Axios AM
May 02, 2025
1 big thing: Golden Age ... for Trumps
President Trump warned American families this week that they may have to make do with fewer — and more expensive — holiday toys.
- But for Trump's own inner circle, a veritable Golden Age is well underway, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
Why it matters: Most presidents try to avoid even the appearance of using the office or public policy for personal enrichment. But Trump has blended official power and personal business in unprecedented ways — often in plain sight.
What's happening: Trump, his sons and their associates have launched a wave of high-dollar projects.
- 🏦 World Liberty Financial: The Trump-backed crypto venture has raised more than $550 million. Trump himself serves as the company's "Chief Crypto Advocate," while his administration pursues policies — including a federal crypto reserve — that have boosted the value of assets held by the firm.
- 🪙 OFFICIAL TRUMP: The president's meme coin surged more than 60% last week after its website advertised an "intimate private dinner" with Trump for the top 220 coin holders — plus a "special VIP" reception and White House tour for the top 25. The website later scrubbed references to the "White House."
- 🍸 Executive Branch: Donald Trump Jr. and his business partners are launching an exclusive D.C. club with a $500,000 membership fee, pitched as a private hangout for donors and business moguls to rub shoulders with top Trump officials.
- 🏗️ Foreign deals: At least 19 foreign Trump-branded projects will be in development over the next four years, according to ethics watchdog CREW. Just this week, the Trump Organization announced a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar. Trump, whose first foreign visit will be to Saudi Arabia, also hosted a Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament at his Doral club in Florida earlier this month.
- 🧢 Merchandise: The Trump Organization is selling "Trump 2028" hats, a nod to the president's musings about an unconstitutional third term. Trump hawked Bibles, sneakers, perfume and trading cards during the 2024 campaign, and his political operation continues to rely on MAGA merchandise to raise funds.
- 📇 Corporate boards: Dominari Holdings, a small public financial services company with headquarters in New York's Trump Tower, saw its stock price surge more than 1,200% in about six weeks after Trump Jr. and Eric Trump joined its advisory board and took equity stakes worth millions. Trump Jr. also has been named to the board of a digital firearms retailer, called GrabAGun, that's due to go public this summer.
The other side: Allies note that Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have long maintained business careers independent of their father's political office, and say their recent ventures are consistent with that history.
2. 🔎 Behind the scenes: How Waltz got the boot
President Trump soured on Mike Waltz as his national security adviser for multiple reasons. But ultimately it came down to vibes when he replaced Waltz with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who'll temporarily do both jobs, Axios' Marc Caputo reports.
- Why it matters: The boot for Waltz — two days after the media circus on Day 100 — was this term's first big shakeup. It showed how responsive Trump remains to optics, even while feeling as empowered as ever.
How it happened: In Trump's mind, Signalgate was the first time he was unable to control the narrative or win the day, top advisers tell Axios.
- Waltz came to symbolize Trump's first obstacle. Momentum is so important to the president that he emphasized the concept in his advice last night to University of Alabama graduates.
- Waltz also hadn't collaborated well with others in the White House. (Go deeper.)
It was Waltz who added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to a thread in the messaging app Signal where attack plans were discussed. The embarrassing debacle embittered Trump.
- "He just came to look at Waltz like he was bad luck, bad news," a White House official familiar with Trump's thinking told Axios. "There was nothing Mike could do at that point."
Behind the scenes: As criticism rose about tariffs, Trump would occasionally return to fuming about Waltz — who had nothing to do with that policy.
- Immediately after the Signal story broke, Trump wanted to fire Waltz but held off, Axios reported at the time.
Trump was ready to fire Waltz or force him out. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles advocated for the soft landing of ambassador to the UN — an open role after Trump pulled the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
- Exactly what triggered Trump's first big personnel shakeup of the term was unknown even to some close aides. But Trump makes decisions by his gut.
What's next: Waltz now will have to undergo Senate confirmation for UN ambassador — meaning a raw reliving of questions about the national security team's use of Signal.
3. ✂️ Trump budget slashes domestic programs
President Trump will lob his FY 2026 budget request at Congress today, calling for deep cuts in foreign aid and renewable energy and increased spending for the border and national security, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.
- Why it matters: In size and scope, Trump's budget amounts to another declaration of war on the status quo — and the priorities and programs that animate the Democratic Party.
It aims to reduce discretionary non-defense spending — which doesn't include Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — by $163 billion from this year.
- In total, for non-defense programs that need to be reauthorized every year, the Office of Management and Budget wants to allocate $557 billion for the next fiscal year.
- That represents a 22.6% cut, according to Wall Street Journal, which first reported some of the budget numbers (gift link).
For national security spending, Trump will ask for a record $1.01 trillion, for a whopping 13% increase, according to Bloomberg.
- Funding for EPA, the Department of Education and what was known as the U.S. Agency for International Development will be starkly reduced.
- Trump is also taking aim at federal grants that were authorized during the Biden administration, including those for "environmental justice" renewable energy projects.
🎙️ Breaking: President Trump signed an executive order last night that's designed to cut funding to NPR and PBS, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports.
- The order calls the two biggest public broadcasters in the U.S. "biased" and directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "cease direct funding."
An NPR statement says: "Public radio serves 99% of the population over the air, counters the growth of local news deserts across the country, and, in some cases, may be a community's only source of daily, local news from journalists who live in and know their communities."
4. 📰 U.S. press freedom hits record low
Press freedom in the U.S. has hit a record low, according to the latest World Press Freedom Index, published annually by Reporters Without Borders.
- The index now says press freedom in the U.S. is in line with developing countries such as Gambia, Uruguay and Sierra Leone.
💡 The big picture: While physical threats against journalists are often a clear sign of eroding press freedoms, Reporters Without Borders said economic strains on the media are the biggest driver of global decline right now.
5. ☑️ New data: Who votes
About 65% of voting-age Americans cast a ballot in last November's elections, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports from new U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
- That's down from nearly 67% in 2020.
🗳️ By the numbers: D.C. (79.5%), Minnesota (75.9%) and Oregon (75.3%) had the highest turnout.
- Arkansas (52.8%), Texas (57.9%) and Louisiana (58%) had the lowest.
6. 🧠 Executive Briefing: Inside the MAGA movement
7. 🚛 Self-driving trucks go live
Aurora Innovation says it has successfully launched a commercial self-driving trucking service in Texas — a milestone for the autonomous vehicle industry, Axios' Joann Muller writes.
- While driverless trucks on the highway may seem scary to some motorists, Aurora and other AV developers say the technology will make roads safer and help bolster a critical sector of the American economy, which often can't find enough drivers.
🚦After four years of testing with humans behind the wheel, Aurora pulled the driver for the first time last Sunday, on a route between Dallas and Houston — with a load of frozen pastries in tow.
8. 🏁 1 for the road: F1 sprints into U.S.
Axios dropped the flag on Formula One weekend in Miami last night with an event featuring Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports — manager of GM's historic Cadillac F1 team, which is joining the F1's global grid next year as the 11th team.
Why it matters: Darren Cox, founder of The Race Media, told me F1's Cadillac expansion would have been "unthinkable" just a few years ago.
- "To have an overtly American brand launching in Miami is massive for the sport," said Cox, who joined Axios' Sara Fischer in co-hosting the event, "Miami Grand Prix: Fueling the City's Global Spotlight."
"F1 is growing exponentially," Cox added. "Not just fans — big brands are committing."
🏎️ The big picture: Accelerated by Netflix's "Drive to Survive," F1 — with races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas — is finally cracking the U.S. market after decades of effort.
- "With a devoted stateside following and a genuine cultural toehold, the sport has gone far beyond simply cracking a U.S. market that former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone had all but given up on," The Wall Street Journal reports. "In 2025, Formula One has put America squarely at the center of its business."
Keep reading (gift link) ... What to know about race weekend, from Axios Miami.
Axios AM
