How rich is Donald Trump now?

Plus: Sanders and Bannon team up  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Olivia-Anne Cleary | September 16, 2026     Hello there. International law has restricted the weaponization of space for decades, but that hasn’t stopped countries from pursuing it anyway. Today in The Brief, we’re taking a look at what TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger describes as a “cosmic escalation” by the United States beyond our atmosphere.  We’ll also tell you how Americans are faring when it comes to eating their fruits and vegetables, and bring news of an unlikely political pair sharing a stage to combat rapid AI advancement. IN TODAY’S BRIEF DOGE initiative backfires? Iran war finances Are you getting your five-a-day? Weapons in space Trump’s net worth An unlikely pairing         READ THIS FIRST DOGE initiative resulted in federal employees getting paid billions to not work Samuel Corum—Getty Images The federal government spent an estimated $9.5 billion paying employees not to work last year, with most of the cost tied to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to shrink the federal workforce, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report, published Tuesday, found that the use of paid administrative leave increased 435% from 2023 to 2025, while associated salary costs rose sixfold. GAO estimated that $6.7 billion—around 70% of the 2025 total—was associated with the Administration’s deferred resignation program. The congressional watchdog analyzed payroll data from 76 agencies representing around 95% of the civilian federal workforce. In January 2025, the Trump Administration offered roughly 2 million federal workers the option to resign while continuing to receive full pay and benefits through Sept. 30. The government-wide offer was meant to encourage voluntary departures under an arrangement known as deferred resignation. The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to place employees who accepted the offer on paid administrative leave until their departure. Some agencies later conducted additional deferred resignation programs. —Miranda Jeyaretnam         SPONSORED The agentic era needs a different CRM. That’s Attio. Parallel, Turbopuffer, and Wordsmith run their entire GTM motion on Attio, with agents that chase every buying signal, build pipeline, and move deals forward, 24/7. Try Attio for free         HAPPENING NOW Iran War has cost U.S. nearly $40 billion and fueled inflation, CBO finds Aaron Schwartz—AFP via Getty Images The war with Iran has cost the U.S. government around $38 billion and contributed to growing inflation, according to a new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan agency that provides economic and budget estimates to Congress.  The estimate, which covers the war’s direct costs through Aug. 1, is in line with the Pentagon’s most recent public accounting from July, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress that the war had cost $37.5 billion. A later report from the Defense Department's inspector general determined that the conflict cost an estimated $33.4 billion between February 28 and June 30. But the new CBO analysis finds that the price of the war is continuing to rise, estimating that the government will spend another $2 billion to $3 billion each month the conflict continues. It also notes that the war has significantly depleted U.S. munitions, including air-defense interceptors, potentially reducing the military’s capacity to respond to another major conflict. —Nik Popli         HEALTH CHECK More Americans are eating fruit—but fewer are eating vegetables Joanna Tkaczuk—Getty Images In a new federal report, researchers say most U.S. adults are eating at least some fruits and vegetables every day, but plenty aren't. During 2021 to 2023, the most recent available data, about 70% of adults age 20 and older said that they ate any fruit or drank 100% fruit juice on a given day—leaving roughly 30% of American adults who reported not eating a single piece of fruit or drinking any fruit juice. 93% said they ate a vegetable. The data are collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as part of an annual health and nutrition survey that includes 5,000 adults and children. The latest numbers are similar to the dietary patterns revealed by the previous survey conducted from 2015 to 2018, though fruit intake is slightly up while vegetable intake is down. In that survey, 67% of adults ate fruit on a given day, and 95% ate a vegetable. In the latest survey, more women than men consumed fruit on a given day (74% vs. 66%). About the same proportion of women and men ate vegetables, but the type differed; while 42% of women reported eating a dark-green vegetable, only 34% of men did. —Alice Park         SPONSORED Your employees are connecting AI to everything. Now what? ChatGPT and Claude aren't just answering questions. Employees are connecting them directly to Notion, Linear, Jira, and the rest of your stack — with no security visibility into what data moves or what actions they take. Harmonic Security gives your team the visibility to control it. See what's connected         IN FOCUS The U.S. just admitted it has weapons in space. Why that's a big deal Getty Images On Sept. 14, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the quiet part out loud. Speaking at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., Meink openly conceded something U.S. policymakers have been avoiding acknowledging for years—that the American military intends to weaponize space, and indeed, that it already has hostile hardware in Earth orbit. “We are increasing readiness against existing threats,” Meink said. “[T]he United States has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.” The announcement was headline-making both for what it said about the escalation of weapons development to off-planet domains, and for Meink’s surprising candor. Weaponization of space has been officially forbidden under international law since 1967, when the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies—better known simply as the Outer Space Treaty—was signed and ratified by the U.S., the U.K., and the old U.S.S.R. Since then, 112 other countries have joined the pact. China, which was not remotely a global power at the time the treaty was adopted, signed on to it in 1983. But the agreement has been honored as much in the breach as in the observance—at least by the U.S., China, and modern-day Russia. As long ago as 1985, the U.S. Air Force shot down a defunct American weather satellite with a missile launched by a military jet flying over 30,000 ft., a first test of a technology that could just as easily be used against the space assets of enemy nations. The Soviet Union experimented with similar R&D beginning in 1983, but did not succeed at it until 2021, when it famously destroyed a Soviet-era satellite with a ground-based missile. Beijing beat Moscow to the punch 14 years earlier, skeet-shooting a Feng Yun-1C weather satellite out of the sky with a projectile fired by a ground-launched ballistic missile, scoring a hit more than 500 miles up. The U.S. has—officially at least—disavowed and condemned this kind of cosmic escalation. But what America ostensibly wants to do and what it has actually been doing are two different things. —Jeffrey Kluger         ONE NUMBER $7 billion How rich is Donald Trump? Forbes, which has tracked his fortune for decades, estimates the President is now worth $7 billion. That is $2.7 billion more richer than when he won the 2024 election.   SOURCE: FORBES         A VIRAL MOMENT ‘Pro-human’ summit Progressive U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Trump ally Steve Bannon make an unlikely pairing, but they joined forces Tuesday to issue a warning over the rapid advancement of AI.         SPONSORED How Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category. Learn more       Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. PLAY NOW       ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME HEALTH The Best Ways to Stop Yourself From Crying IDEAS The Politicization of ‘DEI’ Bike Lanes       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. D.C. 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