Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
Trump just told reporters “I love the inflation” as his approval rating on the economy hits a record low. The almost 80 year-old president also nearly forgot to sign the very bill he called reporters to the Oval Office to watch him sign. The head of the EPA is now refusing to set any environmental rules for data centers, leaving Americans to fend for themselves. And a House committee is moving to subpoena longtime Trump ally Alan Dershowitz as part of its Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
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Trump Proclaims ‘I Love the Inflation’ as His Approval Rating Plummets
Annual inflation just hit 4.2 percent. That’s the fastest year-over-year pace since early 2023, and it’s being driven largely by high oil prices from Donald Trump going to war with Iran.
And when reporters asked the president whether he was concerned about those numbers, he said, “I love the inflation.” That’s a direct quote.
He went on to claim that the U.S. has secretly been destroying Iranian oil tankers, that Iran didn’t know about it until just now, and that once the war ends, oil prices would magically come back down again.
The White House scrambled to clean up Trump’s remarks, with one spokesperson saying Trump was “rightfully touting” how some individual prices are coming down, and that the president is implementing his “affordability agenda.”
But the numbers don’t lie. A new FocalData poll respondents found that 69 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation, while only 18 percent approve. That’s a new record low even for this president.
Keep in mind that tackling inflation was the centerpiece of Trump’s 2024 campaign, and he made it his number one issue. And now he’s standing in the Oval Office telling the American people he loves it.
80 Year-Old Trump Forgets Why He Invited Press Into Oval Office
That gaffe wasn’t the only big news out of the White House today.
Trump had called members of Congress and the press into the Oval Office to watch him sign a $70 billion ICE funding bill. It’s the same kind of event presidents do when they sign bills. Invite the press, sign the bill, pose for photos, take some questions. Instead, Trump turned it into a rambling press conference.
Trump went on a tangent about his new reflecting pool on the National Mall. He attacked Joe Biden, who hasn’t been in office for almost 2 years. After ranting for about 20 minutes, he told the press “thank you very much” and tried to wrap it up.
But as White House staffers started shuffling everyone toward the door, one member of Congress standing right behind Trump tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out that he hadn’t actually signed the bill yet.
Trump turns 80 this Sunday. He’s the oldest president in American history. And his second term has been rife with incidents that keep prompting questions about his health. He’s been seen in public with bruised hands, swollen ankles and slurred speech, and he was recently caught falling asleep at the NBA Finals.
Last month he underwent his third physical in six months at Walter Reed. His doctor, of course, said he scored a perfect 30 out of 30 on a cognitive assessment and that his heart is 14 years younger than the rest of him. But forgetting to sign the bill you called a press conference to sign is only going to keep people talking.
EPA Chief Refuses to Regulate Data Centers
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made it official on Wednesday: Trump’s EPA will not be setting any nationwide environmental standards or even recommendations for sprawling AI data centers polluting drinking water and hurting farmers’ ability to grow food.
Speaking at the Politico Energy Summit in Washington, Zeldin said he wouldn’t tell communities in Georgia or Florida or Arizona what’s best for them. But the context is crucial.
Only 37 percent of Americans say they’d support a data center being built in their community, according to a Politico poll from earlier this year. Respondents said they were most concerned about data centers’ excessive water usage along with increased air pollution.
Under Zeldin’s tenure, the EPA has been rolling back pollution rules for coal plants to keep them open for AI data centers. His agency eased guidance for diesel generators so they can be used as primary power sources, rather than emergency backup. And Zeldin personally intervened when Elon Musk’s AI company was running unpermitted gas turbines at its Tennessee facility.
So when Trump’s EPA chief says he won’t impose rules on data centers, what he really means is that the mostly rural communities that are most at-risk will be on their own. Whatever deal they can negotiate locally is what they get.
This is particularly dangerous, with data centers being built at a pace that’s straining the power grid and raising environmental concerns across the country. The EPA’s message? Good luck.
Trump Ally Alan Dershowitz Subpoenaed as Part of Epstein Investigation
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, announced Wednesday that he’ll be asking Alan Dershowitz to appear before the committee as part of its Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
The decision came a day after Epstein’s longtime personal assistant, Lesley Groff, testified before Comer’s committee. Groff said she had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes while working for him, and that Epstein was a “master manipulator and deceiver.” But Comer said that during and after Groff’s testimony, Dershowitz’s name came up repeatedly. He also said Epstein survivors he met with after the hearing specifically said Dershowitz should be called in.
Dershowitz was Epstein’s attorney, and part of the legal team that negotiated Epstein’s 2008 sweetheart plea deal. He also helped Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment in 2020. Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre alleged Dershowitz assaulted her as a teenager as part of Epstein’s trafficking operation. Dershowitz has denied the allegations and has never been criminally charged. Giuffre filed a defamation lawsuit against him in 2019 but dropped it in 2022, saying she “may have made a mistake.” Giuffre died by suicide in April of last year at age 41.
Dershowitz says he wants to testify, telling the Guardian on Wednesday that he’s “not a reluctant witness” and that he wants the truth to come out. He said he’s proud of everything he did as Epstein’s attorney. We’ll see what he says under oath.
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Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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British Officials Blame Elon Musk for Stoking Racist Riots in Ireland. Leading members of the Labour Party say Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who also owns the social media platform X, bears a share of the blame for a spate of violent attacks against immigrants in Belfast. After a 30 year-old Sudanese man stabbed an 18 year-old man in Northern Ireland’s capital city, a crowd of mostly white people rampaged through streets, with some dragging Black and Brown immigrants out of their homes and lighting some of them on fire. Musk called on locals to protest in the streets, and shared a post from far-right British activist Tommy Robinson showing locations of protests. Labour Party chair Anna Turley called Musk’s posts “appalling” and said he was “grievously wrong and doing damage.”
Texas Governor Calls for New Regulations on Data Centers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who is running for reelection this fall, is now calling to repeal financial incentives for data center construction in response to grassroots pressure. Abbott is also pushing for data centers to adopt water-efficient technologies like closed-loop cooling systems in order to lessen the strain on local water supplies. This comes after Hill County, Texas was forced to repeal its one-year moratorium on data center construction after a data center developer filed a $100 million lawsuit.
New York Knicks Fans Burn Sage Outside Madison Square Garden to Purge ‘Bad Energy’ from Trump’s Appearance. Ahead of tonight’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals, fans of the New York Knicks were seen burning sage outside of Madison Square Garden to get rid of the “bad energy” they say President Trump created when he attended Game 3. Trump’s attendance at Madison Square Garden subjected players, journalists and fans alike to hours of enhanced security screenings and other inconveniences, and the Knicks ended up losing to the Spurs by a score of 115-111 in their first loss since April 23. Indigenous cultures have traditionally burned sage as a way of purging negative energy.
