Trump Media ‘retreats from Crypto.com deals’ as prediction market push cools

Trump Media & Technology Group is said to be pulling back from its planned expansion into prediction markets after walking… Continue reading Trump Media ‘retreats from Crypto.com deals’ as prediction market push cools The post Trump Media ‘retreats from Crypto.com deals’ as prediction market push cools appeared first on ReadWrite.

Overview

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 reporters.The president could still change his mind. But with just 75 days left until the election, time is running short for Netanyahu.State of play: Netanyahu's current coalition has 49 to 53 seats in those surveys — far fewer than the 68 seats it holds today and the 61 needed to swear in a government. Israel's opposition parties, on the other hand, have 67 to 70 seats. Netanyahu's main rival, former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, has better favorability ratings in most of the polls. But Netanyahu doesn't necessarily have to win. He just needs to not lose.His main effort at the moment is to secure enough votes to prevent his opponents from swearing in a government without the support of Arab-Israeli parties. If he manages to do that and neither side is able to form a government, Netanyahu will remain as a caretaker prime minister for several more months until another election is held.At the moment, that is a real possibility. Driving the news: In the first few weeks of the war in Iran, some of Trump's close advisers were confident he would endorse Netanyahu.At the time, Trump was advocating loudly for Netanyahu to receive a pardon to end his corruption trial. But as time passed and the war bogged down, Trump's and Netanyahu's foreign policy goals — and their domestic political interests — started to diverge.More and more daylight has opened between them over the last three months — not just on Iran, but on Lebanon and Gaza as well.Two senior U.S. officials said that while Trump likes Netanyahu on a personal level, he's been frustrated by his decisions and policies."Bibi is his own worst enemy," Trump said, according to two people who spoke to the president about Netanyahu recently.Zoom in: The latest episode to strain their relations was Netanyahu's public rejection of Trump's Gaza Board of Peace plan for disarming Hamas.A senior U.S. official said the White House saw Netanyahu's statement on Sunday as election-season politics and not necessarily as a policy declaration."We understand Bibi's political needs. We have no problem with it as long as he continues to do what we ask — especially regarding restraining attacks in Gaza," the U.S. official said.Last week, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with Trump envoy Jared Kushner and promised to give the Board of Peace plan a chance, despite his skepticism. He also pledged to curb attacks on Gaza so the demilitarization process can begin, a U.S. official said.Since then, Israel has conducted far fewer strikes on Gaza and the IDF pulled back to the Yellow Line — where it was supposed to be deployed under the agreement.Kushner is planning a trip to Israel next week to meet Netanyahu and other officials and discuss the Gaza plan, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter.Behind the scenes: Several Netanyahu political adversaries — including Eizenkot and former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid — have expressed concern that Trump will endorse the incumbent leader, two of their aides told Axios.According to two sources with knowledge of the outreach, those opposition figures back-channeled messages to Trump and his aides through mutual friends, donors and other political allies, urging the president to remain neutral. A former U.S. official briefed on the situation claimed that Netanyahu's weakness in polls has deterred Trump from getting involved.Yes, but: Trump has been extremely popular in Israel, but his standing has eroded in the last three months over the deal he signed with Iran and his decision to back away from the war after the agreement was violated. Israelis have also chafed at the restraints Trump has put on Israel's military operations in Iran, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.What he's saying: Trump was asked by reporters four times in recent weeks whether he endorses Netanyahu. Each time, he has stopped short of doing so."Is there anyone in Israel better than him to do the job?" radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump in July. The president dodged. "Well, I don't know most of them. I know some of them, obviously, but I don't know most of them," he said, referring to Netanyahu's opponents.In several recent interviews, Trump praised Netanyahu for being a "great wartime prime minister," but each time referred to him in the past tense.While Israeli officials said Trump raised the issue of the pardon in private during his last meeting with Netanyahu, the president hasn't spoken about it publicly for months. What to watch: The Israeli election is crucial for Trump's Middle East agenda for his final two years in office, especially with the Iran crisis in a "no deal, no war" limbo.Trump also wants to push forward his Gaza peace plan, make progress in negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, cinch a security agreement between Israel and Syria and, most importantly, broker a historic peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.Trump and his team are traumatized by the 2019 political crisis in Israel that led to three consecutive elections and resulted in a lost year of Middle East diplomacy.A senior U.S. official said the White House will not repeat past mistakes and allow Israeli domestic politics to hold up its regional agenda.

Photo: Marc Caputo/AxiosMarco 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" memes.A photo of the gift went viral Wednesday when this Axios reporter posted it on X.Zoom in: For the past 18 months, Rubio memes have featured him as everything from a Kiss band member to a samurai to a "Bachelorette" contestant in homage to his roles as secretary of state, national security adviser and chair of the U.S. bid for the World Expo in 2035.The memes are based on a photo from one of the most awkward moments in the Trump White House — on Feb. 28, 2025, when the president and Vice President Vance excoriated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the war with Russia.As the two U.S. leaders savaged Zelensky, Rubio sat ramrod straight on an Oval Office couch without engaging.The big picture: In today's social media-infused politics, internet virality is a priceless commodity, and all the memes have boosted Rubio's popularity with voters, according to Sarah Longwell, publisher of the Bulwark."It's one of the first times a politician has been memed into more positive territory," Longwell, a critic of the administration who regularly holds voter focus groups, said recently on the "Press Box" podcast."The idea that Marco Rubio is the adult in the room sort of comes from this idea that you give him every job," she said. "More and more, what you're seeing from voters is the idea that he seems he knows what he's doing. He seems like a serious person. He seems like a grownup."Between the lines: Rubio has said he has no plans to run for president in 2028 and that he'll endorse Vance if the VP runs.Trump wants Vance to pick Rubio as a running mate, but the two haven't seriously discussed the presidential race, sources tell Axios.At one point, Trump gave Rubio the job as national archivist and administrator of USAID. Both of those temporary appointments expired.In May, Rubio joked during a speech about wanting more jobs, including surgeon general."I wanted it. You get a uniform," he said. "Library of Congress — that would be a good job."Between the lines: Rubio said earlier this month during an interview on Fox News' "My View with Lara Trump" that when the original, meme-inspiring photo of him first came out, he "hated" it. "What happened is in that couch, if you don't have a pillow behind your back, you kind of sink," he said. "So I looked at the pictures, I was like, this is terrible.""... And then it turned into this other thing, and it was fine and it's funny," Rubio added. "I don't really follow it very closely. But people have shown me pictures out there."

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 to enter the U.S. tariff-free, can continue.What they're saying: Trump took a victory lap on social media shortly after the ruling."For years, Foreign Shippers could send packages worth up to $800 into our Country, DUTY FREE, NO TARIFF, far less scrutiny," Trump posted on Truth Social. "It became a giant loophole for TARIFF Cheats — and a Pipeline exploited by Fentanyl Traffickers, Counterfeiters, and other Criminals shipping dangerous and illegal products into America." The president's suspension of the exemption brought in about $1 billion in duties in 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said last year. Reality check: Congress established the de minimis exemption in 1938 to avoid the cost and burden of collecting duties on low-value shipments. Its use has exploded alongside the huge rise of e-commerce. Trump officials have framed the crackdown as a matter of public safety, suspending de minimis treatment for shipments from China and Hong Kong last year before expanding the policy globally a few months later.The Trump administration suspended the exemption under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the law the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year could not be used to impose tariffs. Zoom in: That blockbuster ruling did not address whether IEEPA could be used to void the de minimis exemption, the same question at the heart of the Court of International Trade's ruling.In a unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel said that the text of IEEPA allows the president to cancel certain "privileges" — and the de minimis statute itself describes duty-free treatment as a "privilege," according to the opinion.Of note: Thursday's ruling largely determines whether Trump can keep the exemption suspended until a permanent repeal takes effect next July.Congress eliminated the de minimis exemption in Trump's tax cut and spending bill, effective next July. The bottom line: Ending de minimis upended the business model that helped Temu and Shein sell ultra-cheap goods to U.S. shoppers, pushing up costs and, in some cases, forcing changes to their supply chains.That crackdown on tariff-free cheap imports looks here to stay, and it's spreading globally, with Europe also eliminating its own exemption for cheap imported packages.

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.Trump flew to Turkey on a plane gifted by Qatar, which was meant to serve as Air Force One. Officials said he would return on an older presidential plane because of security concerns, per multiple reports,After boarding the older plane, Trump moved to a smaller Air Force C-32A, according to the reports. All three planes flew to the U.K., where Trump joined the Qatari plane and flew home.When asked for comment Tuesday, the Air Force pointed Axios to a statement about the Qatari-gifted plane, dubbed the "VC-25B Bridge."The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.How Air Force One handles threats President Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty ImagesContext: Boeing 747-200Bs designated as VC-25A have served as the primary Air Force One aircraft since the '90s and are designed to withstand multiple threats. EMP protection: The aircraft has shielding to withstand an electromagnetic pulse (often seen from nuclear detonations), per the White House. Its airframe is reinforced with ballistic-resistant materials.Command and control: The White House says the plane is fitted with "advanced secure communications equipment" to operate as a mobile command center during any attack on the U.S.Missile threat defense: Air Force One contains multiple defense systems to help the plane detect any imminent threat. The Pentagon says the plane comes with "a self-defense system."In-flight refueling: The White House says the VC-25A can refuel while in the air, increasing the aircraft's survival capabilities.Protected airspace: Fighter jets have escorted Air Force One in the past.What the Qatari-gifted jet has Air Force One carrying President Trump lands at Etimesgut Air Base in Ankara, Turkey, ahead of the NATO summit on July 7, 2026. Photo: Abdullah Güçlü/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Qatari jet was first used for presidential travel July 1 and was meant to "relieve pressure" on the VC-25A fleet, per the Air Force.The Air Force's replacement VC-25B program has faced delays and cost at least $280 million.The plane has security features required for presidential travel.Per the Air Force, the contractor L3Harris worked to modify the aircraft for security and communication purposes, given their experience working on the other VC-25A aircraft.The Air Force said the plane has a full suite of mission communications, like nuclear command-and-control, and "he aircraft underwent inspections for potential hazards because it came from a foreign government.By the numbers: Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in June the conversion of the Qatari jet cost less than $400 million.What the Qatari jet doesn't haveWhat we know: Many details of the Qatari-gifted plane remain unclear.AP and the New York Times reported that the "Bridge" plane lacks the advanced antimissile capabilities of previous Air Force One models.A security expert has specifically pointed to the absence of a laser-based countermeasure to protect large aircraft against missile threats.The other side: The Air Force maintains that the plane was rapidly modified to meet core Air Force One requirements."The aircraft is safe, secure and equipped with the most advanced technologies necessary to meet the requirements of the presidential mission," the Air Force says.The bottom line: The secret switch underscores that presidential air security depends not just on which aircraft bears the Air Force One call sign, but on the capabilities of the aircraft itself.Go deeper: Trump Marine One flight under investigation after potential safety mishapEditor's note: This story has been updated with the Air Force's response.

President Trump issued an executive order Monday calling for fewer childhood vaccinations, splitting the childhood MMR vaccine into three shots and delivering vaccines at separate medical visits.Why it matters: Controversial vaccine policy changes are roaring back ahead of the midterms.The executive order states that "the combined MMR vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits."The big picture: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisers last fall called for splitting up the MMR shot and overhauling a central component of childhood immunizations.But the White House urged Kennedy to back off of such contentious policymaking earlier this year. And yet, President Trump has recently questioned Kennedy about the lack of momentum on childhood vaccine policy, per the Wall Street Journal, signaling his continued strong personal interest in the topic. What he's saying: "You have the MMR. We want it in three separate vaccinations, given at separate times," Trump said at an Oval Office signing event. He suggested the MMR vaccine could be "quite lethal" when administered all at once, and likened the volume to "a bottle of soda."Reality check: The CDC says there's "no published scientific evidence [that] shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots."It says there can be a "very small risk" of febrile seizures and extremely rare cases of serious allergic reactions, but that getting the MMR vaccine "is much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella."In addition, vaccine safety experts at CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics agree the MMR shot is not responsible for recent increases in autism diagnoses."I'm a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make these changes," Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the Senate health committee, wrote on X."Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe."Threat level: Public health experts said the move could make it more expensive and time-consuming for children to get vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella at a time when measles cases for 2026 have already surpassed last year's total. It's also not clear whether health insurers will cover the extra pediatrician visits that the White House is calling for.There currently are not separate vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella. Companies would have to do clinical trials to bring each through the approval process. Between the lines: There's no evidence that the childhood vaccine schedule in place prior to Trump's second term poses any risk to children's health, including by raising the risk for autism.Courts have frozen an administration attempt to pare the federal list of recommended childhood vaccines and otherwise limit who can obtain some shots. Vaccine supporters say splitting up the MMR shot by definition requires more doctor visits, raising the chance of missed visits and skipped immunizations. This story has been updated with Trump's comments on the executive order, Cassidy's statement on X and additional reporting.

Key Facts

• Reported by 8 sources
• First reported: 2026-08-10 09:44:37
• Category: Trump Media ‘retreats from Crypto.com deals’ as prediction market push cools