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Wednesday Afternoon News Updates: Trump Abruptly Torches His Own Bill Signing – 6/24/26

Today's news you need to know

MeidasTouch Network and Ben Meiselas Jun 24 ∙

An empty stage in Statuary Hall after President Trump abruptly canceled the planned signing of a bipartisan housing bill, leaving Republicans who hoped to tout the legislation on the campaign trail scrambling. Photo: Scott MacFarlane / MeidasTouch

Hi all, Ben here. It’s Wednesday, and Donald Trump just completely blew up his own party’s big day.

Here’s what we’re tracking today:

• Trump cancels the signing of a bipartisan housing bill at the last minute, holding it hostage for the SAVE America Act

• Senate passes a War Powers Resolution on Iran 50-48; Trump accuses four Republicans of giving “aid and comfort” to Iran

• Oil prices crash below $70 a barrel; Trump blames oil companies for “gouging”

• Trump claims his approval rating is the highest ever, contradicted by a new poll showing 30%

• The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool saga continues, now with a side debate about turning it into an “ecosystem”

• Interior Department puts up banners pairing Trump with George Washington

• Primary results roll in from Maryland, New York, South Carolina, Utah, and South Dakota, with a big progressive night in NYC

• MeidasTouch scoop: Newsom and Becerra meet for the first time since the primary

• Scott MacFarlane hits 200,000 YouTube subscribers

Let’s get into it.

Trump Blows Up His Own Bill Signing

This morning quickly got off to a bizarre start. Congress had actually passed a real, bipartisan piece of legislation. An actual bill! The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The bill cleared the Senate 85 to 5 and the House 358 to 32. For people keeping score at home, that is about as close to unanimous as anything gets in Washington these days. Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott worked together on the Senate side. French Hill and Maxine Waters worked together on the House side. Republicans and Democrats actually agreeing on something that helps regular people.

The bill increases housing supply, cuts red tape and outdated environmental review requirements that slow down construction, and restricts large institutional investors, the ones who own 350 or more single-family homes, from buying up even more of the housing stock. It also creates grant programs to help local governments reform zoning, supports rural and manufactured housing, and expands small-dollar mortgage access. This is the kind of unglamorous, technical legislation that actually moves the needle on whether young families can afford a home. I’d argue it could go further, but it’s a real step in the right direction.

So naturally, with cameras set up in Statuary Hall, chairs arranged, the presidential seal mounted on the podium, all the pageantry in place for what should have been a genuinely good news day for the country, Trump cancelled it.

This morning, just hours before the ceremony, he posted that the signing was “hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

Now stick with me here, because this is where it gets good.

Members of Congress found out the event was scrapped while they were already standing in the building. Scott MacFarlane, our head of the MeidasTouch DC bureau, was there and caught the whole thing live. He watched Representative Virginia Foxx get told, in person, that the event she’d shown up for no longer existed. Her response was basically a shrug. She said she’d just go to meetings in her office instead. NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman described informing her himself, noting that members were “significantly caught off guard.”

Meanwhile, Republicans who didn’t get the memo in time were out there doing victory laps for a bill signing that wasn’t happening. French Hill was mid-interview praising the legislation he co-sponsored, seemingly unaware Trump had already pulled the plug. Steve Scalise kept publicly celebrating “delivering for American families.” Speaker Mike Johnson tried to smooth it over, saying he’d walk Trump through the details so he’d understand it’s “a good product.” Listening to Johnson talk about explaining basic legislative wins to the President of the United States like he’s coaching a toddler through a Lego set is its own special kind of embarrassing.

Here’s the reality: Trump has zero actual leverage here. If he refuses to sign the bill within 10 days, it becomes law automatically. If he vetoes it, Congress has more than enough votes to override him given those margins. This entire tantrum is theater. He’s not stopping anything. He’s just delaying a win for the American people so he can throw a fit about an unrelated voter suppression bill that doesn’t have the votes to pass anyway.

Trump attacked Warren by name, calling the legislation “The Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill” and claiming it “pales in comparison” to the SAVE America Act, the bill that would make it harder for women who’ve changed their last name through marriage to vote. He topped it off by saying he’ll be “watching with tears in my eyes” as Republicans pass that instead.

When Warren was asked on CNBC to explain Trump’s thinking, she didn’t even try. She said if you want someone to get inside Donald Trump’s head, you need somebody else, because she has no idea what’s going on in there. She added that whatever his reasoning is, it reflects a complete indifference to the cost squeeze on American families.

That’s it exactly. This was a day that could have been about the country coming together to solve a real problem. Instead it became about Trump’s grievances, his nicknames, and his need to make everything a fight. Markets reacted anyway: homebuilder stocks jumped regardless, with Toll Brothers up over 7%, KB Home up more than 16%, D.R. Horton up nearly 7.5%, and Lennar up close to 7%. The bill actually seems quite good, considering. But Trump, once again, is the problem.

Trump Effectively Accuses Senate Republicans of Treason

Last night, Trump was also busy picking a fight with members of his own party over Iran. On Tuesday, the Senate passed a War Powers Resolution, 50 to 48, directing Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran absent a formal declaration of war. Four Republicans crossed over to support it: Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul. One Democrat, John Fetterman, voted against it. Surprise, surprise.

Trump’s response was to accuse those four senators of giving aid to the enemy. He posted that Iran was “on the ropes, ready to go down for the fall,” and that the four Republicans who voted with Democrats “have just made my job more difficult.” He was effectively calling their vote an act of treason.

Even by Trump’s own framing, the premise doesn’t hold up. We did not win some lopsided victory over Iran. We handed them billions of dollars and a diplomatic outcome that Iranian officials are now publicly calling an American defeat. Their lead negotiator literally said the Islamabad memorandum “became a declaration of America’s defeat.” And the objective facts bear that out.

The Gulf Is Moving On Without Us

This is the bigger story underneath all the noise, and it’s one I’ve been tracking for months on these morning videos. Qatar’s Prime Minister has now said publicly that Gulf states, working alongside Iran, are negotiating a new regional security framework that relies less on Washington and more on regional cooperation. For decades, Gulf security ran through the American security umbrella. Now, in the wake of what regional leaders are openly calling a failed U.S. war effort against Iran, Arab nations are asking why they should keep depending on us at all.

That is an extraordinary shift. The Abraham Accords framework, built around Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain setting terms in the region, is weakening. A new alignment is rising that includes Iran as a major player, not an isolated target.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio was in Abu Dhabi meeting with the UAE, supposedly representing American diplomatic interests, despite reportedly working to undercut the very MOU he wasn’t even present for during the technical negotiations in Switzerland. And sitting in that meeting alongside him was Trump’s son-in-law Michael Boulos, who holds no formal government role but seems to keep finding his way into meetings with foreign leaders anyway. Combine that with Jared Kushner reportedly raising another 5 billion dollars in the region on top of the 5 billion he already raised, and you’ve got quite the family business operating alongside actual U.S. foreign policy.

Meanwhile, Israel is making clear it’s not waiting on Washington’s permission for anything. Defense Minister Israel Katz said flatly that Israel will not withdraw from Lebanon regardless of any American demand, and that 200,000 residents will not be returning to what Israel now considers its security zone. Netanyahu, at a press conference, said that when he told Trump Israel was going into Iran, he wasn’t asking permission, he was informing him of a decision already made. He said the same was true for Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza.

Trump Needs a Scapegoat

WTI crude fell below $70 a barrel for the first time since March, dropping nearly 3% to $69.94. Meanwhile, gas prices remain quite high due to the oil shocks of the past few months. The chaos is all Trump’s fault, so naturally, he needs a scapegoat. So Trump posted that he’s instructed the Department of Justice to investigate oil companies for not lowering gas prices fast enough, accusing them of gouging. Let’s be clear: the oil companies are certainly not on the up and up. But Trump blaming them for high prices caused by his war is no different than him blaming “vandals” for the algae bloom in the Reflecting Pool.

The Polling Disconnect

Trump posted that his “REAL” poll numbers are “the highest they have ever been.” That claim runs directly into a new American Research Group poll showing his approval rating sinking to 30%. Polls across the board are generally showing that Trump is the least popular president of all time.

A Four-Star General Forced Out

I want to flag something more serious before we move on. General Christopher Donahue, the last U.S. soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021, is being forced out as commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa after just 18 months in the role. This is part of a pattern under Pete Hegseth of pushing out senior, experienced military leadership. Donahue commanded Delta Force, helped plan the capture of a Benghazi attack planner, oversaw the restoration of Kabul Airport operations, and coordinated aid to Ukraine. Many people believed he was a future contender for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs or Army Chief of Staff. Instead, like former Army Chief of Staff Randy George before him, he’s being pushed out. This kind of churn at the top of our military leadership should concern everyone, regardless of party.

General Christopher Donahue

Primaries and a Progressive Surge in New York

Tuesday’s primaries brought some striking results. In Maryland, Governor Wes Moore advanced, and in the 6th district, April McClain Delaney defeated self-funded candidate David Trone. In New York, the most striking story was the continued strength of the progressive, Mamdani-aligned slate. Claire Valdez, running with DSA backing, won in NY-7. Brad Lander defeated Dan Goldman in NY-10. In a tightly contested NY-13 race, Darializa Avila Chevalier narrowly unseated longtime incumbent Adriano Espaillat.

In South Carolina, Alan Wilson defeated Pamela Evette in the GOP gubernatorial runoff. In Utah, Democrat Ben McAdams won in the 1st district while Republican incumbents Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy held their seats. And in South Dakota, the Sioux Falls mayoral runoff remains a coin flip, sitting at roughly 50-50.

MeidasTouch Scoop: Newsom and Becerra Break Bread

Here’s a scoop! MeidasTouch has learned that California Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra met this week at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, their first in-person meeting since the June primary. According to our sources, the two discussed expanding health care access, tackling the housing crisis, growing the economy, supporting small businesses, protecting reproductive freedom, confronting climate change, and defending California’s democracy from Trump’s ongoing assaults. Newsom has endorsed Becerra and pledged to campaign for him through the general election. We’ll keep following this one.

That’s the Wednesday roundup, everybody. Let me know what you think in the comments, and continue listening to the MeidasTouch Podcast for more updates throughout the day.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you later!