President Donald Trump has been itching to use the Insurrection Act since the George Floyd protests in 2020. But he’s closer than ever to invoking the 1807 law.

In the past week, Trump and Vice President JD Vance and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller have threatened that the president could use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically.

The law gives the president fairly broad discretion to determine whether there is an insurrection or rebellion taking place, which could allow Trump to circumvent legal questions he’s facing over sending the National Guard into Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

“I think that the president is closer to invoking the Insurrection Act than he’s been since 2020, 2021,” said Kevin Carroll, a former military intelligence officer who served in the Homeland Security Department during Trump’s first term. “If he gets a final judicial order saying that he can’t use troops under the statutory authorities he’s exercised thus far, he’ll do it under the Insurrection Act.”

Read Laura Barrón-López’s full analysis here.

With the government shutdown heading into its third week, top Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress have had virtually no talks on how to end it.

Here are some highlights of the president’s actions over the last seven days:

The news can feel overwhelming. But each week, we pause to highlight a person, organization or movement sticking up for their principles or their fellow Americans. This week’s challengers are Portland protesters.

Trump has sought to justify deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, by saying the city is “war-ravaged” and “burning to the ground.” That created a risk that any protests there could become fodder for more criticism by the president if they turned violent. But Portland residents found a way to keep protesting while undercutting Trump’s dark vision of their hometown: dressing up. Protesters in Stumptown, as the city calls itself, have dressed up in inflatable frog costumes, as the Disney cartoon character Stitch and as a giant chicken, among other things. “It becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [Secretary] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit,” said protester Jack Dickinson in a recent interview. Learn more.

Wall Street is going gangbusters. The stock market is regularly setting new records — despite Friday’s sell off after Trump talked about an additional 100% tariff on China. Now, after more than a trillion dollars in deals made during the summer, Wall Street banks are reporting record numbers as well. Citigroup said every division had record revenue. JPMorgan made nearly $14.4 billion, a 12% increase from this time last year. Goldman Sachs said profits jumped 37%. And Wells Fargo saw profits rise 9%. Yet while Wall Street is doing great, the outlook is not so sunny for Main Street. The top 10% accounts for nearly half of all consumer spending and Goldman Sachs calculates consumers will pay more than half the cost of higher tariffs. With new tariffs  going into effect on Tuesday covering furniture and lumber, if you’re in the market to buy a new home or planning to furnish one you just bought, get ready to pay more. Learn more.