This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump fired one of his own appointees who was reportedly trying to stop his team from illegally interfering with the IRS.

What happened? Ken Kies headed tax policy at the Treasury Department and was simultaneously serving as the IRS’s top lawyer on an acting basis. 

But, according to the Wall Street Journal, he’s now been forced out. And his ouster comes after he’d clashed with White House officials over certain requests they were making about IRS audits — requests that, Kies believed, were illegal.

Federal law prohibits the president and White House staffers from requesting, “directly or indirectly,” that the IRS “conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer.”

What was the White House trying to do? We don’t know yet. Possibilities include that they were requesting that certain people or groups, perhaps political enemies, be audited — or that they were trying to make ongoing audits of Trump’s allies go away. 

Do we know Kies was fired because of this? Not for sure. The Journal reports that administration officials and conservative activists had other complaints about Kies, including that he wasn’t working fast enough to roll back Biden-era regulations, and that he was cracking down on wealthy investors’ attempts to get huge tax breaks by not developing certain lands. 

What’s the takeaway? In 1971, President Richard Nixon privately told his aides that, atop the IRS, he wanted “a ruthless son of a bitch” that will “go after our enemies and not go after our friends.”

When these and many other Nixon-era abuses came to light, new laws were passed, and new norms were established to prevent this.

But these norms have been fraying. Indeed, Vice President JD Vance recently argued that Nixon’s scandals weren’t actually so bad and shouldn’t have taken down his presidency at all.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

The World Cup final between Spain and Argentina is this Sunday…or is it? That will depend on whether the wildfire smoke-ridden air in northern New Jersey (and much of the East Coast and Midwest) improves enough by then. 

Fingers crossed that it will, but while we wait, read Caitlin Dewey on how US cities had some of the unhealthiest air in the world this week.

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: Remember the policy changes we wrote about in this newsletter on Monday and Tuesday? Neither lasted more than 24 hours — both fell victim to presidential posting.

What happened? On Monday afternoon, the Logoff covered how President Donald Trump said he would charge a 20 percent fee to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. 

But he reversed course on that yesterday morning, posting on Truth Social that he’d “replace” the fee with trade and investment deals that Gulf nations would purportedly make in the US.

Yesterday afternoon’s Logoff then covered how, after two recent deadly shootings, ICE had been ordered to temporarily stop making traffic stops nationwide.

But this morning, Trump declared that traffic stops were back on, posting: “The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch.”

Why did Trump flip-flop? The Hormuz fee was a Trump whim that many of his own aides had deep logistical and political qualms about. For one, they believed the move could push gas prices higher. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said just last month that “no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway.”

As Monday stretched on, Trump was deluged with lobbying from Gulf nations who rely on the strait — such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — and ultimately decided to back down.

The ICE traffic stop pause followed the opposite trajectory. This was a decision made by administration officials without Trump’s knowledge — and when he watched press coverage and heard right-wing criticism of it, he was irate, per CNN.

What’s the takeaway? The reversals show whose criticism and feedback Trump actually cares about. 

Wealthy Gulf leaders and the spectre of higher gas prices helped talk him down from his Hormuz fee. And on traffic stops, he ultimately cared less about tamping down national outrage over deadly shootings than he did about preserving his “tough on immigration” reputation and agenda.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

A 67-million-year old Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton sold at auction for a record $50.1 million yesterday to an anonymous bidder. Mystery bidder, if you’re reading this, can I stop by and see it?

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump followed days of intense US strikes on Iran by declaring the US is taking charge of the Strait of Hormuz — and demanding payments of 20 percent of the value of all cargo shipped through it.

What happened to the ceasefire? Last week, the hazy ceasefire deal that the US and Iran struck in mid-June fell apart, as Iran attacked several oil tankers traversing the strait. The US responded by striking more than 300 targets in Iran and reimposing sanctions. Iran resumed attacks on US bases in the Gulf as well.

So what did Trump say now? On Monday morning, Trump said that he was reinstating the US’s naval blockade on Iran and declared the US to be “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT.”

Trump further declared that the US “will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job.”

What’s the context? Since Trump launched the war in February, Iran’s most effective response has been the attacks on ships that effectively “closed” the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil corridor — posing the risk of a major spike in oil prices.

Trump has made his deep desire to reopen the strait obvious. But Iran has been unwilling to give up this leverage so easily: It has asserted the right to charge fees for passage — and to fire on ships that don’t play ball.

So Trump is essentially saying, You don’t take me hostage; I’ll take you hostage (since Iran also needs to ship oil through the strait). And in typical Trumpian fashion, he wants to take a percentage for the US. 

Is the war fully back on? Things don’t look good right now, but both sides have emphasized that talks are still ongoing. But though Trump clearly isn’t eager for a return to full-scale conflict, he may feel emboldened by the fact that the world adapted surprisingly well to the strait’s closure earlier this year. 

And with that, it’s time to log off…

Have you listened to Unexplainable, the great Vox podcast delving into scientific mysteries? Well, you can now watch it: Starting today, it’s on Netflix! Episode 1, “Are you a lyric person or a music person?”, is live. (I’m most definitely a music person.)

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is purging a federal elections commission. 

What’s happening? This is not the Federal Election Commission being purged, but rather the Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan agency designed to make elections run more smoothly. The four-member commission was already down to three members before yesterday; then, Trump removed its two Democratic members while the remaining Republican member resigned.

What does the EAC do? In the EAC’s own words, its goal is to “help election officials improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process.” Broadly speaking, that means things like certifying voting systems, providing information to state election administrators, and disbursing election security grants.

As Just Security explains, the EAC can still follow through on most of its tasks without Senate-confirmed commissioners in place — but it can’t adopt new policies or update existing ones to respond to new needs. 

What’s the context? The dismantling of EAC leadership is a direct consequence of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. Slaughter, where it ruled that the president has the power to remove appointees at ostensibly independent federal agencies on a whim (with one big Federal Reserve-shaped exception). 

As my colleagues Zack Beauchamp and Ian Millhiser wrote at the time, the decision was a big boost to Trump’s power and created a serious threat of politicization of government. 

What’s the big picture? US elections are administered at the state level, which limits how much Trump can interfere ahead of the midterms (especially with Congress rebuffing his entreaties to pass the SAVE America Act, which would create new ID restrictions on voting). Removing the EAC’s leadership won’t cause an immediate crisis — but it does remove one more support for state election workers already suffering from burnout, threats, and harassment.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

Hi readers, a quick note from me before we log off today: I’ll be out for the next two weeks on vacation, leaving the Logoff in the extremely capable hands of my Vox colleagues. I hope you enjoy the change of pace, and I’ll see you on July 27. 

Now, before I go: A fun just-trust-me link from the journalist Hamilton Nolan about exploring the unknown.

Plus, a World Cup thing: Norway and England play tomorrow for a spot in the World Cup semifinal. Here’s a great bit of pre-match reading about Erling Haaland, Norway’s star striker.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: Is the US-Iran deal “over”?  

What’s happening? The US launched a second consecutive day of strikes against Iran on Wednesday, deepening a breach in the three-week-old “memorandum of understanding” between the two countries. 

The immediate incident began on Monday after Iran attacked multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The US struck Iran on Tuesday, and Iran responded with strikes of its own in neighboring Kuwait and Bahrain, which are both home to US military installations.

The US also reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil on Tuesday, restricting what had been a new income stream for the regime.

When asked about the ceasefire on Wednesday, President Donald Trump, who is currently at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, said, “I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.”

What’s the context? As my colleague Josh Keating wrote last month, the end of the Iran war has been greatly exaggerated from the jump. This isn’t even the first time the US has attacked Iranian targets since the two sides reached a “memorandum of understanding” in mid-June, which laid out a 60-day pathway toward a more permanent deal (at least in theory).

Other problems also abound, including the status of the Strait, the outstanding question of Iran’s nuclear program, and the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

So what now? It’s hard to say. Violence has broken out and receded at other points during the ceasefire, and Trump’s comments can be an unreliable indicator of where things are headed. But the strikes are once again grinding traffic through the Strait to a halt, according to CNN, and oil prices are rising. 

If that continues, Trump could also begin to lose ground on gas prices, which had been falling following the ceasefire agreement — and with the midterms quickly approaching and voters broadly unhappy about the state of the economy, he doesn’t have much time left.

Speaking of the midterms: The road to control of the US Senate may well run through Maine, where Democratic nominee Graham Platner is facing serious new allegations that are likely to end his campaign. On a special episode of his podcast America, Actually, my colleague Astead Herndon explains why the left ignored Platner’s red flags in the first place.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

Here’s a Logoff piece if I’ve ever seen one: The moral case for being less online, featuring some fun history about Luddism (as always, it’s a gift link).

Plus, from the World Cup: No games today. But don’t miss the Vox video team on how soccer players train for chaos.  

Thanks for reading, have a great evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!