Sydney Martinez, Campus Carrier news editor

From cuts to public broadcasting to nationwide protests over immigration policy and renewed talks of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, this summer brought a wave of major political developments likely to affect Americans for years to come.

On May 1, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to end taxpayer subsidization of “biased media” to cease funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). According to the CPB, they are a non-profit responsible for funding “1500 locally owned public radio and television stations,” which funded the National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service. 

The White House website states that “government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic appearance.” 

According to their website, the CPB was cut off from its $545 million in federal funding to support their broadcasting and radio operations. As a result, the company announced in a press release on Aug. 1 that they will officially shut down operations in 2026 due to lack of funding.

“[The loss of CPB is] a real loss for Americans because we’re going to where that goes away, you’re only going to have commercial media that is beholden to advertisers,” Curt Hersey, the department chair of communication, said.

In other news, demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) broke out across Los Angeles on June 6, as recorded by Cal Matters, a nonprofit newsroom covering California. The protests were sparked by President Trump’s orders to arrest immigrants without proper documentation and soon spread nationwide. 

Trump signed a memorandum deploying 2,000 members of the California National Guard to put an end to the demonstrations without consulting the governor or the mayor of Los Angeles. That decision fueled further unrest, with more than 2,100 protests organized across the country, as per the American Civil Liberties Union.  June 14 was declared “No Kings Day” by organizers, who argued that Trump had exceeded his executive authority by calling in the National Guard.

Eric Sands, the department chair of political science and international affairs said the protests across the country had no impact on President Trump. He explains that they were a great way to keep the president in check and to make him aware that America is watching.

“[The nationwide protests] ensure that there is a healthy dialogue going on about executive power. That’s obviously a dialogue we ought to always be having is the limits to executive power and who is to enforce them,” Sands said.

Wendy Davis (87c), a Democratic National Committee member representing Georgia, said Trump’s call for the national guard was an inappropriate response to the situation at hand.

“It is unlawful, unwarranted, unnecessary and it just feels like [Trump] is pushing the envelope to see how far he can push it,” Davis said.

Trump’s new tariff rates will largely impact working American citizens. According to ABC news, President Trump has imposed a 50% import tariff on Brazil and tariffs between 15% and 41% on more than 90 countries such as Iraq, our largest crude petroleum importer, and the Philippines, key imports of electronic products. This means an increase will likely be reflected in many consumer purchases starting this year. 

Leo Feler, chief economist at numerator, explained to ABC that initially tariffs will have an impact on suppliers and manufacturers as they’re absorbing the cost, but eventually large corporations, including Ford, Procter & Gamble and Apple, are going to have to pass these costs to consumers.

On Aug. 5, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced the withdrawal of 500 million dollars in funding for mRNA vaccines that were in the works to target respiratory viruses. mRNA was used in the Covid vaccine to aid in slowing the pandemic, and without mRNA vaccines, as written by BBC, it will be hard to put an end to future pandemics. 

Instead of furthering research in making mRNA vaccines, Kennedy stated the administration’s focus is to work on a “universal vaccine” that mimics “natural immunity” which he believes will be just as, if not more effective than current mRNA vaccines. 

Sands said Kennedy’s ideology may be interfering with science.

“When you start injecting government into the process [of science] the danger is that you end up concluding something without testing [the hypothesis] or incompletely testing it to get the outcome that the government wants,” Sands said.

Ahead of the Trump-Zelenskyy meetings that began earlier this week, President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit in Alaska on Aug. 15 to talk about a ceasefire agreement regarding the three year long war between Russia and Ukraine. After the summit ended, Trump wrote on X that a ceasefire would not be enough to end the war, but rather a peace deal will be “the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine.” 

This change in opinion was brought up at the meeting between Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and President Trump, along with European leaders. All the European leaders — including Ukraine — favor a ceasefire, while Trump wants to work on a peace deal.

The multilateral meeting ended on the same day with only talks of security guarantees for Ukraine. Newsweek said NATO “article 5 like” protections will be provided by European countries, as well as the U.S. According to The Hill, this includes “air-to-air refueling, intelligence sharing, Black Sea patrols” among other things that will ensure Ukraine’s safety to secure a peace deal with Russia.

Shortly after the meeting, Trump discussed with Russia to meet Ukraine and the United States for a final peace deal. According to the Guardian, Putin has not yet publicly agreed to meet Trump and Zelenskyy in person. 

Whether on domestic policy or foreign affairs, this summer’s developments reflect an administration increasingly willing to test the limits of executive power and reshape the nation’s role at home and abroad.