Wholesale prices increased in July at the quickest pace since February as economists are keeping a sharp eye on inflation data amid President Trump’s trade war.

The 0.9-percent monthly increase — which blew past economists’ expectations — puts the Federal Reserve in a tough position as the central bank faces pressure on both sides of its mandate to keep prices low and employment as high as possible.

The surprisingly weak July jobs report showed that employment conditions are worsening, but upward-moving prices mean the Fed will have to negotiate stagflationary concerns in the short term.

“After a string of data that pointed to greater odds of a September rate cut, the large upside surprise in the producer price data highlights the dilemma the Federal Reserve faces in judging the risks to its dual mandate,” Matthew Martin, an economist with Oxford Economics, wrote in a commentary.

Cutting interest rates could help support the job market by easing borrowing costs for businesses. But doing so could also add fuel to inflation, which has lingered at an annual rate of 2.7 percent for two months since June, according to the consumer price index (CPI).

Developing

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) on Wednesday expressed his fear of being carjacked in the nation’s capital, as the Trump administration ramps up its federal takeover of local law enforcement.

“And by the way, I’m not joking when I say this, I drive around in Washington, D.C., in my Jeep, and yes, I do drive myself, and I don’t buckle up. And the reason why I don’t buckle up, and people can say whatever they want to, they can raise their eyebrows at me again, is because of carjacking,” Mullin said during an appearance on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

“I don’t want to be stuck in my vehicle when I need to exit in a hurry, because I got a seatbelt around me and that — and I wear my seatbelt all the time,” he told host Brian Kilmeade, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.

“But in Washington, D.C., I do not, because it is so prevalent of carjacking,” the Oklahoma Republican continued. “And I don’t want the same thing [to] happen to me what’s happened to a lot of people that work on the hill.”

President Trump announced earlier this week that his administration was taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployed hundreds of National Guard soldiers to the area to combat crime and violence in the city.

The move, sparked after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer was attacked by teenagers during a carjacking — has received heavy blowback from Democrats and local officials.

A provision in Washington’s “Home Rule Act” allows the president to federalize the police force for up to 30 days — but any additional time requires Congressional approval. During a speech Wednesday from the Kennedy Center, Trump said he will seek a “long-term” extension.

“Well, if it’s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress,” Trump said, when asked about whether he’s talked to lawmakers about extending the takeover. He added that he expects meet with Congress “very quickly” and snag GOP support.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signaled in a post online Wednesday that he and fellow Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) were working with the Trump administration on a safety package for the district.

“Together, we will try to shepherd the DC Security Fund through Congress to give President Trump the resources he will need to improve the safety and quality of life in our nation’s capital,” he wrote on social platform X. “Every American should be behind this effort to make Washington, DC clean and safe so that it can truly become the shining city on the hill.”

For such a move to advance, however, it would likely need support from some Senate Democrats. Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made clear that his caucus would not back the measure.

“No f‑‑‑ing way,” he told podcast host Aaron Parnas. “We’ll fight him tooth and nail. … He needs to get Congress to approve it, and not only are we not going to approve it, but there are some Republicans who don’t like either.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has also pushed back on Trump’s moves, calling them an “authoritarian push” as data shows the crime rate declining in the nation’s capital. The mayor has also used the national attention as a platform to reup the district’s quest to gain statehood.

History is chasing President Trump and, come tomorrow, one way or the other, it will find him in Alaska. Many observers warn that his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin could be as globally catastrophic as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s was with Nazi Chancellor Adolf Hitler at Munich in 1938.

Or it could be worse.

Team Trump has the benefit of history as a guide. The next 50 to 100 years of U.S.-Russia relations will likely be determined by how well or how badly Trump knows that history.

Chamberlain’s failure at appeasing Hitler is the obvious lesson. But the other lesson, considerably more nuanced, was his unforgiveable negligence in not giving Czechoslovakia or Poland a seat at the negotiating table.

Trump is now repeating this same mistake by excluding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The White House’s excuse is that Putin requested the meeting. By weakly omitting Zelensky, Trump is recklessly making his own mistake far greater than Chamberlain’s original sin at Munich.

Ukraine today, unlike Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1938, has established itself as a bulwark against future Russian aggression in Eastern Europe. If Putin wins, then not only will Ukraine be lost, but Poland, Moldova, Finland and the Baltic States — especially the strategic Suwalki Gap — will be, to put it in military terms, perilously at risk. 

Team Trump would be wise to view Putin’s machinations as akin to a dystopian invasion of Alaska. Ditto the entire West. Putin’s Foreign Ministry made it clear Wednesday that he is not backing down from his maximalist demands, which would end Ukrainian independence. With this meeting, he is trying once again to win from Team Trump what he has not been able to win in three-and-a-half years of war.

Russian evil, as embodied by Putin’s ongoing genocide against Ukraine, war crimes and crimes against humanity, will have won out over the notion of core American values of freedom and liberty. In MacBeth-like terms, this dystopia would end up where American fair is foul and Russian foul is fair.

If Putin bests Trump in Alaska, it will also result a decisive economic victory by Putin over Trump. The Donbas is estimated to have more than 50 percent of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, with a potential economic value of $5.75 trillion. Those funds are needed for Ukraine to repay the U.S. and to rebuild after the war.

Recent Kremlin gains, including an ongoing Russian ground breakout in Donetsk earlier this week, are already putting more and more of those Ukrainian rare earth deposits on Putin’s side of the battle lines.

Western Europe is highly alarmed. Not only is Team Trump giving Ukraine the cold shoulder in Alaska, but they are also icing out London and Brussels from any meaningful participation in events that will directly affect their short- and long-term national security.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is not having it. He met with Zelensky on Wednesday, and the two leaders agreed Ukraine should have the right to join NATO and that Kyiv will not withdraw from the Donbas.

Team Trump cannot expect its European NATO allies to take more ownership of their defense — including upping military spending to 5 percent of GDP to confront a growing Russian threat — while at the same time arguing that Washington has the right to unilaterally negotiate Ukraine and Eastern Europe’s future with Putin.

Rather than keeping Ukraine on the same page, Trump is again resorting to form and criticizing Zelensky in order to buy favor with Putin ahead of the negotiations — and just as Putin planned. On Tuesday, by disinviting Zelensky, the White House gave Putin an easy win. 

Earlier on Monday, Trump slammed Zelensky for insisting that Ukraine would not swap any territory with Russia to end the war. He also heavily criticized Zelensky for claiming he could not do so even if he wanted, given that Ukraine’s constitution requires Ukraine’s parliament to vote on it.

Vice President JD Vance had gone even further. He asserted on Fox News Sunday morning that the U.S. is done directly funding the war in Ukraine. As if an exclamation mark, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an order that allows the return of U.S. weapons and ammunition stationed in Europe that had been intended for Ukraine’s use. 

In stark contrast, Putin’s team is on the same page with their their BRICS trading partners and their “Axis of Evil” allies, China, Iran and North Korea.

Team Trump is dividing and conquering itself, while Team Putin is ideologically invading the 49th state. The result is great harm to our Indo-Pacific and NATO allies.

Putin has already banked multiple symbolic wins. For example, in Russia, for some time now, there has been a growing movement to argue that the U.S. illegally gained control of Alaska. One favorite revisionist narrative is that its sale was only a lease, and that the U.S. government fraudulently forged the treaty to make it a permanent land transfer.

By allowing Putin to plant his flag on Alaskan soil is to play to the Russian narrative. The Kremlin will use the trip for maximum propaganda purposes. Never mind that Putin is a wanted war criminal currently under indictment by the International Criminal Court.

Russian dystopia is not a good destination. Not for our country nor for our people. Team Trump frequently touts that they always put America first. If so, come Friday, that means putting Putin last.

Trump still has home field advantage, and it’s not over until it’s over. He must make clear that Washington will not allow Ukraine to be defeated by Putin, nor will we abandon our NATO allies in the face of current and future Russian aggression.

Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as an Army intelligence officer.

Democrats are making a play for Ohio in next year’s Senate race as former Sen. Sherrod Brown prepares an expected comeback attempt.

The Buckeye State was once firmly purple, but has become increasingly red in the Trump era. President Trump won the state in 2024 with 55 percent of the vote, and Brown lost his bid for reelection to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), winning 46.5 percent of the vote.

Those totals show Brown was much more popular with Ohio voters than former President Biden and former Vice President Harris, and Democrats think a lower-turnout midterm election could carry them to victory.

“When Trump is on the ballot, as Sherrod painfully found out, it’s hard to win because his turnout is high, and he ends up spiking turnout in red parts of the state,” said David Pepper, a former state Democratic Party chair who led the party during Brown’s last successful run in 2018.

But Pepper noted that Trump won’t be on the ballot next year, and he said a hidden trend has been conservative-leaning counties not being quite as solidly Republican in some elections more recently. 

“If that continues to be a trend in ‘26, all of a sudden Ohio is a winnable state for good Democratic candidates,” he said. 

Still, Republicans say the state is increasingly out of reach for any Democrat given the national party’s image.

“This is a place where [President] Trump’s endorsement still matters a lot,” said Ohio Republican strategist Jordan Ohler. “Our side is as excited as they’ve ever been, maybe short of President Trump running himself.”

While Ohio has lost its status as the quintessential swing state representing the median of the country, it was key in the 2024 Senate elections, as Brown’s loss to Moreno, along with losses by Democratic incumbents in Montana and Pennsylvania, helped flip the chamber to Republican control. The state stands to be just as critical next year.

As Democrats try to chart a path back to the majority in 2026, they need to look past the obvious battlegrounds to make up their 53-47 deficit. Maine and North Carolina are the top pickup opportunities for the party, but they would need two more, and Brown’s likely candidacy makes Ohio top on that list. 

The state had a decades-long streak of voting for the winning presidential candidate that ended in 2020, but no Democrat has won statewide since Brown’s last reelection win in 2018. 

Heading into the current cycle, Brown was an obvious choice for Democrats, whose eyes have been on the longtime former senator for months to oppose Sen. Jon Husted (R). The former GOP lieutenant governor was chosen by Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to fill Vice President Vance’s Senate seat. 

Husted must run in a special election next year to fill the remainder of the term before the seat goes up for election again in 2028. 

Presuming Brown enters, he’s likely to clear the field for the Democratic primary and quickly coalesce party support around his comeback bid. 

Democrats pointed to Brown’s narrow defeat last year as evidence of his continued viability. In what party members agree was a brutal cycle for the party, Brown still came within a few points of winning. 

The country as a whole experienced a rightward shift, and while Trump improved his margin in Ohio compared to 2016 and 2020, the state’s shift was only a couple points. That’s much less dramatic than many other states experienced. 

Pepper argued that former President Obama’s two victories in Ohio in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections made the state look easier to win than it is, but it’s always been difficult for Democrats. He said Trump’s name being on the ballot spiked turnout in conservative areas, as it did in other states last year, the first time that Brown and Trump ran at the same time. 

At least for now, Republicans aren’t sounding alarms at Brown’s possible candidacy, expressing confidence that they can still hold onto the seat. 

Tyson Shepard, Husted’s campaign spokesperson, said Brown would be starting out in the “biggest hole of his political career” if he runs, as he hasn’t faced a candidate like Husted before. 

“Brown’s slogans will ring hollow as his coalition walks away, tired of the radical policies he’s forced to support to appease his coastal bosses in California and New York,” Shepard said in a statement. 

Republicans previously have attacked Brown as voting overwhelmingly with his party while he has touted his credentials as a champion for the working class and the state. 

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm released a memo highlighting Husted’s strengths as a candidate following reports Brown was running. The memo called Husted a “proven conservative who reflects the Ohio of today.” 

It noted that Husted hasn’t lost a statewide race before and raised nearly $3 million in the second quarter of 2025, arguing Brown will face a more difficult task against Husted, who is better known than Moreno was last year. 

The memo also pointed to a poll from April that showed Husted leading Brown by 3 points in a hypothetical general election and by 6 points among independents. 

“Ohio has experienced an electoral transformation thanks to President Trump, as evidenced by Sherrod Brown’s failed reelection in 2024,” the memo states. “We will defeat him by an even wider margin the second time around with a proven winner in Senator Husted.” 

Ohler said Brown is Democrats’ best option, but turning to him over a new candidate shows “desperation” and a lack of a bench to come after him. 

“They got to bring back this guy who thinks he’s the people’s champ, but like Mike Tyson learns you got to know when to hang up the gloves,” he said. 

Democrats have also expressed optimism about their prospects in the state’s gubernatorial race next year. DeWine, a popular two-term governor, is term-limited, and Republicans appear set to turn to former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. 

With Brown looking at the Senate, former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) indicated he’s more seriously looking at the governor’s mansion. 

“Sherrod Brown’s decision to run for the US Senate has renewed and heightened Tim Ryan’s interest in running for governor to further serve the people of Ohio,” said Ryan spokesperson Dennis Willard. 

One major Democrat is already in the race, and the party is hopeful that her popularity could be an asset if she is their gubernatorial nominee. 

Amy Acton, who led Ohio’s health department at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, entered the race at the start of the year. Polls have shown a plurality of voters approve of her time leading the department, as she was a face of the state’s pandemic response. 

Polling has also shown her ahead of Ryan in a hypothetical primary and about even with Ramaswamy in a hypothetical general election. 

“Whether it’s record-setting fundraising, standing room only crowds at events, or numerous polls showing a toss-up race, it’s clear Ohio voters are fired up about Amy Acton and ready to move on from corporate billionaires like Vivek Ramaswamy, who will continue the same failed policies that have left so many Ohioans struggling,” said Acton campaign manager Philip Stein. 

Pepper said one strength of Brown and Acton running is they have significantly different backgrounds and appeal to different coalitions, improving Democrats’ chances overall. 

“They are complementary to one another, as opposed to redundant,” he said in a Substack post. “Together, their joint coalition spans far wider than what they each bring individually.”