'Shockingly Lazy': Trump’s ‘Bizarre Nocturnal Habits’ Uncovered in New Analysis

Trump's Executive Time scandal; Hegseth's plan to drawdown troops blocked; and Jeff Bezos' love affair with the Donald

Good morning. I’m John Byrne.

The war with Iran has dragged Trump’s approval to a record low. Jeff Bezos has completed his transformation from Trump’s sworn enemy into an energetic ally, and his rocket company is cashing in. A new analysis of the president’s own schedule reveals a “shockingly lazy” 80-year-old who barely surfaces before noon. Pete Hegseth quietly prepared a bombshell plan to slash American troops in Europe before it got killed. And on the eve of America’s 250th birthday, the national debt has climbed from $71 million to more than $39 trillion.

Before we get to the news, I need to ask you to support Raw America’s independent journalism by becoming a paying subscriber. The Washington Post can never tell the truth about Jeff Bezos — you’ll read below exactly why. CBS will never report honestly on the Ellisons. And Rupert Murdoch knows Fox will never shine a light on his family. This is why billionaires buy media outlets, and why Raw America will never take on a billionaire backer. We need readers like you deciding that today is the day you’ll invest in independent media. Don’t wait. Become a paying subscriber right now.

How Jeff Bezos Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Donald Trump

There’s a scene worth remembering. Back in July 2017, during Trump’s first term, the president reportedly asked an aide, point blank, “Can we break up Amazon?” According to that aide, Anthony Scaramucci, Trump added that he hated Bezos and hated the Washington Post, the paper Bezos owned.

Fast forward to today. The Wall Street Journal reports that when Trump spoke to the elite Alfalfa Club earlier this year — a rambling, 45-minute speech that reportedly annoyed some as too long and too mean — Bezos sat right up front, laughing uproariously. Trump hosted him for a private dinner in the Rose Garden last year, and the two reportedly talk and text regularly. In recent months, Trump has told advisers he wants Bezos to reach the moon with Blue Origin — and wants to make sure it lands the contracts.

Wouldn’t you know it, the contracts are flowing. A Journal analysis found Blue Origin’s federal contracting has accelerated sharply in Trump’s second term. Space Force approved seven missions worth up to $2.4 billion. The firm was cleared to compete on Trump’s $151 billion “Golden Dome” missile shield. And NASA handed it a $188 million contract to deliver payloads to the moon’s South Pole.

Here’s the part to hold onto. Bezos owns the Washington Post. When the man who owns one of America’s most important newspapers is laughing in the front row and collecting billions in contracts, ask yourself how hard that paper will dig into this administration.

That’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s just how billionaire-owned media works, and it’s exactly why Raw America exists. If you believe independent media matters, subscribe right now.

Trump’s Own Schedule Reveals a President Who Can Barely Get Out of Bed

We talk a lot about what Trump does. Here’s a story about what he doesn’t do. A Daily Beast analysis of the president’s official schedule and White House pool reports, published Friday, found that Trump — who turned 80 last month — made only three public appearances in Washington before 11 a.m. during the entire month of June.

The details are damning. For 26 of the 30 days in June, his schedule listed “Executive Time” beginning at 8 a.m., with actual public events pushed to the afternoon or later. The pattern held for months. He had “Executive Time” blocked out on 26 mornings in May and every single day in April. When he did surface before 11 a.m. in May, four of those days were golf outings and three came during a trip to China.

And even the rare morning event tends to fall apart. A bill-signing set for 10 a.m. on June 10 was delayed more than an hour. A housing bill signing scheduled for noon on June 24 was scrapped entirely — Trump announced the cancellation on social media shortly before 11 a.m., after Republican lawmakers had already set up for the event in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Asked about all this, the White House didn’t actually address the schedule. A spokesman instead sent a statement calling Trump sharp and energetic and taking shots at past coverage of Joe Biden’s health. The Daily Beast also pointed to a new book by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, which described Trump as a “night owl” who stays up through the night on the phone or in front of the television. On one occasion, the book recounts, an aide checked on the president only to find him still asleep in the residence.

Remember, this is the same crowd that spent years insisting Joe Biden was too old and too diminished to do the job. Now they’re running a president who can’t reliably show up before lunch — and telling us he’s a picture of vigor. Raw America can point out that contradiction because we don’t answer to anyone. If that matters to you, become a paying subscriber today.

Hegseth’s Secret Plan to Gut Troops in Europe Got Killed

Here’s something that nearly happened without any of us knowing. The Wall Street Journal reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth planned to fly to Brussels last month and tell NATO’s top chiefs the U.S. was preparing deeper cuts to its forces in Europe.

The plan got nixed. After Hegseth floated it to Marco Rubio and other senior officials, it was pulled, and instead he announced a review that could stretch six months. This isn’t the first time he’s gotten over his skis. In May, he abruptly canceled an armored brigade’s rotation to Poland, a move that reportedly surprised Trump himself, who called to ask why he was treating a valued ally so poorly. Lawmakers have grown alarmed enough to write provisions barring cuts below 76,000 troops without a formal risk review. The backdrop is the Iran war: Spain declined to host American bombers, Germany’s chancellor criticized the strategy, and Trump responded by threatening to pull troops from Germany. This is foreign policy run on grudges.

$71 Million to $39 Trillion: The Debt on America’s 250th Birthday

As the country turns 250 this weekend, here’s a number worth sitting with. When Alexander Hamilton consolidated the young nation’s debts in 1790, America owed $71 million. Today it’s more than $39 trillion — a 55,000-percent climb.

The history, laid out by Newsweek using Treasury data, follows a pattern: the country borrows in war and crisis, then leans on its economic strength to carry the load. World War II pushed debt from $43 billion in 1940 to more than $250 billion by 1945. It first crossed a trillion under Reagan in 1981 — who called it a “warning” even as it nearly tripled on his watch. The 2008 crisis pushed it past $10 trillion, and COVID added a record $4.2 trillion in a single year.

What’s changed is the trend. Episodic spikes have hardened into a continuous climb under both parties. Right now, roughly one-fifth of all federal taxes go just to paying interest. As Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke put it, today’s taxpayers are paying through the nose for debts run up before many could vote. Economists are split on how much it matters — Japan has carried far more for decades — but Harvard’s Doug Elmendorf warns it’s already pushing up rates on mortgages and car loans, and could someday trigger a crisis. When? As he put it plainly: economists don’t know.

Support the Journalism That Won’t Look Away

Everything you just read shares a common thread: power protecting itself. A billionaire newspaper owner cozying up to the president while his rocket company hauls in contracts. A president who can barely get out of bed while his team insists he’s a dynamo. A defense secretary quietly trying to pull America back from its allies. And a debt both parties keep growing while the bill comes due for the rest of us. These are the stories billionaire-owned newsrooms have every reason to soften. Raw America covers them without a billionaire calling the shots. If you’ve been enjoying Raw America on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the independent journalism you just read. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

I’m John Byrne. Thanks for staying in the fight.