Trump Is Fixated on His Legacy While Still in Office

You're reading the Bloomberg Weekend newsletter. You're reading the Bloomberg Weekend newsletter. You're reading the Bloomberg Weekend newsletter. Big ideas and open questions in the fascinating places where finance, life and culture meet. Big ideas and open questions in the fascinating places where finance, life and culture meet. Big ideas and open questions in the fascinating places where finance, life and culture meet. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By continuing, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Welcome to the weekend! Back in February, a major Hershey brand was called out by its namesake founder's grandson for skimping on ingredients. On March 31, Hershey announced its plans to shift to pure chocolate ingredients by 2027. Which brand is being changed? Find out with this week's Pointed quiz. Speaking of never skimping: This weekend we're looking at living with air strikes in Lebanon, Chinese buyers of Zimbabwe's cheap mansions, Donald Trump's very big ballroom, and how to beat menopause with boxing. Plus: Author Lionel Shriver advocates for pressing pause on immigration. Watch live coverage on Bloomberg This Weekend, from 7-10 a.m. ET on Bloomberg TV, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Don't miss tomorrow's Forecast on AI FOMO. For full Bloomberg.com access, subscribe! Outrunning Irrelevance From school shootings to economic collapse, Lionel Shriver has built a career writing contentious fiction. Her latest novel, A Better Life, imagines a home overrun by migrants -- a metaphor, she says, for US immigration policy. "That's one of my concerns about mass immigration," Shriver tells Mishal Husain. "When you establish whole communities of people from elsewhere, there's no need [for them] to fit in with the larger population." Mass Migration Has 'Serious Social Consequences' Lionel Shriver discusses the concerns that informed her new novel. There's a fear at the heart of Shriver's argument: that a culture or country can lose its sense of self if things change too quickly. That anxiety -- of being displaced -- is also central to the age of AI. The steady stream of new models, and the sense that others are building productive AI selves, is creating a new kind of FOMO, writes Shona Ghosh. It's less about what you're doing with your time than whether you're falling behind. The Era of AI FOMO Is Here Did you say you haven't spun up a team of agents to handle your life admin? The urge to cement your place is familiar to Donald Trump, who remains fixated on the physical imprint of his legacy. That instinct is clearest in the White House ballroom, which hit a legal setback this week, write Jeff Mason, Courtney Subramanian and Skylar Woodhouse. "I'm so busy that I don't have time to do this -- I'm fighting wars and other things," Trump told reporters. "But this is very important because this is going to be with us for a long time." Trump's Ballroom Plan Is About More Than a Building The president is focused on legacy projects that will outlast him. Crack the clue, connect the dots Crack the clue, connect the dots Crack the clue, connect the dots Try Bloomberg's new game -- a word puzzle with a plot twist. Try Bloomberg's new game -- a word puzzle with a plot twist. Try Bloomberg's new game -- a word puzzle with a plot twist. Play Alphadots Play Alphadots Play Alphadots Play Alphadots Historians say Trump's focus on legacy-building while still in office is unusual. But the president's awareness of time's limits is relatable. When Rosalind Mathieson hit menopause, she began noticing its physical toll -- and kept hearing that strength training matters more with age. So she tried a boxing gym. Knowing you should lift, though, isn't the same as doing it, especially when it means pushing past your limits and into male-dominated spaces. My Fight Against Menopause Started in a Boxing Gym Strength training after age 50 means getting out of your comfort zone. On the Ground In... Beirut, Lebanon Phones vibrate in unison across Beirut -- along the waterfront, in bars, at the airport. The alerts warn of air strikes, arriving via WhatsApp, Telegram or X, and all trace back to one source: Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman. With no official warning system, "Avichay" has become shorthand for "strike incoming," as the war spreads beyond the south and exposes fault lines in a country still trying to hold together. Harare, Zimbabwe On a main road in Harare, a billboard shows a beaming Chinese family outside a new home -- a nod to growing demand from wealthy Chinese buyers, who often pay cash to secure upmarket properties. Their arrival reflects a broader global pattern, but with a twist: In Zimbabwe, Chinese migrants are more likely to be affluent than laborers, drawn by the country's resources, skilled workforce and business opportunities in mining. Conversation Starters 401(k) innovation risks setting investors up to fail. Opening retirement accounts to private markets is pitched as democratization, but access typically arrives after the biggest gains -- leaving smaller investors to absorb the losses. The US is embracing the systems it once opposed. Driven by competition with China, Washington is leaning into state capitalism, taking stakes in companies and steering investment in ways that will be difficult to unwind. Reckless Riding "The police themselves admit: Most e-bikes have been illegally modified, enforcement is patchy at best, and the public is paying the price." Harold Scruby Pedestrian Council of Australia E-bikes promise a cleaner, more efficient future. But in Sydney, that future is arriving quickly and messily. As injuries rise, authorities are confronting the unintended consequences of a transport revolution outpacing the rules meant to contain it. Is It Worth It? Netflix at $19.99: How much do you watch? The standard plan just jumped $2 per month, but the streaming service still has a deep bench of hits. A $90 Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Yes, before wine prices climb further. Tariffs are now feeding through after months of importers holding the line. A $400 Neko Health Scan: Nah. The full-body test promises early detection of cancer risk and heart disease, but doctors say it can miss real problems. British Airways Silver status: Only if you're willing to pay up. The airline now determines elite status by money spent, rather than distance and cabin class. A $156 meal at Dieci: Yes. The Hong Kong restaurant's rotating menu is a gimmick, but the execution makes it feel like a true Italian escape. A $1 million Aston Martin Valhalla: If you've got a spare mil. With 1,064 horsepower, the plug-in hybrid looks otherworldly but is easy to drive. What Everyone's Reading What everyone's watching: Why Orbán's Grip on Hungary Is Slipping One Last Thing "Through my body you can see the light. I was born to Divinize." Rosalía's latest tour feels less like a concert than a kind of congregation. Built around her orchestral album Lux, the show swaps pop maximalism for stark, art-world minimalism and religious imagery -- part of a wider moment in which mainstream music is embracing spirituality not just as aesthetic, but as subject. More from Bloomberg Enjoying Bloomberg Weekend? 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