When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he faced the same formidable adversary that defined much of his first term: China. This time the stakes were even higher. The trade deficit with China had ballooned to roughly $300 billion, while IP protection, currency manipulation and predatory industrial and international development practices remained significant issues. And Beijing doubled down — weaponizing its control of rare earth minerals, tightening its grip on semiconductors and wielding economic coercion against U.S. allies from Australia to Lithuania. 

Against this backdrop, Trump 47 adopted a two-pronged approach. On offense, the administration has kept maximum pressure on Beijing, staying firm on negotiation positions and refusing to trade away leverage until real concessions emerge. On defense, it has wielded tariffs not only as bargaining chips but as engines of industrial revival — reshoring supply chains, rebuilding America’s manufacturing base and hardening strategic alliances to reduce dependence on China. 

These were not easy calls. Tariffs rattled markets. Pressure campaigns risked alienating partners. Yet the strategy has been to hold the line, play a long game and push forward until the U.S. secured fairer, reciprocal trade terms. In a world where semiconductors and rare earths are the new oil, this is about nothing less than U.S. national security. 

I have seen firsthand how high-stakes these negotiations can be. As I recount in my forthcoming book, ‘A Seat at the Table,’ Chinese officials have long relied on psychological tactics, slow-walking responses through layers of bureaucracy, handing us last-minute drafts in Chinese —  even removing chairs at negotiating tables. These are not trivial gestures. They are meant to unnerve, unsettle and push the U.S. team toward compromise. 

The Trump response was simple but powerful: don’t flinch. In Beijing, when presented with a Chinese draft that ignored our work, Secretary Steven Mnuchin waved it away and insisted the talks proceed on the American document. When a chair was removed to show disrespect, we calmly got it back—without ever conceding authority. 

That posture of confidence — staying the course under pressure — continues today in Trump 47. Tariffs are sharper, more targeted and higher than before; allied trade deals (Japan, South Korea, the EU) allow us to focus resources on China; and deadlines are extended when useful, but only on U.S. terms. 

Critics say tariffs raise consumer prices. In the short term, they can. But the broader truth is that tariffs are tools to rewire incentives, drive investment back home, and ensure the United States does not remain vulnerable in sectors critical to survival. Already, the tariffs of Trump 47 are accelerating investment in domestic chip foundries, battery plants and energy infrastructure. They are also forcing hard conversations with allies about aligning supply chains — from rare earth processing in Australia to semiconductor alliances with Japan and the Netherlands. 

When Beijing weaponized exports of gallium and graphite, vital for defense and electronics, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act and doubled down on Indo-Pacific partnerships. The message is clear: America will not be held hostage to coercion. Strategic autonomy requires resilience, even if it comes with short-term discomfort. 

How do you stay steady when the stakes are so high, when the pressure is relentless? Stand aside Hans Morgenthau. For me, the source I found was the timeless wisdom of ‘Kedushas Levi,’ an 18th-century Chassidic work by Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev.  

The ‘Kedushas Levi’ teaches that challenges — no matter how overwhelming — are never insurmountable. ‘If you encounter an obstacle that is bigger than you, do not be fearful or frightened. With simple faith, what you fear will not harm you,’ it states. That teaching, echoing the Talmudic reality that the good Lord gives trials in proportion to a person’s strength, gave me composure when sprinting to translate a Chinese draft in a Beijing motorcade, or when facing off with officials determined to stall and delay. 

It also teaches that truth, even when inconvenient, carries divine weight. When Chinese officials resisted opening their financial markets, I pointed out the obvious but often ignored truth: Chinese banks in the U.S. had seen double- and triple-digit growth, while U.S. banks in China struggled for even single digits. That argument broke through where posturing could not.  

Negotiations with China will not be wrapped up overnight. But this is a contest of wills as much as economics. And here, the lessons of faith matter most. Facing giants, the Jewish tradition teaches, you do not shrink back. You lift your head high, stand on truth, and trust that what feels impossible can indeed be achieved. 

That is how we approached China in Trump 45. That is how we are approaching China in Trump 47. And that is how America, with faith and fortitude, can win. 

Russian officials said Ukrainian drones ignited an overnight fire at a nuclear plant in Russia’s Kursk region.

The strikes coincided with Ukraine’s 34th Independence Day, marking its 1991 break from the Soviet Union.

Russia said the strikes hit several power facilities. The plant fire was quickly extinguished. A transformer was damaged, but radiation levels remained normal, and no injuries were reported.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it was aware of media reports of a transformer fire ‘due to military activity,’ but had not independently confirmed them.

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said ‘every nuclear facility must be protected at all times.’

A fire also broke out at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia’s Leningrad region, home to a major fuel export terminal.

The regional governor said about 10 Ukrainian drones were shot down in the area and that debris sparked the blaze.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted 95 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory Sunday.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 72 drones and decoys and a cruise missile overnight; 48 drones were shot down or jammed.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in a video from Kyiv’s Independence Square.

‘We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,’ he said, calling for a ‘just peace.’

‘What our future will be is up to us alone,’ he said, while acknowledging the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska earlier this month, which many worried would sideline Ukrainian interests.

‘And the world knows this. And the world respects this. It respects Ukraine. It perceives Ukraine as an equal,’ he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Sunday blasted the Senate’s ‘blue slip’ tradition, calling it an unconstitutional affront to his appointment power and alleging that his rights have ‘been completely taken away from me in States that have just one Democrat United States Senator.’

The president is referring to his ability to nominate judges and U.S. Attorneys, accusing the custom of essentially giving Democrats veto power over his nominees.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is defending the century-old process, saying he views it as a norm worth preserving for balance and state input.

Blue slips are a long-standing tradition but are not a codified law, and constitutionally he is only allowed the power to nominate while the Senate ultimately approves or rejects that nomination.

Trump’s frustration with the Senate’s blue slip practice isn’t new. In July, Trump called the tradition a ‘hoax’ and a ‘scam’ used by Democrats to block his nominees and demanded that Grassley stop supporting them.

‘Put simply, the president of the United States will never be permitted to appoint the person of his choice because of an ancient, and probably unconstitutional, ‘CUSTOM,’’ his post said.

In his first term, Trump was able to appoint 234 federal judges, including three Supreme Court justices and 54 appellate court judges. However, this term he has only confirmed five in the first seven months.

Trump went on in his post to suggest he was willing to apply pressure and that Grassley shouldn’t acquiesce. 

‘The only candidates that I can get confirmed for these most important positions are, believe it or not, Democrats! Chuck Grassley should allow strong Republican candidates to ascend to these very vital and powerful roles, and tell the Democrats, as they often tell us, to go to HELL!’ he wrote.

Trump’s comments come after U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann recently ruled that Alina Habba had been unlawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey beyond the 120-day limit allowed for temporary prosecutors and that the administration had been using an unusual maneuver to keep her in the role.

Trump’s pressure campaign could shape how many judicial vacancies he can realistically fill in the months ahead.

Jeffrey Epstein did not have the same level of impact in the Senate as the House, but the discourse pushed by many congressional Democrats, and some Republicans, is unlikely to go away when lawmakers return next week.

And the level of Epstein hysteria in Congress may have had an unlikely impact in derailing Republicans’ push in the upper chamber to ram through President Donald Trump’s nominees.

Senate Republicans tried and failed to strike a deal with Senate Democrats to push through dozens of non-controversial nominees, particularly picks that made it through committee with bipartisan support.

Only Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who glided through the Senate unanimously earlier this year, has not been met by Democrats’ blockade.

Rules changes are in the works, but the avenue of using recess appointments, which requires the Senate to adjourn and the House to come into session for the president to elevate his picks on a temporary basis, was all but shot down after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent lawmakers home early to sidestep the simmering push to release documents related to Epstein’s case.

‘When the House had an opportunity to take votes on the Epstein files, Speaker Johnson skedaddled out of town, launching the Epstein recess,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last month. ‘This is not complicated.’  

‘After promising full transparency for years, every single time Trump, his administration, Republican leaders have had a chance to be transparent about the Epstein files, they’ve chosen to hide. The evasions, the delays, the excuses, they’re not just odd, they’re alarming.’

Many Republicans in the upper chamber agree that there should be more transparency, but caution that no materials should be released until the names or identifying traits of victims are combed through and kept safe.

Others question why Democrats suddenly care about the Epstein situation.

Sen. Roger Marshall, who supported turning to recess appointments to break Democrats’ log jam, told Fox News Digital that it didn’t ‘make sense to me, and this is part of their psychosis, that they are so separated from reality,’ to keep pushing the Epstein issue.

‘They had four years to do something with this, and it was just quite the opposite,’ the Kansas Republican said. ‘As I recall, just quite the opposite. It was almost like they were hiding something.’

‘My frustration is how they used it to circumvent the agenda of the American people… this is all they’ve got,’ he continued. ‘What else do they have? They don’t have a leader, they don’t have an agenda. They don’t have solutions. All they know is, if it’s President Trump, they’re not going to like it, very matter of fact, they’re going to hate it at the sacrifice of the entire country.’

Meanwhile, Epstein engulfed Washington once again on Friday, with the House Oversight Committee receiving a trove of related documents and the interview between Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche becoming public.

When asked about the files eventually coming to light, Trump told reporters that he was in support of keeping them ‘totally open,’ and charged that Democrats were using Epstein as a smokescreen to detract from his administration’s work.

‘The whole Epstein thing is a Democrat hoax,’ he said. ‘We had the greatest six months, seven months in the history of the presidency, and the Democrats don’t know what to do, so they keep bringing up that stuff.’