🌊 Ozempic Maker Tightens Belt

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Honey, the kids will be alt-right.

Pew Research’s latest survey revealed some stunning partisan swings from 2023 to 2025 across different voting groups:

18-29 Men: 🔴R+44
18-29 Women: 🔴R+14
30-49 Men: 🔴R+15
30-49 Women: 🔵D+3
50-64 Men: 🔴R+3
50-64 Women: 🔴R+1
65+ Men: 🔵D+6
65+ Women: 🔵D+2

Young men vaulted from +26 Dem/Lean Dem to +18 Rep/Lean Rep in just two years! We want to poll our male interns about why this might have happened, but they’re all in sensitivity training for the next four hours.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Ozempic Lead Squandered

Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk’s market cap has collapsed

• Denmark’s Novo Nordisk brought Ozempic and Wegovy to market, thereby pioneering the market for semaglutide weight-loss drugs. That success made Novo Europe’s most valuable company, worth $640B in June 2024

• Since then, though, the company has faced increased competition from US pharma giant Eli Lilly and cheaper knockoffs, like Ro

• This week, the company warned about 2025 sales, prompting its stock to fall 30%. It’s now worth $220B, roughly a third of its 2024 value

Dig Deeper 

• Part of Novo’s struggles can be traced to its success: Shortages began soon after Wegovy hit the market, thereby allowing so-called “compounding pharmacies” to mass produce cheap semaglutide

• While Novo has patents on its drugs, US federal law allows these to be circumvented when there are shortages

• There are also indications that Indiana-based Eli Lilly has created better products – Mounjaro and Zepbound – which have been shown to induce more weight loss while causing fewer side effects

KEY STORY

Surprise Tariffs on India

President Trump announced 25% tariffs on Indian imports, plus an additional penalty for the country's purchase of Russian oil and military equipment

• Trump had previously threatened tariffs on India as high as 27% in April before pausing them for 90 days to allow trade negotiations, but India maintained protective tariffs on many US goods

• On Wednesday, Trump criticized Indian tariffs as being "among the highest in the World" and said India's military and energy relationship with Russia would result in an additional penalty

• The tariffs will take effect Friday as part of Trump's August 1 deadline for reciprocal tariffs on countries that failed to reach trade agreements with the US

Dig Deeper

• The US ran a $45.7B trade deficit with India – its 10th-largest trading partner – in 2024, and Russia remains India’s largest energy supplier

• Countries that have not yet reached a trade deal include Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, and Brazil. Those that have include Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the EU

• White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett indicated that Trump was "frustrated with the progress" in trade talks with India and believed the tariff announcement would help resolve the situation

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

KEY STORY

Fed Keeps Rates

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, despite pressure from President Trump to lower borrowing costs

• The Fed hasn’t cut rates since December, leading President Trump to repeatedly criticize Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not doing so more aggressively

• On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee – the Fed board that sets the benchmark interest rate – voted 9-2 to hold rates steady, citing a relatively strong economy and 2.7% inflation, above the Fed’s 2% target

• Two Fed governors dissented and voted to cut rates immediately, the first time since 1993 that multiple board members voted against the chair

Dig Deeper 

• One of the dissenting members argued that "we should not wait until the labor market deteriorates before we cut the policy rate," pointing to weakness in private-sector hiring despite headline unemployment remaining low at 4.1%

• Wall Street currently sees a 63% probability of a rate cut at the Fed's September 17 meeting, according to financial data firm FactSet

• The Federal Open Market Committee does not meet in August, making September the next opportunity for the central bank to adjust rates

KEY STORY

Tsunami Waves Hit Coasts

A magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, generating large waves that reached the US West Coast

• The Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire" regularly produces powerful earthquakes that can trigger destructive tsunamis across vast distances. Kamchatka, in Russia’s Far East, sits along it

• On Wednesday, an earthquake – one of the ten most powerful ever recorded – generated tsunami waves that reached Hawaii with heights up to 5.7 feet and struck the US West Coast with waves peaking at 3.6 feet in northern California

• While initial tsunami warnings prompted evacuations across Hawaii's coastal zones, the governor had downgraded the threat by Wednesday

Dig Deeper

• Hawaiian authorities issued evacuation orders for coastal areas, as waves were expected to arrive around 7:17 PM local time on Tuesday

• Traffic was congested as people rushed inland, with gas stations experiencing long lines and the military opening army roads to speed evacuations

• Governor Josh Green later downgraded the tsunami warning to an advisory after determining the waves posed less danger than initially feared

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

📈 The US economy expanded at a 3.0% annual rate in the second quarter, surpassing economists' expectations of 2.3% growth

🚢 Yemen's Houthi militia released a video showing 11 mariners they captured after sinking the cargo ship Eternity C in the Red Sea on July 7

🛩️ On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board began a three-day investigative hearing into the January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport that killed all 67 people

🛢️ The US granted Chevron a restricted license to operate in sanctioned Venezuela, though no oil revenue can flow to President Nicolas Maduro's government

👨‍⚖️ The US Senate confirmed Emil Bove, Trump's former criminal defense lawyer, to a lifetime appointment on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals by a 50-49 vote

What does Roca Nation think?

🧐 Yesterday’s Question: What kind of stories get too little media coverage?

🧐 Today’s Question: What gives you the most hope about America’s future?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

⭕️ Final Spin: Joan Anderson, the Australian-American model who named the hula hoop, has died at age 101 in San Diego

🩲 No Bladder, No Problem: Colorado football coach Deion Sanders secured a partnership with incontinence underwear brand Depend shortly after bladder removal surgery

✈️ Secret Service Stowaway: A US Secret Service agent allegedly tried to smuggle his wife, herself in the US Air Force, onto a support plane bound for Scotland during Trump’s visit

🎨 Garage to Gallery: A previously unnoticed Salvador Dalí work, bought for just £150 at a Cambridge house clearance sale, has been authenticated and is now estimated to fetch up to £30,000

⛹️‍♂️ Glow Up Game: After being traded amid criticism that he was “fat” and “out of shape,” Luka Dončić just landed the cover of Men’s Health

ROCA WRAP
Four More Years

Ivory Coast

This West African nation's 83-year-old leader announced he will seek a fourth presidential term.

Ivory Coast, officially known as Côte d'Ivoire, has struggled with political instability since gaining independence from France in 1960, including a devastating civil war from 2010-2011 that erupted after disputed election results and left thousands dead. President Alassane Ouattara has governed the nation of 31M people since then; however, his 2020 election sparked controversy as the country’s constitution bars three presidential terms.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the 83-year old Ouattara declared his intention to run for a fourth term in October's presidential election, reversing his earlier pledge to step down after three.

"The constitution of our country allows me to serve another term, and my health permits it," he said during a televised national address. He justified his decision by citing "unprecedented security, economic, and monetary challenges” that can only be managed with “experience.”

Ouattara's candidacy rests on a controversial interpretation of a 2016 constitutional amendment that he claims reset the term limits. His 2020 bid for a third term triggered widespread protests and an opposition boycott that left him claiming victory with over 94% of the vote.

While opposition leaders have denounced the maneuver as an assault on Ivorian democracy, court rulings have removed Ouattara’s most prominent challengers from the ballot, thereby smoothing his path to victory.

Ouattara has touted steady economic growth and ambitious infrastructure projects – particularly in the commercial capital of Abidjan – as justification for his continued leadership. However, opposition politicians argue the prosperity remains concentrated in urban areas, while rural communities and young people continue to struggle with unemployment and poverty.

In Ivory Coast, the struggle continues – and so does Ouattara’s presidency.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

In case you thought this July was a heavy news month, consider last July: Trump got shot, Biden dropped out of the race, and Harris took his spot.

Looking back at old newsletters makes us feel better about the news. It reminds you that we get through the most uncertain and chaotic times. Consider how you felt during the pandemic. Five years later, most of us barely think about it. Life really does move on. This shouldn’t make you apathetic but perhaps a bit calmer.

Also, the intro was a joke… we have no male interns.

–Max and Max