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Today’s Big Story

Who’s Coming to America?

The downturn in international travel to the U.S. may last beyond summer, experts warn

If you’re in a city that typically gets a lot of tourists, you might be enjoying less crowds and fewer lines to get into restaurants. That’s the silver lining of the deep decline in visitors to United States. CNN described it as “a self-inflicted injury” to U.S. tourism that’s making some Americans angry and others merely disappointed.

Put simply, America doesn’t seem like a friendly place to vacation. Many international travelers have named recent policies around tariffs and immigration as reasons they’re staying away. And the regular stream of reliable visitors like those from Canada have all but dried up. Many Canadians have boycotted taking U.S. trips and buying American products since the spring. That’s when President Donald Trump made false claims and belittling comments about Canada in the midst of a tariff war. Well, that … and his repeated jabs about making Canada the 51st state and buying Greenland has alienated those from other parts of the world.

After a promising estimate in December by analytics company Tourism Economics that the U.S. would see about 9% growth in overall international visitation in 2025, the company’s updated outlook now estimates an 8.2% decline, led by about one quarter fewer Canadian visitors from January to July, compared to the same period in 2024.

The World Travel and Tourism Council, a global tourism advocacy organization, projected in May that the United States will lose $12.5 billion in international visitor spending in 2025—the only country out of 184 economies the council analyzed that will see a decline this year.

Tourism Economics added that “the sentiment drag has proven to be severe,” noting that airline bookings indicate “the sharp inbound travel slowdown” of May, June and July would likely persist in the months ahead.

According to the Associated Press, the nation’s capital, where the Trump administration in recent weeks deployed National Guard members and took over management of Union Station, also has noticed an impact. Local tourism officials have projected a 5.1% dip in international visitors for the year. Marketing organization Destination DC said last week it planned to “counter negative rhetoric” about the city with a campaign that would feature residents and highlight the “more personal side” of Washington.

Trump Addresses Health Rumors

Speculation and conspiracy theories about the president’s health exploded online

What goes around, comes around, as they say. After questioning his opponents' health, President Donald Trump has had to answer questions about his own personal health after the web exploded over the holiday weekend with rumors and conspiracy theories. The president’s televised appearance in the Oval Office on Tuesday doubled as a proof-of-life test for the chronically online after a week’s worth of speculation that he was gravely ill or worse.

Not even a few glimpses of the president visiting his golf course over the weekend were enough to stanch the social media rumor mill fueled by political opponents. Trump was asked directly about it Tuesday at his first public event in a week. “How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?” asked Fox News’ Peter Doocy. “Did you see that?” But the 79-year-old Trump responded flatly, “No.”

Of course, this isn’t coming out of left field. Trump is the oldest president ever inaugurated and recently, he’s been seen with bruising on the back of his right hand, sometimes poorly concealed with makeup, and swelling around his ankles. The White House has said Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency and press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the bruising is from “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,” which Trump takes regularly to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. However, the media’s missteps in covering former President Joe Biden’s decline remain etched in the public conscience. And some liberal pundits see a double standard in how the press treats Trump’s fitness, pointing to his meandering speeches, online outbursts and fictional anecdotes as evidence of similar decline.

House Panel Releases Redacted Epstein Files

The move came as Republican leaders pressed colleagues not to force a vote on disclosing all the material

A top House Oversight committee released a trove of more than 33,000 pages of records on Tuesday that the Justice Department had turned over last month in connection with its investigation of the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as Republican leaders toiled to tamp down pressure in their ranks for more transparency.

Trump and his administration have been unable to shake public scrutiny after the Department of Justice announced in early July that an incriminating “client list” of rich and powerful Epstein associates does not exist—backtracking on statements made by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in February. Releasing the files is “a way to bring the country together,” California Democrat Ro Khanna told NPR.

Thomas Massie, a Representative from Kentucky, officially called for the release of all of the files, saying doing so would help the president. It’s unclear if he can still rally enough of his GOP colleagues now that Oversight has publicized the documents—though he remains confident. But Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Axios he doesn’t think a discharge petition is needed now: “The point is moot.” Later today, lawmakers and victims of Epstein plan to hold a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Google Gets to Keep Chrome

The company avoided the harshest penalties in the landmark search monopoly ruling

Google will not have to sell its Chrome browser in order to address its illegal monopoly in online search, D.C. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled on Tuesday. Over a year ago, Judge Mehta found that the search giant had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act; his ruling now determines what Google must do in response.

Mehta declined to grant some of the more ambitious proposals from the Justice Department to remedy Google’s behavior and restore competition to the market. Besides letting Google keep Chrome, he’ll also let the company continue to pay distribution partners for preloading or placement of its search or AI products. But he did order Google to share some valuable search information with rivals that could help jumpstart their ability to compete, and bar the search giant from making exclusive deals to distribute its search or AI assistant products in ways that might cut off distribution for rivals.

The 226-page decision will likely ripple across the technological landscape at a time when the industry is being reshaped by breakthroughs in artificial intelligence—including conversational ‘answer engines” as companies like ChatGPT and Perplexity try to upend Google's long-held position as the internet’s main gateway. According to CBS News, the innovations and competition being unleashed by generative artificial intelligence, or “GenAI”, have reshaped the judge’s approach to remedies in the nearly five-year-old antitrust case. “Unlike the typical case where the court’s job is to resolve a dispute based on historic facts, here the court is asked to gaze into a crystal ball and look to the future. Not exactly a judge’s forte,” Mehta wrote.

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