Hello from London,

Will there be serious fallout for Donald Trump and the Republicans from the latest fuss over Jeffrey Epstein? As we have written (read the article here) Mr Trump and several of his allies spent years fostering conspiracy theories, so it has been delicious to see him squirm over this one. It is striking, too, how the president has bungled his repeated efforts to get people, including his most fervent supporters, to change the subject. (Even his sudden talk of sacking Jerome Powell at the Fed couldn’t do the trick.) For a man so skilled in setting the terms of public discussion, this was a telling failure.

You could argue that this is a moment a dam breaks. Once MAGA supporters have dared to confront Mr Trump, because they are coming to doubt he speaks for the little guy after all, they won’t trust him on other subjects. They are wobbling already over America’s involvement in bombing Iran, plus Mr Trump’s failure to order an end to the war in Ukraine. Polling data are undoubtedly bad and getting worse for Mr Trump: our tracker has his net approval at minus 14 points (it’s fascinating to study the twists and turns of this term compared with his first one, and with Joe Biden’s term). As that tracker updates in the coming days, I expect his net approval to slide further. Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Mr Trump and never one to shy away from a bold claim, has suggested the Epstein furore could cost the Republicans 40 House seats at the midterms next year.

It will be intriguing to see how Trump loyalists—such as Charlie Kirk, whom we profiled this weekend—try to navigate this in the coming weeks. But my hunch is that this July story will fade. Other stuff matters vastly more to most voters, including the MAGA base. Our approval tracker shows that the most startling loss of support for Mr Trump in the first 180-or-so days of his presidency is on his handling of the economy. At the inauguration, voters on average liked his stance on everything from inflation and prices to taxes and jobs. These are the issues that you can guarantee will really motivate people at those midterms. Now, on the economy, voters massively dislike his performance. On inflation, for example, his approval is almost minus 30 points. And this is before the real impact of tariffs has started to hit.

Rumours have swirled of late that the top dog in the world’s other superpower, China, has also been facing some difficulties. As Xi Jinping packs his bucket and spade for the Chinese leadership’s annual jaunt to the seaside, our new piece examines whether his power really is under threat.

Which is the richest country of all in 2025? Mr Trump repeatedly tells Americans theirs is the greatest. We’ve just re-run our annual assessment of the world’s economies, noting how simple comparisons of GDP per person, even when adjusted for spending power, fail to capture what really makes someone feel rich. Crucially, we also compare the hours the average person works to earn a given income. I won’t give away the answer of which country comes top of the rich pile—I’ll merely note that my wife married beneath her. Read our ranking of the richest (and poorest) countries.

Thank you for all of your views on working from home, after we looked at the impact it has on company culture. It’s a subject that resonates for many. Sudha Jayaram, in Bengaluru, makes a strong point: what about the effect on the home? People too often ignore the “effect it has on the other folks in the household, especially little kids and seniors. No running, loud noises, loud music, TV and in India, not even a pressure-cooker whistle.” Valentina, in Madrid, describes herself as an “introvert” and says having the option to work in part from home is ideal: being hybrid means she makes an effort to be more socially engaged in the office on some days, but is relieved it’s not a daily requirement. Many of you, including Anne Davies in Geneva, are still big enthusiasts for work from home for the time (and pollution) it saves from commuting, as well as the flexibility it provides. I’ll give the final word to Tom Culshaw, who thinks WFH “makes conscientious employees work harder” whereas the workshy can “get away with even more”. That sounds all too plausible.

For next week I’d love your views on another office-related topic: what’s the future of the summer (or Christmas, or whatever) office party? If you attend them, do you dread or relish social gatherings with colleagues? Should employers still throw them? Write to me at economisttoday@economist.com—and if you want to share with me your most painful office-party anecdotes, please make clear whether or not you’d want them published.