Trump Weekly: FT details Zuckerberg transformation into ‘MAGA Mark’

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Trump with this weekly recap compiled by The Fly:

IRAN: U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing a range of potential actions in response to a recent armed conflict between Israel and Iran, including a possible U.S. strike against Iran, and met with top White House advisers to discuss the matter on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing administration officials. The news came after Trump earlier posted on Truth Social that the U.S. is aware of the location of Iran supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei but had opted not to take any action, then saying “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” the report noted. 

TRUMP ADVISER: Interviews with sources detail Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s transformation into “MAGA Mark,” with sources saying there were talks about Zuckerberg taking a role as an adviser to the Trump administration, potentially on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, The Financial Times’ Hannah Murphy reports.

TIKTOK DEADLINE EXTENDED: President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 90 days to give his administration more time to reach a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership. It is the third time Trump has extended the deadline. Publicly traded companies in the space include Meta Platforms (META), Pinterest (PINS), Reddit (RDDT) and Snap (SNAP).

MEDICARE COST CUTS: Senate Republicans are proposing cuts to Medicaid for low-income and disabled people that are more aggressive than policies the House passed to help pay for President Trump’s tax package, Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the legislation. Senate Republicans, however, abandoned efforts to cut costs in Medicare, which is good news for Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which are major players in the Medicare Advantage insurance market, according to Bloomberg. The Senate plan, to be released on Monday, solidifies Republicans’ decision to cut funding for Medicaid health insurance for the poor to pay for tax cuts, Bloomberg adds. Publicly traded companies in the space health insurance space include CVS Health (CVS), Centene (CNC), Cigna (CI), Elevance Health (ELV), Humana (HUM), Molina Healthcare (MOH) and UnitedHealth (UNH).

GOLDEN DOME: Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Boeing (BA) said they are setting themselves up to secure a major share of President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system, which is projected to cost up to $175B and seeks to establish a network of satellites to detect, track, and possibly intercept incoming projectiles, Reuters’ Joe Brock reports. “We clearly have a whole number of product lines that will contribute very well, that are going to fit very well with what is necessary to achieve the mission,” said Tim Cahill, President of Missiles and Fire Control at Lockheed Martin at the Paris Airshow. At a separate media briefing, Steve Parker, Boeing’s interim CEO for space and defense, said the company had done “a lot of work” on Golden Dome, though declined to provide details, the author notes. Other companies in contention for early contracts include L3Harris (LHX) and RTX (RTX).

LAWSUIT: A potential $35M settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount’s (PARA, PARAA) CBS has been delayed as the company’s management continues to fear a potential legal backlash, Charles Gasparino reports for The New York Post. While the two sides remain in active settlement negotiations, Paramount’s hesitancy to make a deal has prompted members of Trump’s legal team to maintain its initial bargaining position and demand even more money to end the protracted legal dispute, according to sources close to the matter.

DIGITAL ASSETS: President Donald Trump stated in a post to Truth Social, “The Senate just passed an incredible Bill that is going to make America the UNDISPUTED Leader in Digital Assets – Nobody will do it better, it is pure GENIUS! Digital Assets are the future, and our Nation is going to own it. We are talking about MASSIVE Investment, and Big Innovation. The House will hopefully move LIGHTNING FAST, and pass a “clean” GENIUS Act. Get it to my desk, ASAP – NO DELAYS, NO ADD ONS. This is American Brilliance at its best, and we are going to show the World how to WIN with Digital Assets like never before!” Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital (BTBT), Bitfarms (BITF), Coinbase (COIN), Core Scientific (CORZ), Greenidge Generation (GREE), Mara Holdings (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), Strategy (MSTR), Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG) and TeraWulf (WULF).