Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:
Ex-CIA staffers sound alarm over US democracy under Trump
Deadly protests in Kashmir test Pakistan’s military rulers
The bank behind China’s AI ambitions
Donald Trump is following an autocrat’s playbook in his second term, weakening checks on his power and leaving the US less safe, former senior intelligence officials have warned, as they step up public criticism of the president’s authoritarian style of governing.
Trump returned to office pledging war against the so-called deep state that he blamed for constraining his power during his first term. Since then, he has sought to silence critics and demanded loyalty from those around him.
Autocrats “have relatively common playbooks in terms of how they capture and wield power”, said Paul Kolbe, a former CIA station chief who served across the former Soviet Union and Balkans. “These are all things that rhyme right now for me with what we see happening in the United States.”
Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who is fighting a legal battle with Trump after the White House revoked his security clearance last year, warned that the president would continue his effort to consolidate power.
“The guardrails were all taken down,” Zaid said. “I don’t think we’re even close to the worst of where we’re going to go.”
Kolbe is among more than 400 former US intelligence and national security officials in The Steady State, a network formed in 2016 in response to members’ alarm at rising authoritarianism in the US. Zaid also works with the organisation.
The group warns that Trump’s erosion of institutions and checks on executive power threatens US democracy and its business environment. The public intervention from former officials more used to a life in the shadows points to deepening alarm in the US intelligence community. Read the full story.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
Five more top stories
1. Dozens of people have been killed in election clashes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the highest death toll there in decades and a serious political test for Islamabad’s military-backed government. Voting in the weeks-long election in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, one of the autonomous territories in the disputed region, was scheduled to end on Monday but polling has been postponed in some areas.
2. China’s top investment bank has emerged from a years-long government crackdown and muscled aside rivals to become the dominant financier of Beijing’s effort to compete with the US in AI. China International Capital Corporation has sponsored the multibillion-dollar listings of several of the country’s tech champions, including chipmaker CXMT and data centre parts supplier Zhongji InnoLight.
Chinese economy: China’s consumer price index last month rose at its slowest rate since January while factory-gate price growth decelerated, in a sign that the inflationary impact of the war in Iran is easing.
3. Berkshire Hathaway chief executive Greg Abel ploughed a net $19.8bn into the stock market in the second quarter, ending a more than three-year selling streak by his predecessor Warren Buffett. The investments signal Abel’s appetite to leave his mark on the Omaha-based insurer by putting some of its mammoth $365bn cash pile to work.
4. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected a US-backed plan for Gaza under which Hamas would disarm in exchange for a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave. Netanyahu’s announcement follows fierce criticism of the 15-point plan from far-right members of his coalition — even though US officials have insisted it was in line with a previous US plan that Israel had accepted.
5. Asian carmakers Toyota and Hyundai have benefited from surging US demand for hybrid models as the Iran conflict keeps petrol prices elevated. The popularity of hybrids has caught out Detroit’s Big Three carmakers, who offer few such models in the US market and are enduring a plunge in domestic sales of electric vehicles.
America’s new oligarchy
President Donald Trump’s cabinet members have a combined net worth of $7.5bn, according to one widely cited estimate, making his administration the richest in American history. The US has long prided itself on being the world’s leading democracy, but its system of government is increasingly dominated by an economic elite that has parlayed its immense riches into tangible political influence.
We’re also reading . . .
Leaving China: Xizhou’s internationally celebrated Linden Centre is a symbol of the deep roots of US-Chinese relations. Forty years after its seeds were sown, its founder’s plans to leave speak volumes.
Aim for the stars: Children’s cute job hopes look unattainable but they are still worth encouraging, writes Andrew Hill.
M&A in higher ed: The global mergers and acquisitions boom has hit a surprising sector, writes Rana Foroohar: the American university system.
Chart of the day
One of the world’s biggest coal producers has suffered a summer of blackouts, leaving homes and businesses across Indonesia with erratic power. The power outages highlight Jakarta’s reliance on coal, despite its commitment to retiring coal plants within the next 15 years and the lack of investment in renewable infrastructure.
Take a break from the news . . .
The snow leopard is known by Mongolians as their “spotted brothers” and in Tibet they are worshipped as the ghost of the mountain. Nilanjana Roy reviews a new book about these elusive predators, respected but feared for their killing skills.
