after a federal appeals court ruled in August that Trump's

Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to begin using electric shock gloves designed to cause pain and disrupt a person's ability to react. The big picture: The gloves could give ICE officers a new way to use force as their tactics face intense scrutiny after several deaths and violent encounters . Driving the news: ICE plans to spend between $10 and $20 million on the gloves and issue them to Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement Removal Operations officers and agents, per a Depar

When investment on the scale of the current AI boom occurs, it inevitably has to come at the expense of something. All the resources devoted to building data centers and developing AI models would otherwise go to something else. The big picture: This crowding out is smaller than you might expect, Goldman Sachs economists find in a new note. But it does exist, they say, and takes the form of displacing other tech investment and construction , as well as raising corporate borrowing costs. By the n

The state of the global diesel market is getting even more precarious as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Iran crisis squeeze supply from multiple angles. Why it matters: Diesel prices ripple through economies here and abroad, affecting shipping costs, construction and plenty in between. The average U.S. price is up 44 cents over the last month to $5.32 per gallon, compared to $3.71 a year ago, per AAA. However, during the Iran crisis, it hasn't hit the all-time high of $5.82 per gallon that AAA r

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly defeated socialist Francesca Hong by about 3,000 votes, dealing a blow to the progressive left's momentum Tuesday in Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor, after his own polling indicated he was behind by nearly 20 points. Why it matters: Crowley's win could breathe new life into a center-left that had been losing primary after primary in recent months, from last week's Senate contest in Michigan to House races across the country . Yes, but

Artificial intelligence isn't just speeding up early-stage drug development, it's starting to unlock millions of dollars' worth of new efficiencies in clinical trials on cancer treatments, research shared first with Axios shows. Why it matters: AI-powered tools could shave months off time-consuming processes like recruiting and enrolling patients, monitoring results and interpreting data. That could free up resources for more clinical studies and possibly lower the high failure rate for new drug

Anthropic's new models will add machine-readable "watermarks" to Claude-generated text and files to comply with new European Union transparency regulations. Why it matters: Comms teams using Claude to simply clean up, translate, or format human-drafted press releases could stamp those documents with an AI signature. How it works: For models launched in the EU after Aug. 2, Anthropic is marking content in two ways, "wherever Claude is offered, worldwide." Text watermarks: Claude embeds patterns i

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly defeated state Rep. Francesca Hong , a democratic socialist , in Tuesday's Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor, the Associated Press reports. Why it matters: Hong's loss blunts progressives' recent momentum and hands moderate Democrats a chance to prove their electability in a crucial battleground state in November Crowley will vie to become Wisconsin's first Black governor. Driving the news: Crowley managed to edge out Hong by about 3,000

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is trying to pull off a political feat for the ages: bury a chapter of left-wing politics that seemed like a good idea to many liberals at the time — but not so much anymore. Why it matters: The country's most prominent democratic socialist is essentially seeking a mulligan for candidates who embraced policies like defunding the police, saying candidates should be judged on their current platforms. But that will be a tough sell with moderate Democrats, let alone Rep

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) was unseated Tuesday by his primary challenger, former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin , according to the Associated Press. Why it matters: Larson is the 7th House Democrat ousted in their primary this year . Only one other election cycle in the 21st century has seen this many incumbent losses in primaries. Bronin's challenge to Larson came after the 78-year-old incumbent suffered a widely publicized freeze-up during a House floor speech that he later said was the result of

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar sailed to victory in Minnesota's Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday. The big picture: Polling indicates that the four-term senator and 2020 presidential candidate will be a formidable contender in Democrats' bid to hold the open seat this November. Catch up quick: Klobuchar entered the race in late January, shortly after Gov. Tim Walz reversed course and scrapped plans to run for a third term . Walz's exit came amid mounting scrutiny over his administration's resp

Sen. Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) advanced Tuesday to a runoff in South Carolina's crowded Republican Senate primary, per the AP, extending the fight to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham . Why it matters: The Aug. 25 runoff will almost certainly determine South Carolina's next senator. Graham's abbreviated campaign has relied on the immediate advantages of incumbency, President Trump's support and one of the most recognizable names in South Carolina politics. Norman has argue

A federal judge on Tuesday expanded an earlier block on part of President Trump's executive order seeking to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November's elections. Why it matters: The ruling freezes a key piece of Trump's attempted overhaul of mail-in voting for all U.S. states. A previous ruling in a separate case had limited a block for the 23 Democratic states that sued over the president's order. Trump's executive order had enabled the USPS to refuse to deliver ballots to states tha

Democrats have gone from treating Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) as a best-case-scenario target to a genuinely vulnerable incumbent whose downfall is worth a real investment. Why it matters: Democratic groups tell Axios they plan to put their money where their mouth is and spend to win the seat, which Trump carried by double digits in 2024. Phil Gardner, a spokesperson for the centrist Blue Dog Action Fund, said his group spent nearly $200,000 to support Miller's Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter,

Senate Republicans' top super PAC is pouring an extra $6 million into Michigan to attack Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Why it matters: It's part of $12 million in new spending this month by the Senate Leadership Fund to defend Republican leader John Thune 's majority. It's an unusually early spend for Republican super PACs, which typically wait until September. Zoom in: SLF is launching the $6 million TV and digital campaign Wednesday to hit El-Sayed and bolster Republican Mike Roger

The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized a plan to cut off federal Medicaid funding for hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries for transgender youths. Why it matters: The rule is the latest escalation in the administration's effort to limit transition-related care , which has tested the boundaries of executive powers and could undercut federal and state protections. States may still use their own funds to cover gender-affirming care for youth in Medicaid or the Children's Health In

President Trump's secret plane switch in Turkey is putting Air Force One's security protocols and defensive capabilities in the spotlight. Why it matters: Air Force One is the call sign for any Air Force aircraft carrying the president, meaning Trump's secret switch didn't change the designation — but it changed the plane protecting him. Driving the news: A threat from Iran forced Trump to secretly switch planes, using a catering truck to move to a smaller aircraft, per the Washington Post . Tru

Executive privilege can shield President Trump's communications with "private advisers" outside of the government, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded Monday. Why it matters: Democrats have been planning to bypass expected White House stonewalling by subpoenaing companies, colleges and private citizens if they win enough seats in November. The new opinion could create a new hurdle for Democrats should they retake Congress. "It really could be a pretty significant weapon" f

A coalition of more than 120 organizations, including Nvidia, Cisco and CrowdStrike, is proposing a new incident-reporting framework for AI agents that would require participating companies to disclose certain agent mishaps and preserve detailed records of what went wrong. Why it matters: As AI agents gain more autonomy to act across computer systems, the industry lacks a standard way to report security failures and learn from them. Driving the news: The Open Secure AI Alliance is developing gui

Many security leaders at major companies, flush with expanded budgets to fend off AI-powered cyberattacks , are experiencing a level of decision fatigue that's freezing them in their tracks. Why it matters: Those leaders are still trying to size up how autonomous cyberattacks will affect their businesses at a time when they need to be taking bold action and mobilizing quickly, experts told Axios. The big picture: Companies have only a short window before AI models capable of end-to-end autonomou

For years, America's economy has been defined by a " K-shaped " gap: The rich kept spending at a rapid pace, while everyone else struggled to keep up. That divide is suddenly narrowing. Why it matters: Economists warned that consumer spending growth was increasingly reliant on wealthy Americans, leaving the economy vulnerable to a stock market downturn or any other wealth shock. Importantly, the "K" appears to be closing from the bottom up, meaning that lower- and middle-income Americans are cat