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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>TIMEhttps://time.com/<!\[CDATA\[Breaking news and analysis from TIME.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science and entertainment news.\]\]>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:36:20 +0000en-UShourly1<!\[CDATA\[What Living Through the Hottest July Ever Looked Like Across the U.S.\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/us-record-hottest-july-photos/<!\[CDATA\[Climate\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Communities across the U.S. felt the heat.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

This July was the [hottest month](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/julys-record-breaking-heat/) ever recorded in United States history. Last month’s average temperature was 3.3°F (1.8°C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, according to new [data](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202607) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This was the warmest [July](https://time.com/article/2026/07/14/us-heat-wave-forecast-where-record-breaking-temperatures/)—and warmest month—in the 132-year record, 0.1–0.2°F warmer than the previous records seenduring the Dust Bowl in July 1936 and in July 2012.

The reality of this [extreme heat](https://time.com/article/2026/06/29/what-are-the-three-hottest-years-on-record-and-how-will-this-summer-compare-/) was experienced through three separate [heat dome](https://time.com/7296973/more-heat-domes-climate-change/) events, with several states, including Idaho, Utah, and Montana setting all time temperature records on July 12\. Salt Lake City, UT, saw temperatures reach 109°F, while in Montana, Billings saw temperatures reach 111°F and Miles City 115°F. Wyoming recorded its warmest July and warmest month on record. 

Extreme heat wasn’t the only notable climate event Americans were dealing with. [Wildfires](https://time.com/article/2026/07/16/risks-combined-bad-air-quality-extreme-heat-wildfires/) in eastern Oregon burned through 140,000 acres, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. Federal fire resources were [stretched thin](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/us-wildfire-preparedness-level-5-what-that-means/) as other fires burned in Colorado, Washington, and beyond. 

The smoke from the blazes, coupled with fires in neighboring Canada, worsened [air quality](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/a-week-of-smoky-skies-across-north-america/) for millions across the country. By mid-July, Chicago was reporting the worst air quality [in the world](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-air-quality-the-worst-in-the-world-due-to-wildfire-smoke-data-shows/3962532/). 

Though the month ranked as the third driest July of the 132-year record, with about 48.5% of the contiguous U.S. in drought, mid-month flash floods in Central Texas along the Guadalupe River brought over 28 inches of rainfall. The floods killed two people in the same area which saw catastrophic flooding over last year’s July 4th weekend. 

The month showed just how varied the impacts of climate change can be. Residents in Texas and Oregon saw their homes damaged or destroyed by flooding or fire, while those in the Midwest found themselves digging out N95 masks to walk their pets or commute to work while facing some of the worst particulate air quality the region has seen in [over 25 years](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/weather/canada-wildfire-smoke-air-quality-aqi-how-bad.html). Many others found creative ways to take respite from the heat—seeking shade in tree-lined streets or cooling off in fire hydrants and lakes alike. Here’s what it was like to live through the hottest month on record. 

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt324c1093dc2348b5/6a7b6ec90208b833673900da/Hottest-Month-2026-02.jpg?branch=production)

A fire helicopter drops water during sunset on vegetation area as crews battle wildfire named as 'Little Fire' in Sunol, Alameda County, Calif. on July 21, 2026\. —Tayfun Coskun—Anadolu/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e3aac09ac77859/6a7b6ecc0d711857d9e5b693/Hottest-Month-2026-03.jpg?branch=production)

Amid Colorado's historic drought and record low snowpack a home with a brown lawn sits next to a home with a green lawn in Denver, Colo., on July 24, 2026\. —Michael Ciaglo—The Washington Post/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b755e614befe59/6a7b6ecb453dba0b53af803a/Hottest-Month-2026-04.jpg?branch=production)

People cool off along the lakefront as temperatures topped 90 degrees in Chicago, Ill., on June 29, 2026\. An extreme heat warning for the city was extended through July 3\. —Scott Olson—Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt841e5637a105738b/6a7b6ecb97a020139c2e5203/Hottest-Month-2026-05.jpg?branch=production)

A plumes of smoke from the Camp Fire hangs in the air on Moose Lake as multiple wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness prompted its closure and evacuation in Ely, Minn., on July 14, 2026\. —Anthony Soufflé—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt096c8eb6e6e5b7b9/6a7b6ecdbf22b2245c95e3f1/Hottest-Month-2026-06.jpg?branch=production)

Debris is piled on Mill Dam road after heavy rain caused flooding in Comfort, Texas, on July 16, 2026\. —Aaron E. Martinez—The Austin American-Statesman/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt881a4e19d61201db/6a7b6eccfc29c5d81dafe71b/Hottest-Month-2026-07.jpg?branch=production)

People clean out a flooded building on in Kerrville, Texas, on July 16, 2026, —San Antonio Express-News/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4021d5445fa6873e/6a7b6ecd2378b26fe43f5f12/Hottest-Month-2026-08.jpg?branch=production)

People jump on water-soaked pavement around an open fire hydrant at sunset during a heat wave in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City on July 2, 2026\. —Charly Triballeau—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29e7909cb59a09a9/6a7b6ecece8afd938d51f7db/Hottest-Month-2026-09.jpg?branch=production)

A home is covered in fire retardant dropped by firefighters during the Old Trails Fire in Spokane, Wash., on Aug. 4, 2026—the aftermath of July's Spokane fire. —Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38595b2ea57ea3bf/6a7b6ece144080168cccf14d/Hottest-Month-2026-10.jpg?branch=production)

Children play near breaking waves on West End Pier on Lake Pontchartrain as Tropical Storm Bertha approaches the Louisiana Coast in New Orleans on July 22, 2026\. —Gerald Herbert—AP

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5668d7abc273ccf/6a7b6ecf0208b8242a3900de/Hottest-Month-2026-11.jpg?branch=production)

Smoke from wildfires in Canada shrouds the view north to midtown Manhattan, seen from the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building before sunset on July 15, 2026\. —Gary Hershorn—Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ce650d3fc3e2e15/6a7b6ed0fc29c58320afe71f/Hottest-Month-2026-12.jpg?branch=production)

Bill Dozier, left, and Sharon Dozier sit on their flooded front porch as they talk with their grandson, Skylor Dozier, who lives in a trailer on their property along North Camp Street in Uvalde on July 16, 2026\. —Sam Owens—San Antonio Express-News/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b74532ee3fc480d/6a7b6ed0144080430accf155/Hottest-Month-2026-13.jpg?branch=production)

Firefighters burn off vegetation while trying to stop a wildfire called the Bench Fire from spreading in Warm Springs, Ore., on July 25, 2026\. —Noah Berger—AP

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65be92e2ee8206d5/6a7b6ecf14408083aeccf151/Hottest-Month-2026-14.jpg?branch=production)

People watch a worker creating sand berms to protect beachfront homes from Pacific Ocean high surf in Long Beach, Calif., on July 30, 2026\. —Mario Tama—Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13f92c671734dc4c/6a7b6ed197a02040f12e5207/Hottest-Month-2026-15.jpg?branch=production)

A person assess flood damage near the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on July 17, 2026\. —Brandon Bell—Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c1561fedb946820/6a7b6ed1bf22b255e195e3f5/Hottest-Month-2026-16.jpg?branch=production)

A firefighter cools off with a bottle of water after responding to a fire during a heat wave in Georgetown, Mass., on July 2, 2026\. —Erin Clark—The Boston Globe/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99483611a8459a4c/6a7b6ed10208b8ea243900e2/Hottest-Month-2026-17.jpg?branch=production)

People watch a brush fire near Centre Pointe Parkway in Santa Clarita on July 15, 2026\. —Hans Gutknecht—MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96a7cb02e63add77/6a7b6ed0fc29c52596afe723/Hottest-Month-2026-18.jpg?branch=production)

An attendee of the Great American State Fair sits in the shade during high temperatures on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2026\. —Pete Kiehart—Bloomberg/Getty Images

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt861db832c0033f79/6a7b6ed0453dba0f15af803e/Hottest-Month-2026-19.jpg?branch=production)

Smoke spreads across the sky as the Little Fire grows in size near Pleasanton, Calif., on July 21, 2026\. —Brontë Wittpenn—San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltad6cc6fec77f6710Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:25:59 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Simmone Shah\]\]><!\[CDATA\[What Trump’s Executive Order Could Mean for Childhood Vaccines\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/what-trump-executive-order-could-mean-for-childhood-vaccines/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The order calls for scaling back childhood vaccine recommendations and splitting up the MMR shot, and pressures states to dilute vaccine requirements.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held belief that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held belief that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.

President Donald Trump has again taken aim at [vaccines](https://time.com/tag/vaccines/)—this time in a new [executive order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/delivering-gold-standard-childhood-vaccine-recommendations-for-americans/). The directive, which Trump signed in the Oval Office on Aug. 10, calls for U.S. children to receive fewer vaccines and urges states to reconsider which vaccines they require for school attendance. 

It also directs the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue states that fail to provide religious and medical exemptions for mandated vaccines and orders the [measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot](https://time.com/7261250/measles-vaccine-what-to-know/)—a combination vaccine that has been in use for more than 50 years—to be split into three separate jabs. “Today we’re proud to officially announce the United States of America’s gold-standard childhood vaccination recommendations,” Trump said during the signing ceremony.

Doctors and vaccine scientists have expressed dismay at the order, which they say is not backed by gold-standard science. "As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, \[the\] executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous,” Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), [said in a statement](https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2026/aap-statement-in-response-to-executive-order-on-vaccines/?%5Fgl=1%2A145zlto%2A%5Fga%2AMzgxNTE4MjAwLjE3ODY1MzUyMjI.%2A%5Fga%5FFD9D3XZVQQ%2AczE3ODY1MzUyMjIkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODY1MzUyMjIkajYwJGwwJGgw). “There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance.”

But will the executive order actually change what vaccines are available to children? Probably not, legal scholars and medical experts say. 

Still, it could put pressure on states to change their vaccine recommendations and requirements. It could also have a chilling effect on vaccine uptake. “This is going to create confusion and chaos,” says Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

## Executive orders aren’t laws

The executive order calls for a significant overhaul of the federal childhood immunization schedule—the timeline of recommended vaccines for children and teens that influences insurance coverage guidelines, informs state-level school vaccine requirements, and guides clinical practice. But the order shouldn’t have the legal power to make those changes, says Dorit Reiss, a vaccine policy expert at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.

Executive orders are a way for presidents to communicate with federal agencies. They can instruct agencies on how to enforce existing laws, but they aren’t laws themselves, Reiss says. 

Federal vaccine recommendations are also developed through a separate legal process, never by executive order. 

Instead, it is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), following input from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), that determines the childhood immunization schedule. 

In January, the CDC, prompted [by an earlier presidential memorandum](https://time.com/7343388/vaccine-schedule-children-cdc-rfk-influenza/) and under direction from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attempted to revise the childhood immunization schedule. The updated schedule [reduced the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations](https://time.com/7345057/new-childhood-vaccine-schedule-cdc-what-it-means/) from 17 to 11\. The six vaccines no longer recommended to all children were for COVID-19, seasonal flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rotavirus. The six vaccines were only recommended for children at high risk for the respective diseases, the guidelines said. Parents, however, could decide, after consultation with doctors about the benefits and risks of the vaccines, to inoculate their children against any of the six diseases.

A federal judge [blocked the CDC’s schedule overhaul](https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/hhs-vaccine-changes-invalid-judge/), which had been done without consulting ACIP, in March. The judge said it was unlawful for the CDC to unilaterally make those changes without ACIP’s involvement.

Trump in his new executive order called for similar changes to the childhood immunization schedule that the CDC tried to implement, and said he was “taking further action to reaffirm” the changes to the schedule in light of the ongoing litigation.

The CDC’s new director, Dr. Erica Schwartz, could face pressure to act on Trump’s executive order, Reiss says. Schwartz said in her Senate confirmation hearing that she believes in the [safety and effectiveness of vaccines](https://time.com/article/2026/07/15/dr-erica-schwartz-trump-pick-cdc-director-confirmation-hearing/), though she wouldn’t commit to standing up to the president or Kennedy if she disagreed with them. 

If Schwartz and the CDC attempt to change the schedule again, however, they will likely face similar legal challenges as before since the proper legal process again wasn’t followed, Reiss says.

“The executive order doesn’t have the rule of law behind it,” says Offit. “Nothing will come of this.”

The federal childhood immunization schedule remains the same as it was in July 2025, which recommends routine vaccines for 16 diseases. COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children are recommended based on shared decision-making between families and clinicians, rather than routinely for all children. 

The AAP disagrees with this recommendation and says all [young children ages 6 months to 23 months](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/156/5/e2025073924/203222/Recommendations-for-COVID-19-Vaccines-in-Infants) are at high risk for severe COVID-19 and should be vaccinated. 

Insurance companies continue to cover all vaccines in the AAP vaccine schedule, including COVID-19 shots. 

## Splitting the MMR vaccine

The executive order calls for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to be separated into three shots. Before signing the order, Trump said, without evidence and contrary to decades of established scientific evidence, that “together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal.”

Doctors say the MMR vaccine has an excellent safety record and is highly effective.

“These vaccines have been delivered together in millions of doses for decades,” says Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University. “No data was presented to suggest that administering them separately is safer than administering them together. There’s no scientific basis for this.” 

The MMR vaccines were originally licensed as separate vaccines in the 1960s, but they were combined and approved as a combination vaccine in 1971\. 

It would be time-consuming and expensive to license the shots separately again, Schaffner says. It would also mean more shots for children, more work for doctors, and higher costs for insurance companies. 

The executive order continues to recommend the MMR vaccine for all children, but talk of splitting the shot could cause confusion among parents, Schaffner says. “I can imagine parents going to the pediatrician and asking, ‘Can we do this one at a time? I saw on television that it’s now recommended.’” 

The U.S. is currently experiencing a record-breaking measles surge. More than [2,400 measles cases](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html) have been confirmed in the U.S. so far this year—a 35-year high. 

## Battles with states

There is one section of the executive order that might have teeth, says Reiss, the law professor. 

The order directs the DOJ to support or pursue lawsuits against states that fail to provide adequate religious and medical exemptions for school vaccine mandates, and tells the Department of Education to cut grants to those same states, Reiss says. States, not the federal government, determine which vaccines are required for children to attend public schools. 

There are already lawsuits related to vaccine exemptions in several states, including California and West Virginia, Reiss says. The DOJ could choose to throw their weight behind existing lawsuits or launch new ones, she says. “The government can be influential in courts, especially the Supreme Court,” Reiss says. 

The executive order could also more generally put pressure on states, particularly ones that lean Republican, to dilute their own vaccine recommendations and mandates. “The real political play will be at the state level,” Reiss says. 

## Doubt, fear, and confusion 

Doctors say they most fear what the executive order will do to increase vaccine hesitancy and uncertainty. 

“This action follows an alarming pattern of government efforts to reduce Americans’ access to vaccines and [sow unfounded doubt about vaccine safety and effectiveness](https://time.com/article/2026/04/30/cdc-vaccine-autism-trust/),” said Dr. Ronald G. Nahass, president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, in a statement.

Though the executive order doesn’t mention autism, Trump cited rising autism rates as a reason for the changing recommendations during the signing ceremony. “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” Trump said. “In those times, people were much healthier, and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist.” 

Trump also claimed that children receive vaccines the size of a “bottle of soda."

Shots contain no more than a teaspoon of liquid, Offit says, and usually contain a fraction of that. “This is so embarrassing for this country,” he says of Trump’s comments.

He added that decades of robust studies have [refuted any link between autism and vaccines](https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/).

Kennedy and Trump have nonetheless repeatedly suggested a connection.

“Kennedy is an antivaccine activist. As the secretary of the health department, you would think that he would care about the health and wellbeing of children in this country, but he doesn’t,” Offit says. “And he’s winning—now we have more cases of whooping cough, flu, and measles in children than before.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltc2c7392bf9a78651Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:13:13 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Dominique Mosbergen\]\]><!\[CDATA\[How to Tell If You’re Trauma Dumping or Just Venting\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/what-is-trauma-dumping/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Plus, how to seek support without silencing yourself.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Images: Annet Debar (2), Swan222, Lettha Studio via Canva)\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66cd5cba2813e06e/6a7c99235798c9efd85a5048/T2T_Trauma_Dumping.png?branch=production)

 —Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Images: Annet Debar (2), Swan222, Lettha Studio via Canva)

You won’t find the term “trauma dumping” in a psychology textbook, but it’s gained popularity online to describe the act of unloading [overwhelming feelings](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/emotional-granularity-name-feelings/) onto someone else without their consent. It’s like an extended, one-sided version of venting, says Cheryl Groskopf, an[ anxiety](https://time.com/7307336/worst-thing-to-say-anxiety-anxious/) and trauma therapist in Los Angeles. 

It’s also treated as one of the worst social sins you can commit—which can make people afraid to talk about their [grief](https://time.com/article/2026/03/10/what-to-do-when-grief-attacks/), trauma, or anything else too painful to package neatly. Yet [social support](https://time.com/article/2026/07/22/how-to-support-someone-without-giving-advice/) is one way people cope with hard experiences. Conversations about tough topics don’t have to be concise, comfortable, or perfectly balanced to be healthy.

“It’s not about not talking about problems,” says Stephanie Mahalec, a therapist in Los Angeles. “Talking about problems is a very important part of relationships. It’s just how you talk about it.” 

Here’s how to tell when trauma dumping might be reaching unhealthy levels in a friendship or relationship, according to therapists—and how to repair.

## **There’s no room for the other person to set a boundary**

Asking whether someone has time to listen is considerate. It can be as simple as: “Do you have a minute? Can I vent about something?”

Dr. Hans Watson, a psychiatrist in South Jordan, Utah, recommends taking into account the time, place, and audience. Is this a workable moment? Is this an appropriate setting? Is this someone you ordinarily talk to about personal things?

With some relationships, that understanding is already in place. If you and a close friend routinely call each other when life falls apart, you probably don’t need to renegotiate the terms every time. And if you forget to ask permission during an especially painful moment, that alone does not make the conversation a trauma dump. “One conversation or one trauma dump is not a problem,” Groskopf says. “We’re all human.”

The larger concern is whether the other person has a meaningful way to say “not now,” slow the conversation down, or stop it—and what happens when they do. If every limit is ignored, negotiated away, or treated as proof that they don’t care, the relationship has lost room for one person’s boundaries.

The listener has a responsibility, too. Someone who’s overwhelmed may not notice shorter replies, broken eye contact, or glances at the clock. “If you’re that dysregulated, you’re not going to notice how someone else is feeling,” Mahalec says. That’s not necessarily selfishness; it can be part of what happens when a person is [emotionally flooded](https://time.com/article/2026/04/10/what-is-emotional-flooding/). Rather than expecting them to decode subtle cues, the listener may need to say plainly: “I care about you, but I can’t give this conversation my full attention right now. Can we talk later today?”

## **Only one response will do**

Wanting reassurance is normal. So is asking someone to listen, offer advice, sit beside you, or remind you that you’re not alone. The warning sign isn’t that you want comfort; it’s that the other person becomes responsible for producing one exact response that will make the feeling disappear.

If you need them to agree with you, reassure you repeatedly, or validate you in one very specific way, “you’ve unintentionally handed them the responsibility for changing your emotional state,” Groskopf says. That’s not reasonable to expect from anyone.

You might notice yourself explaining the story again, adding more context, or calling someone else because the first person didn’t say the thing that finally made you feel better. “It’s easy to start believing that one more detail or one more piece of context will finally make the other person understand the situation enough to change how we feel,” Groskopf says. “The strategy isn’t working, so the brain keeps trying harder and harder.”

That doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with telling a painful story more than once. Grief and trauma often need to be spoken about repeatedly. The question is whether you’re inviting someone to witness what you’re feeling—or making them responsible for ending it.

## **The friendship has become one permanent emergency**

All close relationships go through periods of imbalance. When someone is grieving, ill, traumatized, or otherwise struggling, they may need far more support than they can give. People who love them often want to provide it.

So don’t judge the relationship by one conversation—or even one very difficult stretch. Look at the broader pattern. Do you contact this person only when something has gone wrong? Are they expected to be available whenever you become overwhelmed? Is there room for them to talk about their own life? Do the two of you still know each other outside of distress?

Groskopf says that when the same person repeatedly becomes the only place you go for emotional relief, both people can settle into roles without realizing it: One is always in crisis, and the other is always expected to steady them. Eventually, “the friendship starts to revolve around emotional crises,” she says.

## **How to seek support without silencing yourself**

None of this means swallowing your pain, waiting until you can discuss it calmly, or saving every difficult thought for a therapist. “The urge to get it all out is so incredibly healthy,” says Jenny Martin, a psychologist and founder of Gemstone Wellness, a trauma-informed practice in Chicago. “The urge is correct.”

Some relationships can hold the full story. When enough trust and intimacy exist, Martin says, even an intense account of “real trauma and pain” can make sense and be welcomed. Mahalec also points to the value of co-regulation: Being with someone calmer can help an [overwhelmed nervous system](https://time.com/7353430/nervous-system-reset-mindfulness/) begin to settle. You don’t always have to regulate yourself before reaching for another person.

A few strategies can make that connection easier—without requiring you to communicate perfectly.

### **Say what you need**

Before or during the conversation, tell the other person what would help. You might say: “I don’t need advice; I just need someone to listen.” Or: “I’m overwhelmed and don’t know what I need yet. Can you stay with me for a few minutes?”

Naming what you want relieves the listener of having to guess. It also makes room for an honest answer about what they can offer.

### **Ask about timing**

Groskopf suggests asking: “Do you have the bandwidth for something really heavy right now?” Martin offers another option: “How much energy do you have for holding space for hard stuff right now?”

Think of these questions as tools, not tests you have to pass before you’re allowed to speak. If you’re too overwhelmed to ask gracefully—or only realize afterward that you never checked in—you haven’t committed some unforgivable relational offense. Watson points out that everyone occasionally gets [difficult conversations](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/emotional-granularity-name-feelings/) wrong. What matters is being willing to listen, adjust, and repair.

### **Give your pain more than one place to go**

Needing more support than one friend can provide doesn’t mean your story is too much or that it belongs only in therapy. It means you deserve more than one place where you can tell it.

Depending on what feels right, that might include several friends or relatives, a support group, a faith community, or a therapist. Different people may be able to offer different things: company, practical help, lived experience, distraction, advice, or space to tell the entire story.

The goal isn’t to protect everyone else from your feelings. It’s to keep you from becoming isolated—or dependent on one person being available every time the pain surges.

### **Use a private voice memo as a bridge**

When you want to get your thoughts out in private, Martin recommends opening your phone’s voice recorder and saying everything you need to say. She uses the strategy herself. On one recent evening, after a particularly difficult day, she retreated to her hammock and let herself unload.

“I sat out in my hammock under the moon, and I just cried and talked into an audio memo,” Martin says. “It allows me to purge and wring out so much that is simmering in my body. It organizes and releases what’s fluttering around that needs out.”

But Martin doesn’t view the recording as a replacement for human connection. Afterward, she says, it’s sometimes important to recognize: “I also deserve a real human to share this with. How do I make that next step happen?”

Keep the recording private unless someone agrees to receive it. Voice messages “remove so much of the consent that naturally exists in a conversation,” Groskopf says, because they can arrive while someone is working, picking up their children, or finally having a good day. Before sending one, try asking: “Do you have the capacity for a long voice note right now?”

## **If you’re the person listening**

Supporting someone doesn’t require being endlessly available or absorbing more than you can handle. But it _is_ your job to communicate your boundary—not the distressed person’s job to read your mind.

Begin with a pause rather than a correction: “Can we stop for a second?” Then acknowledge what you heard before explaining your limit. Martin suggests: “I want to be the best version of your friend, and I know I’m not the right place for this level of pain. But when you’re ready, I want to help you find the right place.”

You can also set a boundary around timing rather than the subject itself: “I want to hear this, but I’m running on empty tonight. Can I call you tomorrow morning?” Or around what you can offer: “I can listen, but I don’t think I’m equipped to give you advice about this.”

A boundary doesn’t have to communicate that someone’s grief is frightening, inappropriate, or too heavy to shoulder. It can communicate: “I care about this, and I want to show up in a way I can sustain.”

## **If you wish you had handled the conversation differently**

If you recognize afterward that you may have trauma-dumped, circle back. But don’t apologize for having needed help—that was never the problem.

“What’s not necessary is apologizing for the fact that you needed support,” Groskopf says. “It’s about repairing and recognizing the part where the consideration of the other person got lost.”

The repair can be simple: “Hey, I’ve been thinking about our conversation. I never checked whether you had space for all of that. Thank you for listening. How are you doing?”

Hard conversations can be awkward, repetitive, lopsided, and still deeply loving. The goal isn’t to express pain perfectly. It’s to build relationships sturdy enough to hold both the pain and the boundaries around it.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt1670db9c89f8720cWed, 12 Aug 2026 16:07:59 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Angela Haupt\]\]><!\[CDATA\[TIME Is Looking For America's Most Innovative Companies of 2027\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/americas-most-innovative-companies-2027-search/<!\[CDATA\[Getty Images—Javier Zayas\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Close up of a computer processor chip on a dark background. Technology concepts.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2902aae1c908d0fd/6998b2769fbc7cf823d97d39/davos-2025-web-05.jpeg?branch=production)

Close up of a computer processor chip on a dark background. Technology concepts. —Getty Images—Javier Zayas

For the first time, TIME will publish a ranking of America's Most Innovative Companies, in partnership with Statista, a leading international provider of market and consumer data and rankings. Innovation within a company can take many forms. For this ranking, three dimensions will be considered: product innovation, process innovation, and innovation culture. To identify the most innovative companies in the U.S., comprehensive surveys will be conducted. Employees will evaluate their own employers, providing an internal assessment of innovation; experts will recommend and evaluate companies they are familiar with, contributing an external perspective; and the strength of a company’s patent portfolio will be evaluated as an objective criterion. The survey results and objective criterion will be combined into a single score.

As part of the research phase, TIME and Statista are now accepting free applications. American companies are invited to apply by October 9, 2026\. Companies that register will receive a link to a short survey, which they should share with their employees.

To apply, [click here](https://engage.statista-research.com/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=929189&lang=en). Winners will be announced on TIME.com in March 2027.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt37c3ddbb8ab94b0bWed, 12 Aug 2026 15:46:38 +0000<!\[CDATA\[TIME Staff\]\]><!\[CDATA\[TIME Is Looking For India's Fastest Growing Companies of 2027\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/indias-fastest-growing-companies-2027-search/<!\[CDATA\[Indranil Aditya—NurPhoto/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Skyline view of Mumbai with the coastal road in the foreground on May 28, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7e9b44ccaeff832/6a7b7575017cc15b6eb38606/mumbai-skyline-02.jpg?branch=production)

Skyline view of Mumbai with the coastal road in the foreground on May 28, 2026\. —Indranil Aditya—NurPhoto/Getty Images

For the second time, TIME will publish a ranking of [India's Fastest-Growing Companies](https://time.com/7379137/indias-fastest-growing-companies-2026/), in partnership with Statista, a leading international provider of market and consumer data and rankings. The list will recognize the country's leading companies with strong revenue growth between the fiscal years 2023 and 2026.

As part of the research phase, TIME and Statista are now accepting data submissions. While submitting data ensures that eligible companies will be considered for inclusion, it does not guarantee a place on the final list. Additionally, the final ranking will not be limited to companies that submit data.

To apply, click here to fill out the [online survey.](https://engage.statista-research.com/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=493937&lang=en) The deadline for submissions is Nov. 30, 2026\. For more information, visit [rankings.statista.com/fastest-growing-companies-india.](https://rankings.statista.com/en/fastest-growing-companies/rankings/fastest-growing-companies-india/participation/)

Winners will be announced on TIME.com in early 2027.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltc033a90ffb8147d1Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:34:38 +0000<!\[CDATA\[TIME Staff\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Should You Let Your Dog Lick Your Face? 9 Animal Hygiene Questions, Answered\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/should-you-let-your-dog-lick-your-face/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[From dog kisses to cat scratches, here’s what’s harmless—and what warrants a call to the doctor.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Boston Globe—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd863c675fb116e/6a7c8b1c97a02013c12e72c2/GettyImages-1242837619.jpg?branch=production)

 —Boston Globe—Getty Images

You might be surprised to learn that Dr. Daniel Griffin, chief of [infectious diseases](https://time.com/article/2026/08/10/infectious-disease-experts-germs/) at Island Infectious Disease Medical in Long Island, N.Y., lets his two dogs lick him.

He’s not delusional. “We know how dogs greet each other,” he says. “We know where that tongue has been.” But he lets his expertise take over afterward. Griffin diligently [washes his hands](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/habits-infectious-disease-doctors-avoid-getting-sick/) after his dogs lick them, especially before picking up a slice of pizza.

That’s more or less the expert consensus: love the pet, wash your hands. Living closely with pets brings you closer to germs, but for most people, ordinary contact is low-risk. There are exceptions, however. Here, experts answer the face-licking question and eight others about hygiene and animals you might encounter.

## **Should you let your dog lick your face?**

First, forget the thing you may have heard your whole life. “I used to hear, ‘Oh, dogs’ mouths are like 10 times cleaner than people’s mouths,’” says Kelley Steury, a veterinarian and clinical associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Public Health. “I don’t think that’s based in science.”

A dog’s mouth, like a person’s, is [full of bacteria](https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/ajvr/83/1/ajvr.21.02.0027.xml). One species commonly found in dogs, _Capnocytophaga canimorsus_, can occasionally cause serious illness in people. Most of the time, though, nothing happens. “It doesn’t really pose a problem,” Steury says. The trouble starts when saliva gets past the body’s defenses—through a bite or into an open cut, for example. In rare cases, the infection can [progress to sepsis](https://www.cdc.gov/capnocytophaga/hcp/clinical-overview/index.html) and become fatal.

The risk also depends on who’s getting licked. People being treated for cancer or taking immune-suppressing drugs are more vulnerable to severe _C. canimorsus_ infection. So are people without a spleen and those with alcohol-use disorder. But for healthy kids and adults, the occasional lick is fine, experts say.

Official guidance takes the cautious route, though: Keep dogs away from your mouth and face, and don’t let them lick open wounds.[ ](https://www.cdc.gov/yellow-book/hcp/environmental-hazards-risks/zoonotic-exposures.html)Saliva is more of a concern when it reaches broken skin or a mucous membrane, such as the mouth or eyes. If your dog gets you anyway, wash the area afterward. And if you’re immunocompromised or don’t have a spleen, ask your doctor what precautions make sense. But the fact that dogs, like so many of our daily exposures, can carry germs is not “a reason to not own a dog,” she says.

## **What if your cat licks you?**

A cat lick is usually a non-event, too, provided your skin is intact. Cats commonly carry [_Pasteurella multocida_](https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X13489215), but on unbroken skin, Steury says, it “pretty much will not be a problem at all.”

Experts are more concerned about bites. A cat’s teeth are narrow and sharp, so they often puncture instead of scraping the surface. “The tooth acts kind of like a needle,” Steury says, “and it’ll inject that bacteria into your deep tissues.” What looks like a pinprick can be a deeper wound than it appears.

If a cat bite breaks the skin, wash it immediately with soap and running water and see a medical provider, Steury says.

## **What should you do about a cat scratch?**

“I definitely respect the claws of cats,” says Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

If a claw catches you, wash your skin right away with soap and running water. The goal is to rinse the bacteria away before it settles in, not to disinfect. “Disinfectants don’t kill everything,” he says. “Running things are better than stagnant things in general.”

After that, pay attention to the area. Increasing redness, pus, or a fever over the next several days are all reasons to see a medical professional. So is a swollen lymph node on the same side of your body as the scratch, which can signal [cat-scratch disease](https://www.cdc.gov/bartonella/about/about-cat-scratch-disease.html), a bacterial infection most common in kids. Location matters, too. Chin-Hong is extra cautious when a bite or scratch lands directly over a joint, where an infection can be harder to treat.

## **What if you have a fresh surgical site?**

Coming home from surgery might be when you most want your furry friend on your bed. It’s also when experts want you to put a little distance between your pet and whatever is healing.

Dr. Ashley Drews, an infectious disease specialist at Houston Methodist, has seen patients develop infections after a pet licked an incision or surgical drain. “That’s not a good idea,” she says. Keep the site covered and your pet away from it.

## **Do you need to worry about the litter box?**

Yes. Cats can shed [_Toxoplasma gondii_](https://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/about/index.html) in their poop, and the parasite can travel from the box to your hands to your mouth.

Yet the litter box isn’t the only way to get toxoplasmosis. The parasite can also [turn up in](https://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/causes/index.html) soil, unwashed produce, contaminated water, and undercooked meat—especially pork, lamb, and venison.

“I think people are aware of the cat litter thing,” says Jill Roberts, a molecular epidemiologist and professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health. Meat gets less attention. Roberts is so wary of undercooked pork that she skips thick cuts, which she worries are harder to bring to a safe temperature. “All I can see is _Toxoplasma_,” she says. You don’t have to give up pork chops, but you should use a food thermometer: Whole cuts of pork should reach [145°F](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/safe-temperature-chart). Once they come off the heat, wait at least three minutes before cutting or eating them; the meat’s temperature holds steady or continues to rise during that time, helping destroy pathogens.

While the pork chop may deserve more attention, the litter-box rule still stands. If you’re pregnant or immunocompromised, hand off the scooping if you can. If you have to do it yourself, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands afterward. Change the litter daily, too: The parasite takes one to five days after being shed to become infectious.

## **Can you catch your dog’s parasites?**

Sometimes, but your dog’s diagnosis doesn’t automatically mean the whole household is next. When Griffin’s dogs had giardia, an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite, he wasn’t panicking about catching it himself. “In general, it’s a different giardia that we get vs. dogs,” he says. The type that usually makes people sick isn’t the same type that usually infects dogs and cats.

Pay special attention during cleanup. Giardia can travel through tiny traces of feces on soil, water, fur, surfaces, and objects. Clean up dog poop promptly; keep up with veterinary care and parasite prevention; and clean the bowls, bedding, crates, and toys of a pet being treated for giardia. Your veterinarian may also recommend a bath to remove contaminated feces from its fur.

Always use actual soap and water after handling a sick pet or cleaning up poop. Sanitizer is helpful when it’s all you have, but it doesn’t remove dirt or every kind of germ.

## **Are your pets bringing ticks into the house?**

Quite possibly. Your dog can come inside alone and still bring company. Dogs and cats can carry ticks indoors, where the ticks may disembark and choose a human for their next meal. Dr. Heidi Torres, an infectious disease physician and assistant hospital epidemiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, takes the possibility seriously enough to pack fine-tipped tweezers for overnight trips to the country.

Ticks are remarkably good at hiding in plain sight. On people, they tend to hide under arms, behind knees, around the waist, and in the hair. On dogs, check the ears, under the front legs, and between the toes. Torres says many people who develop [Lyme disease](https://time.com/7295491/lyme-disease-symptoms-arthritis-brain-fog/) or another [tickborne illness](https://time.com/article/2026/07/23/ticks-alpha-gal-red-meat-allergy/) “have no recollection of ever being bitten by a tick or ever seeing a tick.”

After spending time in tall grasses or woods, make sure everyone gets inspected. “Check yourself, check your partner, check your kids, check your dogs,” Torres says. If you find a tick attached to your skin, remove it then and there; waiting for a doctor only gives it more time to feed and potentially transmit disease. Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp it close to the skin, pull upward with steady pressure, and then clean the bite and your hands. Finding a tick doesn’t automatically necessitate a trip to urgent care, but call your doctor if you develop a rash, fever, or other symptoms over the next several days or weeks. 

## **What about backyard chickens and petting zoos?**

Your pets aren’t the only animals capable of handing something off. [More than 60%](https://www.cdc.gov/one-health/about/about-zoonotic-diseases.html) of known infectious diseases in people can spread between animals and humans, Steury says. The list of germs that can make the trip includes _E. coli_, _Campylobacter_, _Cryptosporidium_, and _Salmonella_—none of which care whether the animal carrying them looks clean.

Backyard chickens deserve special mention, in part because [more people are keeping them](https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/about/backyard-poultry.html).[ ](https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/about/backyard-poultry.html)A chicken can look perfectly healthy and [still carry _Salmonella_](https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/about/backyard-poultry.html). Steury’s rules for handling them are uncomplicated: Wash your hands afterward, and “don’t kiss them,” she says.

The same logic applies at the petting zoo, with the added complication that children are extraordinarily efficient at putting their hands in their mouths. Steury isn’t telling you to skip it; just[ wash everyone’s hands with soap and water on the way out](https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/about/staying-healthy-at-animal-exhibits.html), and keep fingers and pacifiers out of mouths until you find a sink. Hand sanitizer is a useful backup, but it isn’t [an equal substitute](https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/prevention/index.html). 

## **When does an animal encounter require a same-day phone call?**

If an animal bites you hard enough to break the skin, or if you’ve had a possible encounter with a bat, seek medical care immediately. For animal bites, wash the wound right away with soap and water, then call a health-care provider—especially if the animal was wild, a stray, or behaving strangely, or if you don’t know whether it’s been vaccinated against rabies, a fatal disease that affects mammals.

The reassuring part is that[ less than 10 people die from rabies each year in the U.S.](https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/php/protecting-public-health/index.html), largely because most pets are vaccinated and people who may have been exposed can get preventive treatment. 

The bar for what counts as a bat exposure is even lower because people may not realize they were bitten. “People think, ‘Well, I think I’d know it if a bat bit me,’” Steury says, “but you may not.” Bat teeth are so small that their bites can be painless or barely noticeable. If you wake up with a bat in your bedroom, find one near a sleeping child, or think you might have touched one, don’t open the window and shoo it out before asking what to do, Steury recommends. Call animal control or your health department. If it can be safely contained, health officials can test it for rabies. If it’s already disappeared, call anyway; [public-health officials can determine](https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/prevention/bats.html) whether you need post-exposure vaccination.

Steury knew a veterinarian in Alabama who had an unnerving encounter. “A bat just fell out of the sky and fell on her neck,” she says. It tested positive for rabies, and the veterinarian needed post-exposure shots even though she’d already been vaccinated in the past.

Of course, none of this means treating every animal like a biohazard. It means knowing what calls for soap, what calls for a phone call or doctor’s visit, and what you can stop worrying about. As Chin-Hong puts it, “The benefits of pets outweigh the disadvantages.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltcffaef6839c5bc75Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:28:35 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Angela Haupt\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/trump-plane-switch-turkey-iranian-threat-secret-service-decoy/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\["I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about it. I get a lot of threats," Trump told reporters.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he slipped away from Air Force One after a recent summit in Turkey because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a “different plane” due to a threat.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he slipped away from Air Force One after a recent summit in Turkey because the Secret Service and military wanted him on a “different plane” due to a threat.

President Donald Trump has confirmed he secretly switched planes when leaving the NATO summit in Turkey last month in an effort to evade a possible[ Iranian threat](https://time.com/article/2026/08/10/iran-us-strait-of-hormuz-conditions-trump-negotiations/).

“It's only up to the Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military,” Trump [told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj0msH9OmLo) reporters late Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety, but they wanted me to do it, so I do it, I do what they say."

When asked about the nature of the “threat,” Trump acknowledged there had been one but said he “didn’t really ask too much about it,” adding that he receives “a lot of threats.”

The Washington _Post_ first [reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/10/trump-flew-secrecy-amid-iran-threat-air-force-one-became-decoy/) Monday that when Trump left Ankara, Turkey, on July 8 and headed to England, he boarded Air Force One in front of the media, before being transferred to a military aircraft via a catering truck in an effort to conceal his exact whereabouts. Several other outlets also carried the story citing unnamed U.S. officials as sources.

Video[ footage of the scene](https://www.facebook.com/CBSNews/videos/video-shows-the-airport-catering-truck-used-in-a-secret-operation-to-move-presid/1556008959336014/) shows a Turkish airport catering truck, understood to be sheltering Trump inside, pulling away from Air Force One.

Journalists, alongside some White House staffers, traveled on Air Force One and were reportedly unaware of the President no longer being onboard.

The operation has come under scrutiny, [sparking questions](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/11/trump-air-force-one-deception-democrats) as to whether those left on the decoy plane presumed to still be carrying the President were at risk.

"I think actually the ​plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters late Tuesday. ”Because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for."

Robert McDonald, who spent 21 years with the Secret Service, also pushed back on the idea that Air Force One and the people stillaboard it may have been left exposed. “I would find it incredibly hard to believe that those two planes weren't escorted or with other assets from allies or the U.S. Air Force in the area,”[ he told TIME](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/trump-secret-plane-swap-Turkey-UK-Secret-Service-Air-Force-One/), adding that he doubted the people on the aircraft “were dangled out there and left to fend for themselves.”

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c843818f7a93ca2/6a7c617e0208b825e3391b7a/Trump-Secret-Flight.webp?branch=production)

Air Force One sits on the tarmac with an airport catering container adjacent to the body of the aircraft in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026\. —Win McNamee—Getty Images

Prior to leaving the summit on July 8, Trump had[ posted on social media](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116884409163416775) that, for “old time’s sake,” he would fly out of Turkey on the older Air Force One instead of the newer,[ controversial Qatari-gifted](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/trump-air-force-one-qatar-controversy-security-questions/) aircraft, which had made its first international trip to the NATO event.

“To honor our brave men and women of the military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the aircraft,” he said.

When asked during a NATO press briefing why he wasn’t flying the new plane home, the President [told](https://youtu.be/9JYvcEVlu3s?t=2020) reporters that the aircraft was being flown to a U.S. base to give service members a chance to see it.

In reality, the clandestine operation meant that, for a portion of time, the President’s real whereabouts were seemingly unknown to—and concealed from—the White House press pool.

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a296489a526dcaa/6a7c561b453dba77dbaf99a3/Clinton_Plane.jpg?branch=production)

Former President Bill Clinton disembarks a jet at Islamabad International Airport in March 2000\. —Stephen Jaffe—Getty Images

### Trump isn't the only President to execute a decoy mission

Although rare, a decoy maneuver such as this is not unheard of when it comes to presidential travel.

A similar episode occurred in March 2000, when former President Bill Clinton secretly switched to a decoy jet, with all of the markings of Air Force One, as he traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan for a[ visit marked](https://www.upi.com/Archives/2000/03/25/Clinton-arrives-in-Pakistan-amid-ultra-tight-security/8860953960400/) by extraordinary security.

The switch was revealed when a Secret Service agent resembling Clinton stepped out of Air Force One upon touching down in Pakistan, while Clinton disembarked from the second aircraft. 

However, at least [one member](https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/08/11/donald-trump-bill-clinton-switched-air-force-one-security/91254069007/) of the White House pool was aware of the ruse: Susan Page, then-president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, who was covering the trip for USA TODAY.

Page this week broke her 26-year silence on the briefing that preceded the secret switch.

“They told me about the extraordinary security procedures being taken because of the dangers in flying there, including use of the decoy plane,” she [told](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/11/trumps-plane-ruse-echoes-clintons-pakistan-swap-with-one-key-difference/) the _Post_. “Of course, the dangers threatened the journalists covering the trip as well as President Clinton.”

On why she chose to share her experience all these years later, Page explained: “I haven’t spoken about this episode before, because of the off-the-record ground rules of that discussion. But since more than a quarter-century has passed—and since the ruse became evident as soon as President Clinton disembarked in Pakistan—I think it’s OK for me to relay it now.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt46f47de932ea2a5cWed, 12 Aug 2026 12:35:11 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Tiago Ventura\]\]><!\[CDATA\[An AI Tax Could Be the Great Equalizer America Needs\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/an-ai-tax-could-be-the-great-equalizer/<!\[CDATA\[Ideas\]\]><!\[CDATA\[“A tax is the best way to secure the public’s standing as a co-owner of AI,” argue Sarah Polcz and Jeremy Bearer-Friend.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Alfieri—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta085af85d5989dfc/6a7b820ece8afd092851f9fd/AI-Tax-Robot.jpg?branch=production)

 —Alfieri—Getty Images

An idea that until recently would have been seen as radical—that the public should co-own AI—now commands[ bipartisan consensus](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/07/21/ai-taxes-hurt-american-workers/). 

In June, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the first AI tax in history, the[ American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act](https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/AmericanAIWealthFundTextv618.pdf), which[ took up](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/opinion/artificial-intelligence-bernie-sanders.html) our[ AI equity tax framework](https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/taxlaw/article/view/14478). The bill proposes making the biggest AI companies[ owe the public half the equity in each company’s AI business](https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5853510-ai-tax-proposal-public-ownership/), paid in newly issued shares. 

In the weeks since, OpenAI’s [Sam Altman](https://www.ft.com/content/7c803eab-8e80-4431-9a87-e943bf00e00b) and[ President Donald Trump](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-20/michael-bloomberg-government-owned-ai-is-a-dangerous-idea) have scrambled to compete, offering their own visions of an AI sovereign wealth fund, which, unlike a tax, would be voluntarily created through the companies’ partnership with the government. Specifically, the ChatGPT creator is [reportedly](https://time.com/article/2026/07/03/openai-invest-ai-trump-administration-sam-altman/) considering giving the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company. We believe this approach is a mistake—and a tax is the solution. 

The essential nature of a tax is that it’s mandatory, which is why a tax is the best way to secure the public’s standing as a co-owner of AI. Plus, the public supports an AI equity tax. Last month, a[ national poll](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/12/majority-of-us-workers-support-ai-fund-amid-tech-layoffs-survey.html) found 69% of Americans in favor of requiring the largest AI companies to transfer half their stock into a public sovereign wealth fund. 

The fight now is over the terms of public co-ownership: how much the public gets, who must deliver it, and whether delivery can be enforced. Altman and Trump are negotiating those terms with each other. Whether the public ever sees any benefit from the equity stake to be taken in its name is what hangs in the balance.

A deal between Altman and Trump would bind OpenAI to the current administration in the public’s name, at least symbolically. Yet the rights would belong to the administration, and the public would likely have no recourse if a later administration unwound the arrangement. 

That brings us to an idea that until recently would also have been seen as radical: the federal government taking ownership of companies through a tax. 

The Trump Administration has taken equity stakes in[ more than two dozen companies](https://politicalwire.com/2026/07/13/trump-takes-equity-stakes-in-dozens-of-firms/) over the past year. The trend in those deals is that the rights belong to the administration, rather than being directly owed to citizens. And public dollars have to be handed over in exchange for the shares, putting the public on the hook.

Trump’s side of these deals follows a common pattern. His administration negotiates each stake company by company. In the case of[ Intel](https://www.reuters.com/business/us-take-10-equity-stake-intel-trumps-latest-corporate-move-2025-08-22/), government grants already owed were converted into an equity stake. In[ a mineral-rights deal](https://investors.usare.com/news-releases/news-release-details/usa-rare-earth-finalizes-definitive-agreements-us-department), fresh taxpayer money was spent. And now, for something completely different, Trump is making [early moves](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/business/economy/trump-equity-stakes-ai.html) to accept AI [stakes](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/05/trump-open-ai-altman-stake.html) as donations. A government stake in AI companies “would be a beautiful thing,”[ the President says](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-20/michael-bloomberg-government-owned-ai-is-a-dangerous-idea), and would ensure that “the American people can benefit from the success of AI.” Yet across Trump’s equity-acquisition deals, terms are established not by statute but through private negotiations, and the President or his agencies keep the rights.

Two deals illustrate how this works and why we should be wary. Trump publicly demanded Intel’s chief executive’s resignation. Only weeks later, the administration had its stake, a position that is now worth[ tens of billions](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/INTC/intel/stock-price-history). And as a condition for approval of the[ Nippon Steel acquisition](https://www.ft.com/content/ab85c9c0-b92a-4349-b165-cf87318ac05b?syn-25a6b1a6=1), the administration took a golden share in U.S. Steel: “I, President Donald J. Trump, hold the Class G Preferred Stock (Golden Share) in U.S. Steel,” the President wrote in the[ Federal Register](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-11-25/pdf/2025-21204.pdf). The issue in both of these cases: one person, Trump, wields unprecedented power. 

Altman argues a public stake is “[the best way to share the upside of AI](https://www.ft.com/content/7c803eab-8e80-4431-9a87-e943bf00e00b).” The company has[ reportedly proposed](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/openai-proposes-us-government-own-5percent-stake-to-address-political-blowback.html) giving the administration a 5% stake, structured like the Alaska Permanent Fund and revocable whenever OpenAI chooses.[ The Financial Times reports](https://www.ft.com/content/7c803eab-8e80-4431-9a87-e943bf00e00b) the aim: clearing political obstacles by securing the administration’s financial buy-in. It’s a Trojan horse in which no one is fooled except the public. 

We can guess where the public’s best interests could be treated as bargaining chips. OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing IPOs and likely need the administration’s goodwill. OpenAI, for example, is currently under pressure from the government to limit[ GPT-5.6’s release](https://moneywise.com/news/top-stories/openai-sam-altman-trump-administration-5-percent-government-stake)—a constraint the administration might be persuaded to drop in exchange for a donated equity stake. The administration’s record shows it accepts equity as consideration for looking the other way or relenting. Yet none of these dealings inherently benefit the American public. 

In response, only Sanders has committed to actually issuing payouts to each American. With Sanders’ AI equity tax, there is no question mark about the public benefit of the tax. After all covered AI companies remit half their equity in newly issued shares, a public trust fund holds the shares, and the fund must pay out its returns to the public by statute. According to estimates from[ Sanders’ office](https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-legislation-to-create-7-trillion-ai-sovereign-wealth-fund/), a 5% annual distribution would be about $1,045 per person per year. Since no public funds are used to buy shares and the bill specifically prohibits public bailouts of covered companies, the US public truly shares in the upside of AI. 

The outcome of the midterms will likely determine whether Sanders’ AI equity tax advances, and thus the coming months may decide who owns America’s AI future. In the meantime, Trump and Altman may move ahead with their visions. 

In our view, one design courts more corruption and wealth consolidation; the other ensures that, if AI ushers in any prosperity, it will be shared broadly, transparently, and with public accountability.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt95ba9f016432ce34Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:00:03 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Sarah Polcz and Jeremy Bearer-Friend\]\]><!\[CDATA\[What to Know About Mamdani’s Second-Home Tax That Trump Says ‘Must Be Stopped’\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/zohran-mamdani-pied-a-terre-second-home-tax-trump-explainer/<!\[CDATA\[U.S.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[President Donald Trump is among those who have criticized New York City’s ‘pied-à-terre’ tax.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Michael Nagle—Bloomberg/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, arrives to speak to members of the media on July 7, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf04a91378b5955eb/6a7c4303453dba087aaf9763/zohran-mamdani.jpg?branch=production)

Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, arrives to speak to members of the media on July 7, 2026\. —Michael Nagle—Bloomberg/Getty Images

[Zohran Mamdani](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/zohran-mamdani/)’s [cornerstone tax](https://time.com/article/2026/05/13/zohran-mamdani-new-york-city-deficit-budget-funding/) on New York City’s high-value second homes is facing backlash—including from [President Donald Trump](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/donald-trump/), who wants to thwart what he deems the mayor’s “dangerous political ‘experiment.’”

“The NYC Pied-a-Terre Tax is costing New York City and State a fortune in that the money, eventually to be gotten, is very little compared to to \[sic\] the TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return,” Trump [posted](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117077620225720641) on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.

Trump argued that the tax, which took effect last month, could encourage wealthy property owners and taxpayers to leave for places like Florida where taxes are lower. The tax may affect him too: Trump is a born-and-raised New Yorker whose legal primary residence is in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., but he also owns a second home in Trump Tower in Manhattan, which city authorities have [assigned a market value of about $6 million](https://a836-edms.nyc.gov/dctm-rest/repositories/dofedmspts/StatementSearch?bbl=1012921263&stmtDate=20260116&stmtType=NPV) (though it could sell for [tens of millions more](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/10/10/ex-trump-org-cfo-knew-size-of-trumps-penthouse-was-inflated-he-testifies/) based on valuation estimates).

“This dangerous political ‘experiment’ in New York will destroy what was once a great City and State,” Trump said, adding: “This doesn’t work in America, and must be stopped, NOW!” The President said he was looking to see if the federal government has “any legal right to avert this disaster.”

It’s unclear what legal means Trump could use to dislodge the tax, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul [announced](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-pied-terre-tax-proposal-luxury-second-homes-valued-5-million-or-more) in April to support Mayor Mamdani amid a city budget squeeze. In response to Trump’s criticisms, Hochul, also a Democrat, defended the tax as about “paying your fair share.”

“I believe that in the state of New York, if you have a $5 million second home, then you should be able to afford to pay for police and fire and trash removal and snow removal in the wintertime,” Hochul [told local media Tuesday](https://www.instagram.com/reels/Db6WQ-%5FMssb/). “Donald Trump ought to focus on all the pain he’s causing New Yorkers and knock it off and don’t worry about us.”

## What is New York’s _pied-à-terre_ tax?

In line with Mamdani’s promise to “[tax the rich](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DXKlAiMkeAr/),” New York City implemented a _pied-à-terre_ tax, a yearly levy on high-value residential properties that are not one’s primary residence. Hochul signed the legislation containing it on May 28, and it became effective beginning July 1\. 

New York authorities say the tax is expected to generate at least $500 million a year in revenue, which would help close the city’s $12 billion budget gap over fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

For two fiscal years starting in July 2026, the levy may apply to one-, two-, and three-family homes valued by the city’s finance department at $5 million or greater, as well as condominium and cooperative units valued at $1 million or more. For covered family homes, the levy rate starts at 0.8% of the market value and goes up to 1.3% for properties exceeding $25 million. As for covered condos and co-ops, the surcharge starts at 4% and reaches up to 6.5% for properties valued at $5 million or more.

As part of the rollout, New York City’s finance department sent letters to about 17,000 addresses that “may be subject to the charge” and [shared a data set](https://www.nyc.gov/site/finance/property/property-assessments.page#) of about 900,000 properties on its website. A listed property may be exempt from the tax if it is the primary residence of a tenant or subtenant, or an immediate family member of the owner or a majority stakeholder, among others. If a property owner received a letter, they can file for exemption if they are eligible.

## What’s the backlash about?

Critics have pushed back against Mamdani’s Administration’s apparent attempt to single out the rich. In April, Mamdani [posted a video on social media](https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2044508902809628760?s=20) outside a building where hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin purchased a penthouse for $238 million in 2019\. Griffin, a Miami resident, [suggested](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2026/05/06/what-did-ken-griffin-say-about-mamdani-why-is-griffin-mad-at-mamdani/89959023007/) the video put him in harm’s way.

Last week, a group of homeowners [sued](https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=RdVi0tmfESxQLvb5mGEdqw==) the city administration over its rollout of the tax. The lawsuit particularly challenged the release of the data set and the sending of the letters, and argued that the city “has arbitrarily and capriciously foisted onto New York City residents the burden of proving they are not subject to the Surcharge.” 

The suit said that some residents who are actual primary residents at the addresses still received letters, and criticized how those seeking an exemption only had until Aug. 21 to submit their applications. (That deadline has since been extended to Sept. 18.)

Randy Mastro, the former first deputy mayor under Mamdani’s predecessor Eric Adams and a vocal critic of the incumbent mayor, represented the plaintiffs. Speaking to [Spectrum News NY1](https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/news/2026/08/07/lawsuit-filed-against-mamdani-administration-s-rollout-of-pied---terre-tax), Mastro said he also received one of the letters erroneously, and described the tax program as “a botched rollout that didn't involve any of the work the Mamdani Administration should've done before sending out any of those letters.”

On Monday, Staten Island judge Wayne M. Ozzi [issued a temporary restraining order](https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=LQ8NoKrbIe5DHSpoTPvUPQ==) on the rollout. “Sending out notices to 17,000 homeowners who might be subject to a surcharge doesn’t satisfy the intent of the legislation,” Ozzi said in the Monday hearing, as reported by the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/nyregion/mamdani-second-home-tax-ruling-nyc.html)_._

But the city appealed the judge’s order, triggering an automatic stay pending appeal. A hearing before Ozzi is scheduled for Aug. 31.

On Monday, Mamdani continued defending the tax and said his administration was “confident” in it, as it would give the city more funding for its schools and streets. As for the rollout, the mayor said: “We always know that with any new tax, there are more questions than there are answers.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltb9233960e6559739Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:00:03 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Chad de Guzman\]\]><!\[CDATA\[What to Know About the E.U.’s New Biometric Entry System That’s Caused Chaos at Airports\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/eu-europe-travel-entry-exit-system-ees-passport-biometric/<!\[CDATA\[World\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The E.U.’s new electronic entry system has been in full effect for only a few months, but some airports and airlines are already calling for it to be overhauled.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Dursun Aydemir—Anadolu/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Passengers face long queues at passport control in Brussels Airport, Belgium, on May 20, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta44fd17cacdf030f/6a7c3f0b5798c968ce5a4560/brussels_airport.jpg?branch=production)

Passengers face long queues at passport control in Brussels Airport, Belgium, on May 20, 2026\. —Dursun Aydemir—Anadolu/Getty Images

The European Union’s new mandatory digital entry system could complicate your “Euro Summer” plans.

Twenty-nine European countries, including France, Spain, and Greece, have implemented the [entry-exit system (EES)](https://etias.com/articles/eu-entry/exit-system-everything-travelers-need-to-prepare-for) that replaces manual passport stamping with biometric checks. The system was intended to speed up immigration processes for non-E.U. travelers entering the Schengen Area for short stays.

But the system, which began a phased rollout in October before taking full effect on April 10, has led to long queues and delays, especially in high-tourist destinations. Some border authorities have even opted to turn off the system entirely and return to manual passport checks during peak processing times.

The E.U. [said](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/entryexit-system-ees-fully-operational-2026-04-10%5Fen) such growing pains are expected in the beginning, but promised that over time, the system should reduce wait times and allow for more accurate tracking of traveler data. The EES was first adopted in 2017, but was [repeatedly delayed](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-10-2025-0082%5FEN.html) because of the COVID-19 pandemic and technical challenges in implementing a central E.U. database with national border systems.

Here’s what to know about the system.

## What is the new system?

Manual passport stamps are no longer necessary as part of the EES. Instead, biometric data and passport details will be collected at border crossings.

Upon their first visit into the Schengen Area since the EES rollout, non-E.U. short-stay travelers will typically [have to undergo](https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/ltr/how-will-ees-work-what-new-during-border-checks) a fingerprint scan, facial image capture, and the collection of passport data.

For returning travelers, border guards can verify their stored biometrics, which would theoretically allow for faster processing.

Some airports may also have automated kiosks and mobile apps allowing travelers to pre-register their details. Travelers with biometric passports may also be able to use self-service systems for verification.

Traveler data will typically be stored for three years after their last entry or exit. The EES automatically calculates a traveler’s stay duration. Non E.U. travelers, including those from visa-exempt countries like the U.S. and those on short-stay visas, are allowed to visit Schengen Area countries for a maximum of 90 days per 180-day period. The system keeps track of whether travelers exceed that limit.

Travelers who exceed their authorized stay will automatically be flagged to immigration authorities. Overstayers could face penalties under national law, including warnings, fines, detention, and future entry restrictions. Traveler data will be stored for five years for those who overstay.

Travelers that refuse to provide biometric data [will be denied entry](https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/data-held-by-ees), according to the E.U.

The EES is meant to work in conjunction with [ETIAS](https://etias.com/what-is-etias), a pre-authorization system that has yet to be rolled out. ETIAS works similarly to the U.S. ESTA program. People from visa-free countries intending to travel to the Schengen Area would need to submit information including passport details and travel plans online before entering. ETIAS was [meant to go into effect in 2024](https://time.com/6300111/strong-us-europe-travel-fee-strong/) but has been delayed. No launch date has been announced.

## Why has it been changed?

The E.U. introduced the EES to [“modernize” the management](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-set-launch-date-entryexit-system-12-october-2025-2025-07-30%5Fen) of its borders and keep a more accurate record of travel by non-E.U. visitors, the bloc said. The electronic record system is meant to help border authorities identify people who overstay.

The system is also meant to enhance security. The E.U. said it has [made it easier to detect identity fraud](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/entryexit-system-will-become-fully-operational-10-april-2026-2026-03-30%5Fen) by checking travelers’ fingerprints and facial images against stored biometrics. As of mid-April, [more than 32,000 people were refused entry](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-report-shows-schengen-area-continues-be-resilient-and-ready-future-challenges-2026-05-18%5Fen) through the system and [nearly 800 people](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/state-schengen-report-2026%5Fen) were identified as posing a security risk, the bloc said.

The E.U. has also touted the system as improving efficiency and reducing border wait times by reducing the need for manual passport stamping, although its introduction has created initial delays. More than 160 million border crossings have been registered using the system so far, the [_Financial Times_](https://www.ft.com/content/42137dd8-8fdc-4d66-b193-ca52d51bd929) reported. 

## How does this compare with other entry systems?

Many countries around the world have transitioned to similar electronic entry systems. The U.S. electronically records foreign visitors’ arrivals and departures through its I-94 system. It also uses facial recognition technology at many border crossings.

Several countries in Asia also have robust biometric checks at their borders. Singapore enrolls first-time visitors’ facial, iris, and fingerprint biometrics. On subsequent entries and departures, visitors can use automated biometric clearance. The country also maintains electronic immigration records and has eliminated passport stamps.

Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and the U.K. also use both electronic travel records and biometric checks at passport control. 

But the EES is unusual in its scale. The system shares its records across 29 European countries. A traveler who enters through France and leaves through Italy, for example, has both movements recorded in one system.

## What’s with the hold up?

Despite its goal of making border control more efficient, the initial rollout of the new system has led to delays at a number of European airports.

Days after the full implementation of the EES in April, airport lobby ACI Europe told [Politico](https://www.politico.eu/article/new-eu-border-system-leads-airport-delays/) that queues at airports in 15 countries averaged two to three hours or longer during peak periods. As travel to Europe has increased over the summer months, travelers have seen persistent and at times worsened delays in many of the most heavily touristed countries. In an [open letter](https://www.aci-europe.org/media-room/610-open-letter-to-president-of-the-european-commission-on-the-schengen-entry-exit-system-ees.html) published July 1, ACI Europe and two other associations said waiting times reached five hours during peak periods. Some airlines and passengers have even [reported missed flights](https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/easyjet-milan-eu-entry-exit-system-chaos-b2956223.html) as a [result of EES delays](https://www.aci-europe.org/media-room/590-entry-exit-system-disruptions-on-first-day-of-full-operations-affirm-yet-again-the-immediate-need-for-flexibility.html).

Critics have argued that many airports were [not sufficiently prepared for the switch in systems](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg5gg6n9x3o). The E.U. previously said registration in the system [should take 70 seconds](https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-287476). But reports suggest initial enrollment takes longer, and has been slowed down by malfunctioning equipment, technical bugs, insufficient personnel, and inconsistent implementation across crossings.

Several airports including in Paris and Amsterdam have [temporarily switched off biometric collection](https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-entry-exit-system-switch-off-overwhelm/) and resorted to manual processing as a result of queues. The European Commission allowed border authorities at congested crossings to temporarily suspend otherwise mandatory biometric collection until Sept. 6\. Nine European countries—Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland—have [called for](https://www.euronews.com/travel/2026/07/10/serious-concern-nine-european-countries-urge-eu-to-ease-entryexit-system-border-checks) the waiver to continue beyond then. Airports and airlines have also [called for more flexibility](https://www.aci-europe.org/mediaroom/582-airports-and-airlines-call-for-immediate-schengen-entry-exit-system-ees-review-ahead-of-peak-summer-months-traffic.html) to suspend checks, as well as for staffing and technology issues to be addressed.

Some airport executives have [called for](https://www.ft.com/content/83ae0ca8-ccce-4253-abfb-4c204f24bbbd) the system to be redesigned, arguing that a border system that must be suspended during peak periods is not operationally ready.

The E.U. has [rejected](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/eu-ees-border-controls-airport-queues-delays-brexit) calls to suspend the system entirely, arguing that it could create incomplete entry and exit records. The Commission said it is working with national authorities to address technical problems and provide more border personnel where needed.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blta9009fad23436e90Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:55:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Miranda Jeyaretnam\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Introducing Count Binface, Britain's Political Satirist Who Is Standing Against Nigel Farage\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/count-binface-interview-nigel-farage-british-politics-clacton-byelection/<!\[CDATA\[World\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Satirical candidates are a long-standing tradition in British politics, but few have made as much of an impression as Count Binface. TIME speaks to the novelty candidate ahead of the Clacton by-election.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Ryan Jenkinson—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Count Binface speaks to the media at the by-election declaration in Wigan, England, on June 19, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb27b685cb1530056/6a7b73282378b296e73f5f5c/GettyImages-2282285098.jpg?branch=production)

Count Binface speaks to the media at the by-election declaration in Wigan, England, on June 19, 2026\. —Ryan Jenkinson—Getty Images

Satirical candidates are a long-standing tradition in British politics. When [former Prime Minister Keir Starmer](https://time.com/article/2026/06/22/uk-prime-minister-keir-starmer-resignation-reports-burnham-leadership-potential/) delivered a victory speech after winning his north London seat in the 2024 General Election, he was [flanked ](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2024/jul/05/i-will-have-your-back-keir-starmer-wins-north-london-seat-video)by someone in an Elmo costume and a man wearing a laboratory coat and a comically large hat. To the uninitiated, it may have seemed as though a major security breach had taken place. In reality, those were just some of the candidates Starmer had defeated.

But few, if any, novelty candidates have made as much of an impression as Count Binface. The self-described “intergalactic space warrior” wears a garbage can on his head and has become a regular name on election ballots across England over the past decade. He recently went up against [Andy Burnham](https://time.com/article/2026/07/17/andy-burnham-first-speech-labour-leader-incoming-prime-minister/) in the Makerfield by-election, and was among the first [to congratulate Burnham](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v2wyWwH6%5FeE) on his victory, which cleared the [now-Prime Minister](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/andy-burnham-uk-prime-minister-day-one-trump-invitation/)’s pathway back to Westminster.

Now, Count Binface has landed himself firmly in the middle of the fraught Clacton by-election taking place Thursday, emerging as the main rival for Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing populist Reform UK party and a long-time [ally of President Donald Trump.](https://time.com/7281644/trump-influence-local-elections-england-nigel-farage-maga-rallies-slogans/)

In July, amid mounting scrutiny over [undisclosed gifts](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/29/revealed-nigel-farage-was-given-undisclosed-5m-by-crypto-billionaire-in-2024) and donations, Farage resigned as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton, a coastal town in the east of England, in order to trigger a by-election in which he could run. 

"I've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions," he [said](https://www.facebook.com/C5News/videos/nigel-farage-has-announced-he-will-stand-down-as-a-member-of-parliament-for-clac/4199263623709739/), predicting a “people vs. the establishment by-election” would soon follow.

The main political parties in the U.K. said they would not be taking part in the by-election, which the Conservatives leader referred to as [a "fake" election](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaiGZTEDBDb/?hl=en) intended to distract people from the investigation into Farage's finances.

It remains to be seen if Farage’s gamble will pay off when voters head to the polls. A [Survation](https://www.survation.com/clacton-by-election-poll-what-do-voters-say-the-election-is-about/) poll conducted in July suggested 73% of Clacton adults may vote for Farage, with 20% of those remaining opting for Count Binface. Still, the British media is jubilantly anticipating a “[showdown](https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/clacton-byelection-when-count-binface-farage-b3030902.html)” between Farage and his garbage can-wearing adversary. 

Ahead of the polls opening, TIME’s Richard Hall caught up with Count Binface. True to form, the comedian, whose real name is Jon Harvey, stayed in character throughout the conversation. 

_(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity)._

**TIME: Our readers from all around the world may not be familiar with the peculiarities of British politics or your political platform. Can you introduce us to Count Binface, the candidate?**

Count Binface: I am an intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclons from planet Sigma IX, and a part-time democratic politician on Earth. My hobbies include invading star systems, dominating species, and watching the [_Lovejoy_](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/arts/television/27stew.html) box set. That won't mean anything to most of your readers, but it should. It’s the greatest art your planet has produced. Well, that and the Sistine Chapel.

**You have stood in a number of elections, sometimes in different forms. Can you tell us what drew you to this one in Clacton?**

Clacton is where the election is. If I’d gone elsewhere, it would have been less effective. Dare I say it, we wouldn't be talking now.

**You've stood in many elections, and lost them all. This time people appear to be taking you a bit more seriously. They think you may be able to improve on your previous personal best of 308 votes. Why do you think that is?**

I have lost my previous seven elections on Earth, but only numerically. Let's look at my past opponents. [Theresa May, remember her? ](https://time.com/article/2026/06/27/burnham-britain-why-u-k-is-set-to-get-its-seventh-prime-minister-in-10-years/)Thought not. Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, they’re all on \[the\] scrapheap of history, something I know a lot about. And yet I am going stronger than ever. I'm playing the long game. Do I think I can beat 308 in Clacton? I wouldn't want to presume. Let's see what happens.

**This time you're up against Nigel Farage, a man mired in a personal financing scandal. What does it tell us about British politics that people are considering voting for a garbage can over a real human?**

Mr Farage's finances are a matter for him, but he has decided to make them a matter for the Clacton electorate, too. I'm not interested in ad hominem attacks on any of [my 33 opponents. ](https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/parl.clacton.by.2026-08-13/clacton/)But do I think it's strategically odd to call a by-election while you're being investigated by a parliamentary committee, the result of which could also lead to a by-election? Yes I do. Is that a waste of time and money? You might think so. I couldn't possibly comment.

As for why they're choosing me, I offer the perfect blend of fully-costed policies, intergalactic drip, and as bizarre as it seems, I'll be the best local champion for the inhabitants of the area. 

**Your policies include a “windfall tax on cosy crime novels written by celebrities” and a referendum on whether Pluto should regain its planet status. How have the people of Clacton reacted to your manifesto, and to your campaign in general?**

I've been very gratified by the response both on the ground and in cyberspace. In actual fact, the policies you mention aren't the biggest hits so far. Top of the pops is my pledge that 99 Flake ice creams \[[a British tradition for generations](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/aug/24/99-flake-ice-cream)\] should be price-capped at 99p. For a seaside town, this was a no-brainer.

Another one which has done well in polling is this: Bosses of privatised water companies take a dip in British rivers to see how they like it, because they're full of excrement and all sorts. Curiously, I didn't even put this one in [my Clacton manifesto](https://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/26413011.count-binface-twenty-point-clacton-by-election-manifesto/), but I stand by all my past commitments, so this is an active pledge.

**If we wake up on the morning after this election and Count Binface has been defeated by Nigel Farage, what do you want people to have taken away from your campaign? And will you stick around for your opponent's victory speech?**

I hope they take the policies, my broader points, a smile, and a rehabilitated respect for democracy. Yes, of course, all candidates should respect the winner's victory speech. I'm sure Nigel will stick around to listen.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltc789eae2c1c1bc4fWed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Richard Hall and Olivia-Anne Cleary\]\]><!\[CDATA\[David Crowley Beats Former Frontrunner Francesca Hong in Democratic Primary for Wisconsin Governor\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/wisconsin-democratic-gubernatorial-primary-result-hong-crowley/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Moderates scored a win in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary as David Crowley bested democratic socialist Francesca Hong.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Scott Olson—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley greets supporters at a campaign rally in Milwaukee on Aug. 10, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30b74def8fa58b3e/6a7c26c62378b229d13f7305/GettyImages-2289948183.jpg?branch=production)

Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley greets supporters at a campaign rally in Milwaukee on Aug. 10, 2026\. —Scott Olson—Getty Images

Milwaukee County Executive [David Crowley](https://time.com/article/2026/08/10/wisconsin-governor-primary-tuesday-francesca-hong-david-crowley/) won the Democratic primary race for Wisconsin’s governorship, toppling his [Democratic socialist](https://time.com/article/2026/06/18/what-is-a-democratic-socialist-mamdani-lewis-george-bernie-sanders-aoc/) opponent, Francesca Hong, who had surged in the polls leading up to Tuesday.

What turned out to be a razor-thin contest wasn’t called by the [_Associated Press_](https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/wisconsin-primary-results-governor/) until early Wednesday morning, after a delay in tabulating votes from Milwaukee. 

Earlier in the night, Hong had urged her supporters to unite behind the eventual winner for the November general election against the Republican nominee, Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is [backed](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-endorses-republican-rep-tom-tiffany-in-wisconsins-open-race-for-governor) by President [Donald Trump](https://time.com/tag/donald-trump/). 

“No matter who’s on this ballot, y’all, we are going to fight to win for one another,” Hong said.

In the end, Crowley took 39.8% of the vote, per the _Associated Press_, as compared to Hong's 39.3%.

**Read More:** [_What Is a Democratic Socialist?_](https://time.com/article/2026/06/18/what-is-a-democratic-socialist-mamdani-lewis-george-bernie-sanders-aoc/)

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt165fe96ba6605450/6a7c271b144080e61acd04d9/GettyImages-2289635241.jpg?branch=production)

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong during a primary election night watch party in Madison as the primary race remained too close to call on Aug. 11, 2026\. —Talia Sprague—Bloomberg/Getty Images

## Ballot chaos, Hong's controversy, and what comes next in the battleground state

After the popular Gov. Tony Evers [announced](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/24/tony-evers-wisconsin-2026-00474526) last year that he wouldn’t run for re-election, the state’s [Lieutenant Governor](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/25/wisconsin-lt-gov-sara-rodriguez-launches-gubernatorial-bid-00476581) and [former Lieutenant Governor](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/us/politics/wisconsin-governor-mandela-barnes.html) entered the race. But both dropped out amid separate controversies, leaving four candidates in the running: Crowley, Hong, former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration Joel Brennan, and state Sen. Kelda Roys. 

Hong and Crowley were widely considered to be the top two contenders in the race, with Brennan and Roys polling in single digits leading up to Tuesday.

**Read More:** [_Lindell Refuses to Concede to Demuth in Minnesota Governor Primary_](https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/minnesota-governor-republican-primary-election-result-demuth-lindell-qualls/)

Crowley, who is the first Black executive of Milwaukee County and the youngest person to serve in the role, was the fledgling hope of Democratic leaders in the Wisconsin primary race. National Democrats had voiced concerns that his main opponent, Hong, wouldn’t be able to garner enough votes to defeat the Republican nominee in November. 

Hong has generated controversy in recent months, including for past social media posts in which she called for abolishing the police and ending Thanksgiving for “celebrating colonialism”—both of which she has since walked back. Crowley, meanwhile, was [backed](https://www.crowleyforwi.com/endorsements) by prominent members of his party in the state, including Evers and Rep. Gwen Moore.

Crowley now heads into what is expected to be a close battle over which party will get to lead [the purple state of Wisconsin](https://time.com/7093734/wisconsin-purple-state-history/); the [Cook Political Report](https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/governor-race-ratings) ranks the state’s gubernatorial race as a “toss up.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt3ca21a8ba7f48ee0Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Chantelle Lee\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Lindell Won’t Concede to Demuth in Minnesota’s Governor Primary, Where Both Trump’s and the GOP’s Picks Lost\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/minnesota-governor-republican-primary-election-result-demuth-lindell-qualls/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Minnesota Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth won the Republican primary for governor, beating out GOP-endorsed and Trump-backed candidates in the race.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Richard Tsong-Taatarii—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Gubernatorial candidate and state House Speaker Lisa Demuth makes her case for the GOP nomination at the Minnesota Republican state convention in Duluth on May 30, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03e10899b1f72f97/6a7bf459bf22b25bf395f335/GettyImages-2279275609.jpg?branch=production)

Gubernatorial candidate and state House Speaker Lisa Demuth makes her case for the GOP nomination at the Minnesota Republican state convention in Duluth on May 30, 2026\. —Richard Tsong-Taatarii—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images

MyPillow Founder Mike Lindell is refusing to to concede in [Minnesota's](https://time.com/tag/minnesota/) Republican gubernatorial primary, despite Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth's win on Tuesday. 

The [_Associated Press_](https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/minnesota-primary-results-governor/#Gop) called the race just before midnight as Demuth was leading with more than 43% of the vote to Mike Lindell’s less than 33% of the ballots counted. However, the [Trump-backed](https://time.com/6250545/rnc-chair-trump-2024-future/) candidate alleges irregularity in voting totals.

“There’s 265,000 votes left to count. I’m down by 18,000 now,” he said on his live streaming network, [LindellTV](https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2087488829276016744?s=20). “I’m not going to give up this race until the votes are counted. That’s nonsense.”

Lindell garnered national attention in the aftermath of the 2020 election as a prominent election denier.

The state Republican Party, meanwhile, opted to endorse Kendall Qualls, a businessman and Army veteran, at a state convention in May. 

Despite earning neither endorsement, Demuth remained competitive in the race—and ultimately pulled out the win.

She now heads to the general election in November, where she is expected to face an uphill battle against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

**Read More:** [_Wisconsin Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Results_](https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/wisconsin-democratic-gubernatorial-primary-result-hong-crowley/)

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86a124528405820a/6a7bf4be56fcaa0a0d42eff8/GettyImages-2279275577.jpg?branch=production)

Gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell makes his case for the GOP nomination at the Minnesota Republican state convention in Duluth on May 30, 2026\. —Richard Tsong-Taatarii—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images

## How Trump shaped Mike Lindell’s campaign for Minnesota governor

  
Trump has never won Minnesota in any of his three presidential runs, but Lindell, who appeared to open a lead in the [polls](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/minnesota-governor-election-polls-2026.html?eafs%5Fenabled=false) in recent weeks, touted the President’s endorsement days before the election.

"I have an advantage over everyone up here,” Lindell said at an event on Sunday. “I can call up and work with the President of the United States.”

The former CEO, like Trump, has vocally denied the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden. Lindell has faced defamation suits over comments he made related voting machines, someof which are ongoing. Last June, he was ordered to pay $2.3 million to a Dominion Voting Systems executive after a jury found that he spread false and damaging claims related to the 2020 election.

Prior to that election, Lindell had also become known for his MyPillow advertisements and his self-published memoir _What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO_, in which he chronicled his experience overcoming substance abuse and gambling. He stepped down as CEO of the pillow company earlier this month to focus on his campaign.

Lindell aligns largely with Trump’s approach to many issues, including slashing government spending. Among his campaign proposals was a “Minnesota DOGE,” a reference to the Trump Administration’s now-shuttered Department of Government Efficiency.

Although he later secured the President’s public support, Lindell was beat out by both Qualls and Demuth in the contentious voting process for the state GOP endorsement, being eliminated after finishing third in the fourth round of voting. After 10 ballots, Qualls just surpassed the 60% vote needed to formally secure the endorsement.

Qualls, the first Black candidate to win a major party endorsement for governor in Minnesota, called for unity in the party following his win.

“Now is the time to remind everyone what our first Republican President said on the field of Gettysburg: That a house divided cannot stand,” Qualls [said](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JzrJ-zzW1xo). “If we’re going to win, we got to win as a united Republican Party.”

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bede34ab8bfb3fb/6a7bf55bd6cd0ea67685c705/GettyImages-2279275607.jpg?branch=production)

Gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls makes his case for the GOP nomination at the Minnesota Republican state convention in Duluth on May 30, 2026\. —Richard Tsong-Taatarii—The Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty Images

## Can Republicans flip the Minnesota governor’s mansion?

Minnesota hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, while the last Republican senator was elected in 2002\. In presidential elections, it holds the current record among the 50 states for the longest streak of voting for the Democratic candidate; it last went for a Republican in 1972, when it gave its electoral votes to Richard Nixon.

However, Qualls and Demuth aimed to make headway.

Qualls has never previously held public office, but he was not a new face on the campaign trail in Minnesota. This year’s primary marked Qualls’ third campaign for a major seat. He mounted an unsuccessful bid in the race to represent Minnesota’s third congressional district in the U.S. House in 2020 and previously ran for governor, also unsuccessfully, in 2022\. 

In his bid this year, Qualls [called](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/5-questions-on-5-issues-kendall-qualls-republican-candidate-for-governor) for a “radical transformation” to the state’s tax policy and education system. “We can do a lot more with less,” he said to [ABC](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/5-questions-on-5-issues-kendall-qualls-republican-candidate-for-governor/) affiliate 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

Demuth largely aligned on policy with Qualls, but sought to distinguish herself on the campaign trail by emphasizing her government experience as the first Black woman and Republican woman to serve as House Speaker.

“I am the best candidate who is able to look forward to November and beating Amy Klobuchar and I’ll say the Democrat machine,” Demuth said in an interview with KSTP in June. “And the reason I know I’m best-positioned to do that is when you look at my work as Speaker of the House I can draw people together.”

Demuth, who leads a state House with an even split between the two parties, touted her ability to broker deals and communicate within a thinly divided government.

“I have solid, conservative values that really do cross party lines,” she said at a news conference. “It’s not just Republican values. They’re conservative values that are supported by many Minnesotans.”

Tim Walz, who has been the governor since 2019, launched a bid for a third term but [dropped out](https://time.com/7343133/why-tim-walz-is-dropping-out-of-minnesota-governor-race/) in early January amid investigations into state welfare agencies and government-affiliated programs that were widely targeted by fraud.

The Cook Political Report [rates](https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/governor-race-ratings) the Minnesota governor’s mansion as Solid Democrat, among those it deems least likely to flip in this election cycle.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt544b8ee5e599b825Wed, 12 Aug 2026 04:26:25 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Connor Greene\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Why Trump’s Secret Flight Was Extraordinary by Presidential Standards\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/trump-secret-flight-white-house-press-pool-journalists/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[For several hours, the President’s real whereabouts were unknown to—and concealed from—both the White House press pool and the American public.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Win McNamee—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Air Force One sits on the tarmac with an airport catering container adjacent to the body of the aircraft in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5b1b34d1c1d029c/6a7ba866206705d11940b9f9/Trump-Secret-Flight.jpg?branch=production)

Air Force One sits on the tarmac with an airport catering container adjacent to the body of the aircraft in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026\. —Win McNamee—Getty Images

The “secret flight” that President Donald Trump took out of Turkey last month following an Iranian assassination threat, newly revealed by [the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/10/trump-flew-secrecy-amid-iran-threat-air-force-one-became-decoy/?%5Fpml=1) this week, marked a rare occasion for a commander-in-chief: traveling without the White House press pool.

Multiple outlets have [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/us/politics/trump-plane-ruse.html), citing unnamed sources, that when Trump left Turkey after the NATO Summit last month, he secretly departed the country on an alternate plane because of an assassination threat made against him from Iran.

Publicly, the Administration said that Trump would fly out of Turkey on July 8 on an older Air Force One aircraft, and the President did board that plane in the sight of cameras and reporters on that day. But the _Post_ reported that Trump then got into a catering truck, which transported him to another plane—all unbeknownst to the journalists who were on the former Air Force One and were under the impression that they were on the same aircraft as the President.

The clandestine operation meant that, for several hours, the President’s real whereabouts were unknown to—and concealed from—both the White House press pool and the American public. 

**Read More:** [_Former Secret Service Agents: Trump’s Secret Plane Swap Unusual, Not Unprecedented_](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/trump-secret-plane-swap-Turkey-UK-Secret-Service-Air-Force-One/)

In response to the _Post_’s questions about the operation, White House communications director Steven Cheung shared a statement defending the plane Trump traveled on to get to Turkey, a Qatar-gifted aircraft that drew controversy.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” Cheung said in the statement_._ “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”

Historically, the journalists who make up the White House press pool travel with—or alongside—the sitting President nearly everywhere he goes. Here’s what to know about the pool, and previous instances when a commander-in-chief has made the extraordinary move of traveling without those journalists.

## What is the White House press pool?

The White House press pool is a small group of journalists from various news outlets who follow the President around to various events, such as bill signings and trips. Because there is limited space to attend these events or travel with the President, the system allows news outlets to “pool” their resources; the print reporter on “pool duty” each day shares “pool reports,” which contain notes and quotes they took down as they followed the President, with the entire White House press corps. The specific journalists who are part of the press pool rotate.

“For nearly a century, the story of the American presidency has been written through the eyes of the ‘press pool,’ the small team of writers, photographers and technicians assigned each day to cover the commander-in-chief on behalf of the broader corps of correspondents,” the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which works to coordinate and ensure access for journalists covering the White House, said on its [website](https://whca.press/covering-the-white-house/). The WHCA went on to say that the accounts documented by the pool “provide a daily record of the presidency that forever lives in the archives of news organizations.”

“Pool duty is an essential element of the work of White House correspondents because one never knows when the world will need good information about precisely where the president of the United States is and what he is doing at any moment,” the association continued.

Members of the White House press pool have been with Presidents during a slew of historic and high-stakes moments. They were, for instance, in the motorcade when former President John F. Kennedy was [assassinated](https://time.com/6338396/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-culture/) in Dallas in 1963\. The press pool was also [present](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-trumps-assassination-attempt-compares-to-the-attempt-on-reagan-in-1981) when an assassination attempt was made on former President Ronald Reagan’s life in Washington, D.C. in 1981\. On Sept. 11, 2001, amid the chaos and fear that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush traveled with a smaller press pool to a military facility and then back to the nation’s capital.Journalists have also followed Presidents—including Trump—into dangerous war zones.

## When Presidents have traveled without the press pool in the past

While it is rare for the sitting President to travel without the press pool, it has happened on occasion in the past.

In 2010, former President Barack Obama [left](https://archive.nytimes.com/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/obama-leaves-the-house-without-the-pool/) the White House without the press pool and went to one of his daughter’s soccer games, a decision that generated controversy. The Associated Press [wrote](https://www.politico.com/story/2010/04/apparently-i-caused-a-problem-035639) at the time that Obama had “quietly breached years of protocol” by doing so.

Soon after Trump first won the presidency in 2016, but before he was sworn into the White House, he went out to dinner without notifying the reporters who were covering him. The move prompted press organizations to release an [open letter](https://www.press.org/newsroom/open-letter-president-elect-donald-trump) to Trump, in which they emphasized the importance of the press pool.

“As the new leader of the free world, we expect that you will preserve longstanding traditions that ensure coverage of the Trump presidency,” the organizations said in their 2016 letter. “The idea of a press pool that covers all of the president’s movements is one that dates back to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration. Every president of both parties has treated this important tradition with respect. The role of the press pool is critically important to our country, whose citizens depend on and deserve to know what the president is doing.”

Neither of those instances were a result of threats made against Obama or Trump. The operation last month, in contrast, stemmed from a threat against the President’s life that Administration officials deemed credible enough to warrant the secrecy, the _Post_ reported.

Air Force One has been used as a “decoy” for a President’s protection in the past: former President Bill Clinton, for instance, traveled to Pakistan in a white aircraft that followed Air Force One in 2000\. But he got off the unmarked plane in Islamabad in view of cameras and journalists, revealing the covert operation. And, before takeoff, Clinton Administration officials [told](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/08/11/donald-trump-bill-clinton-switched-air-force-one-security/91254069007/) at least one member of the White House pool about the operation.

When Trump boarded the alternate plane in secret last month, the poolers who were assigned to travel with him were not informed that he had switched to a different aircraft—nor were they notified about the adjudged credibility of the threat on the one they were on, an official told the _Post._

CNN anchor Jake Tapper emphasized on Tuesday the extraordinary circumstances of the clandestine operation in Turkey.

“Obviously the life of the president is paramount, and previous White Houses have used deception to protect the president’s life,” he said in a [post on X](https://x.com/jaketapper/status/2087217473204469806?s=20). “But no officials I’ve spoken to have ever before heard of using an \[Air Force One\] full of \[White House\] staff and journalists as a decoy during an imminent threat.”

Ronald L. Rowe Jr., a former acting director of the Secret Service, told the _Post_ that, if the President’s location is kept secret, it is for a reason.

“We need to keep the ‘secret’ in Secret Service,” Rowe told the news outlet. “The public should know what the president is doing on a daily basis, but when it comes to the methods by which the Secret Service keeps the president safe, that should remain out of public view.”

Robert McDonald, who worked with the Secret Service for more than two decades, [told TIME](https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/trump-secret-plane-swap-Turkey-UK-Secret-Service-Air-Force-One/) that the operation in Turkey appears to be a result of real-time improvisation by the President’s security team. He also cast doubt on the idea that the journalists who were on the former Air Force One were left at risk.

“I would find it incredibly hard to believe that those two planes weren’t escorted or with other assets from allies or the U.S. Air Force in the area,” he said.

McDonald went on to say that restricting the number of people who are informed of such an operation is standard practice, and stressed that the outcome of the mission was that everyone arrived home safe.

“Everybody that I’m aware of got home from that trip to Turkey,” he said. “The bottom line is everybody got home safe. That’s the main function of the Secret Service.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt0b43081bd43fca48Tue, 11 Aug 2026 23:08:16 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Chantelle Lee\]\]><!\[CDATA\[PBS Chief Paula Kerger on the Aftermath of Federal Funding Cuts—and What People Get Wrong About Public Media\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/pbs-chief-paula-kerger-interview/<!\[CDATA\[Business\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Kerger discusses what people get wrong about public media and what gives her hope\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Rahoul Ghose\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8c177ae1c70c34c/6a7ba1b5017cc1349eb38b1e/PBS_Paula_Kerger_2024_(1%29.jpg?branch=production)

Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS —Rahoul Ghose

Paula Kerger is navigating arguably the most challenging period of her 20-year tenure at the helm of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which has more than 330 member stations. Last spring, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for all federal funding to PBS and NPR to be blocked, accusing the organizations of bias. Soon after, the Department of Education notified the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that it was terminating the 2020-2025 Ready To Learn grant for educational content, affecting PBS as well as dozens of public television and radio stations. PBS and NPR sued, and in March this year a federal judge ruled that the executive order barring the federal funding violated the First Amendment. 

But the organization must still grapple with a funding shortfall created by a Congressional vote to rescind around [$1.1 billion](https://www.npr.org/2025/07/18/nx-s1-5469912/npr-congress-rescission-funding-trump) in advance appropriated federal funding for PBS and NPR, and an entirely new landscape for public media. The CPB, which was created in 1967 as a nonpartisan nonprofit to direct federal appropriations to public television and radio stations, announced in January that it would officially dissolve. PBS has since reduced its budget by [21%](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/business/pbs-budget-cuts.html) and cut [15%](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/04/nx-s1-5529431/pbs-cuts-15-of-jobs-in-wake-of-federal-funding-cut) of positions, or around 100 jobs.

It’s not the first time PBS has faced such a threat, Kerger says, pointing to Newt Gingrich's “Contract with America” platform in 1994\. But his idea was a “three-year glide path to zero,” she says. By contrast, the latest move gave stations just three _months_ to find alternative funding, since they were already expecting the appropriated funds for 2026 and 2027, she says.

Since the rescission, Kerger has been touring the U.S. and speaking with affected communities. “The light bulb went off,” she says of the public’s reaction. “It's like, ‘Oh, [Viewers Like You](https://www.pbs.org/viewers-like-me/). That means us.’” Since the July 2025 rescission, PBS has seen more than a million new memberships. Philanthropy and commercial partnerships are helping. And Kerger hopes to get “some level of government funding back,” particularly to support rural communities and infrastructure, she says. 

Kerger says she is most concerned about the future of content for children. “The kids' media landscape right now is really scary. A lot of kids are on YouTube, and there is some good stuff on YouTube, but kids get caught in the algorithm and they end up in places they shouldn't. Not all of it is by educators—our stuff all is, and it's rigorously tested,” she says. PBS is also working on games and content for “the significant number of kids that are not in formal pre-K, and whose family may not have access to as much technology or broadband.” 

TIME spoke with Kerger on July 15 about the aftermath of the funding pullback, what people get wrong about PBS, and what gives her hope about the future for the organization.

_This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity._

**You've talked before about how some people don't understand what PBS is. What do people get wrong about PBS?**

Media in most countries started out as government-based, and then commercial media came second, and we were the other way around here. So commercial media was actually a growing industry, and it was the first woman FCC commissioner—a woman by the name of [Frieda Hennock](https://time.com/archive/6601242/radio-wanted-woman/)—who was looking at what she was anticipating as something that was going to have an enormous impact on society, but that was all rooted in commercialism in the marketplace. She worried there would be limitations, that there would be things that would be in the public interest that \[the\] commercial marketplace wasn't going to take up, and so she lobbied to have spectrum put aside for both TV and radio, and that's how we began. 

Flash forward to Lyndon Johnson. He was particularly taken with what the BBC was able to do in terms of bringing great culture and history to the public, and he thought that our country should have that. He recognized that this loose confederation of individual stations that were mostly doing local or educational stuff wasn't exactly it, and that with some support you could create something that was more akin to the BBC, and that's when he signed the Public Broadcasting Act. Part of that was to create a network \[that\] could pull all these individual stations together. The second part of it was to ensure that there was federal funding available for communities that would perhaps be challenged to have their own stations. And so our funding always looked like that up until we lost the money last year. The largest percentage of most of the money went to stations, not to PBS and NPR. I think that was a confusion with some members of Congress. I'm not sure they knew exactly what they were voting on. 

Those that were in smaller communities would get a larger proportion of their budget from the federal government. In Alaska, there actually is no other media except public radio and public television stations. Almost half of their budget comes from the federal government. So, it sort of played out exactly as LBJ anticipated. Our stations are all locally owned, locally operated, locally governed. I don't tell anyone what to do, but everyone pays dues to PBS. We take that money, we raise some other money, leverage some additional money. We work with producers. We pull together a full schedule that we distribute. The whole broadcast infrastructure is all managed by PBS. The digital infrastructure that was built— apps, PBS.org that a lot of stations plug into—all built by PBS. Stations’ positions on cable and on places like YouTube TV, negotiated by PBS. The work that we do in schools, which is all distributed via broadband—free, all done by PBS. Stations then contribute their content, so that it is still very much bottom up, but the glue that pulls it all together is PBS. 

**Can you talk me through where things stand today with the funding pullback?**

So last year was quite a year, and we're still navigating through quite a few things. It started out with the FCC saying, "We think you're running commercials.” We actually are not. What we are running is sponsorship credits. We actually had worked with the FCC to define what is appropriate for public media, and we've worked closely with every Administration. Then we had the executive order that was going to make it illegal for any federal money to come to PBS and NPR. We [won that suit](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/pbs-statement-on-district-court-ruling-regarding-public-media-executive-order/). And the government \[missed\] the deadline to appeal, so it stands. 

And then, of course there was the rescission. The executive order took out a program that we have managed for 30 years, which has funded our kids' content: Ready To Learn. For many years, the Department of Education would fund programming out of PBS that was all built around what the Education Department's priorities were, whether that's literacy or math skills or executive function or, in the last round—which had been re-upped under the first Trump Administration—workforce preparedness. Now, you can decide what that means for preschool, but we interpreted it as giving kids a really good start on the basics, before they entered school, as a way of just helping to make sure that we were jump-starting them in their school career that would lead to a professional career. After the executive order, that money was gone. 

Then in June we lost the House vote, and this money had been advance appropriated for 2026 and 2027…I worked with the Public Media Company and within a very short period of time, we were able to raise bridge funds. That helped stabilize smaller stations that I think, some of them, would have gone dark very quickly. 

PBS have been working pretty deliberately to make sure that the public is aware that the funding is gone. In the time since the rescission, we’ve picked up more than a million new members, and most of those are people that didn't just write a check, but they agreed to give every month, so they've really signed up to be part of this. It has not solved all of our problems, but we're in at least a stable position right now. 

What I've been really focused on is our business model moving forward. Obviously, I would really love to get some level of government funding back, and I would argue \[that’s\] infrastructure money. If we could get that back, that would make an enormous difference. In addition to being a broadcaster, we're also the backup system for the emergency alert for this country because we operate broadcast, so we can reach everywhere. It's not just the messages to the public, but it's also using our spectrum to get information to first responders. It's a stable platform. Data and so forth can be pushed out via broadcast very effectively and very efficiently. 

The philanthropy is going to continue to be significant. We continue to look for production partners. We are streaming content on Amazon. So, some business revenue, some philanthropic investment, and the hope of trying to get at least some \[funding\] from the government. I think if we can get all those pieces aligned, we'll be in really strong shape.

**Can you give an indication of the proportions of those different funding streams?**

So historically, half of our money came from our stations, and a lot of that was contributed money. So I would say probably moving forward, I would assume that half of our money would continue to be contributed money, if we can manage this properly. Of the government money, it was 15% in aggregate. Whether some piece of that would come back, I can't even begin to quantify what that would mean. The rest of it would be some combination of increased foundation grants, as well as the contributed money. So a quarter of earned revenue, a quarter of high net worth and then foundation grants and individual giving. Individual giving is what's kept us anchored in communities. It's also what makes this so powerful, because everyone feels that they own it.

**On the philanthropy side of things, how are you thinking about who you want to take funding from? You've said before that you don't really want billionaires.** 

There were a lot of people that said, “Don't you have a billionaire that could solve your problems?” If people want to make more generous contributions, that’s great. We have some big needs. I just think that this idea that someone is going to sail in and save you is not good, and it's particularly not good for media. Even if someone has the very best of intentions, there's always going to be that doubt of, is someone really directing, or does someone have a thumb on the scale, or so forth. 

There are some people that really did step up this last year. I'm out talking to a lot of them, particularly around specific genres, and particularly around kids, right now. Kids have been impacted on so many different levels in the last couple of years, whether it's access to health care, there's so many children that have food insecurity now, and daycare circumstance—particularly high quality pre-K—has deteriorated, not improved. You just see that kids have borne the brunt of so much. We've got the history going all the way back to Fred Rogers and Sesame Street—we reach all those children. Our stations live in communities across the country. There are a lot of philanthropists that are looking at this, and these are areas that they care deeply about. So I'm hoping to continue to make that good case.

**The current administration has turned its attention to some foundations as well. Is that a consideration when you're thinking about which foundations you will accept funding from?**

I'll tell you what I pay attention to. One is, obviously, we have a firewall between our editorial and the contributed money, and that's really important. What I do pay attention to is not whether I'll take money from this foundation or that foundation for political reasons. What I do pay attention to is that we have a mix of donors that represent a range of interests, perspectives, geography, and so forth. I think there was a fallacy in the arguments around us and our funding that somehow we were left-leaning, or that we were funded by left-leaning organizations. Look at Ken Burns' recent series on the American Revolution. If you look at those funders, particularly the larger ones, you see people across the political spectrum. That's how it should be. We want all people engaged and involved. We're a public media service for the country, and we need to reflect the country in that way. 

I think the combination of doing that with the larger contributions, as well as lots and lots of small contributions, that's really always been the bedrock of public broadcasting. Every year, I think 23 years in a row, we have fielded a study that ranks us most trusted of public institutions. YouGov has been doing a similar survey in the last years. Same thing. I think we're [number two](https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/Trust%5Fin%5FMedia%5Fpoll%5Fresults%5FTewWyVH.pdf) after the Weather Channel. I think part of it is that if you anchor your support in a lot of grassroots philanthropy, people have to trust you, and so we take all of this really super seriously. 

And I would say that in the funding discussions in the last year, and actually on an ongoing basis, occasionally someone says—and believe me, I get these calls—”What, are you just catering to the Administration?” or “You're too hard on the Administration.” A lot of times I'll get those calls around the same broadcast, which is a little weird. People say, “Well I think you're biased” and it's like, OK, we do take this really seriously, can you give me an example? And oftentimes they can't. 

**Are these the sorts of conversations that you're having with members of Congress? What is it that they are expressing they're most concerned about?**

Some, I think, were surprised when we were defunded that it actually affected their local station. Ironically, a lot of the legislators spend time at the stations. That's where a lot of them end up doing town halls and debates, and they come in for various community events. I went and visited a couple of the senators that had voted against us and some of them said, well it was really the advance appropriation we were trying to get rid of and we'll look at the regular appropriations process, and it's still a dance. There was a little movement this year in looking at the infrastructure money that I'm talking about, at least reopening the program that existed where that funding had flowed before. That's a really important first step. Government funds infrastructure—it makes sense to me.

**What would it take to get that through?**

Getting enough people to vote from both sides of the aisle. I don't know \[that\], out of this budget process, we’ll be successful, but we're going to just keep plugging away at it because I think as people are setting priorities, the important thing is to get on that list. One of the things, both helpful and not, is in this last year, for the most part, people haven't seen enormous change. Unless we get some help, I think it'll become apparent in this next year we’ll likely lose a few stations, and I think that will also get people's attention, particularly if it happens to be in your legislative district. 

**This isn’t the first time that PBS has faced these sorts of challenges, but to your mind, why do you think PBS has become a target in this moment?** 

Well, I think media in general has been a target. I frankly think that's part of why so many people have also stepped up. I think a lot of people are very concerned about the impact of what they're seeing and how it's affecting different media organizations. It's a challenging time for media anyway because of the changes in how people are consuming content, and so we have been very much involved over a number of years, in really looking at how do we meet people where they are. YouTube has been a great partner of ours, and they helped us get all of our stations on YouTube TV, and that's opened up other possibilities on other platforms. So it's been a complicated time to navigate through. People's patterns have shifted a lot. 

**Who are your audiences, in terms of demographics?**

Depends on what you're watching. We have a very big audience under 5\. We have a very large audience across demographics on digital. For example, the _Frontline_ broadcast audience is well over 60\. The YouTube audience is under 35 \[and\] is also global. 

I'd say the one commonality for a PBS viewer is that \[it’s\] people that are curious about the world, just want to learn more. I've been talking a lot over this last year as we've rolled into the [250th \[anniversary of the U.S.\]](https://time.com/collection/our-america-250/2026/). I've always been struck by what I view as our key values of our country. The pursuit of happiness. What does that mean? I think what it means is lifelong learning. It's this idea that anyone would have the opportunity to achieve their potential, and that's who we are, and so I think that for our viewers, that very much captures who watches. 

**Where would you like to see PBS over the next 10 or 15 years?**

I feel like we have had a role in the life of people and families and communities across this country, and I am deeply committed to making sure that we continue to meet the needs of people that clearly will evolve over the next 10, 15 years. I think how we connect to people will continue to change. I think the power of a story well told is extraordinary, and so, however that story \[is told\], I want to make sure that we're there to do that. I think our place in local communities is pretty profound. 

But I think for us to thrive, we also have to make sure that we're continuing to bring in new voices and new perspectives. Our focus is around making sure that we're educating and engaging and inspiring. I really hope that as we look forward over the next 10 to 15 years, that it will continue to also be a through line. We want to embrace that whole idea of pursuit of happiness and really ensure that people see possibility. And if we do that and we do it well, then I'll be really proud of what we've accomplished at PBS.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltc63be43cefec32ceTue, 11 Aug 2026 22:44:45 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Ayesha Javed\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Former Secret Service Agents: Trump’s Secret Plane Swap Unusual, Not Unprecedented\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/trump-secret-plane-swap-Turkey-UK-Secret-Service-Air-Force-One/<!\[CDATA\[Politics\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Former Secret Service agents say Trump's secret plane swap was likely improvised in a hurry.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Abdullah Güçlü–POOL / AFP via Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon his arrival at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on July 7, 2026, to attend the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43b79dd58d7d82ff/6a7b79aafc29c5b7fcafe853/GettyImages-2284499620.jpg?branch=production)

President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon his arrival at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on July 7, 2026, to attend the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit. —Abdullah Güçlü–POOL / AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration's extraordinary maneuver to shield the President from an alleged [assassination threat](https://time.com/article/2026/07/11/how-serious-are-iran-s-threats-against-trump-/) from Iran last month by secretly moving him to a different plane has raised new questions about how often the [Secret Service](https://time.com/3418858/white-house-secret-service-photos/) resorts to such tactics. Former Secret Service agents tell TIME that such security measures, while rare, are not without precedent in the agency's playbook for handling credible threats. 

**Read more:** [_Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat_](https://time.com/article/2026/08/12/trump-plane-switch-turkey-iranian-threat-secret-service-decoy/)

Multiple outlets [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/us/politics/trump-plane-ruse.html) that the Trump administration orchestrated an elaborate plan to get Trump out of Turkey during the [NATO summit ](https://time.com/article/2026/07/24/trump-mark-rutte-europe-nato-/)on July 8, transporting him via a catering container to a military plane, after intelligence officials flagged a specific threat tied to Iran.

Moments before Trump was shuttled off the plane, he was seen by reporters boarding the original Air Force One instead of the new one donated by Qatar due to its lack of defensive capabilities. Reporters and White House staff on the aircraft were unaware of the fact that the President was not on the plane until after he had already switched planes again in Britain.

Jason Russell, a former Secret Service Agent who spent eight years protecting presidents and planning security details ahead of presidential trips, says that the President boarding Air Force One is normally the last thing that happens before the plane closes its door and begins taking off. 

“For him \[Trump\] to get on a plane, and then have a catering truck pull up to the side of the plane, anybody who's actually paying any attention to how Air Force One operates, should have been, like, ‘That's strange,’” Russell said. 

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c764af6897eb702/6a7b79c40208b8520c390220/IMG_7394.jpg?branch=production)

The catering truck, seen at the bottom of the picture, was parked at the front of Air Force One on July 8 before it took off from Turkey. —Michelle Stoddart–Pool

Russell explained that flying is usually deemed the safest way to transport a President because airspaces are normally severely restricted for Air Force One to pass by. Yet threats remain, including drone attacks and even surface-to-air missile attacks. 

“Obviously, the Air Force One is equipped with some countermeasures and some security that hopefully never have to be used,” Russell says, adding that there's also an airspace security division within the Secret Service that regularly works with the military to ensure the president’s safety while traveling on air.

Robert McDonald, who spent 21 years with the Secret Service, including on the Presidential Protective Division and as a supervisory agent on then-Vice President Biden's detail, said the plane-swapping operation in Turkey reflects real-time improvisation by presidential security personnel rather than a standing procedure. 

“I'm sure they started preparing as soon as they found out about the threat,” McDonald said in an interview. “I'm not sure they had the luxury of having many days or even potentially many hours.” 

McDonald described the decision-making process around such operationsas a joint effort among the Secret Service, the White House Military Office and White House staff, with "no one entity" holding more authority than the others.

The Department of Defense has referred questions from TIME to the White House. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.

## White House pool reporters deceived

McDonald pushed back on the idea that Air Force One and the people stillaboard it, including journalists, were left exposed. “I would find it incredibly hard to believe that those two planes weren't escorted or with other assets from allies or the U.S. Air Force in the area,” he said, adding that he doubted the people on the aircraft “were dangled out there and left to fend for themselves.”

The operation broke a White House tradition that presidents rarely travel without a group of reporters known as the White House pool, to ensure the public has an independent account of the president’s activities. Former President Barack Obama [broke](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/11/trumps-plane-ruse-echoes-clintons-pakistan-swap-with-one-key-difference/) the tradition in 2010 by leaving the White House to attend his daughter’s soccer game without telling reporters.   
  
In 2000, President Bill Clinton secretly switched to an unmarked plane for a trip to Pakistan. At least one member of the White House pool, a reporter covering the trip for _USA Today_, was briefed on the operation beforehand, [according to The Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/11/trumps-plane-ruse-echoes-clintons-pakistan-swap-with-one-key-difference/).

On the secrecy around the maneuver in Turkey—with even journalists traveling with Trump left in the dark—McDonald said limiting the circle of those informed is standard practice, especially now. “We're in a time now where instantaneous news articles are going out—TikTok, Instagram, Facebook,” he said. “That doesn't help the plan that the Secret Service needs to implement.” 

Ultimately, McDonald said, judgments about the optics of the operation are secondary to its outcome. “Everybody that I'm aware of got home from that trip to Turkey," he said. "The bottom line is everybody got home safe. That's the main function of the Secret Service.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt4cea74225efbed11Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:54:55 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Philip Wang\]\]><!\[CDATA\[July’s Heat Made History. Trump’s Cuts Could Leave Us Less Prepared for What Comes Next\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/julys-record-breaking-heat/<!\[CDATA\[U.S.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The federal agencies that monitor and forecast extreme weather are operating with fewer people and an uncertain funding future.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Jacquelyn Martin—AP\]\]><!\[CDATA\[A woman uses an umbrella for shade while attending the Great American State Fair on the National Mall on July 1, 2026, in Washington, D.C.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt788571ede165c59a/6a7bc530017cc16477b3902f/AP26182692807543.jpg?branch=production)

A woman uses an umbrella for shade while attending the Great American State Fair on the National Mall on July 1, 2026, in Washington, D.C. —Jacquelyn Martin—AP

July was the hottest month on record in the contiguous United States, with an average temperature of 76.9°F—the highest average ever recorded by the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202607), going back to 1895\. The previous record was shared by July 1936, during the Dust Bowl, and July 2012\. Every state was at least 1 degree above its 20th-century average.

This type of observation can help communities prepare for and respond to extreme heat events. They can then take informed steps to prevent serious health issues that the [World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-heat-and-health) (WHO) links to high temperatures, like heat stroke and cardiovascular disease, or even [death](https://time.com/7014972/heat-related-deaths-increased-research). 

But NOAA relies on federal funding in order to keep historic records, observe weather patterns, and produce informed forecasts.

The Trump Administration [reduced](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-lasting-threat-of-trumps-cuts-to-noaa-and-nws-on-american-communities/) NOAA’s workforce in 2025, and subsequently proposed steep cuts to the agency’s funding, hampering its ability to monitor weather conditions, analyze patterns, and provide forecasts. 

The National Weather Service (NWS), which operates under NOAA, lost roughly 600 employees—about 15% of its workforce—through layoffs, buyouts and retirements. It must now respond to increasingly severe weather events—like hurricane season and [wildfire season](https://time.com/article/2026/07/27/us-wildfire-preparedness-level-5-what-that-means/)—with reduced resources. As a result, it [announced](https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf%5F2025/pns25-08%5Fkotzebue%5Fak%5Fupper%5Fair%5Fsuspension.pdf) last year that it was scaling back the tools used to track weather patterns, such as weather balloons.

The administration later proposed cutting NOAA’s overall budget by $1.6 billion, or roughly 26%, compared with fiscal year 2025\. 

“A leaner NOAA that focuses on core operational needs, eliminates unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, terminates nonessential grant programs, and ends activities that do not warrant a Federal role, will provide better value to the American public,” its budget summary [stated](https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/NOAA%20FY26%20Congressional%20Justification.pdf?itid=lk%5Finline%5Fenhanced-template&utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com).

The United States will likely continue struggling to reconcile diminishing resources with increasing extreme temperatures, as the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) [warned](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/C3NtfR29los) Tuesday that periods of extreme heat will become more frequent, intense, ‌and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet.

## How we know when heat is becoming dangerous

The NWS tracks weather in multiple ways—including the installation of [surface stations](https://www.weather.gov/asos/) at over 900 airports that provide 24/7 real-time surface weather observations, as well as weather balloons, marine buoys, and satellites.

Those observations feed forecast models that help meteorologists understand developing weather patterns and anticipate dangerous conditions.

“Extended periods of high day and nighttime temperature conditions create cumulative stress on the human body, increasing the risk of illness and death from heat exposure,” according to the [WHO](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-heat-and-health). In the United States, the NWS considers heat the [leading weather-related killer](https://www.weather.gov/mkx/heatwaves). Globally, studies estimate that heat was associated with roughly 489,000 deaths annually between 2000 and 2019.

The health effects of heat waves were felt acutely this summer. Maryland’s Department of Health [said](https://health.maryland.gov/preparedness/Pages/Weather-Related-Illness-Data-Dashboard.aspx) that 2026 was its deadliest heat season on record, with a total of 50 heat-related fatalities since May. The state also recorded over 1,300 heat-related illnesses in that period. At the national level, the _Washington Post_ reported that there were [at least](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/07/26/this-months-heat-domes-killed-least-70-people-us-post-analysis-finds/) 70 deaths related to heat domes in July. And in Europe, officials said that there were more than 10,000 excess deaths during the continent’s record-breaking heat wave in June.

The NWS communicates the danger that high temperatures pose using a [Heat Index](https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/synoptic/heat-index) that describes the “feels like” temperature to the human body based on a combination of heat and humidity. For consistency, it uses what’s called “apparent temperature,” referring to the temperature that the body “feels” in shady locations. Exposure to direct sunlight can increase values by up to 15°F.

With information from the NWS, local governments are better able to prepare infrastructure and warn vulnerable communities. At the same time, the agencies are better equipped to create and distribute useful resources, such as guidance on [how to stay cool](https://time.com/article/2026/06/25/how-to-safely-lower-body-heat/) during heat waves. 

But less accurate data, and less data collected overall, can prevent experts from accurately anticipating future events. Agencies might be less prepared to inform vulnerable communities or cooperate with local and state governments to ensure outreach and preparedness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this is more likely to [impact](https://www.cdc.gov/heat-health/risk-factors/index.html) people with chronic medical conditions, children, and adults over 65.

## What happens when weather agencies have fewer resources?

Cuts at NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have left the U.S. more vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather.

In May, for instance, lawmakers [expressed](https://davids.house.gov/media/in-the-news/us-rep-sharice-davids-urges-nws-be-transparent-about-data-collection-shortcomings) concerns over the NWS’s failure to launch 75% of the weather balloons typically sent aloft in Kansas to help measure atmospheric conditions. These balloons carry a device called a radiosonde that is used to collect upper-atmosphere temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind information to support forecasting. NWS blamed [staffing shortages](https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf%5F2025/pns25-18%5FReduction%5FRAOB%5FLaunches%5FABR%5FGJT%5FGRB%5FAPX%5FLBF%5FRIW.pdf?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com), but Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids pointed out that those disruptions were occurring during [tornado season](https://www.weather.gov/top/OttawaTornado260413).

“Kansans deserve transparency about what’s happening, why it’s happening and what’s being done to fix it,” Davids said in a statement. “Kansans deserve confidence that the systems meant to keep them safe are fully operational during tornado season and meteorologists deserve the reliable data they need to do their jobs.”

In order to preserve its work with fewer resources, NOAA has continued to evolve its use of technology. It has [long used](https://www.noaa.gov/ai) artificial intelligence and machine learning for “weather forecasting, climate modeling, and environmental monitoring.” And it announced a [partnership](https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaas-use-of-cloud-infrastructure-grows-to-include-weather-prediction-models) with Google Cloud in July, explaining how the move is expected to “result in a modeling system that is more flexible and easy to update.”

That same month, China debuted Fenghe, an open-source large language model (LLM) for meteorological services. The government [announced](http://english.scio.gov.cn/m/chinavoices/2026-07/20/content%5F118608213.html) that the LLM “is trained on 50 million tokens of meteorological service data and integrated with authoritative weather datasets to support weather forecasting, risk assessment, and meteorological services.”

As NOAA faces an uncertain funding future, such tools could become increasingly important to its efforts to maintain forecasting capacity for an increasingly hot planet. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltfbd9d96b05461cf5Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:47:00 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Rebecca Schneid\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The Trump Administration Wants More Food Ingredient Disclosure\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/proposed-rule-food-companies-disclose-ingredients/<!\[CDATA\[Health\]\]><!\[CDATA\[A new proposed rule would make companies reveal when they add new substances to food.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Brandon Bell—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Snacks are displayed for sale on shelves at a Target store on August 10, 2026 in Austin, Texas.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f18a42f0df5d4a5/6a7b5c5d97a02080fb2e4f96/supermarket_aisle.jpg?branch=production)

Snacks are displayed for sale on shelves at a Target store on August 10, 2026 in Austin, Texas. —Brandon Bell—Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rose to prominence in part by criticizing America’s reliance on [ultraprocessed foods](https://time.com/6245237/ultra-processed-foods-diet-bad/) and promising to make the food supply healthier. On Aug. 10, he announced proposed changes to a longstanding U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process that determines when food companies have to tell the agency that they’re adding new ingredients to the food supply.

Previously, food companies were permitted to determine on their own that some new food ingredients—often combinations of lab-manufactured chemicals—[were Generally Recognized As Safe](https://time.com/7210717/food-additives-us-fda-banned-europe/), or GRAS, and could decide whether or not to tell the FDA that they were including them in their foods. They did that by filing a GRAS notice with the agency at the same time that the food hit the market. 

But because they were not required to file a GRAS notice, many companies didn’t. [A 2026 analysis](https://www.ewg.org/research/secret-gras-how-100-food-chemicals-bypassed-government-safety-review) by the Environmental Working Group, a health-focused nonprofit, identified at least 111 food chemicals that companies had added to foods including cereal, snack bars, and sports drinks without informing the FDA. 

“When I came to HHS, I asked the FDA how many ingredients we have in our food, and they said they didn't know. They said it could be 4,000, it could be 12,000, it's probably somewhere around 10,000,” Kennedy said at a press conference announcing the new rule. “We don't even know exactly how many chemicals are in the food that Americans eat every day, and the food industry continues to develop novel compounds and chemical combinations that do not exist in nature.”

The new announcement, if it becomes law, would make filing a GRAS notice mandatory, meaning that any time a company adds a new chemical to a food sold to the public, it has to file a notice with the FDA.

“By proposing mandatory GRAS notifications, we are closing critical information gaps and giving the FDA greater visibility into substances entering the food supply,” said acting FDA commissioner Kyle Diamantas at the press conference about the new proposed rule. 

The proposal now has to go through a lengthy rulemaking process, and experts say that the food industry is likely to pursue litigation, which could further delay the rule from going into effect. 

## What the new rule would potentially do

Food industry experts say the new rule is a good start, though they had some caveats. Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group and one of the authors of the analysis of chemicals in the food supply, calls it a “critical first step.” But “whether it will make our food safer, whether it will create real enforcement against bad actors, those things are all less clear.”

After all, she says, companies can still add new ingredients to foods and put them into the market at the same time they’re telling the FDA about those new ingredients. Right now, the [FDA is under-resourced](https://time.com/7275746/food-safety-fda-layoffs/) and may not have time to review the notice until long after the food has reached the public, she adds. 

“We don't know what happens without more FDA resources,” she says. “The FDA already struggles to review what's on its docket now.” 

There’s still no information about how thorough the FDA reviews will be, she says, and what the enforcement mechanism is if the FDA ends up disagreeing with the food company that the food is safe.

In other industries, companies have banded together to contribute “user fees,” which are payments of participating companies, to fund agency reviews, says Jennifer Pomeranz, a public-health lawyer and professor at the NYU School of Global Public Health. The generic drug industry, for example, found that user fees sped up review timelines and so requested Congress to implement them. Other times, Congress can add user fees. The FDA needs some sort of funding—like user fees—if it is going to be able to truly review the GRAS notices that companies submit, she says.

Ideally, she says, the FDA would require a pre-market review for new ingredients so that it could ensure their safety before they’re added to the food supply. (New color additives, for instance, are not allowed to go through GRAS and must be pre-approved by the FDA before they’re added to food.) But that might be difficult to enact in the current political climate, she says.

“MAHA conflicts with MAGA,” she says, because MAHA (the Make America Healthy Again movement) wants to force food companies to be more transparent about their ingredients, while MAGA (Make America Great Again) is about deregulation. _Bloomberg News_ recently[reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-10/ceos-pushed-white-house-to-delay-ultra-processed-food-definition) that the Trump Administration delayed a long-awaited definition of ultra-processed foods because of pressure from food industry CEOs. 

## Closing the GRAS loophole

The GRAS loophole has led to illnesses in the public, which is one big reason it needs to be closed, says Thomas Galligan, principal scientist for food additives and supplements for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. In 2022, the company Daily Harvest used a new substance called tara flour in one of its plant-based products, which would become linked to hundreds of instances of people getting sick. The company had not filed a GRAS notice about the substance, and in 2024, the [FDA determined](https://www.fda.gov/food/hfp-constituent-updates/fda-update-post-market-assessment-tara-flour) that the substance was not generally recognized as safe. 

“I think the people who had to have their gallbladders removed from eating tara flour would argue that the impacts of the GRAS loophole are very real,” Galligan says. 

Galligan says he hopes that the proposed rule will change how companies act, but points out that it could be years before it actually goes into effect. The last time the FDA proposed changes to a GRAS rule was in 1997, he says; the changes were [finalized](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/08/17/2016-19164/substances-generally-recognized-as-safe) in 2016.

That’s why he is looking to states to pass their own GRAS rules, a move that would force companies that sell food in those states to change how they operate. A bill that recently [passed the New York Assembly and Senate](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A1556/amendment/G) and was sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk would generally make it illegal to sell or use certain GRAS substances in food unless a company has made a detailed, [publicly available report](https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/advisories/2026/05/new-york-takes-aim-at-self-gras) about that ingredient to the New York Department of Agriculture.

 Similar bills are being considered in California and New Jersey, he says.

“We hope all these states and additional states will continue to advance GRAS reform at the state level,” he says, “because it's really uncertain what is going to happen federally.” 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt375ab80e1d2eef85Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:44:51 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Alana Semuels\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The Promise We Made to Americans with Disabilities Is Under Attack\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/the-promise-we-made-to-americans-with-disabilities-is-under-attack/<!\[CDATA\[Ideas\]\]><!\[CDATA\[“The foundation that underpins our nation’s wide spectrum of community-based services is crumbling,” write Barbara Merrill and Tony Coelho.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Universal History Archive—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Exterior of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2b0025b48ca3113/6a7b628f3c19f09c392362f0/Supreme-Court-1999.jpg?branch=production)

Exterior of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999\. —Universal History Archive—Getty Images

In the past, [Americans with disabilities](https://time.com/6239563/activism-disability-culture-ada/) were sent off to large, isolating, state-run institutions as a matter of course. In overcrowded, understaffed facilities, residents were [too often](https://www.nps.gov/articles/disabilityhistoryearlytreatment.htm) neglected and stripped of privacy, autonomy, or any meaningful connection to their communities. When these conditions were brought to light, they sparked national outrage. That reckoning helped galvanize the deinstitutionalization movement, a decades-long push to create services that support people with disabilities in their homes and communities. 

Decades of advocacy to “deinstitutionalize” have fortunately transformed quality of life for people with disabilities, but it wasn’t until just 27 years ago that the Supreme Court's 1999 decision in [_Olmstead v. Lois Curtis_](https://archive.ada.gov/olmstead/olmstead%5Fabout.htm) made it so disabled Americans could rest easy knowing forced segregation wasn’t inevitable. 

For much of our history, few options existed between mass institutionalization in expensive and confining facilities on one end of the spectrum, and fully independent living absent any supports on the other end of the spectrum. The legal precedent rooted in _Olmstead_, plus the proliferation of once-nonexistent community-based services, changed that.

Now, however, the foundation that underpins our nation’s wide spectrum of community-based services is crumbling.

_Olmstead_ affirmed that the [Americans with Disabilities Act](https://time.com/5870468/americans-with-disabilities-act-coronavirus/) (ADA) grants people with disabilities the right to live, work, and participate in their communities with the supports they need. That’s why we found it especially egregious that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a [legal memo](https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1446701/dl) last month coinciding with the decision’s anniversary, calling into question the established right of people with disabilities to receive services in the most integrated setting possible. The memo doesn’t change the law, but it seeks to erode decades of settled civil rights protections.

The DOJ memo follows a range of other actions by the Trump Administration, including significant [cuts to federal Medicaid spending](https://time.com/7305670/trumps-medicaid-cuts-americans-disabilities/) set to go into effect next year and the withholding of [hundreds of millions of dollars of funding](https://www.kff.org/medicaid/what-to-know-about-recent-federal-actions-involving-state-medicaid-program-integrity/) for community-based services in the name of protecting program integrity. In July 2026, the administration [paused more than one billion dollars in Medicaid payments](https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2026/07/29/weaponizing-fraud-against-medicaid-in-california-and-minnesota-another-quarter-another-round-of-deferrals/) to California and Minnesota, citing fraud but offering little specificity to support their claim. Taken together, these moves seem to falsely imply that home- and community-based services (HCBS) are wasteful, rather than essential. 

[The Trump Administration](https://time.com/7305670/trumps-medicaid-cuts-americans-disabilities/) has repeatedly[ questioned the value of HCBS](https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/04/23/rfk-jr-takes-issue-with-medicaid-paying-family-caregivers/31963/) by suggesting that Medicaid is paying professionals to carry out responsibilities families should simply provide themselves. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy [told lawmakers](https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/04/23/rfk-jr-takes-issue-with-medicaid-paying-family-caregivers/31963/) that the waivers pay family members “for picking up the groceries, for driving somebody to a doctor’s appointment,” insisting that these family members are “getting paid to do things that they used to do \[...\] for free.” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz has echoed that message, [describing](https://fortune.com/2026/04/10/trump-administration-dr-mehmet-oz-medicaid-new-york-state-fraud-probe/) personal care services as helping “Medicaid patients do something that our families would normally do for us, like carrying groceries.”

Statements such as these have real-world implications and could serve to justify gutting these HCBS services—potentially forcing people with disabilities back into large public institutions, while pushing family caregivers and direct support professionals out of their respective workforces and into poverty. 

The debate over how we invest in Medicaid cannot be separated from the debate over civil rights for people with disabilities. _Olmstead’s_ promise of community living is only meaningful if people have access to the services that make community living viable. For millions, Medicaid is a lifeline. It funds the direct support professional who helps someone get dressed each morning. It funds the job coach who helps build skills needed to succeed in the workforce. It funds transportation to medical appointments, support to navigate public transportation, and countless other activities that enable people to participate fully in community life. 

These activities are neither optional nor negotiable—they’re the foundation of the inclusion that this country promised through the ADA.

The notion that families should provide care without additional support is unrealistic and shortsighted, especially for families of people with highly complex medical or behavioral needs. Direct support professionals are trained to implement individualized care plans with a person-centered approach, respond to behavioral crises, administer medications, and more. 

Moreover, this thinking also ignores reality. For instance, many disabled adults’ parents are elderly or deceased. Many of their spouses work full time, sometimes in multiple jobs to meet their families’ financial needs. Many of their siblings are in the same boat but may live hundreds of miles away. Some have no family to fall back on at all. 

Suggesting that people don’t have the right to community-based support while insisting families provide needed care for free risks undoing more than a quarter-century of civil rights progress made possible by _Olmstead_. Furthermore, dismantling the spectrum of community-based services is expected to have negative down-the-line ramifications. We anticipate that more families will languish on states’ waiting lists for longer, more providers will reduce services or go out of business altogether, more professionals will leave the workforce to fill caregiving gaps, and more people with disabilities will be left with no other choice but expensive, isolating institutions. 

All of this threatens to devastate families and local economies. If protecting taxpayers is truly the goal, community-based services shouldn’t be slashed—they should be upheld as the gold standard, especially given the dramatic cost savings they make possible. Supporting someone with an intellectual or developmental disability through home- and community-based services [costs](https://stateofthestates.ku.edu/sites/stateofthestates/files/images/2026/US%5F8pg%5Faccessible.pdf) about $70,500 per year, versus more than $395,000 annually in a public institution. 

While the DOJ’s memo and the administration’s other actions don’t overturn _Olmstead_, they do place another crack in the fragile foundation on which community living for millions of Americans is built. As we wrote[ last summer on the 35th anniversary of the ADA](https://time.com/7305670/trumps-medicaid-cuts-americans-disabilities/), we must reaffirm, not reinterpret or undo, the rights _Olmstead_ upheld.

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltff78a028fed96c74Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:58:28 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Barbara Merrill and Tony Coelho\]\]><!\[CDATA\[What Are Trump's Patriot Games? Teens From Every State Are Competing for a $250,000 Prize Pool\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/patriot-games-trump-america-250-anniversary/<!\[CDATA\[U.S.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Teens from every state are competing for a $250,000 prize pool.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Daniel Heuer—Bloomberg/Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[An America 250 flag outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 2026.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c208026f7c2855/6a7b5125017cc13ac4b381d2/GettyImages-2269975816.jpg?branch=production)

An America 250 flag outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 2026\. —Daniel Heuer—Bloomberg/Getty Images

Two teenagers from each of the 50 U.S. states, as well as several territories and tribal nations, are competing this week for a hefty scholarship fund in President [Donald Trump’](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/donald-trump/)s “[Patriot Games](https://time.com/7341794/donald-trump-patriot-games-hunger-games-prayer/)” as part of the U.S. government’s commemoration of the country’s [250th birthday](https://time.com/collection/our-america-250/2026/). 

The games consist of a series of physical challenges that are “designed to test strength, endurance, agility, teamwork, and perseverance,” the Freedom 250 [website](https://freedom250.org/celebration/the-2026-patriot-games) reads. 

Participating athletes arrived at the campus of SPIRE Academy, a sports-focused boarding school in Geneva, Ohio, late last week and began competing on Sunday. The events will continue through the finale, which is set to take place at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and a one-hour special recapping the event is then set to air on Thursday. 

Trump is expected to attend the finale, according to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“President Trump looks forward to attending the Patriot Games in Ohio on Tuesday as we continue to celebrate 250 years of American greatness!” Leavitt [posted](https://x.com/PressSec/status/2086526555245719668) on X. 

The games follow a number of other semiquincentennial celebrations that have been organized by Freedom250, a nonprofit effort created by President Trump for the purpose, including a UFC fight on the White House lawn, a presidential State Fair on the National Mall, and the largest fireworks show in history on July 4th.

“This once-in-a-generation event will showcase the extraordinary talents that thrive across our country, proving to the world that the American competitive spirit is stronger and more vibrant than ever before,” Trump [said](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202600315/pdf/DCPD-202600315.pdf) in May of the Patriot Games. 

Here’s what to know about the competition.

## Who's competing?

A total of 120 student athletes ranging in age from 14 to 17 are competing in the games. 

They are “representing America's great states and territories, alongside athletes from tribal nations,” in the competition, according to the Freedom 250 website.One boy and one girl were chosen from each of the 50 states to compete. The games also include athletes from some U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and Guam; military bases; and tribal nations, though the event’s website does not specify which.

To be eligible to compete, each of the athletes is required to be a U.S. citizen; a resident of the state, territory, or tribal nation they are representing; and in good academic standing. 

Applicants for the games submitted short videos explaining their desire to compete. A Patriot Games Selection Committee then reviewed the submissions and selected the final competitors for the games. 

Tylee Herrmann, a 16-year-old from Arizona representing the Cherokee Nation, said that she wanted to “bring patriotism back to the U.S.” in her application video, according to [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/09/politics/patriot-games-trump-partisan-patriotic-branding). “I think we need something to bring us all together, because we’re the United States of America, and we need to be a little more united,” she told the outlet.

Addalee Taflinger, another 16-year-old representing the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory located in the western Pacific Ocean north of Guam, told the [Marianas Press](https://marianaspress.com/news/article/addalee-taflinger-to-represent-nmi-in-patriot-games) that she was “shocked” to be accepted and wants to “bring awareness about Saipan, the typhoons, and all that we’ve been through and how we’re still able to go out and do cool things like this after.”

## What are the events?

The events include a “Presidential Fitness Test, a military-inspired boot camp circuit, an obstacle course, and team competitions such as Kickball, Dodgeball, Tug of War, and Victory Hoops,” according to the Patriot Games website. 

Qualifying rounds, along with kickball and dodgeball, took place on Sunday. On Monday, male and female competitors participated in a “varsity circuit” that strung together many sports: athletes had to throw footballs at targets, catch tennis balls out of the air, kick a soccer ball at a target, spike volleyballs over a net, hit wiffle balls with a bat, and sprint around a baseball diamond. Also on Monday, athletes competed in “operation endurance,” in which they had to maneuver through an obstacle course that involved army crawling, climbing nets, lifting heavy tires, monkey bars, and balance beams.

Tuesday’s events consist of tug of war; “victory hoops,” in which competitors shoot basketballs into an arcade-style hoop; the semifinal; and the final. 

## What's the prize for the winners?

One male winner and one female winner will each receive a $125,000 scholarship. Competitions are separated between male and female athletes. 

## How can you watch?

The games are being streamed live on ESPN from August 9-11\. 

The one-hour prime time special will air on ABC on August 13 at 9 p.m. ET. 

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt1fb501aa24799190Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:56:54 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Connor Greene\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear a Major Climate Change Case This Fall\]\]>https://time.com/article/2026/08/11/us-supreme-court-suncor-v-boulder-climate-accountability/<!\[CDATA\[Climate\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The decision could set a significant precedent for holding fossil fuel companies accountable.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Andrew Harnik—Getty Images\]\]><!\[CDATA\[The U.S. Supreme Court building on May 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45fa96e79215c167/6a7b2b79c99c561609894f4e/scotus-suncor.jpg?branch=production)

The U.S. Supreme Court building on May 4, 2026 in Washington, DC. —Andrew Harnik—Getty Images

The [Supreme Court ](https://time.com/6193347/climate-supreme-court-decision-damage/)is set to hear oral arguments this fall in a landmark case to determine whether local and state governments can sue fossil fuel companies for climate-related disaster costs. 

The case, _Suncor v. Boulder_, will be heard on Oct. 5, when the court returns from summer recess. The decision—which will likely come months after the case is heard—will set a precedent for some two dozen other [climate](https://time.com/section/climate/) accountability cases that have been brought forward by states, counties, and cities. 

“This lawsuit is really about ensuring that corporations that have caused harm pay their fair share, rather than the burden being on the public and local governments for escalating climate impacts,” says Nikki Reisch, director of the climate and energy program at the Center for International Environmental Law.

**Read more:** [_Her Mother Died in a Heat Wave. Is Big Oil Responsible?_](https://time.com/7312123/big-oil-heat-wave-lawsuit/)

Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas are the [largest](https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change) contributor to global climate change, accounting for around 68% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Major fossil fuel companies have long known—[and sometimes hidden](https://climateintegrity.org/evidence/climate-deception)—the role their products have had in fueling the climate crisis. With climate change intensifying the impact of natural disasters, states and local governments are now facing [billions of dollars](https://jayapal.house.gov/2026/08/03/jayapal-and-whitehouse-lead-90-colleagues-in-brief-supporting-the-ability-of-states-and-localities-to-hold-big-oil-and-gas-companies-accountable-for-climate-related-harms/) in climate change-driven damages—and seeking accountability. 

## What is the main question in _Suncor v. Boulder_ thatthe U.S. Supreme Court must decide on? 

The case set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court will determine which government body is able to take action on these types of climate lawsuits. “The main issue is whether state courts have the power to issue money damages over climate change, or whether that's exclusively a matter of federal law that has to be decided by federal courts or by Congress or the president,” says Michael Gerrard, founder of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

In May, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the city ofBoulder had the legal authority to hold energy companies accountable for local damage caused by climate change and could make a case against polluters. The U.S. Supreme Court will determine whether local governments have the authority to seek damages from fossil fuel companies—but will hear the case before the accountability lawsuit has gone to trial in Boulder,which could create an opening for the federal case to be sent back to Colorado. “It is possible that the Supreme Court will rule that this case is too early…because there hasn't been a trial yet,” says Gerrard.

The case comes as the Trump Administration continues to target climate action on the state and federal level. Last April, President Trump signed an [executive order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/protecting-american-energy-from-state-overreach/) to “stop the enforcement of State laws” on climate change, with a particular focus on California, New York, and Vermont. He has also struck five deals worth roughly $3.9 billion to block offshore wind projects, with the companies instead investing in fossil fuel projects. Justice Samuel Alito has also come under [fire](https://heated.world/p/sam-alito-has-an-oil-money-problem) for refusing to recuse himself from the _Suncor_ case, despite his financial investments in fossil fuel companies. (Alito isnot personally invested in either of the companies named in the lawsuit.)

In a May statement to [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/justice-alito-pushes-back-calls-recuse-major-supreme-court-climate-cas-rcna345305), a court spokesperson said that “Justice Alito does not have a financial interest in any party” involved in the case, and the court’s legal counsel advised that “his recusal is not required.”

Several major insurance trade groups also submitted a friend-of-the-Court brief in support of the fossil fuel company defendants.

“You would think that insurance companies that are on the front lines of witnessing the scale of losses that community members and homeowners are facing would be siding with the majority of their policyholders, who have a stake in seeing the responsible parties bear the cost of climate losses,” says Reisch. “But instead, we saw them basically acting as a mouthpiece of the fossil fuel industry and sounding the alarm that cases like this will somehow make it more difficult for energy companies, and particularly fossil fuel companies, to obtain liability insurance.”

## What precedent will the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on _Suncor v. Boulder_ set?

A win for the plaintiffs could pave the way for local authorities to seek compensation from the biggest emitters. “If the plaintiffs win on the issue that it's within the power of state courts to issue money damages against the fossil fuel companies over climate change, then these two two dozen other cases that are pending will move forward, and it may be that other similar cases might be filed around the country,” says Gerrard. 

However, a loss in the U.S. Supreme Court could put a halt to the many other local cases seeking damages from fossil fuel companies. “If the Supreme Court were to really narrow and prevent claims like this from going forward, it could have a significant effect on whether other cases, grounded in similar arguments and on similar state law claims, could proceed as well,” says Reisch. 

The case’s significance cannot be understated, says Reisch. “This is the biggest climate-related case that the Supreme Court has heard, and it really goes to fundamental issues of fairness about whether or not communities can hold the companies that have been major drivers of climate change, and contributors to climate harm through the deceptive marketing and \[upstream production and sales\] of fossil fuel products, … accountable \[for their contributions to\] the mounting losses.” 

But a loss in court doesn’t mean the fight is over. Experts say they still expect to see cases brought against fossil fuel companies under other legal grounds, as well as cases brought in other countries. 

“These lawsuits are one piece of the picture of trying to hold the oil companies accountable for climate change,” says Gerrard. “It's not the only piece.”

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt0482dcd5a7f78669Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:41:36 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Simmone Shah\]\]><!\[CDATA\['Penelope' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows\]\]>https://time.com/collection/50-most-underappreciated-shows/2026/penelope/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Nathan M. Miller\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01a771b38187cce3/6a724a9a453dbabf7eae6dff/Penelope.jpg?branch=production)

 —Nathan M. Miller

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=bltf05ec9b0b1119fe4Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:02:52 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Judy Berman\]\]><!\[CDATA\['Slip' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows\]\]>https://time.com/collection/50-most-underappreciated-shows/2026/slip/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Courtesy of NBCUniversal\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f87c3b08ef4fc55/6a76459ebf22b229c99545dc/Peacock_Series_Slip_S01_MS_KA_2160x2880_040226.jpg?branch=production)

 —Courtesy of NBCUniversal

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt37a1a7b9c25ae36fTue, 11 Aug 2026 13:02:52 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Judy Berman\]\]><!\[CDATA\['Men of a Certain Age' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows\]\]>https://time.com/collection/50-most-underappreciated-shows/2026/men-of-a-certain-age/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Danny Feld—TNT/Everett Collection\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41651202d494fec6/6a724a9a206705eeb83fa0d8/Men-of-A-Certain-Age.jpg?branch=production)

 —Danny Feld—TNT/Everett Collection

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt47f935d729fe2620Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:02:52 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Judy Berman\]\]><!\[CDATA\['It's a Sin' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows\]\]>https://time.com/collection/50-most-underappreciated-shows/2026/it-s-a-sin/<!\[CDATA\[Entertainment\]\]><!\[CDATA\[Ben Blackall—HBO Max\]\]><!\[CDATA\[

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa93f92b3f8ddbef/6a724a982378b236f63e4da5/It_s-A-Sin.jpg?branch=production)

 —Ben Blackall—HBO Max

\]\]>https://time.com/?p=blt44468c5326cc929bTue, 11 Aug 2026 13:02:52 +0000<!\[CDATA\[Judy Berman\]\]>