Good morning, and congratulations to all the TikTok addicts out there. Trump on Tuesday extended the app's "sell or get banned" deadline to December 16.

In other news…

• Super duper rich people lock some wild stuff in their fancy vaults.

• Ben & Jerry's is down to just Ben.

• The president is suing Wordle Inc. the New York Times for, oh, $15 billion.

… And, in a very on-brand move, a Spirit Airlines flight got in trouble for flying too close to Air Force One

DIPLOMACY

💂‍♂️ Trump hits up London for big meeting

Who doesn’t love a little pomp and circumstance once in a while? President Trump and Melania are getting it in spades this week as they swing by London for an official state visit hosted by King Charles III — fancy hats and all.

This is the third such visit by an American president. The first was by George W. Bush in 2003, while the second was by, well, Donald Trump in 2019.

Only three? An official state visit is a very particular diplomatic event involving two heads of state. Across the pond, that’s the monarch, not the prime minister (the PM is head of government). So none of the many presidential visits to the prime minister’s office count.

• Similarly, fancy White House dinners thrown for the British prime minister aren’t technically state dinners, though they’re sometimes branded as such.

Protestors turned out in force. Police estimated that 5,000 people marched through London to oppose Trump's visit. About 25 miles outside of town, four men were arrested for projecting a humongous image of Trump and Epstein on the side of Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

Trump’s trip has included all the marks of an extravagant wedding celebration. Charles and Trump aren’t getting married — though that would make quite the Hallmark movie — that’s just how these things go. Some of the bangers:

• A lavish banquet at Windsor Castle for 160 guests

• The largest honor guard ever for a state visit to the U.K.

• Meetings with Charles, Camilla, William, and Catherine

• A processional in a horse-drawn carriage with the King

• … And a boring meeting with Prime Minister Kier Starmer and a bunch of American tech CEOs.

Why such a big deal? The U.S.-U.K. bromance is often called “The Special Relationship.” They even made a bad Dennis Quaid movie with that title back in 2010. The two countries are very close and, aside from a few lil tiffs, pretty much always have been.

• King Charles III isn’t a political leader. But he does try to represent the will of the United Kingdom’s elected leadership on the world stage.

• In this case, that means chatting him up on climate change, tech investment, and trade.

Trump’s visit concludes today. By the time Air Force One goes wheels up, the two governments should be just a wee bit friendlier. Wouldn't you be if someone threw you a giant party at a castle?

Elsewhere in the diplomatic world: President Trump called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wish him a happy 75th birthday, which could mean that the two are on friendly terms again after a heated battle over tariffs.

GOVERNMENT

👩‍⚕️ Susan Monarez testified before the Senate on Wednesday, three weeks after she was fired as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Monarez led the CDC for just 28 days before getting canned. She told senators that she had refused to blindly support changes to the childhood vaccine schedule over the opposition of CDC scientists. Those changes, she said, were the work of her former boss, Health Secretary RFK Jr. But RFK claimed Monarez admitted to him that she was untrustworthy. And an agency spokesman said she had "acted maliciously to undermine" President Trump's goal of reforming the "politicized" agency.

💰️ Interest rates are going down. Following the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, the central bank announced that its board of governors had voted to cut the federal funds rate by 0.25%. That’s the rate banks charge each other for short-term loans, which often plays a big role in the interest rate they charge consumers. The new goal rate is in the 4.00% to 4.25% range, down from 4.25% to 4.50%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the risk of a cut causing high inflation was low right now because the labor market was weakening. Hence, the cut. Fed officials also signaled that two more cuts might come later this year.

🧔 The Department of Defense (or War, if you'd prefer) unveiled new grooming standards for service members this week. According to Secretary Pete Hegseth, troops must be "clean-shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance." Rules on this have been loosened over the past decade. The new, tighter standards, he says, "underpin the warrior ethos" that has been his focus this year at DoD. Troops with medical waivers can keep their beards for a year ... as long as they're following a plan to treat the underlying condition.

POLITICS

🏛️ Congress bickers as shutdown looms

A new poll shows big majorities of Democrats want their party to hold the line on budget talks -- even if it risks a government shutdown. And by the look of things, they just might get their wish.

Democratic leaders in Congress rejected a short-term budget proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R). It would keep the government running at current spending levels for a few months during further negotiations, but Dems say they didn't get enough input on the plan.

• One big item on their wish list? More healthcare subsidies.

Shutdown: The government's fiscal year ends on September 30. If Congress doesn't pass a new budget by then, non-essential government services will stop until funding resumes.

It’s busy season for Congress, and the budget isn’t the only big-ticket item on the agenda. Also on the "gotta pass something soon" list is the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is basically just the military’s budget.

Elsewhere in politics:

1. After losing a (state) court battle over gerrymandering, the Utah legislature is going to have to redraw the boundaries of the state’s four congressional districts.

2. Former almost Vice President Tim Walz (D) announced this week that he's running for a third term as governor of reliably Democratic Minnesota next year.

3. Former actual Vice President Mike Pence just landed a new gig as a politics professor at George Mason University in Virginia.

TRIVIA

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing the state of Rhode Island for racial discrimination. Allegedly, a state-run student loan forgiveness program for teachers was specifically not available to white teachers. No matter what's going on with that, one thing is for sure: Rhode Island is America's tiniest state. In square miles, what is the total land area of Rhode Island?

Hint: It’s four digits, but just barely.

CRIME

🔎 Assassin's mom says son 'became more political' in past year

He came from a conservative family, but the political views of Charlie Kirk's alleged killer shifted to the left recently, according to his mom. She also told police about heated political arguments between Tyler Robinson and his dad. In one of those, he allegedly slammed Kirk and said he "spreads too much hate."

Text messages: Utah prosecutors released some of Robinson's texts to his roommate-turned-lover. The texts show him admitting to the murder and saying he planned the crime for “a bit over a week." His motive? “Some hate can't be negotiated out.”

• Roomie seemed shocked by all this and advised Robinson to “delete this exchange.”

Authorities also said the first suspect, a crazy old man arrested minutes after the shooting, got himself arrested on purpose. He wanted to "be a martyr" and help the real shooter escape.

On the political front, the Trump administration walked back Attorney General Pam Bondi's promises to prosecute Kirk's opponents for "hate speech." A statement clarified that Bondi would only go after "threats of violence."

Charlie Kirk's funeral is set for Sunday morning in the Arizona Cardinals' Phoenix-area NFL stadium. Announced speakers include Erika Kirk (Charlie's widow), President Trump, Vice President Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson, and other conservative political figures … like Trump’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to India. Wouldn’t want to leave him out.

On a related note, the trial of Ryan Routh is winding down this week. Routh is accused of trying to assassinate Trump last September during a round of golf in Florida.

BRIEFS

● China's Cyberspace Administration has ordered Chinese companies to stop buying Nvidia's AI chips. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he was "disappointed" and previously warned that a move like this would be a "tremendous loss" for the U.S. chipmaker.

● The European Union plans to reduce its trade with Israel and sanction top Israeli officials over what it says are human rights abuses in Gaza. E.U. member countries will still have to approve the plan, and many would prefer an even tougher approach.

● Russia is considering raising taxes again, despite Putin’s promises to the contrary. The country's budget deficit has mushroomed since invading Ukraine in 2022, and its coffers are emptying now that Western nations have mostly stopped buying Russian oil.

● A suspect is in custody after allegedly ramming his car into the front gate at the FBI's Pittsburgh office. He then yeeted an American flag over the gate and took off, evading capture for seven hours. The FBI called the incident "a targeted attack on this building."

QUOTE

ANSWER

As you might expect, a state called “Rhode Island” includes a lot of water*. Without all that glorious ocean, though, the whole place is just 1,034 square miles. To give you an idea about how tiny that is, Los Angeles County is 4,751 square miles.

*511 square miles, to be exact