NewzPresident Donald Trump was using a trip to Maryland on Tuesday to highlight a $3.7 billion investment by the military technology company Anduril to build components for nuclear-powered submarines at a Baltimore-area shipyard.The Trump administration is trying to revive America’s shipbuilding capabilities for national security and economic reasons.It's one of a series of events Trump is holding across the country to showcase factory investments, while high gasoline prices from the Iran war and persistently elevated inflation have damaged the president’s approval ratings on the economy. The high prices are rattling voters around the country — but especially rural ones, who have backed the president and his party in recent elections.With less than a month before the midterm elections on Nov. 3, Trump is trying to rally support for his party — a campaign blitz that has so far taken him to deep red states such as Oklahoma, Alabama and Nebraska.The Latest:Battleground House Republican touts independence, vote against war during debateRepublican Rep.
Tom Barrett cast himself as an “independent voice” in Congress during a Tuesday debate with progressive activist William Lawrence as the two compete for a highly competitive mid-Michigan House seat.Barrett repeatedly pointed to his votes for a war powers resolution seeking to end the war in Iran, using them as evidence that he has been willing to break with his party and President Donald Trump.“Our national leaders, whether it’s the president or anybody else, have to be contemplating the downstream effects of every decision that we make,” Barrett told reporters after the debate. He said there was a “tremendous amount of pressure” on him ahead of the vote.In a phone interview afterward, Barrett said his votes were driven in part by his campaign pledge two years ago to oppose “foreign conflicts and endless wars.”“A number of my Republican colleagues came up to me afterward and told me they really respected and agreed with the vote I had cast, but they felt they weren’t in a position to vote that way themselves,” Barrett said.Trump says the U.S. is beginning a ‘golden age of shipbuilding’He talked up billions of dollars of planned investments in U.S.
shipyards and lamented declining U.S. shipbuilding capacity.“This place will roar with the sound of high tech manufacturing, building ships and submarines that will be feare… The pool is undergoing a second round of repairs after a first round was botched.Trump claimed vandalism was behind the botched job.
The Justice Department charged a former Olympian with intentionally damaging the pool, but then abruptly dropped the case after determining he was not responsible and instead it was caused by a botched installation by a contractor and a rush to complete the job.Still, Trump on Tuesday repeated his unfounded claims that the pool had been vandalized.Trump says he’s happy Paramount-Warner Bros merger has closedThe president says the combined entertainment firm will be is “going to be a great company.”Paramount completed its takeover of rival Warner Bros on Tuesday, bringing the empire under control of billionaire David Ellison, the son of Trump donor Larry Ellison.“That’s a great merger. I’m glad they let it go,” Trump said before leaving the White House for a speech in Maryland.Rubio arrives in Greece ahead of speech on democracyThe U.S. secretary of state arrived in Athens late Tuesday, the second leg of a three-nation tour of NATO allies to discuss deepening economic, energy and security ties.The trip follows a…
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