Axios AM

July 11, 2026
☀️ Hello, Saturday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,886 words ... 7 min. Erica Pandey is your weekend host. Edited by Katie Lewis.
💦 Situational awareness: Crews are again draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told podcaster Katie Miller that the water might contain fireworks debris from July 4. Keep reading.
🗳️ Graham Platner filed paperwork to remove his name from Maine's ballot, ending his disastrous bid to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R). Keep reading.
1 big thing: Market mindset unravels
American political leaders on the left and right are rebelling against the market-first consensus that dominated Washington for four decades.
- Why it matters: The result is one of the biggest shifts in U.S. economic policy since the Reagan revolution, overturning decades of orthodoxy on trade, manufacturing, housing, health care and corporate power, Axios' Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin write.
Between the lines: The shared skepticism of the old economic consensus masks vastly different visions for what comes next.
🐘 On the right: "American economic policy on the right is now much more Alexander Hamilton than it is Milton Friedman," Vice President Vance told right-wing political commentator Michael Knowles last month.
- Translation: Vance believes the GOP's intellectual center of gravity is shifting away from free markets to a more interventionist government that promotes domestic industry. He joked that President Trump threatened to seize an AI company's equity and "no one protested."
- In practice, the pivot means that Trump has embraced tariffs and taken stakes in individual companies, among other policies. This week, the president celebrated Walmart's decision to lower prices and urged other retailers to follow suit.
🫏 On the left: Democratic socialists, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, argue that government, not markets, should guarantee affordable housing, health care and other basic necessities.
- The movement is showing fresh political muscle following Mamdani's rise in New York, and a wave of DSA-backed victories in New York and Colorado that have establishment Democrats increasingly on edge.
- The new socialist candidates oppose the idea that markets should decide who gets health care, housing, child care or power at work — a close left-wing mirror image of Vance's belief that markets should serve broader social goals, not dictate them.
The big picture: No single economic event explains the unraveling of the market-first consensus. Consider how slow-moving economic forces have built on each other:
- The China shock, the 2008 financial crisis, decades of soaring housing and health care costs, the pandemic and the inflation surge — all eroded confidence in the economic status quo.
- Social media amplified those shocks, giving Americans a window into how other people live, making wealth disparities, housing inequities and economic frustration feel more immediate and personal.
👀 Reality check: The shift is far from universal. Trump paired tariffs and industrial policy with traditional Republican priorities — including corporate tax cuts, deregulation and a generally business-friendly agenda.
- Even some democratic socialists have embraced supply-side ideas in housing, arguing that government should both build more homes and lower barriers to construction.
2. 🚀 Society-wide AI moonshot
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes:
In an essay in today's Wall Street Journal, I make the case for a society-wide mobilization to win the AI race and spread the benefits broadly.
Why it matters to YOU: Leaders of all kinds — in every town, every organization, every campus — will be huge players in any solution.
- Like after World War II or 9/11, we need to mobilize on a shared national project with a clearly defined goal and a clear competitor to beat — this time, China.
Read the essay, with seven society-level ideas to shape AI to benefit all (gift link).
- 📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join Jim's new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.
3. 🗞️ NYT reporters subpoenaed
The New York Times reports that the Trump administration issued subpoenas yesterday to several of the paper's journalists after they reported on security fears about President Trump's new Qatari-donated Air Force One.
- The subpoenas order the reporters — including Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt — to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday.
"In some cases, the subpoenas were delivered by federal agents who showed up at reporters' homes," The Times said.
- The subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Clayton was nominated by Trump to serve as director of national intelligence, although the confirmation process has been delayed.
David McCraw, The Times' lead newsroom lawyer, said in a statement provided to Axios: "The appearance of Federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience. ... This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs."
- Read on (NYT gift link).
4. 🇮🇷 Iran's supreme leader vows revenge

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei announced today that revenge for his father's assassination "will most certainly be carried out," Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
- Why it matters: The statement was published after the burial ceremony for his father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Throughout the weeklong funeral procession, there were massive public calls for the death of President Trump.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who didn't appear in public during the funeral ceremonies, didn't specifically mention Trump. But earlier this week, Israel gave the U.S. information that suggested Iranian officials recently discussed the idea of assassinating Trump, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
- On his way back from Turkey on Wednesday, Trump traveled in the old Air Force One plane rather than the new plane that the U.S. received from Qatar. The New York Times reported that security concerns prompted the mid-trip switch in planes.
What they're saying: Mojtaba Khamenei — who was seriously wounded in the attack that killed his father, and hasn't appeared in public since — pledged on his Telegram channel to "avenge your pure blood and the blood of all those martyred in these two wars by bringing the criminal and dishonorable killers to justice."
- Khamenei added that whether he is alive or dead, the revenge for his father's death "will be accomplished," and stressed that "soon, freedom-loving people throughout the world will each carry out part of this divine mission."

Shortly before midnight, Trump published a post on his Truth Social account referring to the Iranian threats against him.
- Trump said he has already given orders to the U.S. military "for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran."
He ended his post with: "PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!"
5. 🦾 Apple sues OpenAI
Apple is suing OpenAI for trade secret theft, alleging the AI giant deliberately and systematically solicited and stole confidential information from the iPhone-maker's current and former employees, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.
- Why it matters: Apple has lost significant talent to OpenAI as the AI lab prepares to unveil its first hardware device this year. Apple says over 400 former employees are now employed by OpenAI.
👀 The lawsuit alleges that Chang Liu, a former senior electrical engineer at Apple, kept a work-issued Apple laptop and discovered a bug that allowed him to access Apple's cloud file storage after leaving and while employed by OpenAI.
- The suit claims that while Liu was developing hardware for OpenAI, he accessed and downloaded dozens of confidential files from Apple's network, many labeled as confidential.
Tang Tan, also mentioned in the complaint, is an Apple veteran who worked on iPhone and Apple Watch and now serves as OpenAI's chief hardware officer.
- He allegedly circulated a "Need to Know" Apple offboarding doc that he either retained or obtained to teach new OpenAI hires to dodge Apple's exit security checks, according to the filing.
- Jony Ive, Apple's former chief design officer who began collaborating with OpenAI in 2023, isn't named in the suit.
Apple said in a statement: "Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple's secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products."
- An OpenAI spokesperson tells Axios: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere."
6. 🐟 Talking-bass attack ad

The Front Line, a political nonprofit group aligned with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), is spending $400,000 on a digital ad buy targeting Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate James Fishback for making antisemitic statements, Axios' Marc Caputo writes.
- The 36-second spot, which uses AI to portray Fishback as a talking bass, is scheduled to run in major markets during today's World Cup match between England and Norway.
Why it matters: The Front Line's decision to make its first expenditure in Florida is a sign that Cruz's supporters are laying the groundwork for his expected 2028 bid for president.
- The ad buy also underscores how antisemitism has become a major issue in the Republican Party.
📱 Zoom in: In Florida's GOP race for governor, Fishback is badly trailing Rep. Byron Donalds in primary polls. But the controversial upstart has shown a knack for making national news, often with antisemitic and bigoted dog whistles.
- The ad features actual quotes from Fishback, including: "White genocide is real."
🎣 In the ad, one fisherman asks another after they land the talking Fishback bass: "Do you want to throw this fish back?"
- The second angler replies: "We can't throw this fish back — he'll ruin the other fish."
💭 Our thought bubble: Paradoxically, Fishback is likely to welcome the absurd, engaging ad because it gives him attention, and an avenue to talk about an issue that has given him a platform in The New York Times and USA Today, and on Tucker Carlson's podcast.
7. 🚀 China, Japan take page from SpaceX

🇨🇳 China successfully recovered the first stage of a reusable rocket in a breakthrough for the country's space program, AP reports from state media.
- The first stage of a Long March-10B rocket separated from the second stage after liftoff and returned to a platform at sea, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Why it matters: It's the first time China recovered the first stage of a rocket.
💡 Context: Elon Musk's SpaceX has been doing so for several years to drive down launch costs by reusing the booster that helps lift the satellites or whatever the rocket is carrying into space.
- SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin have been recovering their rockets since 2015, saving vast amounts of money by recycling them rather than ditching them after liftoff.
🇯🇵 Just after China joined the rocket recycling boom, so did Japan. Japan's experimental reusable rocket took off and safely landed in a first test flight today. Keep reading.
8. 🌳 1 for the road: VP eyes country escape

Vice President Vance is eyeing a grand farmhouse in Middleburg, Va., as a getaway from Washington, sources tell Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil and Mimi Montgomery.
- The 496-acre property, known as Wolver Hill Farm, is about an hour's drive from D.C. It includes a large stone house and abuts the upscale Salamander Resort.
- The Secret Service has talked with Middleburg police to coordinate security for the veep, a source told Axios.
It's uncertain whether the family has signed a lease. NBC News first reported the family's interest in a Middleburg residence.
- Locals have spotted black SUVs and a Marine helicopter landing on the property. Over the July Fourth weekend, a neighbor saw the FAA post a no-fly drone zone on the site.
📬 Thanks for reading! Please invite your friends to join AM.
Sign up for Axios AM

Catch up with the most important news of the day




