Tracking Trump: Officials blame flood response on budget limits; mass State Dept. layoffs; Trump’s ‘manosphere’ ambassador; and more – The Washington Post
The 7 – Tracking Trump: Officials blame flood response on budget limits; mass State Dept. layoffs; Trump’s ‘manosphere’ ambassador; and more
The 7 follows President Donald Trump’s second term. By Alec Dent, July 11, 2025
1 – FEMA officials blamed new DHS rules for slow response to Texas flooding.
The latest: Officials told The Post that FEMA’s response to flooding in Texas was slowed by a rule requiring DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s approval for missions above $100,000. More: Officials also said that employees’ readiness training should have been completed earlier this year, but they have yet to complete it.
Related: President Donald Trump has suggested for months that he might eliminate FEMA, an idea he’s now walking back.
2 – The State Department had mass layoffs.
Today: The department sent layoff notices to more than 1,300 employees, 1,100 of whom were civil servants and 240 of whom worked in the Foreign Service.
Big picture: The layoffs are part of efforts to shrink the federal bureaucracy, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the goal is a reduction of 15 percent, or roughly 2,000 employees.
3 – A meeting between Trump and China’s leader may happen soon.
Notable: Rubio said the “odds are high” that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet this year.
Context: Rubio met with his Chinese counterpart today amid trade tensions between the U.S. and China, and said the meeting was “very constructive, positive.”
4 – Trump threatened a 35 percent tariff on Canadian imports.
Yesterday: Trump threatened to tax more than half of Canadian imports to the U.S. at a 35 percent rate, saying Canada wasn’t doing enough to stop fentanyl from entering the U.S.
Zooming out: The president’s initial 90-day pause on new tariffs ended Wednesday and was extended to Aug. 1, a deadline Canada’s leader said he’s working to meet.
