Thousands are feared dead in Venezuela after back-to-back powerful earthquakes struck the country Wednesday evening, collapsing buildings in the capital Caracas and surrounding areas. Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has declared a state of emergency as rescue workers frantically search for survivors in the rubble of “dozens” of collapsed buildings. Historian Alejandro Velasco, who has family in Venezuela, reports that “many Venezuelans abroad are trying to get in touch with their loved ones in Venezuela and are having a hard time doing so.”
The current death toll is at 164, with 1,000 people injured, but the U.S. Geological Survey warns there’s a high chance the death toll could rise into the tens of thousands — or even top 100,000.
American politics, reordered and reimagined by a decade of President Trump's rise, fall and resurrection, is imploding in substantial ways.MAGA is splintering between Trump enthusiasts and true "America First" believers.Socialism is rising in popularity and clout. Democratic leaders are flailing.Israel is bleeding support with both parties. Pro-Palestinian politicians are winning elections. AI is dividing both sides of the aisle, with strong pro-worker coalitions forming among Republicans and Democrats. And Trump's unpopularity seems set and locked around 60%.Why it matters: Everything is up for grabs — and wildly uncertain. House and Senate control are coin tosses in the November midterms, the 2028 presidential races are wide open, and both parties are equally despised by the electorate.Zoom in: The populist forces Trump awakened are devouring the establishment, inflamed by a cross-partisan blend of endless war, soaring prices and elite impunity, as Axios' Zachary Basu narrates.On the right, a historic schism over the meaning of "America First" has left Trump's broad 2024 coalition in tatters.Tucker Carlson and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — voices once synonymous with MAGA — both renounced the GOP this week, casting Trump's war with Iran as a betrayal of his own movement.The rupture is spreading through the outsider media universe that helped return Trump to power, with populist podcasters such as Theo Von, Tim Dillon and Candace Owens turning fiercely critical of the administration.On the left, establishment Democrats fear a socialist "Tea Party" has arrived — toppling incumbents, humiliating party leaders and turning safe blue seats into laboratories for a more confrontational politics.Three democratic socialists backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, suddenly a progressive kingmaker, appear headed for Congress after an earthquake in Tuesday's primaries.A Gallup poll last year found Democrats favor socialism over capitalism by 66% to 42% — the widest gap on record — with the divide sharpest among voters under 30, the engine of Mamdani's coalition.Zoom out: A generational collapse in support for Israel is remaking both parties — while surging antisemitism clouds the increasingly toxic debate.The numbers are brutal: Pew Research found 60% of Americans now view Israel unfavorably, including 80% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans under 50.For Democrats, Israel's actions in Gaza bundle together everything young left-wing voters hate about the old party: war, money in politics, gerontocracy and deference to a foreign policy consensus they see as morally bankrupt.For Republicans, the fight over Israel is also a fight over the future — pitting an aging, pro-Israel establishment against a young base that views foreign intervention as the original sin "America First" was meant to cure.Between the lines: AI is emerging as the next great populist accelerant, fusing fears over lost jobs, soaring power bills and the unchecked power of billionaires.The backlash is scrambling party lines: Progressive labor activists, MAGA antitrust hawks and young voters increasingly see AI as a machine for enriching tech titans while making ordinary work more disposable.Harvard's youth poll found 59% of Americans 18 to 29 see AI as a threat to their job prospects, including 66% of young Democrats and 59% of young Republicans.What to watch: Trump is deeply unpopular. But the tectonic shifts transforming the two parties — and the country — make 2026 and 2028 impossible to forecast.Control of the House is a toss-up: GOP redistricting established a narrow moat around their majority, but Democrats lead the generic ballot by 6 percentage points.The Senate map is as favorable as it gets for Republicans, but top election prognosticator Larry Sabato this month moved three races toward Democrats. A 50-50 split is a distinct possibility.The 2028 field, meanwhile, is wide open.The New York Times presidential primary tracker has four potential candidates — Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — clustered within 8 points of each other.Vice President Vance leads Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the GOP side. But Vance serves at the pleasure of a president who likes to keep people guessing. The bottom line: In a new Gallup poll timed to the nation's 250th anniversary, more than three-quarters of Americans said the founders would be disappointed with how the country has turned out.Axios' Zachary Basu and Mike Zapler contributed reporting. 📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join Jim's new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.Go deeper: "The Rattled Generation: A unified theory of this American moment."
President Donald Trump's wild emotional swings are prompting questions about his mental, emotional and political stability after his Wednesday appearance at the U.S. Capitol.As House Republicans appeared before cameras Wednesday morning to celebrate the achievement, Trump was posting on Truth Social that the bill would no longer get his signature and he was going to the Hill with demands of his own. Speaking about the bizarre day and the social media rants that both preceded and followed, Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte joined The New Republic's Greg Sargent for his morning podcast. The two political analysts brought up Trump's hostage crisis, which demands that the House and Senate pass the so-called SAVE America Act, which, verbatim, stands for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility America Act."I’m beginning to think he actually genuinely believes that the SAVE Act is what’s going to save the Republican Party in the midterm elections," Marcotte told Sargent. Trump, she said, has been "all over the map" when it comes to his "fantasies" about different ways to "steal elections," she continued. But in this case, Marcotte said she thinks that he is openly confessing that he wants to cheat to win the election."He can’t admit he’s unpopular, but he’s still pushing legislation that’s premised on the idea that he’s so unpopular that he can’t win an election without it," said Marcotte. "So one minute his poll numbers are showing that he’s astronomically popular, and then the next minute he’s saying, good — it, prevents lots and lots of people from voting, otherwise we’re going to get killed. There you have it right there, right? That’s all of it right there," said Sargent. Marcotte said she isn't certain whether it's because of Trump's advanced age, the "stress" is "getting to him," or if he's "falling apart," but he's getting worse. "One of the wildest things about watching Donald Trump in the second term is seeing how much worse his narcissism has gotten. I didn’t think it was possible, honestly, in the first term, but the spiral that he’s in — he’s talked himself into incoherence," she observed. She noted that he "ping-pongs wildly" between his narcissism, which is his inflated sense of self and his insecurity. The result has been that Trump is saying to himself that he can't win without cheating while also saying he's the most popular president of all time. "And it’s like, you’ve got to choose, man," Marcotte said.
The Democratic Socialists of America are staking their claim over New York City after Tuesday night’s resounding “socialist sweep” by candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani — and warned Democrats to not even bother challenging them.
Two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela about 100 miles west of Caracas on Wednesday, killing dozens of people, injuring hundreds and causing widespread damage.The big picture: The U.S. Geological Survey issued its highest-level alert, signaling the back-to-back magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes were expected to cause extensive casualties and severe economic damage.The first earthquake struck near Morón on Venezuela's Caribbean coast at a depth of 13.6 miles. The second quake struck seconds later in the same area at a depth of 6.2 miles.Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez thanked President Trump after he offered assistance in a Truth Social post. Screenshot: President Trump/Truth SocialState of play: Rodríguez said in a video address late Wednesday that at least 32 people had been killed and another 700 were injured in the quakes. Officials said they expected the death toll to rise.Officials reported buildings were destroyed or extensively damaged across Caracas and in several Venezuelan states.Rodríguez said on social media that a state of emergency had been declared and she urged "all citizens to remain alert, safe, and as calm as possible."What we're watching: As search and rescue efforts continued into Thursday, U.S. officials had already "mobilized a disaster assistance team and task force to deliver and coordinate critical assistance to the Venezuelan people," according to Jeremy Lewin, under secretary for foreign assistance at the State Department."Working with our partners in the interim Venezuelan government, the U.S. will be sending search and rescue teams, medical and humanitarian supplies and other resources in the crucial first days after this tragic natural disaster," Lewin said on X.Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details throughout.
