And that's not to mention the individual net worths of his adult children: a reported $25 million each for both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, according to Forbes; and a reported $10 million for Tiffany Trump, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Ivanka Trump, who runs her own business, has the largest net worth of all the children. She and her husband Jared Kushner are estimated to be worth around $1.1 billion, as best ascertained by ethics filings reflecting the couple's real estate holdings and additional investments.
Combined, that means the entire Trump family's fortune could be well over $8.6 billion.
From pricey penthouses and expensive schooling to high-end shopping and a full-on aviation fleet, here's how they spend their money.
Donald Trump's net worth is currently estimated to be $7.5 billion.
According to his executive branch personnel public financial disclosure report, he earned anywhere from $597,396,914 to $667,811,903 between January 2016 and spring 2017.
Nearly $5.7 billion of Trump's wealth comes from his brand businesses — an estimated $5.6 billion from the Trump Media and Technology Group, and $59 million comes from the Trump Hotel Management & Licensing Business.
President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he boards Air Force One for travel to Pennsylvania from Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on August 13, 2019.
Before he was elected to the White House, Trump spent $66 million of his own money on his presidential campaign, according to campaign finance disclosures examined by Reuters.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Hershey, Pa.
Trump often traveled during his campaign using his huge aircraft fleet. He reportedly bought a Boeing 727 for $8 million back in the day, and then replaced it in 2010 with a Boeing 757 that he bought from Microsoft's Paul Allen for $100 million.
AP
According to the New York Times, it burns fuel at a rate of thousands of dollars an hour.
Trump has an affinity for Brioni suits, which range from $5,250 to $6,900. While the brand supplied him with suits during "The Apprentice," he started paying for them during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Melania Trump also has a taste for pricey fashion. She's been spotted wearing everything from a $2,095 Givenchy cape dress at an International Red Cross Ball to a $7,995 Monique Lhuillier sequined gown at a White House Historical Association dinner. And then there's also the time when she donned a $52,000 Dolce & Gabbana jacket.
Melania has had her own makeup artist, Nicole Bryl, who once told US Weekly of Melania's plans to have a "glam room" in the White House. She also has a hairstylist who makes house calls and travels with her.
U.S. first lady Melania Trump arrives in the Rose Garden to speak at the White House May 7, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Melania has said she's a full-time mom and that she refuses to spend money on a nanny. In 2013, she told ABC News that she dresses her son, Barron, in suits and moisturizes him with her brand's Caviar Complex C6 moisturizer. He was seven years old at the time.
First lady Melania Trump and Barron Trump walk to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Washington.
In New York, Barron was attending Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, which can costs upward of $59,000 a year. While he lived in the White House, he attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Maryland, which can cost up to $47,000 a year. He later attended the Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, near his father's Mar-a-Lago club.
The three of them lived in the ritzy $50 million penthouse in Trump Tower in New York before moving into the White House in 2017. Trump reportedly has said the penthouse spans 33,000 square feet, but city records indicate that it's actually 10,996 square feet.
They also have a 39,000-square-foot mansion in Bedford, New York, called Seven Springs, for which they reportedly paid $7.5 million. The home, used for family getaways, is reportedly worth roughly $30 million.
That includes the estimated $325 million Mar-a-Lago, a 17-acre estate in Palm Beach that Trump reportedly purchased for $10 million. It has 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces, and three bomb shelters.
Donald Trump Jr. also owns real estate in Manhattan. He bought two apartments at the Sovereign for $1.5 million and $1.125 million, Town & Country reported. The publication speculated that he combined the two apartments.
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump is busy building her own empire. Between January 1, 2016, and May 31, 2017, she earned at least $13.5 million in income, according to forms released by the White House. More than $5 million came from her namesake brand, more than $2.5 million from the Trump Organization, and nearly $800,000 for book and TV work.
Once Trump took up residence in the White House, Ivanka and Jared moved to Washington DC, where they lived in a $5.5 million house in the upscale Kalorama neighborhood.
Like her stepmother, Ivanka also steps out in a mix of high-end and fast fashion, from a $6,280 Oscar de la Renta dress and coat to an $870 Roksanda dress and a $35 Victoria Beckham for Target dress.
Tiffany Trump's schooling was always paid for by Donald Trump, according to a source who talked to People Magazine. She attended the University of Pennsylvania for undergrad and graduated in 2020 from Georgetown Law School, which costs upwards of $80,000 per year for the full-time JD program.
She's been spotted wearing $725 Aquazarra shoes and has worn couture designer Daniel Basso — whose gowns can cost thousands of dollars — to formal events several times.
Tiffany Trump married businessman Michael Boulos in November 2022 at her father's Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida. Her engagement ring was reportedly worth $1.2 million.
There's debate on the extent of Trump's philanthropic efforts, but in 2009, he and Melania donated $5,000 to $9,999 to the Police Athletic League of New York City. He also donated $1 million of his own money to Hurricane Harvey relief in 2017.
President Donald Trump (R) and first lady Melania Trump walk across the South Lawn before departing the White House July 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling to Ohio to participate in a 'salute to American heroes' and a 'Make America Great Again Rally.'
The IDF has claimed Hezbollah hit its "Sky Dew" radar balloon, a report says.
The balloon is part of Israel's missile detection system.
The IDF responded by striking Hezbollah sites, an IDF spokesperson said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that a Hezbollah drone struck a large missile-detecting airship known as "Sky Dew," Israeli outlet Ynetnews reported.
The radar-detecting balloon was deployed around 21 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border in an area called Golani Junction, the report said.
"There were no casualties and no impact to the IDF's aerial situational awareness capability in the area," IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, per Ynet News.
The sytem was designed to add to Israel's air defenses by detecting incoming missiles and drones, officials have said, per The Times of Israel.
The Israeli Air Force received the airship in 2022.
Yesterday, the IAF officially received the "Tal Shamaim" platform developed in cooperation with the @Israel_MOD and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). pic.twitter.com/MyjDFjLlU8
It comes amid increasing tensions with the Hezbollah militant group, which has carried out a number of strikes on Israel following the latter's invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Its attacks have ramped up in recent weeks after the IDF's operations in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Following news of the alleged attack on the Sky Dew airship, Hagari said: "On the northern border, we attacked a complex of weapons manufacturing and storage sites belonging to Hezbollah's missile precision project overnight in response to the strike on the military site near Golani Junction, which hit the balloon on the ground during its operational acceptance process," per Ynetnews.
The Lebanese political analyst Faisal Abdul-Sater, who closely follows Hezbollah, previously told the Associated Press that Hezbollah was "sending messages on the ground to the Israeli enemy."
He said they were showing Israel: "This is part of what we have, and if needed we can strike more."
A number of luxury apartment buildings are making it easier to get a boost of wellness right where you live.
peakSTOCK/Getty Images
Luxury buildings in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York are now offering IV drips to tenants.
Once used in hospitals, these treatments have become popular at wellness centers and spas.
The global IV therapy market is projected to reach $3.92 billion by 2028.
Luxury residential buildings are now equipped with more than just hi-fi fitness centers, outdoor movie theaters, and dog spas — they're offering longevity hacks, too.
A growing number of high-end buildings in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York are offering IV drips to tenants, according to The New York Times. The luxury condominium unit One Manhattan Square offers five different IV drip formulas that range from $300 to $350. The Park — a luxury apartment building in Los Angeles where units can go for as much as $38,000 a month — has been offering IV treatments since 2023.
Intravenous treatments have long been used in hospitals to administer drugs to patients. But in recent years they've become a fixture at medical spas, wellness centers, and longevity clinics as a way for clients to hydrate or get a boost of minerals or supplements.
Drip providers say patients must stay consistent with their treatments to see optimal results — hence their move even closer to home.
"If you are a healthy person, you really can't do it too often, unless you're doing it three or four times a day," Danielle Remington, director of events and partnerships at Drip Hydration, the service provider for the Park Santa Monica, told the Times.
Patients gravitate to these treatments because they have an instant impact without needing a lot of downtime, clinic directors previously told Business Insider. By 2028, the global IV therapy market is expected to reach $3.92 billion, according to projections from The Business Research Company.
Israeli soldiers in tanks on the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, on February 13, 2024.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Israeli tank fire accidentally killed five IDF soldiers in a friendly fire incident in Gaza.
The soldiers were part of the IDF's Paratroopers Brigade.
Friendly fire incidents have become a major problem for the IDF.
Israeli tank fire accidentally killed five Israel Defense Forces soldiers earlier this week, a military spokesperson said on Thursday.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters that the five men were killed on Wednesday during a battle in a densely populated part of the Gaza Strip.
"There was an incident of friendly fire — five soldiers were killed," Shoshani said, adding that the incident was "under review," according to The New York Times.
Two tanks had fired at a building in the Jabalia refugee camp after spotting a gun barrel they believed belonged to enemy forces, an initial IDF investigation found, The Times of Israel reported.
The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Friendly fire incidents are a serious problem for the IDF
Friendly fire incidents have become increasingly common in Israel's invasion of Gaza.
Israeli outlet Haaretz reported earlier this month that 22 soldiers had already been killed as a result of friendly fire incidents during the conflict.
Funeral for IDF Sgt. Gilad Aryeh Boim, one of the five soldiers killed in the friendly fire incident on Wednesday.
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Former Col. Simon Diggins, a British military and defense analyst who served in the Middle East, told the UK's i newspaper that the number of reported incidents was not surprising, noting that "disease and non-battle injuries" often exceed the numcer of casualties directly inflicted by enemy action, he said.
"I think it's probably fair to say that the Israelis have a tendency to fire first and ask questions later, but the situation is also very complicated, and fighting in built-up areas is a very complex and very dangerous part of being a soldier," he told the paper.
Last month, a report revealed that an Israeli grandmother had likely been killed by Israeli Air Force helicopter fire after Hamas militants abducted her during the October 7 attacks on Israel.
But friendly fire is also affecting operational efficiency.
A US Marine officer said earlier this month that the IDF had shot down 40% of its own drones.
Speaking at the Modern Day Marine exposition on May 1, Lt. Col. Michael Pruden said that "40% of the UAVs … knocked out" by the IDF are cases of "friendly fire," The War Zone reported.
A drone pilot in Israel.
Guy Prives | Getty Images
Pruden did not confirm where or when such incidents had occurred.
The Marine Corps told Business Insider that The War Zone report had been accurately contextualized but declined to provide additional information.
Tim Cook speaks at Tulane University's commencement in 2019.
Josh Brasted/Getty Images
Most commencement speeches tend to follow a similar formula.
However, some are so inspiring they are remembered long after graduation.
Presidents, Nobel Prize winners, CEOs, and comedians have all inspired graduates with their words.
Commencement speeches are often an opportunity for media moguls, celebrities, and CEOs to impart wisdom to the graduating classes of colleges and universities across the country.
Presidents have also used commencement speeches as more casual environments to drive home the values of their administrations, such as John F. Kennedy's 1963 speech at American University that called for peace.
Here are valuable pieces of advice from graduation speeches through history.
Richard Feloni and Rachel Gillett contributed to a previous version of this article.
"Our problems are manmade — therefore, they can be solved by man." — John F. Kennedy's 1963 speech at American University
John F. Kennedy at American University.
Ted Streshinsky Photographic Archive/Getty Images
Against the tumult of the early '60s, John F. Kennedy inspired graduates to strive for what may be the biggest goal of them all: world peace.
"Too many of us think it is impossible," he said. "Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable — that mankind is doomed — that we are gripped by forces we cannot control."
Our job is not to accept that, he urged. "Our problems are manmade — therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants."
"Be the heroine of your life, not the victim." — Nora Ephron's 1996 speech at Wellesley College
Nora Ephron.
Joe Corrigan/Stringer/Getty Images
Addressing her fellow alums with trademark wit, Ephron reflected on all the things that had changed since her days at Wellesley — and all the things that hadn't.
"My class went to college in the era when you got a master's degree in teaching because it was 'something to fall back on' in the worst case scenario, the worst case scenario being that no one married you and you actually had to go to work," she said.
But while things had changed drastically by 1996, Ephron warned grads not to "delude yourself that the powerful cultural values that wrecked the lives of so many of my classmates have vanished from the earth."
"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim," she said. "Maybe young women don't wonder whether they can have it all any longer, but in case any of you are wondering, of course you can have it all. What are you going to do? Everything, is my guess. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications."
"We can learn to live without the sick excitement, without the kick of having scores to settle." — Kurt Vonnegut's 1999 speech at Agnes Scott College
Kurt Vonnegut at Agnes Scott College.
C-SPAN
The famed author became one of the most sought-after commencement speakers in the United States for many years, thanks to his insights on morality and cooperation. At Agnes Scott, he asked graduates to make the world a better place by respecting humanity and living without hate. Hammurabi lived 4,000 years ago, he pointed out. We can stop living by his code.
"We may never dissuade leaders of our nation or any other nation from responding vengefully, violently, to every insult or injury. In this, the Age of Television, they will continue to find irresistible the temptation to become entertainers, to compete with movies by blowing up bridges and police stations and factories and so on," he said.
"But in our personal lives, our inner lives, at least, we can learn to live without the sick excitement, without the kick of having scores to settle with this particular person, or that bunch of people, or that particular institution or race or nation. And we can then reasonably ask forgiveness for our trespasses, since we forgive those who trespass against us."
The result, he said, would be a happier, more peaceful, and more complete existence.
"You are your own stories." — Toni Morrison's 2004 speech at Wellesley College
Toni Morrison at Wellesley College.
Lisa Poole/AP Images
Instead of the usual commencement platitudes — none of which, Morrison argued, are true anyway — the Nobel Prize-winning writer asked grads to create their own narratives.
"What is now known is not all what you are capable of knowing," she said. "You are your own stories and therefore free to imagine and experience what it means to be human without wealth. What it feels like to be human without domination over others, without reckless arrogance, without fear of others unlike you, without rotating, rehearsing and reinventing the hatreds you learned in the sandbox."
In your own story, you can't control all the characters, Morrison said. "The theme you choose may change or simply elude you. But being your own story means you can always choose the tone. It also means that you can invent the language to say who you are and what you mean." Being a storyteller reflects a deep optimism, she said — and as a storyteller herself, "I see your life as already artful, waiting, just waiting and ready for you to make it art."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." — Steve Jobs' 2005 speech at Stanford University
Steve Jobs at Stanford University.
Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News Service
In a remarkably personal address, the Apple founder and CEO advised graduates to live each day as if it were their last.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," he said. He'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year earlier.
"Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important," he continued. "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Jobs said this mindset will make you understand the importance of your work. "And the only way to do great work is to love what you do," he said. "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
Settling means giving in to someone else's vision of your life — a temptation Jobs warned against. "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
"If you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options." — David Foster Wallace's 2005 speech at Kenyon College
David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College.
Steve Rhodes
In his now-legendary "This Is Water" speech, the author urged grads to be a little less arrogant and a little less certain about their beliefs.
"This is not a matter of virtue," Wallace said. "It's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self."
Doing that will be hard, he said. "It takes will and effort, and if you are like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat won't want to."
But breaking free of that lens can allow you to truly experience life, to consider possibilities beyond your default reactions.
"If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won't consider possibilities that aren't annoying and miserable," he said. "But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down."
"If it doesn't feel right, don't do it." — Oprah Winfrey's 2008 speech at Stanford University
Oprah Winfrey at Stanford University.
YouTube/Stanford University
The media mogul told Stanford's class of 2008 that they can't sacrifice happiness for money. "When you're doing the work you're meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you're getting paid," she said.
She said you can feel when you're doing the right thing in your gut. "What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know," she said.
She explained that doing what your instincts tells you to do will make you more successful because it will drive you to work harder and will save you from debilitating stress.
"If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. That's the lesson. And that lesson alone will save you, my friends, a lot of grief," Winfrey said. "Even doubt means don't. This is what I've learned. There are many times when you don't know what to do. When you don't know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do."
"Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what's going to happen next and you are mostly just making things up as you go along." — Stephen Colbert's 2011 speech at Northwestern University
Stephen Colbert.
Joshua Lott/AP Images
The comedian and host of the "Late Show" told grads they should never feel like they have it all figured out.
"Whatever your dream is right now, if you don't achieve it, you haven't failed, and you're not some loser. But just as importantly — and this is the part I may not get right and you may not listen to — if you do get your dream, you are not a winner," Colbert said.
It's a lesson he learned from his improv days. When actors are working together properly, he explained, they're all serving each other, playing off each other on a common idea. "And life is an improvisation. You have no idea what's going to happen next and you are mostly just making things up as you go along. And like improv, you cannot win your life," he said.
"There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized." — Conan O'Brien's 2011 speech at Dartmouth College
Conan O'Brien at Dartmouth College.
Dartmouth College
In his hilarious 2011 address to Dartmouth College, the late-night host spoke about his brief run on "The Tonight Show" before being replaced by Jay Leno. O'Brien described the fallout as the lowest point in his life, feeling very publicly humiliated and defeated. But once he got back on his feet and went on a comedy tour across the country, he discovered something important.
"There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized," he said.
He explained that for decades the ultimate goal of every comedian was to host "The Tonight Show," and like many comedians, he thought achieving that goal would define his success. "But that is not true. No specific job or career goal defines me, and it should not define you," he said.
He noted that disappointment is a part of life, and the beauty of it is that it can help you gain clarity and conviction.
"It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique," O'Brien said. "It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can be a catalyst for profound re-invention."
O'Brien said that dreams constantly evolve, and your ideal career path at 22 years old will not necessarily be the same at 32 or 42 years old.
"I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that's OK," he said.
"The difference between triumph and defeat, you'll find, isn't about willingness to take risks — it's about mastery of rescue." — Atul Gawande's 2012 speech at Williams College
Atul Gawande.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Pushing beyond the tired "take risks!" commencement cliché, the surgeon, writer, and activist took a more nuanced approach: what matters isn't just that you take risks; it's how you take them.
To explain, he turned to medicine."Scientists have given a new name to the deaths that occur in surgery after something goes wrong — whether it is an infection or some bizarre twist of the stomach," said Gawande. "They call them a 'Failure to Rescue.' More than anything, this is what distinguished the great from the mediocre. They didn't fail less. They rescued more."
What matters, he said, isn't the failure — that's inevitable — but what happens next. "A failure often does not have to be a failure at all. However, you have to be ready for it. Will you admit when things go wrong? Will you take steps to set them right? — because the difference between triumph and defeat, you'll find, isn't about willingness to take risks. It's about mastery of rescue."
"Err in the direction of kindness." — George Saunders' 2013 speech at Syracuse University
George Saunders.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Images
The writer stressed what turns out to be a deceptively simple idea: the importance of kindness.
"What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness," he said. "Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded … sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly."
But kindness is hard, he said. It's not necessarily our default. In part, he explained, kindness comes with age. "It might be a simple matter of attrition: as we get older, we come to see how useless it is to be selfish — how illogical, really." The challenge he laid out: Don't wait. "Speed it along," he urged. "Start right now."
"There's a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness," Saunders said. "But there's also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf — seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life."
"Do all the other things, the ambitious things — travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness."
"Ditch the dream and be a doer, not a dreamer." — Shonda Rhimes' 2014 speech at Dartmouth College
The world has plenty of dreamers, she said. "And while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, engaged, powerful people, are busy doing." She pushed grads to be those people.
"Ditch the dream and be a doer, not a dreamer," she advised — whether or not you know what your "passion" might be. "The truth is, it doesn't matter. You don't have to know. You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new. It doesn't have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life. Perfect is boring and dreams are not real," she said.
"Your job is to create a world that lasts forever." — Steven Spielberg's 2016 speech at Harvard
Steven Spielberg at Harvard.
Harvard
"This world is full of monsters," director Steven Spielberg told Harvard graduates, and it's the next generation's job to vanquish them.
"My job is to create a world that lasts two hours. Your job is to create a world that lasts forever," he said.
These monsters manifest themselves as racism, homophobia, and ethnic, class, political, and religious hatred, he said, noting that there is no difference between them: "It is all one big hate."
Spielberg said that hate is born of an "us versus them" mentality, and thinking instead about people as "we" requires replacing fear with curiosity.
"'Us' and 'them' will find the 'we' by connecting with each other, and by believing that we're members of the same tribe, and by feeling empathy for every soul," he said.
"I wake up in a house that was built by slaves." — Michelle Obama's 2016 speech at the City College of New York
Michelle Obama at the City College of New York.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
In her 23rd and final commencement speech as first lady, Michelle Obama urged the class of 2016 to pursue happiness and live out whatever version of the American Dream is right for them.
"It's the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves," she said, "and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, Black young women — head off to school waving goodbye to their father, the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: to get an education and improve his prospects in life."
"So, graduates, while I think it's fair to say that our Founding Fathers never could have imagined this day," she continued, "all of you are very much the fruits of their vision. Their legacy is very much your legacy and your inheritance. And don't let anybody tell you differently. You are the living, breathing proof that the American Dream endures in our time. It's you."
"Not everything that happens to us happens because of us." — Sheryl Sandberg's 2016 speech at UC Berkeley
Sheryl Sandberg speaks during a forum in San Francisco.
Eric Risberg/AP
During the Facebook COO's deeply personal commencement speech about resilience at UC Berkeley, she spoke on how understanding the three Ps that largely determine our ability to deal with setbacks helped her cope with the loss of her husband, Dave Goldberg.
She outlined the three Ps as:
· Personalization: Whether you believe an event is your fault. · Pervasiveness: Whether you believe an event will affect all areas of your life. · Permanence: How long you think the negative feelings will last.
"This is the lesson that not everything that happens to us happens because of us," Sandberg said about personalization. It took understanding this for Sandberg to accept that she couldn't have prevented her husband's death. "His doctors had not identified his coronary artery disease. I was an economics major; how could I have?"
"Empathy and kindness are the true signs of emotional intelligence." — Will Ferrell's 2017 speech at the University of Southern California
Will Ferrell at the University of Southern California.
Jerritt Clark/Getty Images
Comedian Will Ferrell, best known for lead roles in films like "Anchorman," "Elf," and "Talledega Nights," delivered a thoughtful speech to USC's graduating class of 2018.
"No matter how cliché it may sound, you will never truly be successful until you learn to give beyond yourself," he said. "Empathy and kindness are the true signs of emotional intelligence, and that's what Viv and I try to teach our boys. Hey Matthias, get your hands of Axel right now! Stop it. I can see you. OK? Dr. Ferrell's watching you."
He also offered some words of encouragement: "For many of you who maybe don't have it all figured out, it's OK. That's the same chair that I sat in. Enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the pressure of the result."
He even finished off with a stirring rendition of the Whitney Houston classic, "I Will Always Love You." He was, of course, referring to the graduates.
"Call upon your grit. Try something." — Tim Cook's 2019 speech at Tulane University
Tim Cook at Tulane University.
Josh Brasted/Getty Images
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered the 2019 commencement speech for the graduates of Tulane University, offering valuable advice on success.
"We forget sometimes that our preexisting beliefs have their own force of gravity," Cook said. "Today, certain algorithms pull toward you the things you already know, believe, or like, and they push away everything else. Push back."
"You may succeed. You may fail. But make it your life's work to remake the world because there is nothing more beautiful or more worthwhile than working to leave something better for humanity."
"As you leave this room don't forget to ask yourself what you can offer to make the 'club of life' go up? How can you make this place better, in spite of your circumstances?" — Issa Rae's 2021 speech at Stanford University
Issa Rae.
Getty/Kevin Winter
In the speech, Rae pulled lyrics from Boosie Badazz, Foxx, and Webbie's "Wipe Me Down," which she said she and her friends played on a boombox during the "Wacky Walk" portion of their own 2007 graduation ceremony at Stanford, to illustrate the importance of seeing "every opportunity as a VIP — as someone who belongs and deserves to be here."
Rae particularly drew attention to one line from the song: "I pull up at the club, VIP, gas tank on E, but all dranks on me. Wipe me down."
"To honor the classic song that has guided my own life — as you leave this room, don't forget to ask yourself what you can offer to make the 'club of life' go up. How can you make this place better, in spite of your circumstances?" she said. "And as you figure those things out, don't forget to step back and wipe yourselves down, wipe each other down and go claim what's yours like the VIPs that you are."
"My experience has been that my mistakes led to the best things in my life." — Taylor Swift's 2022 speech at New York University
Taylor Swift delivers the commencement address to New York University graduates on May 18, 2022.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
In her first public appearance of 2022, Taylor Swift poked fun at her "cringe" fashion moments and her experience of growing up in the public eye, which led to receiving a lot of unsolicited career advice.
"I became a young adult while being fed the message that if I didn't make any mistakes, all the children of America would grow up to be perfect angels. However, if I did slip up, the entire Earth would fall off its axis and it would be entirely my fault and I would go to pop star jail forever and ever," Swift said in her speech. "It was all centered around the idea that mistakes equal failure and ultimately, the loss of any chance at a happy or rewarding life."
"This has not been my experience," she continued. "My experience has been that my mistakes led to the best things in my life."
She also alluded to her past feud with Kanye West, joking that "getting canceled on the internet and nearly losing my career gave me an excellent knowledge of all the types of wine."
She elaborated, saying that losing things doesn't just mean losing.
"A lot of the time, when we lose things, we gain things too," she said.
"Your future is in your hands—all you have to do is listen." — Oprah Winfrey's 2023 speech at Harvard University
Oprah Winfrey.
Taylor Hill//WireImage
Winfrey also spoke to the graduating class of Harvard University about how God has guided her throughout her life, and the importance of listening.
"Life is always talking to us," she said in her speech. "When you tap into what it's trying to tell you, when you can get yourself quiet enough to listen — really listen — you can begin to distill the still, small voice, which is always representing the truth of you, from the noise of the world. You can start to recognize when it comes your way. You can learn to make distinctions, to connect, to dig a little deeper. You'll be able to find your own voice within the still, small voice—you'll begin to know your own heart and figure out what matters most when you can listen to the still, small voice. Every right move I've made has come from listening deeply and following that still, small voice, aligning myself with its power."
Winfrey also discussed avoiding imposter syndrome, tapping into who you are, and treating others with integrity.
"We also need generosity of spirit; we need high standards and open minds and untamed imagination," she continued. "That's how you make a difference in the world. Using who you are and what you stand for to make changes big and small."
"The soul of America is what makes us unique among all nations." — Joe Biden's 2023 speech at Howard University
President Joe Biden receives an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the 2023 commencement ceremony for Howard University.
Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images
The president received an honorary degree and spoke of the values of America at the HBCU, the alma mater of his vice president, Kamala Harris.
"We're the only country founded on an idea — not geography, not religion, not ethnicity, but an idea. The sacred proposition, rooted in Scripture and enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, that we're all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives," Biden said. "While we've never fully lived up to that promise, we never before fully walked away from it."
Biden also addressed many of the causes his campaign has pushed over the years, including the right to choose and "to put democracy on the ballot."
"We can finally resolve those ongoing questions about who we are as a nation. That puts strength of our diversity at the center of American life," he continued. "A future that celebrates and learns from history. A future for all Americans. A future I see you leading. And I'm not, again, exaggerating. You are going to be leading it."
"Humor is the most powerful, most survival-essential quality you will ever have or need to navigate through the human experience." — Jerry Seinfeld's 2024 speech at Duke University
Jerry Seinfeld.
NBC/Getty Images
Seinfeld's commencement speech made headlines after students walked out of his speech in protest of the war in Gaza. Seinfeld has been public about his support for Israel.
Despite the controversy, the speech offered valuable pieces of advice. The comedian and sitcom star's speech addressed the value of not losing your sense of humor, no matter what life throws at you.
"I totally admire the ambitions of your generation to create a more just and inclusive society," he said. "I think it is also wonderful that you care so much about not hurting other people's feelings in the million and one ways we all do that."
"What I need to tell you as a comedian: Do not lose your sense of humor," he continued. "You can have no idea at this point in your life how much you are going to need it to get through. Not enough of life makes sense for you to be able to survive it without humor."
Seinfeld also offered his "three keys to life": "Number one. Bust your ass. Number two. Pay attention. Number three. Fall in love."
Photographer Bryan Sansivero was commissioned to photograph an abandoned farmhouse on Long Island.
It was built in the 1860s and was abandoned a century later — it hasn't been touched for 40 years.
The time-capsule home still has clothing, bottles, and photographs that its owners left behind.
When photographer Bryan Sansivero was commissioned to photograph a house in Commack, New York, he found a home frozen in time.
The property, which has been abandoned for at least 50 years, is known as the Marion Carll Farm. It consists of a house, a garage, a smokehouse, an outhouse, and more.
Sansivero told Business Insider in 2022 there had been a legal battle between the previous owners and the local school district, which was bequeathed the home.
"Once that lawsuit was settled, the district had me come in to photograph everything in the house as it was," Sansivero said.
Now, some of the land on the farmstead has been leased by the Commack School District to Long Island University, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. The land will be used to graze animals, which veterinary students will monitor as part of their studies.
The AVMA said that LIU will pay "$50,000 for 6 acres of the property and will continue to pay $15,000 a year in rent for the first five years and $20,000 for the remainder of the lease."
However, the farmhouse will remain untouched.
Keep scrolling to learn more about the house.
The farmhouse in Commack, New York, was built in 1860 and has been abandoned for 50 years.
The exterior of the home.
Bryan Sansivero
Once you walk into the home, you can see that the house retains much of its original look.
The entryway.
Bryan Sansivero
This gilded mirror's elaborate frame has held up over the years, too.
A mirror.
Bryan Sansivero
When looking at the dusty bottles left behind, it's almost like you've traveled back in time.
Bottles left behind.
Bryan Sansivero
"I've always been drawn to the unknown. I'm a very curious person, and I just have always found abandoned buildings intriguing," Sansivero told Business Insider.
The hallway.
Bryan Sansivero
"I studied filmmaking and did a documentary on an abandoned psychiatric hospital. I realized there was so much more out there than just that place," he said.
The closet.
Bryan Sansivero
This is Sansivero's favorite photo of the house. "I think it gives a good overall feeling that the house had," he said.
A study.
Bryan Sansivero
Whoever lived here left some of their photos behind. People usually feel "bewilderment over how things can be left behind in places" after looking at Sansivero's work, he said.
Abandoned photos.
Bryan Sansivero
Sansivero shared with Business Insider some of the information he learned about the house's history.
An abandoned mannequin.
Bryan Sansivero
"It was an old farmstead built in 1860," he said. "An elderly woman who was loved by her community lived there alone until she passed, I believe, in the 1960s."
A full dresser.
Bryan Sansivero
But he said there's more to the story. "I could write a small book" on the house, he added.
The attic.
Bryan Sansivero
His advice for aspiring photographers: "Don't be afraid of making art." He added, "Art can come from the strangest places, so whatever you're feeling, just follow that, and I think amazing things will happen."
The living room.
Bryan Sansivero
Sansivero regularly shares photos of his work on Instagram.
He also published a book aptly titled "American Decay." As the title suggests, it is filled with homes like this one, left untouched for decades — just waiting for someone to come along and rediscover them.
Some hosts and managers have scaled up, scooping up multiple dwellings to create mini-hospitality empires.
Analytics site AirDNA tallied the locations across the USthat are dominated by these "professional hosts," a designation it gives to any host ID on Airbnb and Vrbo with more than 20 listings.
In the 15 US towns and cities AirDNA identified, more than 50% of the total short-term-rental listings across booking sites were managed by large-portfolio hosts.
Many of the locations with professional hosts are regional vacation hubs, including the seaside Oregon towns of Lincoln City and Newport and the New Mexico ski-resort destination of Ruidoso.
In popular ski destination Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for example, over 60% of the town's total short-term rental inventory is controlled by professional hosts.
Some of these places have cracked down on short-term rentals. In 2022, Steamboat Springs slapped a 9% tax on short-term-rental owners over concerns that there was a dwindling stock of affordable housing for local workers. In 2023, the town created red zones where new short-term-rental permits were banned, according to local radio outlet KUNC.
The Steamboat Springs restrictions elicited mixed reactions: Some homeowners in the new red zones said they would lose significant income if they couldn't rent out their properties, according to KUNC.
Others were more celebratory, the outlet reported.
"It's been really lovely," Steamboat Springs resident Torey Wodnik told KUNC about living in the new red zones. "We have a handful of brand new full-time, year-round neighbors who are a part of our neighborhood, part of our community, living here, working here."
New short-term rental hosts should know the locations with a large professionalized inventory, like Steamboat Springs, because it comes with both warnings and opportunities, said AirDNA economist Jamie Lane.
On the one hand, being the David against a Goliath means you will likely have to compete in multiple ways with hosts who are well-oiled machines, including finding cleaners, who may prefer the consistent work from the large-volume operators, Lane told BI. Professional hosts may also have the upper hand in offering discounts and adjusting daily rates to capture more guests.
"You're not going to out-revenue manage some of these companies," Lane said.
On the flip side, however, guest services and communication can make a small operator stand out from the pack.
Here are the 15 cities with the largest shares of Airbnb hosts that are professional companies.
15. Vail and Avon, Colorado
Vail, Colorado
Kevin Ruck/Shutterstock
Avon is a year-round mountain resort community in the Eagle River Valley, against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. Avon is just an eight-mile drive west of Vail, a European-style village in the White River National Forest that is home to 11 ski resorts and eight wilderness areas.
Average number of listings each month: 6,321
Percent of listings run by professional hosts: 51.2%
14. Ruidoso, New Mexico
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Esdelval/Getty Images
Ruidoso is a resort town near Ski Apache, a ski mountain owned by the Mescalero Apache Tribe. It's also a gateway to Carlsbad Caverns, a warren of 119 underground caves, and White Sands National Monument, known for its giant fields of white sand dunes.
Average number of listings each month: 2,043
Percent of listings run by professional hosts: 51.7%
13. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
John Coletti/Getty Images
Myrtle Beach sits along the Atlantic Ocean within a 60-mile stretch of coastline known as the Grand Strand. The area offers biking trails, golf courses, and the Family Kingdom amusement park.
Average listings per month: 24,061
Percent of professional hosts: 52.7%
12. Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma
Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma
Tamara Harding/Getty
Historically belonging to the Choctaw Nation, Broken Bow Lake sprawls across 14,000 acres along the Mountain Fork River in southeastern Oklahoma. The area's heavily forested surroundings make it a popular spot for bird watchers and hikers.
Average listings per month: 3,276
Percent of professional hosts: 53.1%
11. Destin and Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Destin, Florida
Moment / Getty Images
Destin and Fort Walton Beach are subtropical cities on Florida's Panhandle. These communities on the Gulf of Mexico's Emerald Coast — a 100-mile stretch of shoreline — are famed for their quartz beaches and vibrant restaurant and nightlife scenes.
Average listings per month: 10,348
Percent of professional hosts: 53.5%
10. Gulf Shores and Mobile, Alabama
Gulf Shores, Alabama
Nicholas Courtney/Shutterstock
A vacation town on the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores is known for its sandy beaches and rich biodiversity. Mobile is Alabama's only seaport — and one of the busiest in the United States.
Average listings per month: 17,622
Percent of professional hosts: 54.1%
9. Frisco and Silverthorne, Colorado
Frisco, Colorado
Margaret.Wiktor/Shutterstock
Frisco is near six ski resorts, including Copper Mountain, which has 2,500 acres of alpine terrain. Nearby, another mountain, Silverthorne, is surrounded by picturesque peaks and aspen trees.
Average listings per month: 5,697
Percent of professional hosts: 56.1%
8. Telluride, Colorado
Telluride, Colorado
Deb Snelson/Getty Images
Telluride is a ski town in a box canyon near the San Juan Mountains, part of Colorado's Rocky Mountain range. Once a mining town, it has since transformed into a nexus of luxury hotels and resorts. The town itself is recognized as a National Historic Landmark District.
Average listings per month: 1,674
Percent of professional hosts: 56.3%
7. Seaside and Rockaway Beach, Oregon
Seaside, Oregon
Rigucci/Shutterstock
Seaside and Rockaway Beach are coastal towns along the Pacific Ocean. Seaside features a 15-foot-wide paved boardwalk that provides sweeping views of both the ocean and the Tillamook Head rainforest. Rockaway Beach lies near Neahkahnie Mountain, one of the highest peaks on the West Coast.
Average listings per month: 3,894
Percent of professional hosts: 56.4%
6. Kauai, Hawaii
Kauai, Hawaii.
IndustryAndTravel/Shutterstock
Kauai, the oldest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, is known as the Garden Island for its lush tropical landscapes. It's home to the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park, a 16-mile stretch famous for its stunning beaches, sea cliffs, and waterfalls.
Average listings per month: 6,976
Percent of professional hosts: 57%
5. Santa Rosa and Rosemary Beach, Florida
Santa Rosa, Florida
Joel Brouwer/Getty Images
Santa Rosa and Rosemary Beach sit along a popular stretch of Florida beaches known as 30A, named for the highway that runs parallel to it. 30A, flanked to the west by Destin and to the east by Panama City, draws families from across the South.
Average listings per month: 16,536
Percent of professional hosts: 57.7%
4. Grays Harbor, Washington
Grays Harbor, Washington
bpperry/Getty
Grays Harbor is an estuarine bay surrounded by several beach communities along Washington's coast. It is a gateway to the Pacific Ocean and the Olympic Peninsula, home to the Hoh Rainforest, which is one of the largest temperate rainforests in the United States.
Average listings per month: 1,353
Percent of professional hosts: 57.8%
3. Lincoln City and Newport, Oregon
Newport, Oregon
Didier Marti/Getty Images
Situated on Oregon's central coast, Lincoln City and Newport boast idyllic beaches, hiking trails, and campgrounds. Fishing and seafood enthusiasts also flock to the area because Newport is known for Dungeness crab, famous for its sweet, buttery taste.
Average listings per month: 2,515
Percent of professional hosts: 58.1%
2. Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Mengzhonghua Photography/Getty
Steamboat is a ski town between Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone has the largest number of geysers and hot springs in the world.
Average listings per month: 3,879
Percent of professional hosts: 68.5%
1. Deep Creek Lake, Maryland
Deep Creek Lake, Maryland
DoxaDigital/Getty Images
Bordered by Marsh Mountain, Deep Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir and the largest freshwater lake in the state. It's a short drive from Deep Creek Lake State Park, known for its cascading waterfalls and large population of bald eagles.
I used Amazon Showroom to design my home office, and the experience was just OK.
It allows users to select furniture in a virtual room, which was helpful when visualizing my design.
However, the tool is pretty basic, and I was frustrated with several limitations.
I recently moved into a 400-square-foot apartment and was excited to decorate my new space. However, due to its small size, I wasn't sure where to start when it came to finding furniture.
Like many shoppers, I decided to turn to Amazon to furnish my new place. After all, the retailer, which reported over $570 billion in sales last year, is more than just a marketplace.
Prime members like myself have access to several features, including a tool I recently discovered called Amazon Showroom. This feature allows users to customize a virtual space using products sold by the retailer.
I was excited to try out it out, as it seemed like it could help me set up my home office. Turns out, using Amazon Showroom was indeed helpful — but also pretty frustrating.
Amazon Showroom allows users to visualize specific pieces in their homes.
The Amazon Showroom feature is accessible through the website's home page.
Amazon
Amazon Showroom, which was introduced in 2019, allows users to visualize specific products the retailer sells in various rooms.
To access this feature, I went to Amazon's home page and clicked the "All" button in the left-hand corner to access the sidebar. Then, I scrolled down to "Shop by Department" and selected " Home, Garden, & Tools."
Finally, I clicked on the "Explore Showroom" button.
Amazon Showroom has plenty of room designs, including the one I needed — an office space.
There were several virtual spaces to choose from, including living rooms, bedrooms, and offices.
Amazon
I often work from home and have great lighting in a corner of my apartment, so I wanted to design a small office space.
I scrolled down on the Amazon Showroom page until I saw the "Work from Home" category, which had a room design titled "Workspace Nook."
When I clicked on this room, I was brought to a page with a layout featuring a work desk, office chair, and lamp.
The workspace nook had several customizable components, but I noticed some drawbacks.
I could swap chairs, desks, bookcases, and more in the workspace nook, but I couldn't move anything around the room.
Amazon
Certain items in the room had circular buttons over them that turned blue when selected. Selecting an item allowed me to swap the furniture with another piece displayed on the right side of my screen.
Though I could swap items, I was frustrated that I couldn't move any furniture in the virtual room. This made it difficult to create a truly accurate design.
However, the tool made it easy to visualize what certain products would look like in a room.
I selected items from the right-hand toolbar to customize my space.
Amazon
Unsurprisingly, many of the products featured in the Showroom were from the Amazon Basics brand. While choosing furniture, I was mindful that the virtual room's layout differed slightly from my real-life space.
Though limited to a few items in the sidebar, exploring the options was a good way to understand my preferred colors and styles. I mixed and matched different pieces and filtered products based on my budget.
I wished the Amazon Showroom had a better product menu.
I created a space I liked, but I didn't buy any products from Amazon Showroom.
Emma Kershaw
The items on Amazon Showroom were displayed with the price and rating, which seemed helpful.
But as I played around with the feature, I wished the Amazon Showroom had a better product menu. I couldn't search for any specific products in the menu on the right-hand side of the screen, so I had to work with the options Amazon picked for me.
I ordered furniture through Amazon Prime and was pretty happy with each piece.
The products I bought looked great in my workspace.
Emma Kershaw
Though I could've placed any of the items from the Showroom in my cart, I ended up buying similar products from Amazon's regular retail website instead. I found that the options in the Amazon Showroom didn't entirely fit my vibe or weren't the correct dimensions for my space.
After building my furniture and setting up my workspace, I was impressed with the results.
Though I ordered the furniture from Amazon's regular retail website, the Showroom was helpful when narrowing down my options and browsing pieces within my budget. In total, my home-office setup cost less than $150.
Amazon Showroom was helpful in some ways, but it's still a very basic tool.
Amazon Showroom wasn't as useful as I expected.
Emma Kershaw
Though Amazon Showroom gave me an idea of the products suitable for a small office, I was disappointed that I couldn't search for certain items or move them around the virtual rooms.
It was handy as a basic guideline for my design, but I wouldn't use it beyond initially furnishing a space.
I think I'd like the tool more if it was similar to Target's Home Planner feature, which allows users to customize a space's dimensions, add windows and doors, and search through the retailer's available products.
Amazon Showroom could be a wonderful option for people who frequently shop on the site, but the tool has limitations.
In this photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on April 15, 2024, Russian soldiers participate in a military exercise somewhere in Russian-controlled Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine.
Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP
Russia's war machine looks different today than it did at the start of the conflict.
Moscow has new defense leadership in place and is setting the stage for an offensive this summer.
Putin is finally getting serious about the fight, and it's not good for Ukraine.
It took Russia more than two years of brutal war, thousands of armored vehicles damaged and destroyed, an estimated 450,000 casualties, and tens of billions of dollars to get to this point, but Moscow seems to finally be taking its war seriously.
Much of the war in Ukraine has gone poorly for Russia. Its death toll alone — by many estimates more than 50,000 troops — is staggering. But Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine looks very different today than it did at the start of the conflict.
The country's defense-industrial base has begun firing on all cylinders, and Putin recently installed an economist as his defense minister to boost the mass production of weaponry, especially firepower. Moscow blunted Ukraine's counteroffensive last summer with a strong defense while rebuilding stockpiles and transitioning to a wartime economy.
It has effectively exploited Ukraine's material, manpower, and industrial disadvantages over the spring, especially as Kyiv's Western partners floundered, and it is now setting the stage for what could be a major, multi-pronged offensive this summer. Its forces have also found and copy-catted tactics to drive Ukraine back.
Russia finally appears committed to its ambitions in Ukraine — and, as some fear, beyond — and it comes even as Ukraine's weapons stocks are being reloaded after US lawmakers passed a major Ukraine aid deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to meet Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow on May 9, 2024.
Maxim Shemetov/Pool Photo via AP
"The Russians are still dangerous and they're learning," George Barros, the geospatial-intelligence team lead and a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Business Insider. "They're improving every day."
An 'inflection point' in Russia's war efforts
The war began with Russia's botched invasion of Ukraine, with command failures, tactical missteps, and high levels of confusion in the Russian ranks in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance ultimately derailing plans for a swift victory.
The Russian military continued to suffer from other problems in the first year of fighting, racking up troop and equipment losses while failing to capture significant amounts of Ukrainian territory.
And Ukraine got the better of its more powerful enemy on more than one occasion, including in its 2022 counteroffensive pushes in northeastern Kharkiv and southern Kherson.
But Russia found success in using a sophisticated array of defensive lines to prevent Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive from achieving notable forward progress. As it concluded last fall, the highly anticipated effort ended in failure, with Kyiv unable to liberate much of the territory, even with an influx of armored combat vehicles from the West.
In the months that followed, Russia took advantage of stalled US military support for Ukraine, which spent much of the winter and spring outgunned and lacking critical munitions to defend itself. Ukraine also notably failed to adequately build out its defensive fortifications until the last minute. Moscow exploited these problems to make gains in the east and prepare for future assaults.
A turret of a destroyed Russian tank is seen near the front-line village of Robotyne in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region on Feb. 21, 2024.
REUTERS/Stringer
Alarm bells have been ringing in the West in recent weeks. US intelligence assessed in March that, despite suffering serious damage in Ukraine, the battlefield deadlock has shifted momentum in Moscow's favor.
The following month, a top US official and general said, respectively, that the Russian military was "almost completely reconstituted" and had "grown back" to its pre-war strength.
"They've got some gaps that have been produced by this war, but their overall capacity is very significant still," Gen. Chris Cavoli, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the head of US European Command, told Congress in April. "And they intend to make it go higher."
And those intentions have since been put on full display. In a rather surprising move on Sunday, Putin nominated Andrei Belousov — a civilian economist with no military background — to replace his long-time defense minister Sergei Shoigu, who has faced resounding criticism over Russia's inefficiencies in Ukraine.
The recent military leadership reshuffle indicates Putin's intent to put Russia on a "Soviet-style economy war footing" to increase the output of the country's defense-industrial base, Barros said.
But this isn't just to satisfy Moscow's immediate needs in Ukraine, he added. It's also for "long-term force regeneration" in which there's a scenario where Russia goes beyond the borders of Ukraine and looks to project force against NATO's eastern flank.
In this pool photograph distributed by Russia's state agency Sputnik, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu (L) and Russian new Defense Minister Andrei Belousov attend a meeting of Russian President with military leaders in Moscow on May 15, 2024.
Photo by VYACHESLAV PROKOFYEV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Belousov, identified as a "competent, hard-head technocrat," was essentially brought in to audit the Russian defense ministry — which is riddled with corruption — and ensure that the country's tax dollars are actually going to the procurement of weapons and equipment that will allow Moscow to more successfully wage war in Ukraine, something the Kremlin previously struggled with, Barros said.
"This is an important inflection point in the Russian effort to treat the 'special military operation' as a real war and gets serious about long-term strategic protracted efforts," Barros said, referring to the term that Moscow has long used to describe the conflict.
It's not the first time Russia has tried to improve its war footing. Ukraine's blitz-style counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region during the fall of 2022 led Putin to announce a partial mobilization and take other measures to increase defense output, such as ramping up drone and tank production. The situation improved, but it still wasn't sufficient enough for Moscow.
Military experts operate at the site of a Russian aerial bombing of a high-rise residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district on March 27, 2024 in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Photo by Oleksandra Novosel/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC "UA:PBC"/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
The Russian defense ministry in March, for instance, announced that it would increase production of several types of munitions, including the 1,100-pound FAB-500, 3,300-pound FAB-1500, and 6,600-pound FAB-3000 bombs — a troubling development for Ukraine.
These munitions can be converted to glide bombs, which are standoff weapons that can be released from a distance, thus reducing a Russian aircraft's exposure to Ukraine's air defenses. These highly destructive weapons can't effectively be intercepted and are hammering Ukraine's trenches and defensive lines.
The employment of glide bombs to support ground maneuver is the primary example of how Russia's military is successfully learning from its past shortcomings, Barros said.
It's a tactic that did not see widespread employment until the end of 2023, but one that Moscow relied heavily on earlier this year to capture the war-torn eastern city of Avdiivka, and is currently replicating during its new assault in the Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 42nd Separate Mechanized Brigade fire a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops in the Kharkiv region on May 16, 2024.
REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
But Ukraine's ability to defend itself has been severely hamstrung by US restrictions on striking military targets inside Russia, analysts at the ISW wrote in an assessment this week. This has effectively created a sanctuary space where Russian aircraft can lob glide bombs against Ukrainian positions, and where Moscow's troops can gather ahead of combat operations, they added.
Meanwhile, with its new Kharkiv push underway, Russia now appears to be setting the stage for what could be a multi-pronged summer offensive that could stretch a Ukrainian army still depleted of critical materials and much-needed manpower.
Ukrainian and Western officials, as well as war experts, have said that the months-long hold on additional US military aid to Ukraine put the country in the tough position in which it currently finds itself.
Kyiv also faces morale and recruitment issues that didn't exist a year ago, when many were rather optimistic ahead of the summer counteroffensive.
Russian conscripts called up for military service prepare to depart for garrisons from a recruitment center in Russia's Rostov region on May 16, 2024.
REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov
"The Ukrainians are going to be in a difficult position over the coming months," Barros said. The pattern of US support for Ukraine, where Washington surges assistance at the last minute when the situation gets dire, "is not a sustainable approach. What we're seeing now are the consequences of that approach to Ukraine," he explained
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general and strategist who recently returned from Ukraine, wrote in April that Russia has clearly gotten over the "shock of its early failures" and seems able "to subjugate Ukraine in a way it was not capable of when it began its large-scale invasion in February 2022."
Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said that Russia is taking advantage of its numerical superiority, stretching out Ukrainian forces across a vast front line.
Kyiv desperately needs more forces, ammunition, and air-defense interceptors if it hopes to brave Moscow's advances, he warned, noting that "the outlook in Ukraine is bleak."
But, Watling argued in a new analysis this week, "if Ukraine's allies engage now to replenish Ukrainian munitions stockpiles, help to establish a robust training pipeline, and make the industrial investments to sustain the effort, then Russia's summer offensive can be blunted, and Ukraine will receive the breathing space it needs to regain the initiative."
Ivanka Trump has recently worked to distance herself from her father's turbulent political life.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Ivanka Trump has recently worked to distance herself from her father's turbulent political life.
Despite saying she was done with politics, family acquaintances say she could reconsider.
Her return isn't imminent, they say, but the siren's call of presidential power is hard to ignore.
It's been nearly two years since Ivanka Trump announced she was "done" with Washington politics.
In the time since, she's worked hard to distance herself from her father's turbulent political brand, skipping his 2024 campaign announcement and saying she "would never" return to being his senior advisor.
But, as the saying goes, never say never.
Friends and acquaintances of former President Donald Trump's eldest daughter say she could consider a comeback as his political influence surges again and the country approaches the next election, as first reported by Puck.
"It's becoming more of a reality that President Trump could be president again," R. Couri Hay, a society publicist and longtime acquaintance of the Trump family, told Business Insider.
Hay noted that Melania had washed her hands of politics in much the same way that Ivanka did, but now can be seen standing next to the former president at events, smiling, and receiving guests. "She is gracious, mingling. My understanding is that privately she's saying she's ready to be first lady again if called."
Hay added: "Then why are we so shocked and surprised that Ivanka could, too, feel the call of the siren? Despite the rocks on the shore, the call is very strong."
According to the report by Puck, citing a person familiar with her thinking, Ivanka is "warming to the idea of trying to be helpful" to another Trump administration and is "privately not ruling out having some sort of role" in the White House if her father is elected again.
"She's not like 'Hell no' anymore," the anonymous source told Puck.
A representative for Ivanka declined to comment.
In a recent comment to Puck, a spokesperson for Jared and Ivanka told the outlet, "As they've both repeatedly stated, Ivanka and Jared continue to focus on their family and lives in the private sector and do not intend to go back to politics."
A friend of Ivanka, who spoke to BI under the condition of anonymity to speak freely about their relationship with Ivanka, told Business Insider they'd be surprised if she made a full-fledged return to politics, but added that she has definitely softened her hardline stance on avoiding politics in the future. They said that she'll likely be visible at the upcoming Republican convention when the family is trotted out in support of Donald Trump's reelection campaign.
While she weighs her options, Ivanka is keeping her personal brand in mind, said her friend, but it's too soon to tell whether a return would help or hurt it.
In 2018, Ivanka shut down her namesake fashion brandfollowing stores, like Nordstrom, dropping her products amid calls to boycott doing business with the Trump family. She also faced fierce criticism from celebrities, including Scarlett Johansson and fashion designer Alexa Chung, and was socially shunned for her role in her father's White House.
Despite taking a financial and reputational hit for continuing to support her father at the time, Ivanka has slowly returned to her high-profile socializing with the world's elites alongside her husband — who similarly distanced himself from Donald Trump's orbit following his father-in-law's departure from office in 2021.
Ivanka and Jared were among the global elites who attended the glamorous Ambani pre-wedding celebrations earlier this year, and the former first daughter also graced Kim Kardashian's Instagram in photos from the influencer's 43rd birthday party last year.
Ivanka Trumpat the Ambani pre-wedding festivities.
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For some, Ivanka and her personal brand will forever be toxic because of her previous work and proximity to her father. But others will see her and her father as distinct entities and be willing to be associated with her — so long as she's not completely in her father's political orbit, meaning she'd be endangering at least some of her connections if she decides to jump back in.
Since Donald Trump left office, Ivanka has come to understand the risks to her reputation if she remains closely associated with his political life, her friend told BI, adding that she's become more comfortable with what that looks like either way. Still, her friend said, it's not an easy situation for her to navigate because of the volatility of the political side.
If she does return to politics, Ivanka's friend said, she will likely take a more deliberate, lower-key approach than before, prioritizing the work that is most important to her, such as when she visited Maui shortly after the 2023 fires.
"I remember talking to Ivanka — there was a period where she was extremely happy with the work she was doing, she felt it was important, she was engaged and involved," Hay told BI, referencing Ivanka's time in politics. "She liked it. But the sword always has two edges, and she felt the other side of the sword, and that's when she had enough."
In addition to intense public scrutiny and ethics investigations regarding her personal business dealings, Ivanka, notably, was initially swept up in the civil fraud case against the Trump Organization, and was compelled to testify in the case. However, the claims against her were ultimately dismissed.
"But now, from a distance, the tide is potentially turning, according to polls," Hay said. "The idea of assuming some sort of role is something I can imagine Ivanka might be thinking about."