Donald Trump’s online store is selling merchandise emblazoned with “Trump 2028,” the year of the next US presidential election, in which the Republican is constitutionally banned from running.The 78-year-old, who has seen his approval rating sink to new lows in recent opinion polls, has not ruled out serving a third term — even though it would require amending the Constitution. Most political experts, including his own Attorney General, say that would be tough to pull off. Yet, a social media account linked to Trump shared a photo Thursday of his son Eric sporting one of the new red caps, which is priced at $50. “Make a statement with this Made in America Trump 2028 hat,” a product description on the Trump Store website says.The shop is also selling T-shirts in navy and red, priced at $36, which read “Trump 2028 (Rewrite the Rules),” with matching beer can coolers for $18.Opinion polls have reflected American concerns over his handling of key issues during the first 100 days of his second term, including living costs and chaotic tariff policies. The 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”Trump, who also served as president from 2017 to 2021, has insisted he is “not joking” about a third term, saying last month there are “methods” that would allow it to happen.Any serious effort to amend the founding document would send the United States into uncharted territory.Changing the US Constitution to allow a third presidential term would require a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.An amendment would also need ratification by at least 38 of the 50 US state legislatures, another slim possibility. Trump has amassed an impressive range of branded products to promote his political career alongside his real estate empire.They include Mother’s Day-inspired gifts such as pink pajamas and pickleball paddles with Trump logos. Also on sale are earrings and necklaces styled with the numbers 45 and 47 to represent Trump’s two presidencies. On Wednesday, Trump also offered an invitation to a private dinner to the top 220 investors in his lucrative cryptocurrency, dubbed $TRUMP, the New York Times reported.In the past, the billionaire has flogged everything from steaks to “Trump University” courses to stock in his own media company, best known for the platform Truth Social. He has also released the “God Bless the USA Bible,” priced at $59.99, in a collaboration with American country singer Lee Greenwood.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the Justice Department to investigate the main fundraising platform used by Democrats, who responded with accusations that he was simply weaponizing the government against his political opponents.The Republican leader signed a memorandum instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe supposed foreign and other illicit payments to platforms including ActBlue, used by Democrats to process donations to election campaigns and other causes online. The Republican said he wanted the probe to look at the use of “fundraising platforms to make ‘straw’ or ‘dummy’ contributions and to make foreign contributions to US political candidates and committees, all of which break the law.”While the order urged a broad investigation, Trump specifically cited ActBlue, a non-profit group whose platform has become a small-dollar juggernaut but which has long been the target of unsubstantiated accusations by Republicans.Top Trump advisor Elon Musk tweeted multiple times about the organization in March, accusing it — without providing evidence — of fraud and posting: “Something stinks about ActBlue.”Action against one of the main sources of income for liberal causes could hamper Democrats’ ability to compete in the midterm elections next year that will decide who controls Congress for the remainder of Trump’s second term.Straw donations — donors giving money in other people’s names — and foreign contributions to federal political candidates or political action committees are against US law.But Trump’s memo drew accusations for the third time in as many weeks that he was abusing his power for personal and political ends. Earlier this month he signed memorandums ordering criminal investigations into two officials who had defied him during his first term. One of the officials, Chris Krebs, was targeted for dismissing Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.- ‘Silencing grassroots donors’ -Trump was also berated by Democrats for a number of executive orders penalizing specific law firms that had taken on work to which he objected. Republican interest in ActBlue intensified during the 2020 election, amid an avalanche of personal contributions and polls showing voters were fed up with dark money and corporate influence in politics.Three House committees — judiciary, administration and oversight — released a report on April 2 claiming “extensive fraud… including from foreign sources” on ActBlue and accusing the platform of lowering its prevention efforts.The probe contained no significant new examples of wrongdoing but said almost 500 pages of internal ActBlue documents released alongside its report “demonstrate a lack of commitment to stopping fraud and paint a picture of complacency.”Some Democrats, including Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, raced to urge donations from supporters “while we still can” as others took to social media to accuse Trump of abusing his office.”His approval rating is tanking, and he’s panicking about the midterms,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, a former top aide to 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris, posted on X.”This is about letting his billionaire buddies buy more elections while silencing grassroots donors and tearing down the Dems’ infrastructure.”Fellow Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett said the move could be “Trump’s most authoritarian action yet.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to expand US deep-sea mining for rare earth minerals in domestic and international waters, despite warnings by environmental groups.White House aides say the initiative could see US operations scoop up more than a billion metric tons of deep-sea nodules and pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the American economy.The fast-tracking also flies in the face of a decade-long international effort to set ground rules for the burgeoning deep-sea industry.Commercial deep-sea mining remains in its infancy, but with a global race underway for rare earth minerals — and the industry dominated by China — Washington appears set on expanding its collection capacity to benefit its defense, advanced manufacturing and energy industries.Under the order, the secretary of commerce has 60 days to “expedite the process for reviewing and issuing seabed mineral exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits in areas beyond national jurisdiction.”The boosted deep-sea mining policy is aimed in part at “strengthening partnerships with allies and industry to counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources,” it said.- ‘Environmental disaster’ -The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is scrambling to devise a rulebook for deep-sea mining, balancing its economic potential against warnings of irreversible environmental damage.The United States is not a member of the UN-affiliated body.Last week the American firm Impossible Metals said it had asked US officials to “commence a leasing process” in a parcel of the Pacific Ocean surrounding far-flung US territory American Samoa.The bid circumvents the ISA by mining within US jurisdiction, rather than international waters.Key seabed resources include polymetallic nodules, potato-sized pebbles found at depths of 13,000 to 20,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters) that contain manganese, iron, cobalt, copper and nickel.A senior administration official told reporters shortly before the signing that the US could retrieve more than a billion metric tons of material, and the process could create some 100,000 jobs and generate $300 billion in domestic GDP over 10 years.Several countries are scrambling to increase capacity for deep-sea mining, seen as a potential boon for industries and the green energy transition.But environmental groups warn the process can cause major ecological damage.”Fast-tracking deep-sea mining is an environmental disaster in the making,” Emily Jeffers, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.”Trump is trying to open one of Earth’s most fragile and least understood ecosystems to reckless industrial exploitation.”Canada-based deep-sea mining frontrunner The Metals Company recently stunned industry observers with an attempt to sideline the ISA.After years of pushing the authority to adopt rules for industrial-scale mining, The Metals Company abruptly announced earlier this year it would seek US approval instead.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday steered clear of describing the Ottoman Empire’s World War I-era mass killings of Armenians as “genocide,” a reversal from his predecessor Joe Biden.Turkey, whose leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has forged close ties with Trump, has long denied genocide and angrily sought to block any international use of the term.In an annual message issued by presidents on the tragedy’s anniversary, Trump said that the American people “honor the memories of those wonderful souls who suffered in one of the worst disasters of the 20th century.”Biden in 2021 became the first president to recognize the genocide, writing: “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”Biden, who throughout his political career had a tight relationship with Armenian Americans, used similar formulations throughout his presidency and directly told Erdogan that he would use the term genocide.Armenian American activists voiced outrage at Trump’s language and noted that he had promised to support Armenians, who are overwhelmingly Christian, after Turkish-aligned Azerbaijan seized the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway enclave dominated by the community in 2023.”President Trump’s retreat from US recognition of the Armenian genocide represents a disgraceful surrender to Turkish threats,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.”President Trump’s omission is not a diplomatic oversight — but rather a deliberate retreat from truth and a dangerous signal of US tolerance for ongoing anti-Armenian violence,” he said in a statement.”It mirrors his first administration’s shameful record of silence and complicity.”Asked why Trump did not use the term genocide, National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt said: “These horrific events were one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. “That is why the US government acknowledges that 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were deported, massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire,” he said.- 110-year anniversary -According to Armenia and most mainstream Western historians, up to 1.5 million people died between 1915 and 1916 when the Ottoman authorities, struggling on the battlefield, repressed the Armenian minority which it saw as traitors in league with Russia.They were either killed or sent on deadly marches into the Syrian desert, deprived of food and water.Turkey denies that the killings were systematic or genocide. It estimates Armenian deaths at 300,000 to 500,000 and claims that as many Turks died in civil strife after many Armenians sided with invading Russian forces. Both houses of the US Congress in 2019 nearly unanimously declared that the United States recognizes an Armenian genocide, leading Trump’s State Department to issue a statement that the administration’s stance “has not changed” against using the term.Other major countries that recognize an Armenian genocide inlcude France and Russia, which both have close ties with Armenia, and Germany, which has long been sensitive to the issue due to its Nazi past.Trump administration officials have often accused Biden of jeopardizing US interests by focusing on human rights, instead suggesting to only raise the issue as a cudgel against US adversaries. At the end of Trump’s first term, the State Department declared that China was committing genocide against its mostly Muslim Uyghur minority due to mass incarceration camps, charges strongly denied by Beijing.