Trump’s Great American Road Trip

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for Sept. 2, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

President Donald Trump says he’s going to do a blitz of campaign travel — in the last 30 days before an election that doesn’t necessarily favor his party. Trump didn’t specify how many states he’ll hit, just that he’ll “be making a lot of stops,” including one in Alaska with Sen. Dan Sullivan.

• “Some people don’t like the way he dresses, or some people don’t like the way he interviews or talks,” Trump said of Ken Paxton before heaping praise on the Texas attorney general.

Jamieson Greer met with the Republican Study Committee at their weekly lunch today, joined by Mike Johnson. The U.S. trade representative recently said Canada could get hit with additional tariffs as trade negotiations between the countries have collapsed.

• Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) said he and others voiced concerns about the administration’s decision to drop ground beef tariffs during the meeting and that he will deliver that message to the White House today, Semafor reports.

• Nunn and several GOP lawmakers facing competitive races will dine with Trump in the Rose Garden tonight, Politico reports.

THE HILL

Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) urged Trump to replace Pete Hegseth, citing an article about military leaders leaving the administration in waves during the defense secretary’s tenure.

• “I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” Tillis wrote in a post on X, asking the president “to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”

A bipartisan coalition of California lawmakers demanded that the Trump administration “halt and reject” a proposed sale of part of Yosemite National Park to a private developer in a new letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The U.S.-Venezuela oil deal has raised red flags among House Republicans who fear that talks with acting President Delcy Rodríguez could ruin the chances of democratic elections in the country.

Democrats want to flip Republican Rep. Andy Barr’s Kentucky district — banking on an angry electorate to do so.

THE ADMINISTRATION

Trump suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself. Later this afternoon, he said he wasn’t serious about the proposition and was “just throwing it out there.”

• Apple Maps relabeled Lake Ontario as “Lake America” this week, just days after Trump reportedly contacted the technology company to urge the change.

The Pentagon is again delaying its timelines to clean up “forever chemicals” at hundreds of contaminated military sites — the third time in a year the department has extended estimates for completing a key phase of the cleanups.

The Air Force is reviewing the case of a Gold Star widow who said she was deemed ineligible for additional benefits following her husband’s death because Congress had not officially declared the military operations in Iran a war.

The Kennedy Center dismantled a famous outdoor sculpture today in an unannounced removal from its grounds.

GOLD PHONE, WHO DIS?

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