Megan Messerly

Trump’s factory boom isn’t what it looks like Industry data show that much of the recent surge in construction jobs is tied to data centers and the power infrastructure that supports them, not new factories.

New: President Trump is pointing to construction job gains as proof his manufacturing revival is underway.

But the surge is being driven largely by data centers — while many factory projects remain in early planning stages. w/ @samjsutton.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Congressional housing deal faces new hurdle as Trump pushes investor ban The issue is another area in which the president’s populist ideas are clashing with GOP free-market orthodoxy.

NEW: A WH official tells me it "will be hard to advise the president to sign" the housing bill if it doesn't address institutional investors. That's going to be a tough pill for the GOP — though the WH did not say it has to be a "ban." www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

NEW: President Trump confirms he spoke with China's President Xi this morning, but few new details. (China had already committed to making these soybean purchases.)

Trump extends a fragile truce with Colombia’s Petro The detente comes as the Trump administration asserts a more muscular role across the Western Hemisphere.

NEW: President Trump’s meeting with Colombia’s Gustavo Petro today wasn’t a reset so much as a case study in this White House’s style: escalate loudly, then lock in quiet cooperation.

In this case, on counternarcotics.

w/ @ebazail.bsky.social and Diana Nerozzi www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrived at the White House just before 11 a.m. for his meeting with President Donald Trump, per pool.

👀 Interesting note though: Petro didn't get the full head-of-state treatment at the North Portico, entering through the side door instead.

Trump signs order to claim power over independent agencies The action is likely to face court challenges and test a once-fringe legal theory.

Another day, another sweeping claim of executive power that defies both statutes and decades-old norms. By @meganmesserly.bsky.social with an assist from me:

www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

NEW: The FDA on Thursday approved the country's first-ever daily hormonal contraceptive pill for sale without a prescription. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/13/fda-approves-over-the-counter-birth-control-opill-00105711

A red state boosted public health funding by 1,500 percent. This is how they did it How careful messaging, a healthy budget and smart leadership boosted local public health funding in Indiana by 1,500 percent.

Indiana boosted state funding to local health departments by 1,500 percent. Proponents, led by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, faced significant skepticism from GOP lawmakers.

Here's how they got it done: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/13/red-state-public-health-funding-indiana-00105982