Morning Brief: Trump Pushes Putin With Tariff Ultimatum, Cincinnati Brawl & College Sports EO

President Trump shortens the deadline for Vladimir Putin to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine and breaks with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. A viral video of a brutal street brawl in Cincinnati sparks a national conversation about media silence and racial dynamics in violent crime. President Trump signs an executive order to “save college sports,” aiming to regulate NIL payments and protect non-revenue sports.

It’s Tuesday, July 29, 2025, and this is news you need to know to start your day.

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Trump Gives Putin Ultimatum, Breaks With Netanyahu On Gaza

Topline: President Trump announced on Monday that he is shortening the deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, while also taking the rare step of publicly disagreeing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

After a string of successfully brokered ceasefires around the globe, President Trump’s patience with Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine appears to be waning. On Monday, Trump announced he was shortening his previous 50-day deadline for Russia to agree to a peace deal.

“I’m gonna make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump said. “There’s no reason in waiting.” He also took direct shots at the Russian leader, saying, “I’m not so interested in talking anymore. We have such nice conversations … and then people die the following night with a missile going into a town.”

If Putin fails to meet the new deadline, the U.S. could increase military aid to NATO or impose crippling 100% tariffs on Russia and secondary tariffs on any country that trades with them.

In another major foreign policy development, the president broke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on the issue of starvation in Gaza. When asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s claim that there is “no starvation” in Gaza, Trump responded, “I don’t know. Based on television, not particularly. Those children look very hungry…” He added that the U.S. would work with European allies to set up food distribution centers in the region.

These moves come as a new poll from The Wall Street Journal found that voters trust the GOP over Democrats on foreign policy by an 8-point margin.

Viral Cincinnati Brawl Ignites National Debate

Topline: A graphic video of a brutal street beating in downtown Cincinnati has gone viral, sparking widespread outrage and a national conversation about media bias and the reality of violent crime in America.

The video, captured Saturday during the Cincinnati Music Festival, shows a man being thrown to the ground and beaten by a group of what appear to be mostly black men. A woman who steps in to protect the man is then sucker-punched in the face, falls to the concrete, and appears to lose consciousness. No police were visible during the two-and-a-half-minute clip, a fact the local Fraternal Order of Police president highlighted while condemning witnesses for recording instead of calling 911.

The video drew immediate condemnation from prominent conservatives. Vice President JD Vance said, “We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children.” The lack of coverage from most national media outlets on Sunday was noted by Elon Musk and others.

Author Heather Mac Donald told Morning Wire that the media’s relative silence is due to racial dynamics. “The only black lives they care about are those extremely rare instances where a white police officer has taken the life of a black person,” she said. Mac Donald argued that the media’s narrative ignores the reality of violent crime, citing a National Academy of Sciences report showing that “blacks commit violent crime against whites at 35 times the rate at which whites commit violent crime against blacks.” The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, headed by Harmeet Dhillon, stated that “where race is a motivation, federal law may apply.”

Trump Signs Order To ‘Save College Sports’

Topline: President Trump has signed an executive order aimed at creating federal guardrails for the new landscape of college athletics, particularly regarding Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) payments to athletes.

In recent years, court rulings and the House v. NCAA settlement have allowed student-athletes to profit from NIL deals and revenue sharing, creating what many call an unsustainable “wild, wild west” in college sports. President Trump’s executive order attempts to bring order by prohibiting “third-party, pay-for-play payments,” a reference to donor-funded “collectives” that have sprung up to pay athletes. The order allows for “legitimate, fair-market-value compensation” for endorsements, but as Crain & Company’s David Cone told Morning Wire, defining and enforcing “fair-market-value” remains a subjective and significant challenge.

Critics of the order, including an attorney for the plaintiffs in the NCAA settlement, accuse Trump of “aiding the NCAA at the expense of athletes.” The order also seeks to protect women’s and non-revenue sports. With athletic departments now facing the high cost of paying football and basketball players, these other programs are at risk of being cut. The executive order states these sports are vital for “developing world-class athletes” and serving as a pipeline to the Olympics.