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National

A timeline that outlines key events related to Trump from January 28 to January 31, 2025. Notable occurrences include a federal funding freeze announced on January 28, followed by its rescindment on January 29. On January 31, Trump announced impending tariffs for China, Canada, and Mexico.

Trump moves you might have missed this week

Trump world 2.0 is moving at a pace that can be hard to follow — and that's intentional. If you missed some key White House or Capitol Hill events of the week, we've got you covered.

The big picture: Donald Trump's second week in office included a surprise federal funding freeze Tuesday that prompted nationwide confusion and a shifting timeline on tariffs across U.S. imports from Canada, Mexico and China set for a Feb. 1 rollout, creating whiplash in financial markets Friday.

As Axios' Erin Davis reported, much of Trump's activity in the last two weeks has involved a slew of executive orders — more than any modern president has issued in their first two weeks.

Over in Congress, three of Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks had hearings before Senate committees this week: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel. 

Go deeper: Sign up for Axios' Hill Leaders for our ongoing coverage.

Federal funding freeze and worker buyouts

💰 On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced a surprise, temporary pause of federal grant, loan and other financial assistance programs, effective 5pm ET that same day. 

The move  — which required agencies to document whether more than 2,000 programs received funding related to abortion, diversity, undocumented immigrants or climate policy — sent states, nonprofits, schools and other programs scrambling in confusion.

By the end of the day, a federal judge had temporarily blocked the freeze. 

💼 The Trump administration also offered Tuesday to pay federal workers who voluntarily resigned a buyout package that includes pay through Sept. 30, Axios' Marc Caputo and Emily Peck also scooped. 

Millions of workers received an email with the subject line "A Fork in the Road" — the same language Elon Musk used when purging X's workforce after he became owner.

🎯 The White House on Wednesday backtracked on the funding freeze, rescinding the memo that had ordered the temporary pause, though asserting it was "NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze." 

White House officials had said the freeze would not affect Medicare, Social Security or other direct assistance that Americans "rely on." 

But outages on various websites and the lack of detail or warning itself still caused chaos.

What's next: A federal judge temporarily blocked the funding freeze on Friday, citing a social media post from press secretary Karoline Leavitt as evidence the case should continue.

🕯️After the deadliest aviation crash the U.S. has seen in decades, Trump held a press conference Thursday at the White House as the cause remained unknown and a recovery mission was underway. 

Without evidence, the president blamed diversity, equity and inclusion policies and his Democratic predecessors for what he framed as a lower-quality aviation workforce. He later ordered a DEI review of all federal aviation hiring and safety decisions.

Axios fact-checked the claims. Data shows air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are predominately male and white.

The collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter over D.C.'s Reagan Airport left 67 people dead across both aircrafts. 

Go deeper: What to know about the plane crash victims 

🧮 Tariffs were coming on Saturday: 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, alongside 10% tariffs on China. 

Then, they weren't, according to Reuters. 

But no, they still are, according to the White House.

No matter what, the tariffs will likely spark retaliation of an unknown magnitude, risking economic pain for businesses and consumer, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.

👀 Some federal web pages tracking issues such as HIV prevention, climate change and transgender care went down as of Friday afternoon.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sites or datasets were scrubbed of information on ending gender-based violence, contraception for health care providers and AtlasPlus, which housed HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and STD.

Biden-era consumer agency head fired by Trump White House

U.S. conducts strikes against ISIS operatives in Somalia

What to know about the plane crash victims 

Over in Congress, three of Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks had hearings before Senate committees.

Race and Equity

Donald Trump

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Ken Martin was elected on Saturday to serve as the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, putting him at the helm of a party trying to rebuild its image after a disappointing 2024 cycle. 

Why it matters: Martin, the longtime chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, wants to help the party get "back to basics" with a revamped messaging strategy aimed at winning back working-class voters who have drifted to the right.

Martin, considered a favorite heading into the Saturday vote, beat out fellow midwesterner Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler and half a dozen other candidates. 

Martin won 246.5 votes from the DNC's 448 voting members, multiple outlets reported.

Driving the news: In the crowded race for DNC chair, Martin's pitch zeroed on his winning record as chair of the Minnesota DFL. In the 14 years in charge, his party did not lose a single statewide race, giving him a 25-0 record.

Martin wants to take his winning state record to the national level, a message that clearly resonated with Democrats still reeling from losses up and down the ballot on Nov. 5.

"My record is unrivaled and unmatched in terms of winning elections and building power around the issues we care about," Martin told the Minnesota Reformer.

Martin demonstrated his strong fundraising prowess as DFL chair, a skill that he'll now need to leverage at the national level. Fundraising is one of the biggest jobs for the DNC chair.

Between the lines: As a longtime party leader and DNC vice chair, Martin locked up support among party officials across the country but bigger names were split over who to support.

Wikler drew the public backing of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other big names like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The big picture: The race for DNC chair comes after an election cycle that put President Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress. 

As DNC chair, Martin will help lead the party's strategy and messaging, including by appearing on media himself to represent the party.  

He will also have influence over setting the order for the 2028 Democratic primary, which could see Minnesota moving up its spot in the calendar.  

Go deeper: Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin in the running to lead DNC

Axios' Torey Van Oot contributed reporting. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the vote total. 

Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin in the running to lead DNC

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Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin elected next DNC leader

Martin's pitch zeroed on his winning record as chair of the Minnesota DFL.

https://images.axios.com/dxAopaU01qALl-f8aWBVlN_3Jws=/0x0:1920x1080/1920x1080/2025/01/30/1738261396652.jpg?w=1920

Ken Martin has led Minnesota's DFL Party since 2011. Photo: Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images (cropped)

A line chart that illustrates the share of U.S. women married at age 45, segmented by education level and birth year from 1930 to 1980. Non-college graduates peaked at 79.45% for those born in 1932, declining to 52.37% for the 1980 cohort. In contrast, women with a bachelor's degree or higher showed a more stable trend. From 78% for those born in 1930 to 71% for those in the 1980 birth cohort.

Share of U.S. women married at age 45, by birth year and education level

Data: Analysis by Clara Chambers, Benjamin Goldman and Joseph Winkelmann of Current Population Survey data; Note: Non-college is defined as women without a bachelor's degree; Chart: Axios Visuals

There's a growing marriage gap in the U.S.: Marriage rates for women without college degrees are falling, while rates for those with four-year degrees are holding steady.

A fascinating new working paper, titled "Bachelors without Bachelor's," from researchers at Cornell, Harvard and Yale unpacks the trend.

Why it matters: The drop-off in marriage rates for women without degrees has everything to do with their male counterparts, the researchers find. 

How it works: Men without degrees have seen their economic prospects decline over the past few decades, a trend that's been well-documented. 

These financial troubles have led to lower marriage rates for men — and for women without four-year degrees. (Even as these women have seen their incomes rise.)

In other (potentially outdated) words: a "good" man has become harder to find, at least for women with less than a four-year degree. So they're getting married less. 

By the numbers: 71% of women with a bachelor's degree, born in 1980, were married by age 45. That's compared to 52% of women without a degree, per the research.

The paper looked at government data for women born 1930 - 1980, and  also projected out these numbers through to women born in 1994, and found that this trend should continue.

Zoom out: There's been a lot of worrying in recent years that women with degrees would have trouble finding husbands; fewer men are graduating from college, after all. So who would these ladies marry? 

Turns out that a good-sized share of college-educated woman have always married men without bachelor's degrees, per the research. 

These men tend to be the highest earners among their peers. The non-college educated men, born in 1980, who married college-educated women earned $68,000 a year. That's compared to $46,000 for the other men, per the research. 

The pool of men left behind are the ones who are less likely to marry — their incomes have declined over the years, researchers found.

The bottom line: The declining economic prospects of men are undermining the marriage prospects of women.

The marriage gap for women isn't what you think

The drop-off in marriage rates for women without degrees has everything to do with their male counterparts, researchers say.

A line chart that illustrates the share of U.S. women married at age 45, segmented by education level and birth year from 1930 to 1980. Non-college graduates peaked at 79.45% for those born in 1932, declining to 52.37% for the 1980 cohort. In contrast, women with a bachelor's degree or higher showed

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

The U.S. military conducted an air strike on Saturday against ISIS operatives in Somalia, President Trump said. 

Why it matters: This is the first military action Trump has ordered since assuming office as commander-in-chief 10 days ago. 

Driving the news: "I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia," Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

He said the ISIS operatives were hiding in caves and "threatened the United States and our Allies."

Trump claimed the airstrike destroyed the caves and "killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians."

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a statement the strike in the Golis mountains was conducted by the U.S. military Africa command in coordination with the government of Somalia. 

He said the Pentagon's initial assessment is that "multiple operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed."

What they're saying: "The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that "WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!", Trump wrote.

This is the first military action Trump has ordered since assuming office 10 days ago.

Headshot of white man with blonde hair in navy suit

President Trump after signing an executive order on Jan. 31, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Axios

Saturday's top stories

Trump moves you might have missed this week

Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin elected next DNC leader

The marriage gap for women isn't what you think

U.S. conducts strikes against ISIS operatives in Somalia

Behind the Curtain: Purges, punishments, payback

American hostage Keith Siegel and two Israeli hostages released by Hamas

Trump spoke to Egyptian president about plan to evict Palestinians from Gaza

Black History Month faces uncertainty under President Trump's diversity rollback

Trump's MAGA machine mobilizes to boost Gabbard

Trump builds a tariff wall

What Octavia Butler saw on Feb. 1, 2025, three decades ago