Reporting that Trump leaned on Elon Musk's AI chatbot before acting against Venezuela's leader lands alongside shaky jobs numbers and fresh doubts about Tesla — a bad mix for anyone counting on steady policy or a strong economy.

• Trump reportedly spent hours questioning Grok, Musk's chatbot, about how Venezuelans would react to capturing Maduro, during a secret Oval Office meeting with Musk.
• He is campaigning in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas — normally safe Republican ground — and telling crowds to "pretend" he is on the ballot, a sign the midterms worry him.
• Trump threatened to double tariffs on South Korea over a stalled payment deal, and Korean public reaction was openly hostile.
• The latest jobs report badly missed forecasts, and much of the growth being celebrated is data-center construction — temporary work funded by debt, not lasting factory jobs.
• Tesla stock popped on deliveries that beat low expectations, but sales fell from a year ago, the stock is down sharply, and the company is lining up $30 billion in new borrowing.

Outlook: Expect more pressure on Seoul over tariffs and more reliance on government contracts to prop up Musk's businesses as car competition tightens.