National

In this bonus story for How It Happened: Trump's Last Stand, Axios political correspondent Jonathan Swan details a botched attempt, made during President Trump's final days in office, to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. 

Trump desperately wanted ending America's longest war to be part of his legacy. Instead, it will be Joe Biden's. 

Nonetheless, in a recent interview with Swan, Trump took credit for Biden's  announcement, insisting he set in motion a plan that could not be stopped. 

Swan provides listeners the full story of what Trump tried to do, how, and why it ultimately didn't happen.

Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss our second season coming later this year. 

Credits: This episode is produced by Amy Pedulla and Naomi Shavin. Dan Bobkoff is our executive producer. Mixing by Alex Sugiura. Theme music by Michael Hanf. Margaret Talev is Managing Editor of Politics. Sara Kehaulani Goo is Executive Editor. Additional writing, reporting and research by Zach Basu.

Special thanks to Nuria Marquez Martinez, Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Jimmy Shelton, and to Axios co-founders Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei, and Roy Schwartz.

Note: This episode has a brief moment of profanity.

Trump's Last Stand: An Off-The-Books Mission

Jonathan Swan returns for a special bonus episode of "How It Happened."

Podcasts

How It Happened

<p>In this bonus story for <strong>How It Happened: Trump&#x27;s Last Stand</strong>, Axios political correspondent Jonathan Swan details a botched attempt, made during President Trump&#x27;s final days in office, to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. </p><ul><li>Trump desperately wanted ending America&#x27;s longest war to be part of his legacy. Instead, it will be Joe Biden&#x27;s. </li><li>Nonetheless, in a recent interview with Swan, Trump took credit for Biden&#x27;s  announcement, insisting he set in motion a plan that could not be stopped. </li><li>Swan provides listeners the full story of what Trump tried to do, how, and why it ultimately didn&#x27;t happen.</li><li><strong>Follow the show</strong> on <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Apple Podcasts" data-vars-click-url="https://link.chtbl.com/grRD_6Oq" data-vars-content-id="86378479-e7be-4fad-89a8-839c0d87cc48" data-vars-headline="Trump&#x27;s Last Stand: An Off-The-Books Mission" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.chtbl.com/grRD_6Oq" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Spotify" data-vars-click-url="https://open.spotify.com/show/6YhRHgRwo2xElHE10xZZqZ?si=LIrWBsGATd2-kURAZJ4C4w" data-vars-content-id="86378479-e7be-4fad-89a8-839c0d87cc48" data-vars-headline="Trump&#x27;s Last Stand: An Off-The-Books Mission" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6YhRHgRwo2xElHE10xZZqZ?si=LIrWBsGATd2-kURAZJ4C4w" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, or wherever you listen so you don&#x27;t miss our second season coming later this year. </li></ul>

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Americans are itching to put pandemic life behind them, but many of the necessary ingredients for a summer of carefree fun — everything from neighborhood pools to car rentals — still aren't fully available.

The big picture: Labor shortages, scrambled supply chains and simple logistics are all making it harder for a whole range of businesses to meet post-pandemic demand, and that’s making “hot vax summer” a little harder to pull off.

Where it stands: A little vacation after a year stuck at home seems like a simple enough indulgence, but the travel industry is still facing some significant hurdles.

Airlines: "It's not like pilots can just flip a switch. And they throw the keys at us and we come back to work, right?" Air Lines Pilot Association President Joe DePete said on the Axios Re:Cap podcast. "There's a lot involved in that. There are security aspects, there are training aspects, there are medical aspects."

Rental cars: Rental companies sold off most of their fleets during the pandemic due to a lack of demand. And now a global chip shortage is squeezing the supply of new cars, making it hard for rental agencies to restock as demand increases.

Not to mention, everything’s already booked: Hotels, campsites and Airbnb rentals are all hard to come by, especially in the most popular destinations.

Even staycations are subject to some of the same challenges.

Live entertainment: Many smaller venues didn't survive the pandemic, and mounting a stage production or a tour for a band is hard work.  "Our industry can't just reopen on a week or two weeks notice, we need three to six months," said Dayna Frank, CEO of the historic First Avenue venue in Minneapolis on the Axios Re:Cap podcast last week.

Restaurants say they’re having a hard time filling open jobs, although the hospitality sector added more jobs than any other part of the economy last month — 292,000, about two-thirds of which were in "food and drinking places."

Pools in many parts of the country are having a hard time hiring lifeguards, and are either limiting their hours or keeping some locations closed as a result.

Yes, but:  Post-pandemic job turnover also has many higher-stakes implications, including for child care and health care.

"Nurses and dental hygienists, they don't necessarily stay in the industry all that long ... I think we will also have some supply constraints potentially in that industry," said Martin Baily, an economist at the Brookings Institution.

The bottom line: "With people switching occupations, jobs being in different geographic places, and people needing to learn to work with technology in new ways — all of this is going to create a lot of churn and disruption in the near-term, meaning the next year or two or three," said Susan Lund, a leading partner for the McKinsey Global Institute.

Why America's post-vaccine summer is off to a slow start

The rush back to normalcy is hitting some speed bumps.

Illustration of a sad-looking inflatable unicorn pool tool with a mask

Travel

Economy & Business

The vast majority of people forced to flee their homes due to the war in Ukraine intend to return — but very few can imagine doing so in the next few months, according to a pair of new reports from the UN refugee agency.

The big picture: The mass exodus caused by Russia's invasion a year ago was quickly labeled Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World World II. Today, roughly 8 million Ukrainian refugees remain scattered across Europe and more than 5 million are displaced within Ukraine's borders.

“The human suffering and hardship that has been caused by the war is beyond comprehension," UNHCR's Europe director Pascale Moreau said in a statement this week. "With a third of Ukraine’s population forced to flee their homes, the situation remains unpredictable."

By the numbers: About 77% of Ukrainian refugees and 79% of internally displaced Ukrainians want to return home one day, the UN reports found.

But just 12% of both refugees and IDPs plan to do so in the next three months.

That's largely due to safety and security concerns, the reports said.

91% of refugees also emphasized the need for basic services, like water, electricity, and health care, as a critical factor in whether they planned to return.

IDPs pointed to the need for adequate housing.

What they're saying: When Russia's invasion began, Olga Afanasieva initially stayed in her home in Kyiv with her husband and their 5-year-old son. But after 10 days of "tension and [air raid] alarms," as well as the feeling she had had "some kind of a nervous breakdown," her husband begged her to leave.

She fled with her son to Kraków, Poland, to stay with a friend, and eventually got an apartment that she currently shares with another Ukrainian mother and that woman's young son.

She has returned to Ukraine twice for short trips in order to secure a passport for her son and says that she longed to stay, even extending one trip by a week. But then, Russia launched strikes against Kyiv and she was reminded of the realities of living in a warzone.

"One more time, you have this sense of danger. You understand that you are the kids', so you don't belong to yourself. You cannot do anything that you would do if you were alone," Afanasieva says.

Children who fled the war in Ukraine with their mothers play with a ball on the corridors of the Green Hotel on February 23, 2023 in Jerzmanowice, Poland

Children who fled the war in Ukraine with their mothers play with a ball in the corridors of the Green Hotel, which houses refugee families, on Feb. 23 in Jerzmanowice, Poland. Photo:  Omar Marques/Getty Images

State of play: For refugees in Europe, there are signs that life in their host countries has slightly improved compared to earlier in the war.

About 46% are now receiving income from employment, up from 37% in September. Around 45% are staying in rented accommodations, up from 27%.

Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for UNHCR, tells Axios such improvement is important. "It's really crucial for them and also for their host communities because when they're contributing to the economy, they're contributing back to their host communities and host societies," Mantoo says.

Those improvements, however, will never completely erase the challenges those displaced by war face and the trauma they've already experienced.

Hennadii Anatoliyowych Onatskyi tells Axios through an interpreter that he and his family, including his 13-year-old son who has autism, hid from Russia's bombardment on their home city of Mariupol for nearly a month in a shelter built in WWII.

Unable to flee through Ukrainian territory, they left through Russian-occupied territory and were taken to what Onatskyi says was an overcrowded Russian "filtration center" where they spent four days.

When they were allowed to leave, Onatskyi says they fled first to Belarus and then finally to Poland, where his 30-year-old daughter lives with her husband.

The stress of the two-week journey took a tremendous toll on Onatskyi's son, who had to be hospitalized for several days upon arrival in Poland. "Now he's at home," says Onatskyi, "but anyway, his condition is very poor."

Onatskyi tells Axios he can't envision returning to Ukraine any time soon, but adds "we never say never."

Go deeper: Preparing for Putin's long war

Displaced Ukrainians long to return home but feel stuck as war rages on

Roughly 8 million Ukrainian refugees remain scattered across Europe and more than 5 million are displaced within Ukraine.

Young Ukrainian kids gathered around a board with a map of Ukraine, pointing to their hometowns with excitement during the 'Light for Ukraine' ceremony

Young Ukrainian kids gather around a board with a map of Ukraine, pointing to their hometowns, during the Light for Ukraine ceremony in Grabie, Poland on Feb. 23. Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russia

Ukraine

<p>The vast majority of people forced to flee their homes due to the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="war in Ukraine" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/22/russia-putin-miscalculations-invasion-ukraine" data-vars-content-id="f4e1d8e7-7eff-4fbb-8932-1ff542b79d71" data-vars-headline="Displaced Ukrainians long to return home but feel stuck as war rages on" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/02/22/russia-putin-miscalculations-invasion-ukraine" target="_self">war in Ukraine</a> intend to return — but very few can imagine doing so in the next few months, according to a pair of new reports from the UN refugee agency.</p><p><strong>The big picture: </strong>The mass exodus caused by Russia&#x27;s invasion a year ago was quickly labeled <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Europe&#x27;s fastest-growing refugee crisis" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/06/ukraine-fastest-growing-refugee-crisis-europe-wwii" data-vars-content-id="f4e1d8e7-7eff-4fbb-8932-1ff542b79d71" data-vars-headline="Displaced Ukrainians long to return home but feel stuck as war rages on" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/06/ukraine-fastest-growing-refugee-crisis-europe-wwii" target="_self">Europe&#x27;s fastest-growing refugee crisis</a> since World World II. Today, roughly 8 million Ukrainian refugees remain scattered across Europe and more than 5 million are displaced within Ukraine&#x27;s borders.</p>

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

As we prepare for tomorrow's federal Juneteenth holiday, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Americans in Texas, our economy remains marred by the legacy of slavery and subsequent discrimination.

The big picture: This is particularly evident in the enduring wealth gap between Black and white Americans, and in how Black Americans broadly participate in the U.S. economy. 

Inside the numbers: The median annual wage for Black workers is 30% lower than it is for white workers, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute and its Institute for Black Economic Mobility. Were wages to be equal, Black Americans would have around $220 billion of additional income each year.

Shelley Stewart III, who leads McKinsey's Institute for Black Economic Mobility, tells the Axios Re:Cap podcast: "We looked at Black Americans as residents. We looked at Black Americans as workers to understand representation and wage gaps. We looked at Black Americans as business owners, as savers and investors, and finally as consumers."

In each case, there was a significant financial gap between Black and white Americans, built on decades of discrimination across generations, to the persistent detriment of Black economy stability, mobility and sustainability.

Responsibility: The report argues that both the public and private sectors have intersecting roles to play in closing the wealth gap and addressing other structural inequities.

It didn't address the issue of reparations, but Stewart did tell Axios Re:Cap: "Significant investment is needed into Black communities. And that's going to be investment through a combination of the public sector, as well as the private sector if we're going to really make a difference on wealth. I'll let others decide the exact form of that investment."

The enduring wealth gap

The economy remains marred by the legacy of slavery and subsequent discrimination.

Illustration of the Juneteenth flag made from U.S. money 

Economic inequality

<p>As we prepare for tomorrow&#x27;s <em><a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="federal" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/biden-signs-bill-juneteenth-federal-holiday-2654b4f2-b753-4678-bcb3-d1dfe222990b.html" data-vars-content-id="f6816035-9ce8-4dfb-82c6-27ed8bfb1e92" data-vars-headline="The enduring wealth gap" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/biden-signs-bill-juneteenth-federal-holiday-2654b4f2-b753-4678-bcb3-d1dfe222990b.html" target="_self">federal</a></em> Juneteenth holiday, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Americans in Texas, our economy remains marred by the legacy of slavery and subsequent discrimination.</p><p><strong>The big picture: </strong>This is particularly evident in the enduring wealth gap between Black and white Americans, and in how Black Americans broadly participate in the U.S. economy. </p>

Finish Line

Axios Finish Line

As Elon Musk has thrown himself into running Twitter day-to-day and rebuilding the platform in his vision, his other companies have struggled with challenges of their own.

Why it matters: Musk's acquisition of Twitter could mark a major milestone in his career — the moment his cross-industry empire became too big and too complicated for him to run every company. 

What's happening: Each of Musk's companies is facing serious challenges. 

Tesla is facing a series of lawsuits, including one that went to trial this week over a 2018 tweet saying he secured funding to take the car company private, sending its stock price on a roller coaster ride.

Separately, a Tesla shareholder sued Musk over his compensation package from the company, which is potentially worth more than $55 billion. Musk denies having a role in putting it together. 

And a Tesla investor filed a complaint alleging that Musk has done irreparable damage to the company’s reputation.

Meanwhile, the Tesla stock price has fallen nearly 46% in the last six months. 

Now, a growing number of competitors are threatening Tesla's global EV dominance and putting it in an unfamiliar position — one of defense, Axios' Hope King reports.

SpaceX is facing a National Labor Relations Board investigation into a wrongful termination complaint filed by several former employees. 

They were fired after writing a letter that expressed concern about the impact of Musk's tweets on the company's reputation and environment. 

The Boring Company, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, has dropped the ball on several agreements to build out transportation infrastructure for American cities.

Neuralink, Musk's brain technology company, is reportedly facing a federal probe after roughly 1,500 test animals died. 

The big picture: There are still investors, not to mention other CEOs and fellow Twitter users, who believe in Musk's takeover of Twitter and who see him as a once-in-a-generation entrepreneur. 

In a recent interview at the New York Times Dealbook conference, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings described Musk as "the bravest, most creative person on the planet." Hastings added, "What he's done in multiple areas is phenomenal."

Yes, but: To some observers of Musk's empire, it doesn't seem he can give each of his companies the attention it needs from its chief executive if he's so focused on Twitter. 

What they're saying: Author and academic Tom Nichols tells the Axios How It Happened podcast, "It will become tiring and exhausting and it's already hurting his other business."

What to watch: whether Musk follows through on the results of a poll he conducted of Twitter users last month — 57.5% said he should step down.

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to say that a Tesla shareholder sued Musk over a compensation package potentially worth more than $55 billion, not $55 million.

Elon Musk vs. Twitter: Cracks in the Empire

As Musk has thrown himself into running Twitter, the challenges facing his companies have mounted.

Illustration of a cracked cellphone with the twitter logo in the center

Elon Musk

<p>As Elon Musk has thrown himself into running Twitter day-to-day and rebuilding the platform in his vision, his other companies have struggled with challenges of their own.</p><p><strong>Why it matters: </strong>Musk&#x27;s acquisition of Twitter could mark a major milestone in his career — the moment his cross-industry empire became too big and too complicated for him to run every company. </p><div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=AXIOS2402523906" width="100%"></iframe></div><div style="display:none"></div></div>

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Naomi Shavin

Stories

Displaced Ukrainians long to return home but feel stuck as war rages on

Elon Musk vs. Twitter: Cracks in the Empire

The enduring wealth gap

Why America's post-vaccine summer is off to a slow start

Trump's Last Stand: An Off-The-Books Mission