Still, for Trump, holding onto the debunked and dangerous claim appears to be a personal issue. Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is an ardent anti-vaccine activist who has long promoted the false link while generally disparaging life-saving immunizations. But even Kennedy has recently shifted from publicly discussing vaccines, given the political peril.

Recent reporting indicates that the White House’s continued effort to forge a false connection between vaccines and autism is coming from Trump directly. The octogenarian reportedly wants to be remembered as the president who cured autism and believes he can achieve that by scaling back vaccines, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

Given the push, Trump has reportedly chastised Kennedy on multiple occasions for not doing more on the issue. Kennedy confirmed the Journal’s reporting in a combative August 2 CNN interview. (He otherwise made a barrage of false claims during the interview; a comprehensive fact check can be found here.)

As Trump and his administration continue to flout the science on vaccines, White House spokesman Kush Desai gave a statement to the Post claiming, once again, the administration would use “gold standard science” to ensure the US has the “best childhood vaccine schedule in the world.”

The post Report: White House drafting executive order linking vaccines and autism appeared first on MASSIVE News.

President Donald Trump is reportedly a massive golf cheat, at least according to a prominent sportswriter discussing the sport that the president has played for more than 26 percent of the days of his second term.

“He’s got a pancake swing and the yips — that’s when you just can’t commit to the shot, and you suddenly flinch,” Rick Reilly, author of “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump,” told MS NOW Ari Melber on Thursday. “He chips like Edward Scissorhands. He’s just awful, especially around the green. He hits it pretty well off the tee, but when he plays his own courses, he’s got a caddy who’ll toss it out of the rough or out of the bunker for him. One time I saw him hit it into the lake, and suddenly he’s on the fairway. I said, ‘What the hell, Donald?’ And he said, ‘It must have hit the tee marker.'”

Reilly added, “There’s no beating him at his own course, because nobody wants to get thrown out of the club. It’s kind of like when you race your three-year-old in a foot race and say, ‘You won”‘— because nobody wants to be the one who ruins it.”

Melber then asked Reilly, “We got video from last year showing a caddy dropping a ball closer to the green. But the bigger question — what did you assess years ago that this said about the man who would go on to become president of the United States?”

Reilly replied by keeping the subject about sports, not politics.

“Look, I don’t know about politics, but I do know golf,” Reilly told Melber. “Golf is like bicycle shorts — it reveals a lot about a man. If he’s going to cheat you at golf, is he going to cheat his friends and family? He’s going to cheat the country. He’s going to cheat in elections. He’s going to cheat on his wives and his taxes. In fact, we’ve asked him, ‘You can’t cheat me like this,’ and he said, ‘Well, I cheat on my wives, I cheat on my taxes — why wouldn’t I cheat on my own golf course?’ That’s how it works.”

Reilly has previously called out Trump’s controversial behavior about golf. Earlier this week, Reilly posted on X that Trump has “f—” up everything, using golf as an example.

“Reflecting pool was fine,” Reilly posted on X. “Now it’s fenced off. Kennedy Center was fine. Now it’s closed. WH was fine. Now it looks like a 99-cent Thai joint. Boats sailed thru Hormuz. Now Iran owns it. Golf was cool. Now there’s a greasy orange splotch on it.”

Reilly is not alone in raising alarms about Trump’s golf-related behavior. In July, it was revealed that one of Trump’s golf courses has been dinged by health inspectors for various violations.

“When a Loudoun County health official visited the Trump National Golf Club Washington D.C.’s restaurant last month, the inspector spotted some invaders,” NOTUS’ Dave Levinthal reported on Monday. The issues included a “large quantity of small flies” at a storage room and possible health hazards included “several food items stored at a temperature above the required 41 degrees Fahrenheit minimum. That included the blue cheese (54 degrees), sausage links (51 degrees), sausage patties (49 degrees) and pasta (49 degrees).” Additionally, the report found improperly stored “raw steak, fish and burgers above ready-to-eat foods such as tortillas and sauces.” and that the sink’s chemical sanitizer solution exceeded regulations for maximum strength level.”

In February, NOTUS also reported that Trump has been renovating Washington DC’s public golf courses in ways that are making them unaffordable to all but the most affluent golfers. Trump furthered this plan by terminating the National Links Trust’s lease, citing violations they dispute.

“The National Links Trust is devastated by the Trump administration’s decision to terminate our 50-year lease with the National Park Service,” the National Links Trust declared in a statement. “Since taking over stewardship of Rock Creek, East Potomac, and Langston courses five years ago, NLT has consistently complied with all lease obligations as we work to ensure the brightest possible future for public golf in DC.”

The post Expert: Trump’s golf game predicts his behavior everywhere else appeared first on MASSIVE News.

On the early edition of Balance of Power, Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz discusses the latest from DC. On today’s show, Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Richard Haass, Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis, Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino and Bloomberg contributor and former House Financial Services Committee chairman Patrick McHenry.

Chapters
00:00:00 Balance of Power: Early Edition 
00:01:20 Temporary Strait of Hormuz Agreement Explained
00:02:30 Market Update: Oil Higher, Stocks Lower
00:04:41 Iran Deal Raises New Questions
00:05:18 Trump Still Pushes for a Broader Iran Deal
00:06:02 White House Reaction to the Hormuz Agreement
00:08:31 Trump Defends Pete Hegseth Amid Munitions Reports
00:10:43 Richard Haass on the Hormuz Deal
00:12:08 Why the U.S. Should Multilateralize Hormuz Talks
00:15:03 Lessons from the Iran War
00:15:52 America’s Munitions Shortfall
00:17:26 Ukraine, Missiles & the Defense Industrial Base
00:18:54 Market Update: Oil, SpaceX & Jobs Preview
00:21:07 Trump Pushes Back on Munitions Reporting
00:22:33 Political Panel on Iran & Defense Readiness
00:29:14 Is the Hormuz Deal Good Enough?
00:33:04 Canada Benefits from Trump’s Trade Policies
00:40:14 Market Check: Oil Extends Gains
00:42:08 Congress Races the August Recess
00:48:09 Ethics Investigations on Capitol Hill

——–

More on Bloomberg Television and Markets

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The post Trump Denies Munitions Shortage, Hegseth Tension | Balance of Power: Early Edition 8/6/2026 appeared first on MASSIVE News.