“The White House has accused more than 40 countries, including Canada, Mexico and Japan, of helping Beijing illegally avoid U.S. tariffs by rerouting trade through nations subject to lower American import duties than China,” the Financial Times reports.

The Economist: “Iowa has voted solidly Republican at the state and federal level for more than a decade. Republicans have dominated the state legislature since 2016; no Democrat has won the governorship since 2006, a Senate seat since 2008 or a congressional race since 2020. In the most recent presidential election, Donald Trump carried the […]

“A federal judge in Boston on Thursday dismissed an antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to force the university to make a deal with government,” the New York Times reports.

Karl Rove has some advice for Republicans worried about the midterms: Stop calling every Democrat a communist. Instead, he argues, Republicans should use Democrats’ own words against them. Join now to continue reading. Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more. If you’re already a member, sign in to your account.

“A month after House Republicans failed to pass a veterans health bill, lawmakers are meeting behind closed doors to try to get the legislation back on track. But there’s one key person they haven’t invited to the table: Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins,” CNN reports. “Collins and his team at the VA have been excluded […]

Today’s Yea or Nay takes you back to 2013 when Congress considered gun control and immigration reform.

The Economist: “Focusing on Russia, the legislation involves both a sanctions scalpel and a tariff sledgehammer. It imposes sanctions on Russian officials, oligarchs, banks, the defence industry and energy projects—even in areas, such as Arctic energy development, that had been floated as candidates for co-operation between America and Russia in talks last year. These penalties […]

“President Trump reupped his pressure on the Senate on Wednesday evening to pass a bill making daylight savings time permanent,” NewsNation reports. Said Trump: “For many years, the vast Majority of Americans have asked to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, but no Administration has been able to get it properly done, until now.”

“I think he believes that he has suffered greatly. I mean, he’s that not even making any pretense otherwise. And that he this is some kind of a reparations period for him.” — New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, quoted by Mediaite, on President Trump’s views of his second term. 

Brian Stelter: “White House press briefings used to be daily rituals. Then during President Trump’s first term in office, the briefings stopped altogether. Reporters literally noticed a coating of dust on the press briefing room podium.” “The Joe Biden administration resumed frequent briefings, but Trump reversed that again in 2025. For all the talk of […]

Helen Lewis: “Francesca Hong lost the race to be the Democratic candidate for governor of Wisconsin. This is great news for American democracy.” “Sorry if that seems harsh—she certainly ran an energetic campaign and came close to winning the nomination—but Hong was a profoundly flawed candidate in an important race. Even the leaders of her […]

“Tariff refunds have begun rolling in to big U.S. companies—in some cases providing a solid boost to earnings,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Contrary to warnings that the refund process could prove slow and messy, many companies appear to have received the money with remarkable speed.”

“Starting last fall, the Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used airplanes from a firm in Northern Virginia,” the New York Times reports. “That was an enormous price tag, but the department said it had no time to consider other offers. The planes were needed urgently for […]

Robert Mackey: “As Karoline Leavitt prepares to step down from her role as Donald Trump’s fifth White House press secretary, a brief review of her tenure, and that of her predecessors, makes clear that the most fabulist president in U.S. history prizes one quality above all else in the women and men who speak for […]

The Economist: “About a third of Americans voted by mail in 2024, including roughly a quarter of Republicans (see chart). Yet nine months later Donald Trump vowed to ‘get rid of mail-in ballots.’ The president falsely claims that fraudulent postal voting contributed to his loss in 2020. His efforts in Congress and the courts to […]

“Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson’s longtime partner told an officer he ‘pushed her around’ after Jackson broke down a door and punched a man at a Fort Kent home in 1988, according to a police report,” Bangor Daily News reports. “Jackson, who was 19 at the time, does not dispute the assault of the […]

As the campaign for California governor heads into the general election, Xavier Becerra (D) maintains a strong lead over Steve Hilton (R), 55% to 37%, according to a new UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll.

“Special tax carve-outs for everyday Americans are suddenly all the rage in Congress,” Politico reports. “What began with President Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts has sprung copycats, with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle proposing breaks on virtually everything — from boat loan interest to selling New Jersey swag.”

CNBC: “In a 17-page letter, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Robert Garcia of California asked Trump to reveal the money managers he says are in charge of all his investment decisions.” “They also pressed him to disclose his involvement in or awareness of numerous individual stock trades that have raised concerns due to […]

“American Action Network, a top outside group aligned with House GOP leaders, is launching a $22 million ad campaign on Thursday across 41 congressional districts,” Axios reports. “Republicans hope a focus on GOP tax cuts and attacks over transgender health care will help them hold on to their narrow House majority in November despite strong […]

“Iran is set to join the BRICS New Development Bank, the country’s central bank chief said Thursday, as Tehran seeks to shore up its economic alliances almost six months into its war with the U.S. and Israel,” CNBC reports. “The BRICS alliance was set up in 2006 by founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China, […]

The Economist: “Neil Kinnock is best known in America as the man whose oratory Joe Biden plagiarised. In 1987 Mr Biden was so taken by the British Labour Party leader’s line about being the first of his family ‘in a thousand generations’ to attend college that he borrowed it. At first, with due credit. Then, […]

“Democrats seeking to retake control of Congress are planning broad investigations into President Trump and his family’s business dealings as part of an agenda focused on alleged corruption and economic harm, while keeping impeachment an option rather than an immediate priority,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “The strategy would use subpoenas, committee hearings, possible criminal […]

“Abdul El-Sayed made history this month in Michigan by becoming the first Muslim nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate,” the Associated Press reports. ”But elation among many of his fellow Muslim Americans was tempered by awareness of persisting and widespread anti-Muslim sentiment across much of the nation.” “Some Republicans, including […]

“Lauren Boebert’s troubled son Tyler Boebert accepted a plea deal in his child abuse case that could see him spend time behind bars,” the New York Post reports.

“Tehran said Thursday the Strait of Hormuz is ‘under Iran’s control and management’ after President Trump said the U.S. has ‘total control’ over the waterway,” CBS News reports.

Mike Allen: “The New York Times‘ Maggie Haberman tells me 70% of President Trump’s mindshare (‘maybe plus or minus 5%’) goes to his gilding, construction, renovation, renaming and tribute projects.” Said Habermn: “He is spending a huge amount of energy, mental and otherwise, on these renovation projects, beautification projects around Washington, and then monuments to […]

Wall Street Journal: “What’s remarkable about this election is how spending cuts initially were such a centerpiece of Trump’s agenda (see, RIP DOGE) and now…crickets.” “Total government debt is barreling toward $40 trillion. The deficit—or gap between revenue and spending—is projected to be $1.887 trillion this year, and then breach $2 trillion next year, according […]

Punchbowl News: “Republicans and Democrats have the same new bogeyman.” ”Data centers have emerged as a fixation in races across the country, and both parties are struggling to answer voter angst over the nearly $600 billion artificial intelligence buildout.” ”That’s given populists of all stripes a huge opening. Candidates are running on fears of rising […]

“The Pentagon is shutting congressional Democrats out of classified briefings — and even Republicans are shocked by the brazen partisanship,” Politico reports. ”Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth trekked to Capitol Hill at least twice in recent weeks to make closed-door pitches for his record $1.5 trillion defense budget. But lawmakers in both parties say he followed […]