Trump Approval Ratings and Ukraine Economic Pact Shelved – 3/2/2025

United States

  • Demonstrators unfurl a banner reading “F*CK DONALD TRUMP” outside a bustling West Palm Beach public library
  • Government officials demand that EY, Booz Allen, and other firm executives justify their spending and pinpoint potential budget reductions
  • Independent voters’ approval of Trump falls to 41%, with 59% now disapproving, per SSRS
  • ACLU launches legal action against the Trump administration to stop immigrant transfers to Guantanamo Bay
  • A sophisticated gold bar scam has reportedly cost victims $126 million in 2024, leaving authorities baffled. Fraudsters, posing as federal agents, trick individuals into handing over vast sums by promising to “safeguard” their money, per ABC
  • Trump adviser Bessent declares an economic pact with Ukraine is currently shelved, per Politico
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio reveals no contact with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy since his tense Friday meeting with Trump, per ABC
  • New York fathers bypass $1.6 billion in state-offered paid leave, according to the report via McKinsey & Co. and Moms First, per Bloomberg Economics
  • Recently pardoned anti-abortion activists promise escalated protests, saying, “It emboldened us,” per Politico
  • Firefighters combat widespread wildfires scorching South Carolina, with 1,200 acres burned and 3,000 more threatened, per NBC
  • President Trump nears decision on imposing fresh tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while considering a doubled levy on China, per Bloomberg
  • Senate Republicans in the U.S. aim to lock in President Trump’s 2017 tax reductions permanently, per Reuters
  • Trump announces the U.S. crypto reserve will incorporate XRP, SOL, and ADA
  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders civilian staff to reply to the “what you did last week” email with five key points about their recent work
  • A recent CNN poll shows 52% of respondents disapprove of Trump, while 48% approve, marking a 4-point increase in disapproval, per CNN/SSRS
  • Firefly Aerospace marks a milestone as the first commercial entity to land successfully on the Moon, according to NASA
  • A new study in Oxford’s Journal of Sexual Medicine, analyzing 107,583 patients, reveals higher depression rates among those who had ‘gender-affirming surgery’ compared to those who did not
  • A CBS poll shows 64% of Americans think Trump’s policies are curbing migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, with 59% approving his deportation program and 41% disapproving
  • Florida voter registration shifts in March show Republicans gaining 4,477 members while Democrats lose 14,453
  • Bitcoin and Ethereum are set to join the U.S. Crypto Reserve
  • Iowa’s governor signs legislation defining ‘sex’ as male or female, based on reproductive organs at birth
  • Rep. Abe Hamadeh intends to propose a bill mandating that federal election ballots be printed solely in English across all states
  • Rep. Thomas Massie backs a U.S. withdrawal from NATO

International

  • The United Kingdom unveils a $2 billion package to supply air-defense missiles to Ukraine, per Reuters
  • UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer pledges “boots on the ground and planes in the air” to counter Russian aggression, per the Guardian
  • Ukrainian President Zelensky holds a private audience with the King at Sandringham estate
  • A Belfast facility will produce 5,000 missiles for Ukraine, per BBC
  • Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen claims his second World Cup slalom triumph in as many days, per AP
  • China has allegedly uncovered a massive thorium reserve at the Bayan Obo mining complex in Inner Mongolia, potentially powering the nation for 60,000 years, according to a declassified geological survey
  • Germany’s prospective coalition parties are eyeing a $415 billion defense fund and a matching sum for infrastructure, per Reuters
  • Pope Francis views the papacy as a lifelong commitment, according to his historian-biographer, per Fox