Trump is making a rare Western trip to talk about the economy, something polls show he's weak on

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is making a rare visit to California and Nevada this week to try to draw contrasts with Democrats on the economy, border security and crime, seeking to shore up support for Republicans in November elections that will determine whether his party keeps control of Congress.

The Republican president has struggled to connect with voters on the economy as elevated inflation and feelings of uncertainty have overshadowed the stock market gains he often talks about along with a low national unemployment rate.

Trump will visit the Los Angeles area on Tuesday to speak at a fundraising dinner for the Republican National Committee at a golf club his family owns in the suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes. On Wednesday, Trump will discuss the economy during an event at Red Rock casino in Las Vegas.

Only 32% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in an AP-NORC poll conducted in late July. In the same poll, most Americans, 69%, characterized the state of the economy as “poor,” and many said the cost of everyday essentials like groceries and gas was a “major” source of stress in their lives.

Trump’s overall approval rating is at 33%, slightly below where he stood at this point in his first term.

During the trip, Trump is likely to throw barbs at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat eyed as a likely candidate for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028. Newsom has become one of the president’s highest-profile opponents.

White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said the president plans to “draw a sharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical policies of Democrats like Gavin Newsom," touting his own efforts to cut taxes, reduce fraud in government programs, and crack down on immigration and crime.

California was one of Trump's first domestic stops after returning to office in January 2025. He surveyed the aftermath of wildfires that had wiped out whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles County, left thousands of people homeless and killed more than two dozen.

Newsom greeted Trump at the airport on that trip, and they chatted amiably and gestured toward cooperation despite a bitter history. But the comity did not last. Six months later, Newsom argued in a speech that “democracy is under assault” by Trump after the president sent National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles without Newsom's consent. This came after protests following a series of immigration raids by federal authorities.

Trump routinely mocks Newsom and refers to the governor using a derogatory nickname, while Newsom taunts the president with frequent social media posts.

The Democrat wrote on social media on Monday that California is raising its minimum wage next year to $17.40 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

“Donald Trump and the GOP are still defending a $7.25 minimum wage while workers scrape by. Pitiful,” Newsom wrote.

Nevada, where Trump will be on Wednesday, is led by a Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, who faces Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford in a battle for reelection in November. The contest is considered one of the most competitive governor’s races in the country.

The Nevada State Democratic Party is putting up billboard signs about Trump’s visit that tie him to Lombardo and higher costs. The state is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, exploding energy demand from artificial intelligence data centers and federal cuts to key state programs.

Trump has tried for several months to sell voters on his income tax cuts and claims of a manufacturing renaissance. But interest rates are high, a gallon of gasoline costs more because of the Iran war, tariffs are still reshaping the economy and by the White House’s own estimates there is a national shortage of housing.

The president called his own housing bill a “yawn,” and past speeches advertised by the White House as being about the economy, including one he delivered at a General Motors facility in Michigan last week, gave way to Trumpian weaves about his political enemies and construction projects in the nation's capital.

Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Washington and Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump walks to board Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport, in Morristown, N.J., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, en route to return to Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Foundations funded and co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos have launched an initiative committing $200 million to revive 100 of Earth's most threatened species, including endangered lemurs, salamanders, pangolins, pigs and echidnas.

DiCaprio's Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund are leading the Phoenix Species Project, the groups announced Tuesday. They call it the largest single fund in history dedicated exclusively to recovering critically endangered species.

DiCaprio has for years been developing the idea of a major concerted effort to help species whose habitats and future existence are threatened by climate change.

In 2021, he and Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest, a biologist who serves as the organization's CEO, met with the Amazon-founding mega billionaire Bezos and his wife, former TV news reporter and host Lauren Sánchez Bezos. He serves as chair and she as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.

The meeting led to a series of conversations with local governments, environmental groups and Indigenous people on how best to reverse the decline of their most vulnerable species. Those conversations eventually led to the Phoenix Species Project.

Animals the initiative is seeking to sustain include:

- The golden-crowned sifaka, a lemur from Madagascar

- The Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, a lungless tree-dweller that lives only in a small canyon in North Carolina.

- The Visayan warty pig, endemic to islands in the Philippines.

- Mexico's Cozumel harvest mouse, which lives only on an island off the Yucatán Peninsula.

- The pink land iguana, found only on Wolf Volcano in the Galápagos Islands.

- The Malayan pangolin, also known as the Sunda pangolin, native to Southeast Asia.

- Tanzania's pancake tortoise, named for its flat, flexible shell.

- The starry night harlequin toad, known and named for its black-and-white evening sky appearance, found only in the mountains of Colombia.

- Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, a monotreme, or mammal that lays eggs, from New Guinea named in honor of the 100-year-old naturalist and narrator-of-nature David Attenborough.

The project’s goals include giving long-term sustenance to successful but fleeting smaller efforts.

“We’ve protected the golden-crowned sifaka for years on a budget that would never match what this species deserves, but letting it go extinct was never an option,” Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, one of the groups getting a grant from the initiative, said in a statement. “This funding, this global platform and technical support change what is possible.”

Jeff Bezos appears at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026, left, Lauren Sanchez Bezos appears at Chanel's 16th Annual Pre-Oscar Awards Dinner in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 1, 2025, center, and Leonardo DiCaprio appears at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026. (AP Photo)