Good morning! Former future president Kamala Harris marked the one-year anniversary of her “break glass in case of dementia” presidential campaign on Monday. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden sat down for a three-hour podcast interview during which he blamed his dad's infamous debate performance on Ambien.

Elsewhere, Europeans are finally pondering the usefulness of A/C, Gen Z has stopped blasting their relationship news on social media, and Krispy Kreme is the latest company to reach fabled meme stock status. We’re not investment experts, but let’s be honest: No company has ever deserved it more.

TECH

🤖 Trump unveils AI action plan

Whether we end up more like "The Jetsons" or "The Terminator" is TBD, but AI is here to stay. With an eye toward growing the industry, the Trump administration on Wednesday released its long-awaited AI action plan.

• The plan was developed over the past six months by a group of Trump tech advisors, including David Sacks and Michael Kratsios.

• Kratsios said the administration is planning 90 AI-related policy actions this year.

Why is this needed? As with his energy plan, Trump has promised to achieve American AI dominance. He wants American AI software and related hardware to become the international standard and believes reducing regulations on the industry and eliminating political bias in AI is how we get there.

What's in this thing? It's not law. But it is a blueprint for where the administration wants to go on the topic and lays out a huge list of policy actions to be taken by a whole host of federal agencies. It’s 28 pages and has three main focal points:

1. Accelerate AI Innovation: Trump wants to "remove red tape and onerous regulation" inhibiting AI development. He says such a new industry is especially vulnerable on this front.

2. Build American AI Infrastructure: The plan notes the dramatic uptick in energy usage by AI servers and blames environmental regulations for making energy more expensive.

3. Lead in International AI Diplomacy and Security: Finally, it recommends exporting American AI tech to the rest of the world, especially to "like-minded nations." AI is the modern Space Race, and making our stuff the global standard is how we beat the Soviets Chinese.

Looking forward: Trump got the ball rolling yesterday by signing three executive orders. One bars the government from buying AI tools it thinks are ideologically biased. Another speeds up the permitting process for AI projects. And the third hopes to grease the wheels a little to make exporting AI tech easier.

• Opponents of the move worry the "bias-free" thing will actually slow down innovation as companies focus more on that than building out overall capabilities.

• On top of that, some labor advocates say the administration is overlooking privacy concerns and ignoring fears that AI could steal jobs from humans.

Elsewhere, in nightmare land: The Department of Health and Human Services is working on organ donation reforms after an investigation found some hospitals let the donation process begin while the “donors” were still alive. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy vowed to hold the guilty organizations "accountable."

GOVERNMENT

👨‍⚖️ The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed President Trump to fire three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The independent agency (it’s not part of a larger department) sends out product recalls and regulates the safety of everything from kids’ toys to four-wheelers. It’s run by a five-member board currently composed of three Democrats (RIP) and two Republicans. Trump fired the three Dems in May, but a federal judge ordered them back to work in June. The commissioners serve seven-year terms, and the judge ruled the president can only fire them early for cause. But the Supreme Court took Trump's side. Following similar moves at other independent agencies, Trump continues to argue that the Constitution gives the president alone full control over the executive branch.

🌐 In a repeat of his first-term move that Biden reversed, President Trump has again withdrawn the U.S. from UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. UNESCO’s stated goal is to promote peace through cultural understanding. It’s probably best known for designating World Heritage Sites (the U.S. has 26), but it also awards prizes for culture, education, and science. The Trump administration says the “globalist” organization promotes “divisive social and cultural causes,” which isn’t compatible with its “America First foreign policy.” UNESCO is the third U.N. group Trump has pulled out of, following the World Health Organization and Human Rights Council. The withdrawal will take effect in December 2026.

📈 President Trump announced a trade agreement with Japan on Tuesday, which he called the "largest deal in history” (classic him). Japanese exports to the U.S. will face 15% tariffs, a reduction of Trump's previously threatend 25% rate. Japan also agreed to open its economy to imported American cars and rice and will invest $550 billion to help rebuild "America’s strategic industrial base." Nintendo may have some hot thoughts, but the stock market loved the move. It closed at record highs on Wednesday, bolstered by rumors of a similar deal with the European Union.

TRIVIA

In keeping with an executive order Trump signed in January, the National Archives released 6,301 documents and an audio file related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The records aren't as juicy as you might hope, and mostly just peel back the curtain on old FBI procedures. They do, however, present us with a good question for today: If he were still living, how old would Martin Luther King Jr. be?

Hint: If you want to guess how old he was and do the math, MLK died in 1968.

POLITICS

⛱️ Congress goes on early vacay as parties prep for 2026

The House of Representatives started its summer vacation August recess early this year. The Republican majority canceled a few votes and opted to head home yesterday afternoon to avoid Democrat-backed votes on the Epstein files.

• Speaker Mike Johnson said there's no reason for Epstein votes since the Trump administration is already on top of things.

• His deputy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, agreed, and added that they can deal with it when they return in September if needed.

Republicans also run the show over in the Senate. And they’re going in the opposite direction of their House colleagues. Senators are planning on skipping part of their August recess in favor of voting on more of Trump’s executive and judicial nominees.

📆 How’s 2026 looking?

Sure, Trump’s only been in office for seven months. But there’s always a new election around the corner. New Jersey and Virginia are electing new governors this fall, and the latter race is starting to look like a disaster for Republicans. Meanwhile, the parties are prepping hard for next year’s midterms:

• Democrats seemingly pulled a guy out of a box labeled “BLUE COLLAR” to run for a Republican-held swingy House seat in Pennsylvania.

• But they weren’t so lucky when moderate Republican Rep. Mike Lawler decided to run for reelection instead of making a long-shot bid for governor.

• Florida Democrats are all but extinct. Now they’re fighting over their candidate for governor, an ex-Republican congressman, and his former pro-life positions.

• Dems would need to catch lightning in a bottle to win back the Senate next year. Ex-NC Gov. Roy Cooper joining the race on Monday will be a good start.

• Texas Republicans are redrawing their state’s House districts, hoping to pick up five seats. Now Missouri Rs want in on the fun and plan to axe one of their state’s two D-held districts.

• In other good news for Republicans, the party ended Q2 with $81 million in the bank. That's, um, quite a bit more than the Democrats’ $15 million.

BRIEFS

● After President Trump accused President Obama of treason, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard spoke to the press and suggested that newly unveiled docs showed Obama officials fabricated the Russian collusion story in 2016 to harm Trump.

● The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee changed its eligibility rules on Monday to ban transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports. The new policy is in keeping with a Trump executive order on the subject.

● A bunch of international aid organizations signed a joint statement warning of mass starvation in Gaza, echoing recent data from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Israel disputed the claim, calling it "propaganda of Hamas.”

● Following the deadly L.A.-area fires, January's FireAid benefit concert was packed with A-list performers and raised $100 million for wildfire relief. Six months later, amid questions from residents, the L.A. Times takes a look at what happened to all that cash.

● The White House plans to mobilize 2,000 National Guard troops to help ICE manage its immigration detention facilities. Additionally, the feds are building 36 miles of new border wall, and the DOJ fired the wife of the guy who runs an ICE-reporting app.

● People are big mad about a bill signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The new law puts the country's anti-corruption agencies under the control of Zelenskyy's government, which the E.U. warns could harm Ukraine’s accession talks.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. Were he still alive, he'd be 96 years old. That's three years younger than Dick Van Dyke, who's somehow still kicking, and four years older than the oldest current U.S. senator, Iowa's Chuck Grassley. MLK was only one year older than Clint Eastwood, who's 95 and about to direct another movie.