Axios PM

October 06, 2025

Mike Allen

Good Monday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 426 words, a 1.5-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

1 big thing: Courts split over National Guard

Federal agents, including members of the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and the police, attempt to keep protesters back outside a downtown U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on October 05, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. The facility has become a focal point of nightl — Federal agents confront protesters outside an ICE facility yesterday in Portland, Ore. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Tensions over President Trump's National Guard deployments are reaching a fever pitch — both in the streets of major cities and in court, Axios' Sam Baker writes.

Illinois sued today to block Trump's plan to send some 200 troops to Chicago. In an emergency order, a federal judge declined to block the deployment, at least for now.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an order today to prevent ICE from using city-owned land as staging areas.

⚖️ A federal judge in Oregon — Trump appointee Karin Immergut — blocked the administration yesterday from sending any Guard troops, from any state, to Portland.

💬 What they're saying: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Immergut's decision "untethered in reality and the law," arguing that federal facilities in Portland have been "under siege" for months.

Some MAGA influencers want Trump to simply defy these court orders, though the White House hasn't indicated any plans to do so.
"At some point in time, the administration is going to have to tell these judges to go pound sand, or else we're not going to be seeing the promises fulfilled," MAGA enforcer Laura Loomer told Axios' Tal Axelrod.

Go deeper.

2. 📈 The stock market's new kingmaker

OpenAI is becoming the stock market's new kingmaker, Axios Closer author Nathan Bomey writes.

AMD shares soared 24% today after the chip designer announced a deal with OpenAI. Its stock jumped to a level seen just twice in a single session over the past 40 years, Bespoke Investment Group noted.

🛍️ Shopify and Etsy benefitted from the OpenAI bump last week, after they were announced as the first partners for ChatGPT's new "instant checkout" feature.

3. Catch me up

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before signing an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) — President Trump speaks to reporters before signing an executive order in the Oval Office today. Photo/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

📲 "To all of those young people of TikTok — I saved TikTok so you owe me big," President Trump said in a TikTok video today.
💰 Frank Bisignano, who runs the Social Security Administration, was tapped to be the IRS' first-ever CEO. The move appears to allow Bisignano to avoid the Senate confirmation process. Go deeper.
🥩 Arby's is rolling out new steak nuggets as it tries to compete with other fast-food chains' chicken nuggets. Go deeper.

4. 👑 1 for the road

Visitors view the tomb of Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt between 1390 B.C. and 1350 B.C., in the Valley of Kings in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, as it opened to visitors for the first time in more than two decades. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) — Visitors view the tomb of Amenhotep III in Luxor, Egypt, on Saturday. Photo: Amr Nabil/AP

Egypt reopened the tomb of an ancient pharaoh this weekend after a 20-year renovation.

Amenhotep III ascended to the throne around 1390 B.C., as a teenager, and he ruled for almost 40 years, per AP.
His tomb — roughly 118 feet long and 45 feet deep — was looted after it was first discovered in 1799. It's been closed for a meticulous restoration project for the past two decades.