Today in One Sentence. Trump defended his interim Iran deal as “probably” Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and said the war taught him nothing about the limits of his power; Obama said the U.S. may be “worse off” after Trump’s 15-week war with Iran; the Pentagon said it needs $80 billion for the Iran war; the Trump administration redirected $352 million in Secret Service funding into “White House Security Measures” tied to his ballroom; Trump’s $14.7 million resurfacing and renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool failed to deliver the clean, “American flag blue” water he promised as algae has already turned the pool green days after it reopened with blue material peeling off from the bottom; the Trump administration reversed its plan to dismantle a $368 million ocean monitoring system; the Trump administration will phase out HIV/AIDS funding for South Africa; and Republicans now believe their redistricting efforts to redraw several state maps has created “structural dynamics [that] favor Republicans” in the midterms.

1/ Trump defended his interim Iran deal as “probably” Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and said the war taught him nothing about the limits of his power: “I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but there are no limits.” The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that ends the fighting, reopens the Strait of Hormuz, lifts U.S. blockade enforcement, and starts a 60-day negotiation window on a final nuclear deal, with major issues still unresolved. Trump claimed “we defeated them totally militarily,” bragged that “not one ship was able to get through” his blockade, and said bombing Iran for “another two or three weeks” would’ve kept the strait closed: “This is the kind of thing that could cause a worldwide depression.” After Republican criticized the sanctions relief and proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund, Trump called them “fools” who are “either jealous, bad people, or stupid.” (Politico / CNN / CNBC / Axios / Reuters / Associated Press / Washington Post / CBS News)

2/ Obama said the U.S. may be “worse off” after Trump’s 15-week war with Iran. “We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died,” Obama said, adding that “it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off.” Obama argued that Iran had agreed under his 2015 nuclear deal “not to develop nuclear weapons,” but that Trump’s first-term withdrawal from the agreement “caused then Iran to develop more nuclear capacity.” (NBC News / The Guardian)

3/ The Pentagon said it needs $80 billion for the Iran war and other non-war bills despite the Trump administration never seeking congressional authorization for the Iran war. Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg told lawmakers that the money would cover operations, pay, ships, and munitions. Sen. Chris Murphy said “there are not 60 votes in the Senate for a supplemental.” (Wall Street Journal)

4/ The Trump administration redirected $352 million in Secret Service funding into “White House Security Measures” tied to his ballroom despite repeated promises that the project would be paid for with private donations. The money came from Trump’s tax and spending law, which provided the Secret Service more than $1 billion for “personnel, training facilities, programming, and technology” after two assassination attempts. The money was redirected days after Congress rejected a $1 billion request for White House security upgrades tied to the ballroom. A contractor budget summary, meanwhile, projects that the ballroom could cost $600 million, with more than half coming from taxpayers. (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News / The Guardian)

5/ Trump’s $14.7 million resurfacing and renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool failed to deliver the clean, “American flag blue” water he promised as algae has already turned the pool green days after it reopened with blue material peeling off from the bottom. The National Park Service also gave a separate $1.7 million no-bid contract for water-purification work to a company owned by a trust led by a longtime Trump donor and Mar-a-Lago neighbor. The Park Service bypassed competitive bidding by citing urgency ahead of the country’s 250th birthday events, while the Interior Department said it didn’t know about John J. Cafaro’s political affiliation. Satellite images show that the algae level days after reopening was higher than in any June image of the pool going back to 2021. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)

6/ The Trump administration reversed its plan to dismantle a $368 million ocean monitoring system after scientists and lawmakers warned that losing the Ocean Observatories Initiative would undermine climate research, storm forecasts, and safety data used by coastal communities and fishermen. The National Science Foundation said it “will not proceed with further removal or de-scoping of equipment,” will continue maintenance, and will convene an expert panel to assess the network’s future. Some equipment had already been pulled from waters off Oregon and Washington, but NSF said it is “developing plans to redeploy” it after servicing. (Associated Press / The Guardian / New York Times)

7/ The Trump administration will phase out HIV/AIDS funding for South Africa after State Department said the country “fail[ed] to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration.” The decision to “initiate a phased drawdown of PEPFAR programming in South Africa” follows Trump’s February 2025 executive order accusing South Africa of discriminating against its white Afrikaner minority and directing U.S. agencies to stop providing aid to the country unless it changes its policies. South Africa has about 8 million people living with HIV and received $456 million in U.S. HIV/AIDS funding in 2024, but just $25 million has been allocated so far this year. (Semafor / Politico / New York Times)

8/ Republicans now believe their redistricting efforts to redraw several state maps has created “structural dynamics [that] favor Republicans” in the midterms. The National Republican Congressional Committee memo says Democrats are targeting Republican districts where Trump averaged 53.2% in 2024, compared with 46.6% in the seats Democrats flipped in 2018. The NRCC claims “the composition of the House battlefield has completely flipped.” (Politico)

The 2026 midterms are in 137 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 872 days.

👑 Portrait of a President

  1. “I’m the president and you’re not.” “Seventeen months into his second term, Trump is increasingly relying on his own gut instincts, dismissing the counsel of aides, conservative lawmakers and longtime associates. The result has been a series of decisions that have confounded and frustrated Republicans.” (Wall Street Journal)
  2. “Everyone just needs to copy what I say.” “Trump vented to others that Vance hadn’t repeated his own new phrase that Iran’s nuclear program had been ‘totally obliterated.’ Trump told one associate, ‘Everyone needs to say fucking “obliterated.” […] That’s the word. Everyone just needs to copy what I say. Obliterated. Obliterated.’” (Politico)
  3. Trump from “hunted” to “hunter.” “A thesis that Trump himself believes: Had he not lost the 2020 election, he would not be as powerful in his second term as he is now — emboldening him to trample norms, dismantle established institutions and push the limits of presidential power.” (Associated Press)
  4. A president using super glue. “One morning, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, entered the Oval Office to find Trump had a tube of super glue in his hand and was trying to adorn the marble fireplace mantel with new golden decorations. (New York Times)