| July 21, 2025 07:42:56 AM |
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| July 21, 2025 07:42:56 AM |
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It’s been six months since Joe Biden left the Oval Office. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, can’t stop talking about him. Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game. |
Policy changes, but facts endure. AP delivers accurate, fact-based journalism to keep the world informed in every administration. Support independent reporting today. Donate. |
President Joe Biden speaks to the media in North Charleston, S.C., Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File) |
Republicans can't stop talking about Joe Biden |
The House has launched investigations asserting that Biden’s closest advisers covered up a physical and mental decline during the 82-year-old Democrat’s presidency. The Senate has started a series of hearings focused on his mental fitness.
And Trump’s White House has opened its own investigation into the Biden administration’s use of the presidential autopen, which Trump has called “one of the biggest scandals in the history of our country.”
Turning the spotlight back on the former president carries risks for both parties heading into the 2026 midterms. The more Republicans or Democrats talk about Biden, the less they can make arguments about the impact of Trump’s presidency — positive or negative — especially his sweeping new tax cut and spending law that is reshaping the federal government. Read more.
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Of note:
Democrats point to their success in the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first presidency, when they reclaimed the House majority on the strength of moderate voters, including disaffected Republicans. They seem confident that Republicans’ aggressiveness about Biden does not appeal to that swath of the electorate. But even as they praise Biden’s accomplishments as president, Democrats quietly admit they don’t want to spend time talking about a figure who left office with lagging approval ratings and forced his party into a late, difficult change at the top of the ticket. |
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Harvard in court over Trump's cuts in research funding |
Harvard University will appear in federal court Monday to make the case that the Trump administration illegally cut $2.6 billion from the storied college — a pivotal moment in its battle against the federal government. If a judge decides in the university's favor, the ruling would reverse a series of funding freezes that later became outright cuts as the Trump administration escalated its fight with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.
Harvard’s lawsuit accuses Trump's administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands in an April 11 letter from a federal antisemitism task force. The letter demanded sweeping changes related to campus protests, academics and admissions, intended to address government accusations that the university had become a hotbed of liberalism and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment on campus.
The same day Harvard rejected the demands, Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, and weeks later the administration began canceling contracts with Harvard. Read more. |
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Of note:
Harvard, which has the nation's largest endowment at $53 billion, has moved to self-fund some of its research, but warned it can’t absorb the full cost of the federal cuts. The Trump administration denies the cuts were made in retaliation, saying the grants were under review even before the April demand letter was sent and arguing the government has wide discretion to cancel contracts for policy reasons. |
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What to watch as 2026 Republican Senate races take shape |
Republicans are encountering early headaches in Senate races viewed as pivotal to maintaining the party’s majority in next year's midterm elections, with recruitment failures, open primaries, infighting and a president who has been sitting on the sidelines. Democrats still face an uphill battle: They must net four seats to retake the majority, and most of the 2026 contests are in states that Trump easily won in November.
But Democrats see reasons for hope in Republicans’ challenges. They include a nasty primary in Texas that could jeopardize a seat Republicans have held for decades. In North Carolina and Georgia, the party lacks a clear field of candidates. Trump’s influence dials up the uncertainty in several states as he decides whether to flex his influential endorsement to stave off intraparty fights. Republicans stress that it remains early in the cycle and say there is plenty of time left for candidates to establish themselves and Trump to wade in. Read more. |
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Of note:
In Michigan, Republicans hope the retirement of Democratic Sen. Gary Peters and a crowded, expensive Democratic primary, will help them capture a seat that has eluded them for more than three decades. In Louisiana, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy has faced scrutiny from his party, in no small part for his 2021 vote to convict Trump after his second impeachment. Will Trump decide to seek retribution against the vulnerable two-term senator or ultimately back him? |
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President Donald Trump arrives at a dinner for Republican senators in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) |
- The President has lunch with the vice president today.
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