Things Musk (and Trump) Did... 04-26-25 | Blog#42
A loving send off for a loved human
Yesterday's post
Caturday
Yesterday’s News Worth Repeating
Trump’s fixation on a tariff battle win against China could cost him the trade war
Beijing is going on an international charm campaign to coax other countries hit hard by “Liberation Day” tariffs to take on the U.S.
President Donald Trump bet that his 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports would bring Chinese leader Xi Jinping running to cut a deal on trade.
Instead, China responded by hitting back with tariffs of their own, ignoring Trump’s calls to open talks, and launching an international charm campaign to coax other countries to take on the U.S.
It’s a diplomatic fumble rooted in a fundamental miscalculation by Trump, who thought his tactics with Mexico and Canada would work with Beijing.
“They got the China piece of it very wrong and misunderstood what it would mean to really back China into a such a corner with such extreme levels of tariffs,” said Emily Kilcrease, former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative during the end of Trump’s first term and the beginning of former President Joe Biden’s term.
The administration gambled that U.S. tariffs against China would swiftly result in an updated version of the U.S.-China Phase One trade deal that Trump sealed with Xi in 2020. That agreement included China’s commitment to massive purchases of U.S. goods and services that Beijing failed to honor. But China’s willingness to defy the tariffs and its decision to capitalize on the international anger at Trump’s trade policies has proven effective — at least so far.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump talks tariffs. The EU talks free trade with the rest of the world.
With the United States throwing up the highest trade barriers in a century, Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission is on a mission to do trade deals with everyone else.
BRUSSELS — Donald Trump is turning his back on free trade and, with it, the €1.6 trillion transatlantic trade relationship. That's motivating the European Union to do trade deals with just about everyone else.
The United States accounts for 13 percent of world trade. The EU, the world’s largest single market spanning 27 nations and 450 million people, accounts for around 16 percent — and is looking to extend its lead.
“Countries are lining up to work with us,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has told POLITICO.
Since her second Commission was confirmed in December, von der Leyen has wrapped up talks on a long-awaited accord with the Latin American Mercosur bloc; called to strike a free-trade agreement with India this year; and launched or relaunched talks with the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and others.
Here’s a rundown of the deals that Brussels wants to get done:
Continue reading at Politico Europe
California surpasses Japan as world's 4th largest economy
California's economy has surpassed Japan's, state Gov. Gavin Newsom announced, as he warned of potential impacts in the Golden State from President Trump's sweeping tariffs.
The big picture: "CA just became the 4th largest economy in the WORLD," Newsom said on X Thursday, after his office announced data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
By the numbers: California's gross domestic product (GDP) reached $4.1 trillion last year, compared with Japan's $4.02 trillion, according to the data.
Only the U.S., China and Germany have bigger economies, according to the data.
What they're saying: "California isn't just keeping pace with the world — we're setting the pace," Newsom said in a statement released by his office.
"Our economy is thriving because we invest in people, prioritize sustainability, and believe in the power of innovation," he said.
"And, while we celebrate this success, we recognize that our progress is threatened by the reckless tariff policies of the current federal administration. California's economy powers the nation, and it must be protected."
Continue reading at Axios
Amazon sellers are hiking prices on hundreds of goods as tariffs bite
American consumers are starting to feel the impact of President Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports, especially online.
Since the second week in April, sellers on Amazon have raised their prices on nearly 1,000 products, according to data from SmartScout, a price analysis software tool. The average price hike — nearly 30%, according to the company's analysis.
Costs rose on a wide range of items, from tech accessories such as phone chargers to women's clothing, SmartScout founder and CEO Scott Needham told CBS MoneyWatch. Anker, a top-selling brand on Amazon that sells mobile charging devices, has increased prices on roughly 25% of its products on the site, for example.
"It's one of first concerted efforts I've seen where nothing explains the price hikes other than tariffs," Needham said.
Tariffs are paid by importers, and they typically pass on much or even all of those additional costs to consumers. Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy told CNBC earlier this month that he expected U.S. tariffs to boost prices on a host of consumer goods.
Continue reading at CBS News
DOGE slashes disability and aging services
The Trump administration has drawn a bright line around Medicare and Social Security, promising Americans that the two programs will remain untouched.
But a budget proposal obtained by POLITICO shows a different kind of rollback underway — one that could impact the lives of millions of older Americans and people with disabilities.
The Trump administration is poised to eliminate dozens of federal programs, including protective services for vulnerable seniors, chronic disease self-management education, resource centers for people who have been paralyzed or lost a limb and one that tries to help older people prevent falls. Even a more modest federal initiative aimed at making polling places more accessible would be eliminated under the proposal.
All of these programs facing the knife fall under the Administration for Community Living, a component of the Department of Health and Human Services that aims to help older adults and people with disabilities remain in their homes and communities. The whole department is being zeroed out, according to the budget proposal.
Those services are often invisible in the national debate, but they are critical to maintaining independence and quality of life for some of the country’s most vulnerable residents, said ALISON BARKOFF, former acting administrator of ACL, which funds more than 2,500 programs nationwide.
“The combination of dismantling ACL and eliminating programs along the lines of what’s proposed would decimate the system that keeps older adults and people with disabilities in their homes and out of far more expensive institutions,” said Barkoff, who served in the Biden administration.
Some programs will survive, but not in their current form. Remaining ACL responsibilities will be scattered across other parts of HHS, including the Administration for Children and Families, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to an HHS announcement.
This week, DOGE staffers met with another agency: the U.S. Access Board, an independent federal agency that develops and maintains accessibility standards under federal laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act. AMY NIEVES, a spokesperson for the Access Board, confirmed the meeting and said that additional contacts with DOGE are expected.
Spokespeople for HHS and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.
Continue reading at Politico West Wing Playbook newsletter
USDA pulls rule to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Thursday it is withdrawing a Biden-era proposed rule that would limit salmonella levels in raw poultry.
The rule would have required corporations to test contamination levels in chicken and poultry infected with strains tied to the meat-borne disease. If poultry plants reported significant bacteria detected, the stock would risk being pulled from store shelves and be subject to a recall under the proposed rule.
USDA officials said they pulled the rule due to concerns submitted during the public comment period.
“While FSIS [Food Safety and Inspection Service] continues to support the goal of reducing Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products, the Agency believes that the comments have raised several important issues that warrant further consideration,” the agency wrote in its notification on the Federal Register.
Continue reading at The Hill
Today's news
Democratic News Corner
Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff says Trump’s ‘chaos and uncertainty’ hurts the economy
The 38-year-old Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue in a 2021 runoff that helped flip control of the Senate to Democrats for four years. He’s the only Democrat seeking reelection in 2026 who represents a state that Trump carried in 2024, making him a top target for Republicans seeking to defend their current Senate majority.
The Republican field is currently frozen, awaiting a decision from two-term Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on whether he will seek to unseat Ossoff. The Democrat declined to discuss how he would run against Kemp or any other Republican, saying only, “I am more than prepared for any challenger.”
He spoke in an interview with The Associated Press at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia, following a meeting with students interested in appointments to military academies. Here are some excerpts from the conversation:
What’s the biggest problem facing Georgia today and what can you do about it as a senator?
OSSOFF: “Look, at this very moment as we conduct this interview, and of course, this can change by the hour depending upon the president’s whim, businesses are unable to invest with an understanding of what the rules of international trade will be from one hour or week or month to the next. Households are unable to plan their annual budgets because there’s so much chaos and uncertainty in the implementation of federal economic policy. This administration needs to clearly define its economic objectives, and it needs to competently implement its plan, whatever that plan may be. The fact that the White House does not even know what its policy is, and is with such unpredictability and chaos, lurching from one policy to the other, is putting the state’s economy at serious economic risk.”
Continue reading at the AP
Former Florida Democrat on why he left the party: ‘No direction’
Florida Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo further elaborated during a recent interview on why he formally left the Democratic Party this week, arguing the party lacks “direction” and has no “purpose” on how to deliver results for constituents.
Pizzo said Friday on NewsNation’s show “The Hill” that his criticism is directed both at the Democratic Party and the state party, but “I think mostly on myself for spending so many years raising so many millions of dollars and donating the same to try to artificially resuscitate, you know, a group or a clutch of people that really have no direction and have no and have no purpose on how to solve things with sound policy.”
Pizzo became the third state lawmaker to exit the Democratic Party in recent months. Speaking on the floor of the state Senate in Tallahassee, Pizzo said on Thursday that “for today, I FedExed my voter registration form to change my party affiliation to no party affiliation.”
“The Democratic Party in Florida is dead,” he added. “But there are good people that can resuscitate it, but they don’t want it to be me.”
Continue reading at The Hill
National Security
Trump brushes off Hegseth criticism: ‘I don’t view Signal as important’
President Trump on Friday denounced critics who have raised concern over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal, a discrete messaging app, to disseminate sensitive military information.
Asked whether his confidence has changed in Hegseth after a second chat controversy thrust him back into the spotlight earlier this week, Trump brushed off the sentiment. Instead, he cast blame once again on the media.
“I don’t view Signal as important,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, en route to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral. “I think that’s fake news. So, I don’t view it as important.”
His remarks come days after The New York Times reported that the Defense chief in mid-March disclosed sensitive information about military attack plans in a Signal chain with his wife, brother and personal lawyer. Hegseth has argued the messages contained and “informal” and ‘”unclassified” info.
Continue reading at The Hill
Economics
Retail wipeout: Trump tariffs stoke fears of shortages and price hikes
American retailers are growing worried that President Trump's trade war and increased volatility will lead to empty shelves, higher prices and store closures as Chinese imports screech to a halt.
Why it matters: Many retailers stocked up on inventory in the first months of 2025, realizing that a storm was coming — but their inventories are poised to dwindle quickly.
The National Retail Federation expects U.S. imports to plunge by at least 20% in the second half of 2025 if increased tariffs remain in place.
"Shortages are a real possibility," Coresight Research analyst John Harmon tells Axios.
The big picture: Trump's trade war has sent the nation's retailers into scramble mode.
The CEOs of three of the nation's biggest retailers — Walmart, Target and Home Depot — privately warned Trump in a meeting Monday that his trade policy could trigger massive product shortages and price spikes.
The largest companies are reportedly pressuring suppliers to absorb extra costs. "We have decades of experience" with buyers, plus longstanding supplier relationships, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told reporters earlier this month.
Continue reading at Axios
Key commodity exports plunge as Trump's trade war bites
Chart: U.S. soybean exports to China
Sales to China of key commodities, like soybeans and pork, are plunging as the trade war begins to impact the domestic economy.
Why it matters: U.S. farmers export more than $176 billion in agricultural products annually — almost 10% of which is just soybean and pork shipments to China.
Losing even a fraction of those exports for the long term could be economically devastating.
By the numbers: In the week of April 11-17, net soybean sales were down 50% week over week and down 25% versus the four-week average, per data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service released Thursday.
Net pork sales were down 72% week on week and 82% versus the four-week average, the USDA said.
What they're saying: "This is directly related to the tariff situation. There's no doubt about it, there's not some other magic behind-the-scenes thing going on," Rob Dongoski, global lead for food and agribusiness at consultancy Kearney, tells Axios.
Continue reading at Axios
"Baby tax": Trump tariffs send baby gear prices soaring
New parents looking to purchase a stroller may want to get a jump start, as the price of baby gear is climbing thanks to President Trump's tariffs, CEOs warn.
The big picture: The president has become a powerful ally in the push for women to have more children but his roller-coaster tariffs have made it more expensive for parents to buy the baby products they need, industry leaders say.
Zoom in: Prices on baby essentials, like car seats and strollers, started increasing last week and are up, on average, by about 30%, said Elizabeth Mahon, founder of D.C.-based children's store Three Littles.
"Prices are through the roof right now," she said, adding that they're expected to continue going up in coming weeks.
Case in point: The price of an UPPAbaby stroller, which Mahon said is of one of the most popular strollers in the country, is going to jump from $899 to $1,200 in early May, she said.
Strollers and car seats from Nuna, another popular brand, already went up $100 and $50, respectively.
Continue reading at Axios
Apple May Shift to Making US iPhones in India. It Won’t Be Easy
Manufacturers in India would need to double production to meet US iPhone demand—and the shift still wouldn’t solve Apple’s China problem.
According to the Financial Times, which cites sources “familiar with the matter,” Apple plans to assemble in India all iPhones intended for the US by the end of 2026. The majority of Apple’s iPhones are currently made in China, but Chinese-made products have become a toxic asset for US import.
The US government has imposed a 145 percent tariff on goods from China. While smartphones are included in a 90-day reprieve, announced in early April, President Trump has indicated this exclusion is indeed a temporary one. Ready to pay $2,949 for a base storage iPhone 17 Pro Max?
Apple’s supposed shifting of its manufacturing to India is an insurance policy against such chaos in the future, but it did not begin here. In December 2024, we wrote about Apple’s growing reliance on India for manufacturing as a bulwark against growing US-China tensions.
Indian production of iPhones commenced in 2017, starting with the lower-cost iPhone SE. The country began producing flagship-model launch iPhones in 2023.
Despite being the better part of a decade into Indian iPhone manufacturing, this latest alleged shift in strategy still represents a very costly turbocharging of its efforts—and likely at least a doubling of output from Apple’s Indian production plants. WIRED approached Apple for comment, but had not received a response at time of publishing.
How Many Indian iPhones?
“Our estimates say that Apple produced around 40 to 43 million [iPhones] in India last year,” says Navkendar Singh, associate vice president at IDC India. “About 12 or 13 million were consumed in the India market entirely, and the rest were exported out.”
More than 60 million iPhones are sold in the US each year, where the series commands a 57 percent smartphone market share, according to some estimates. "So about 80 to 85 million [iPhones] they will need to produce in India,” says Singh, should Apple want to satisfy US demand at current levels while also serving local Indian market demand.
This expansion does not solely rely on Apple’s investments. As in all of Apple’s major production efforts, any Indian expansion will involve partners, primarily Tata Electronics, Foxconn, and Pegatron.
Continue reading at Wired
Health and Science News
Scientists May Have Figured Out Why Young People Are Getting Colorectal Cancer More Often
New research has found a link between a toxin produced by certain E. coli bacteria and early onset colorectal cancer.
A common bacteria in our gut might be stirring up more trouble than we knew. A study out this week has found evidence that a mutagenic toxin produced by some strains of Escherichia coli can trigger early onset colorectal cancer.
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego led the research, published Wednesday in Nature. They found a link between exposure to the toxin, called colibactin, and colorectal cancers more likely to happen in young adults. The findings could help explain why the rate of early onset colorectal cancer has mysteriously risen in recent years, though more research is needed to confirm a causative connection, the researchers say.
Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer, with roughly 150,000 Americans diagnosed with it every year. It’s also the second most leading cause of death by cancer, killing around 50,000 Americans annually.
As with many types of cancer, the incidence and death rate of colorectal cancer has been steadily declining over time. However, this decline isn’t equally distributed, since the incidence of colorectal cancer has been increasing in young and middle-aged adults. According to the American Cancer Society, rates of colorectal cancer among people younger than 50 have increased by 2.4% per year between 2012 and 2021.
Continue reading at Gizmodo
RFK Jr. isn’t staying in his lane. Trump is thrilled.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expanded his authority well beyond the bounds of a traditional health secretary.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fast becoming the most prominent face of the Trump administration’s domestic agenda, taking on a portfolio well beyond the role of a traditional Health secretary. And the White House is thrilled.
Senior aides believe Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” loyalists helped deliver the popular vote for President Donald Trump last November — and that keeping them in the GOP tent will be crucial to ensuring the party holds onto power come the midterms, according to four Trump aides and advisers granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking.
That’s why they’re more than happy to let the presidential candidate-turned-top health official exert influence over an expanding array of key policy priorities across the government, even if it ruffles a few feathers among officials in other agencies who feel Kennedy is encroaching on their turf.
“Midterm success, in a large way, depends on MAHA success,” said one Trump adviser who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “This is about President Trump, and this is about the House and the Senate.”
Kennedy, who has his own base of superfans and polled as high as 15 percent before dropping out of the 2024 race and allying with Trump, has already sought major changes to programs run by the Agriculture Department. He’s headlined new initiatives typically driven by the Environmental Protection Agency, and has described his job as encompassing “anything I need to do to make America healthy again.”
The extraordinary leeway has empowered Kennedy to reshape a Cabinet role traditionally reserved for low-key managers and health policy wonks, further elevating his political profile and turning the former Democrat into a linchpin for Trump’s domestic ambitions.
Continue reading at Politico
HHS layoffs undercut Trump’s pledge to be ‘fertilization president’
President Trump has championed access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and even dubbed himself the “fertilization president” early in his second term.
But Department of Government Efficiency-induced layoffs at the Department and Health and Human Services (HHS) have decimated maternal health and reproductive medicine programs, including teams that report on fertility outcomes of IVF clinics, as well as those that track maternal health and mortality data.
Public health experts and reproductive health advocates say the cuts will have lasting consequences and make it more dangerous to be pregnant in the United States. They questioned how Trump’s promises to expand IVF, as well as the White House’s reported interest in boosting a lagging domestic birthrate, can be reconciled with the gutting of crucial tools that could help achieve those goals.
The HHS suddenly laid off 10,000 people at the start of this month, a sweeping move that included about three-quarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) reproductive health division, former CDC employees told The Hill.
Former fertility-focused agency employees who lost their jobs April 1 said they thought it was a mistake.
“Trump said he was the fertility president. How does cutting this program support the administration’s position?” one former CDC employee said.
“We fully expected that the team would be brought back once there was awareness that it had been eliminated. But as time has gone on, apparently there’s no intention of bringing anyone back,” said another.
Continue reading at The Hill
Measles: What are the first symptoms to look for?
Measles, one of the most contagious viruses in the world, is often recognized by the rash it gives patients who are infected. However, those spots and bumps usually don’t appear for more than a week after someone has been exposed.
Other symptoms are better early indicators of a potential measles case, health experts say.
Even the earliest symptoms could take days to appear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs.
Between 7 to 14 days after an exposure, measles is most likely to start with a high fever, cough, runny nose, and red or watery eyes as the virus moves from the respiratory tract into the rest of the body.
Two or three days after the first symptoms kick in, people infected with measles may start to notice small, white spots inside the mouth. These spots are called Koplik spots, named after the doctor who first described them.
Continue reading at The Hill
Polling- Surveys
The New Partisan Divide Is Old Gen Z vs. Young Gen Z
Gen Z politics is transforming before our eyes.
Rachel Janfaza is a journalist covering youth political culture and the founder of The Up and Up, a newsletter focused on Gen Z’s political zeitgeist. She also freelances, with bylines in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue, Elle and Cosmo.
New data out of Yale’s Youth Poll broke the internet last week when it revealed a partisan split within Gen Z. Given a generic Democrat vs. Republican ballot for 2026, respondents ages 18-21 supported Republicans by nearly 12 points, while those ages 22-29 backed Democrats by about 6 points.
It was a stunning gap that undermined the longstanding notion of younger voters always trending more liberal. On the contrary, today’s youngest eligible voters are more conservative than their older counterparts: According to the poll, they are less likely to support transgender athletes participating in sports, less likely to support sending aid to Ukraine and more likely to approve of President Donald Trump. Fifty-one percent of younger Gen Zers view him favorably, compared to 46 percent of older Gen Z.
That split might seem surprising, but it’s only the latest example of an emerging dynamic I’ve noticed developing over the last few years: It’s increasingly clear that there are actually two different Gen Z’s, each with a particular political worldview.
Since just after the 2022 midterm elections, I’ve held listening sessions — open-forums for discussion — with teens and young adults across the country to find out how young people think and feel about politics. I’ve traveled to high school and college campuses, community centers and even homes. And as I’ve written before, these conversations with young people illuminated the distinctions between Gen Z 1.0 and Gen Z 2.0.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump is getting negative marks on immigration, polls show
New polling ahead of Trump’s 100-day mark shows Americans disapprove of Trump’s immigration policies.
President Donald Trump is losing ground with voters on one of the key focuses of his second administration, as his approval rating on immigration took a slight hit in multiple polls this week.
As Trump continues to ramp up his sweeping immigration agenda — touting deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members and crackdowns on sanctuary cities across the country — several polls put him underwater on immigration, an issue that took center stage during his 2024 campaign.
A new Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll released Friday put Trump at 53 percent disapproval among Americans on immigration, with 46 percent approving. A different poll from the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs also released Friday reported the exact same numbers — 53 percent disapproval among adults and 46 percent approval.
It’s a downward — if slight — trend for both surveys. An earlier Post-Ipsos poll in February put Trump at a 50 percent approval rate on immigration, with 48 percent disapproving, and AP/NORC polling from late March also had a close split, with 49 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval.
Trump is also underwater on immigration in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll from Friday, which reported a 51 percent disapproval among voters of his handling of immigration compared to 47 percent approval. Fox News polled Trump’s closest numbers this week, with 47 percent approval among voters on immigration — a record high in Trump’s immigration approval in Fox surveys — but still in the negative with a 48 percent disapproval rating.
A majority approved of his border security policies in the Fox News poll, but he had a net negative approval rating on his deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Continue reading at Politico
About 4-in-10 Americans say Trump is a ‘terrible’ president amid sinking approval: Survey
A new poll shows that about 4 in 10 Americans say President Trump has been a “terrible” leader in his second term.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also found that about 2 in 10 think he has done an average job in his presidency and 3 in 10 says he’s been a great or good president.
The poll also found that 24 percent of adults believe Trump is focused on the right priorities.
Forty-four percent say Trump’s focused on the wrong priorities in the AP-NORC poll, 21 per percent said an even mix and 10 percent don’t know
The low numbers reflects polls across the country that have measured a dip in the 47th president’s favorability and approval ratings.
Opinions vastly differed for respondents based on party affiliation.
Continue reading at The Hill
Falling vaccine rates could mean millions of measles cases: Study
Researchers modeled changes in vaccination rates
A decrease in current rates could lead to millions of cases
Measles was previously considered eradicated in the US
A new study warns that the U.S. could see millions of new measles cases over the next 25 years if vaccination rates continue to fall.
The research, published in science journal JAMA, used modeling to forecast the number of measles cases in several scenarios, including vaccination rates holding steady, rising or falling.
Measles was officially eliminated in the U.S. decades ago thanks to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine.
But as more people have refused to vaccinate their children despite decades of evidence showing the MMR is effective and safe, measles has been making a comeback, with a current outbreak already accounting for hundreds of cases.
If vaccination rates hold steady at today’s level, researchers predict 851,300 cases of measles over the next 25 years.
But if vaccination rates drop just 10 percent, there could be 11.1 million measles cases in that same time frame. If vaccination rates drop by 50 percent, there could be 51.2 million cases of measles over the next 25 percent, the study notes.
Assuming that vaccination rates fell at the same level for all childhood vaccines, measles isn’t the only dangerous, previously eliminated disease that could make a comeback.
Continue reading at The Hill
The Courts / Legal
Senate awaits Trump judges
Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are ready to start cranking out a new class of conservative judges — but they're waiting on the White House to send them some nominees.
Why it matters: Compared to President Biden four years ago — and Trump in 2017 — Republicans will be slower to start on judicial confirmations. As his whirlwind second term approaches its 100-day mark, Trump has yet to nominate a single federal judge.
Trump is expected to start making judicial picks in the coming days or weeks, according to sources familiar with his plans.
Still, by this point in Trump 1.0, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch had already been confirmed, and the first Trump federal judge was in the pipeline for a May approval, according to Senate records.
What to watch: Grassley has had ongoing conversations with White House officials letting them know he's ready to move when they are, according to sources familiar with the talks.
White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Axios that "nominating courageous, constitutionalist judges to the federal bench is more critical than ever" and signaled nominations were in the works.
Continue reading at Axios
3 ways Trump's immigration crackdown could hit U.S. citizens
Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.
Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.
They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to dissenters.
Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:
1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.
This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
Continue reading at Axios
Harvard researcher held in Louisiana awaits judge’s decision on deportation to Russia
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Kseniia Petrova never imagined she would face significant immigration issues, but it has been 68 days since she was detained at the Boston airport while traveling with undeclared frog embryo samples.
The Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher associate was in the United States legally. But she finds herself thrust into a detention system that has been in the national spotlight as President Donald Trump pursues his promise of mass deportations.
Petrova, 30, was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana where she continues to await a judge’s decision on whether she will be deported to Russia, where she fears she will be imprisoned or worse.
The Department of Homeland Security accuses Petrova of knowingly breaking the law, while friends and advocates are calling for her release and saying the incident was an infraction that normally would be punishable by a fine.
As Petrova spends days in a crowded dormitory awaiting her fate, her colleagues say their research, including using a one-of-a-kind cancer-detecting microscope, will be delayed or moot without the scientist who they say plays a critical role.
Continue reading at the AP
Authors in Supreme Court LGBTQ books case detail ‘surreal’ fight
Sarah S. Brannen, a children’s author and illustrator, published her first book, about a young girl’s anxiety surrounding her favorite uncle’s wedding, in 2008. She wrote it for her niece, who told Brannen she thought the ending of every story should be wrapped neatly in a bow, with two people in love living happily ever after.
Nearly 20 years later, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” is at the center of a Supreme Court case that could decide whether parents may opt their children out of elementary school lessons with LGBTQ storybooks.
The justices, who this week heard oral arguments in the case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, appear inclined to side with a group of parents arguing their Maryland school district’s lack of an opt-out option substantially burdens their First Amendment rights to freely exercise their religion.
The parents, who fall on a spectrum of religious beliefs, are not challenging their school district’s curriculum or asking for books to be banned. But some LGBTQ and free speech groups have said a ruling siding with the parents could set a troubling precedent and affect more than just LGBTQ-related content.
Continue reading at The Hill
ICE deports the mother of a infant and a 2-year-old who is a US citizen
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have in recent days deported a Cuban-born mother of a 1-year-old girl, separating them indefinitely, and in another case a 2-year-old girl who is a U.S. citizen along with her Honduran-born mother, their lawyers say.
Both cases raise questions about who is being deported, and why, and come amid a battle in federal courts over whether President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has gone too far and too quickly at the expense of fundamental rights.
Lawyers in the two cases described how their clients were arrested at routine check-ins at ICE offices, given virtually no opportunity to speak with lawyers or their family members and then deported within two or three days.
A federal judge in Louisiana raised questions about the deportation of the 2-year-old girl, saying the government had not proven that it had done so properly.
The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that that case and another in New Orleans that involves deporting children who are U.S. citizens are a “shocking – although increasingly common -– abuse of power.”
Continue reading at the AP
Anti-DEI-Whitewashing
Court ruling further complicates Trump’s anti-DEI push
President Trump’s plans to rid the country’s education system of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) were thrown further into chaos this week when a judge ruled against the Education Department’s directives.
States, fiercely divided on the issue, were already dealing with a delayed certification deadline and murky enforcement mechanisms before federal Judge Landya McCafferty issued her preliminary injunction on Trump’s anti-DEI measures.
“Thankfully, many schools and districts and colleges and universities have been waiting to see what would happen because they knew and understood that what they were being asked to do was blatantly unlawful and nonsensical,” said Liz King, senior director of education equity at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
“And so, hopefully this gives the assurance that schools need that they should not be bending to the whims of this administration,” King added.
On Feb. 14, the Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to universities, saying they could risk losing federal funding if they do not get rid of DEI efforts.
Weeks later, state education and K-12 district leaders were told they needed to certify their schools had no DEI programs or also risk losing federal funding.
The Education Department also created a “DEI portal” to allow parents and others to report programs or initiatives they feel are in violation of Trump’s executive orders.
Continue reading at The Hill
General News
Pope Francis was laid to rest today. Here is a tribute I thought was quite striking.
In photos: Hundreds of thousands pay respects to Pope Francis at his funeral
Zelenskyy, Trump speak in Rome in first meeting since Oval Office bust-up
‘Good meeting,’ Ukrainian leader said after one-on-one in St. Peter’s Basilica. The White House called it “a very productive discussion.”
VATICAN CITY — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump Saturday morning in Rome in the two leaders’ first encounter since their disastrous meeting at the White House in February.
Zelenskyy said it was a “good meeting” and that they “discussed a lot one-on-one.” The White House called it “a very productive discussion.”
Trump and Zelenskyy are in Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Their meeting took place before the funeral started.
“President Trump and President Zelenskyy met privately today and had a very productive discussion,” said Steven Cheung, White House communications director. “More details about the meeting will follow,” he said.
“Hoping for results on everything we covered,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post after the encounter. “Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” he said.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Pope Francis’ last act of diplomacy
The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy would have had the late Pope Francis “filled with hope,” the last U.S. ambassador to the Vatican said.
VATICAN CITY — In his death, Pope Francis brought together more than 200,000 mourners, including a cast of world leaders who laid aside their temporal differences to remember him.
Before Francis’ funeral Mass in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a “very productive discussion” on the sidelines, according to White House communications director Steven Cheung.
Zelenskyy’s office released a striking image for the history books of him and Trump sitting knee-to-knee in St. Peter’s Basilica. It marked the world leaders’ first encounter since their disastrous meeting at the White House in February.
Ukrainian spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov said the meeting lasted about 15 minutes. “The leaders agreed to continue the talks. The teams are working to organize a follow-up meeting,” Nykyforov said.
Trump even sent a post-meeting Truth Social — mostly focused on attacking The New York Times’ Peter Baker for his analysis of a “notably one-sided” peace deal — that tacked on some criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying “maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war.”
In life, Francis bore the weight of the war — particularly repatriating the 19,000 Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia, Joe Donnelly, the most recent U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, told POLITICO from Rome, where he had just attended the funeral.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump threatens Putin with new sanctions after meeting with Zelensky
President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky met on Saturday in Rome on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral and discussed the effort to end the war with Russia.
Why it matters: This was the first meeting between Trump and Zelensky since their explosive Oval Office shouting match in late February, which led to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis.
The two leaders met as Trump calls for a high-level summit between Russia and Ukraine "to finish it off" and get a peace deal.
Zoom in: Trump and Zelensky first huddled for a few minutes with French President Macron and British Prime Minister Starmer, then set down for a 15-minute one-on-one meeting inside the St. Peter's Basilica.
"President Trump and President Zelenskyy met privately today and had a very productive discussion," White House communications director Steven Cheung said.
What they're saying: Zelensky posted on X that he and Trump had a "good meeting" and stressed the need for a "full and unconditional ceasefire and a reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out."
"Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results," Zelensky added.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump: Putin ‘tapping me along’ with Russia strikes on Ukrain
President Trump on Saturday said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin may be stringing him along after the latest deadly strikes on Ukraine, as the U.S. seeks to bring an end to the war in Eastern Europe.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump posted Saturday on Truth Social. “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
His post came as the president was traveling back to the U.S. following Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome and after he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two leaders spoke ahead of the funeral, their first face-to-face interaction since the contentious Oval Office meeting earlier this year.
Continue reading at The Hill
Sacraments and side-chats: Pope’s funeral overshadowed by Trump dealmaking
Emotional tributes to the popular Pope Francis came amid a diplomatic scramble to meet with the U.S. president.
VATICAN CITY — World leaders descended on St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to pay their respects to Pope Francis, while also taking advantage of a rare opportunity for spontaneous diplomacy under the shadow of a trade war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The pope’s death earlier this week following a long illness set feverish work in motion ahead of Saturday’s funeral, which was attended by some 250,000 people, according to the Vatican, among them dozens of heads of states, high-level politicians and dignitaries, as well as celebrities, clerics, activists and the average faithful.
The presence of so many world leaders in one place overshadowed the somber tributes to Francis, as St. Peter’s Square became a hotspot of high-stakes diplomacy.
As Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re read a homily to the late pontiff highlighting his humanitarian efforts and humility before his body was transferred to an ancient basilica for burial, journalists perched on the colonnades of St. Peter’s Square were instead training their gaze on the movement of U.S. President Donald Trump, tracking his every chance encounter with allies and adversaries through high-contrast binoculars, as police choppers whirred overhead.
Trump’s announcement earlier this week that he would attend the pope’s funeral had prompted a flurry of behind-the-scenes organizing by leaders hoping to get facetime with the American president at the center of a period of extraoardinary geopolitical turmoil.
U.S. allies, especially in Europe, are keen to meet and woo Trump after he slapped 10 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports in early April, giving trading partners 90 days to negotiate deals — and an incentive to make the most of every minute in the president’s immediate orbit. The diplomatic scramble also comes as Ukraine and Russia reportedly near an agreement over a potential ceasefire, after months of acrimonious back and forth brokered by Trump’s administration.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump pays his respects to a pope who publicly and pointedly disagreed with him over the years
ROME (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday paid his respects to Pope Francis, occupying a front-row seat in sunlit St. Peter’s Square as more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attended the funeral of the Catholic Church leader who pointedly disagreed with the American on a variety of issues.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump were seated next to Estonian President Alar Karis and not far from French President Emmanuel Macron for the outdoor service on a cloudless morning.
Diplomacy also was on Trump’s agenda during his eight-hour visit to Italy: Trump had a brief private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inside St. Peter’s Basilica before the service. Photos showed them seated on chairs facing one another in a marbled room and hunched over.
After Trump was shown to his seat for the funeral, he was immediately followed out of the basilica by Zelenskyy, who was met with a burst of applause from the audience. It was their first face-to-face encounter since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting in late February. Trump has been trying to broker an end to the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded.
Trump stood out at the funeral service in a dark blue suit and a lighter blue tie in a sea of mournful black attire. The first lady, who is Catholic, wore a black dress and veil. Trump considers himself a “nondenominational Christian.” The couple paid respects to the late pope in front of his wooden coffin.
Continue reading at the AP
Canada’s Conservatives court Jewish voters in bid to break Liberal grip on key cities
Jewish voters, particularly in voter-rich areas of Toronto and Montreal, have been disappointed in Liberals’ handling of the Israel-Gaza war
TORONTO — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is making a strategic push to court Jewish Canadian votes, hoping to capitalize on growing dissatisfaction with the Liberal government’s handling of antisemitism and the Israel-Hamas war.
The Conservative Party has done extensive outreach within the Jewish community in an effort to crack Toronto and Montreal in particular — voter-rich areas that typically play a key role in who becomes Canada’s next prime minister.
With the Liberals entrenched in many of these seats, even small shifts in voter allegiance could tip the scales in what’s shaping up to be a high-stakes battle for Canada’s political future. It’s a dynamic that has already led to some political swings in other elections, such as those last year in the U.S. and U.K.
“We’ve always had debates and disagreements about foreign issues in Canada, but those disagreements did not spill into violence on our streets. People left the violence abroad,” Poilievre said on the campaign trail regarding pro-Palestinian protests.
“The Jewish community feels understandably under siege, as these hate marches and antisemitic outbursts have become an unfortunate part of Canadian life, and Liberals have encouraged these divisions.”
Last year, an unknown person or persons fired gunshots at a Jewish elementary school in north Toronto three separate times, attacked synagogues and Jewish community centers, firebombed a Montreal synagogue, and vandalized Jewish businesses.
In a suburb of Montreal, Liberal incumbent Anthony Housefather, a Jewish candidate who has had his own campaign signs vandalized, has had to distance himself from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the war.
Continue reading at Politico
Poll: Canadians despise Trump and distrust US
A new POLITICO/Focaldata poll finds Trump looms over the race, boosting Mark Carney and the Liberals as Canadians turn against the United States.
Three quarters of Canadians dislike President Donald Trump — and Conservatives appear likely to pay a painful price for it in the country’s Monday election, according to a POLITICO/Focaldata poll of Canadian voters.
About two in five voters (39 percent) told Focaldata, a U.K. pollster, that Trump was a top concern in the election, second only to cost of living (60 percent).
Since Trump’s return to the White House — and Justin Trudeau’s exit as Canada’s prime minister — the Conservative Party led by populist Pierre Poilievre has watched a 25-point polling lead disintegrate in front of its eyes. Conservatives now trail in most surveys, including the POLITICO/Focaldata poll.
Canada’s election has transformed into a test of Trump’s political influence beyond the United States. In a backlash against his threats and trade war, about half of Canadians now consider the U.S. as a hostile power, a dramatic turn among moderate and Liberal-leading Canadians.
In a Time magazine interview published Friday, Trump again reiterated his desire to annex Canada: “The only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state.”
Focaldata, which surveyed 2,826 respondents online from April 18 to 23, measured Trump’s net favorability at minus 61 among Canadians, “a deeply negative standing” that the pollster suggests could sway the outcome against the Conservatives.
Continue reading at Politico
A massive explosion at an Iranian port linked to missile fuel shipment kills 5, injures over 700
MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — A massive explosion and fire rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing five people and injuring more than 700 others.
Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, gave the updated casualty figure in an interview on state television. The previous toll was four dead and more than 500 others injured.
The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
While no one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that “our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response.”
Continue reading at the AP
U.S. and Iran conclude third round of nuclear talks and agree to meet again next week
The U.S. and Iran concluded on Saturday the third round of nuclear talks and agreed to meet again on May 3, said Omani foreign minister Badr Al-Busaidi, who is mediating between the parties.
Why it matters: The talks in Muscat on Saturday were the first time the parties dived into the technical details of a possible nuclear deal, especially the limitations the U.S. wants to impose on Iran's nuclear program and the sanctions Iran wants the U.S. to lift.
The fact the parties agreed to meet again is a signal for further progress in the negotiations.
President Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday that he thinks "we can make a deal without the attack. I hope we can." Asked if he's open to meeting Iranian leaders he said: "Sure."
Driving the news: The talks on Saturday took place between working-level teams from both sides and between the chief negotiators White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
Continue reading at Axios
Casey DeSantis in spotlight amid Hope Florida allegations
Florida first lady Casey DeSantis finds herself in the spotlight amid growing controversy surrounding allegations involving an organization linked to her.
The controversy, which stems from a payment made to an organization tied to her signature welfare assistance program, comes amid speculation she could launch a gubernatorial bid to succeed her outgoing husband, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
But the allegations surrounding the Hope Florida Foundation, which is linked to her Hope Florida initiative, pose a threat to her future political ambitions.
“The Hope Florida hearings have to play a role into her decision to run,” said one Florida Republican operative. “It is her signature achievement that’s being attacked and called corrupt. This is a sign of things to come if she decides to enter the race. It has to give her pause.”
Casey DeSantis has long been a popular figure in the Sunshine State and beyond, playing a key role in her husband’s 2024 presidential run. Early polls indicate she could be a formidable primary opponent for gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
A Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy survey released in March showed Casey DeSantis with a 53 percent approval rating, slightly higher than that of Donalds, who came in at 48 percent. A separate poll released in March conducted by Republican firm Fabrizio Lee and Associates found that 34 percent of likely Republican primary voters said they preferred Donalds for the role while 30 percent said they preferred the state’s first lady.
Continue reading at The Hill
Here’s what the movie ‘Conclave’ got right – and wrong – about process to elect a pope
“Conclave” the film, a moody 2024 political thriller, introduced many laypeople to the ancient selection process with its arcane rules and grand ceremony, albeit with a silver screen twist packed full of palace intrigue and surprise.
Though it has its critics, the film treats the gravity of a papal election — now in the spotlight after Francis’s Saturday funeral in Rome — with respect and accurately portrays many rituals and contemporary problems facing today’s Catholic Church. But Vatican experts warn the movie doesn’t get everything right.
Here’s a look at what “Conclave” does get right — and wrong — about conclaves.
Scenery and aesthetics
The movie excels at recreating the look and feel of a conclave.
“The film gets a lot right. They tried to reproduce the mise-en-scene of the Vatican accurately,” William Cavanaugh, a Catholic studies professor at DePaul University in Chicago, said in an email. “They show that a lot of the drama is around the preconclave conversations among cardinals.”
It’s not a perfect re-creation, according to the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst with the Religion News Service and a Vatican expert.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trailers:
Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers, dies at 41
One of the several women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking died on Friday at the age of 41.
Virginia Giuffre was pronounced dead by suicide at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed to the Associated Press.
“Deeply loving, wise and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims,” publicist Dini von Mueffling said in a statement to the AP.
“She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her,” she added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump-aligned club for the ultra rich launches in Washington
The launch of “Executive Branch” comes as Trump world looks to remake Washington.
A new club is coming to Washington — and you probably can’t get in.
Donald Trump Jr., megadonor Omeed Malik and several other investors are launching an invite-only club that costs more than half a million to join with an exclusive post-White House Correspondents’ Dinner gathering, according to an invite obtained by POLITICO and two people with knowledge of the venture, granted anonymity to discuss the private organization.
The “Executive Branch” is the brainchild of Malik and the president’s eldest son, and their partners at conservative fund 1789 Capital. It will be located in Georgetown.
Their goal, the people familiar with the plans say, is to create the highest-end private club that Washington has ever had, and cater to the business and tech moguls who are looking to nurture their relationships with the Trump administration.
The referral requirements and prohibitive pricing is meant to ensure the C-suite crowd can mingle with Trump advisers and cabinet members without the prying eyes of the press and wanna-be insiders. The price tag won’t be a problem for Trump’s cabinet — given it’s by far the wealthiest in history.
The club already has a waitlist.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump: US ships should not have to pay to use Panama, Suez Canals
“American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a Saturday post on Truth Social.
The president added that he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!”
The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Trump has been saying for months that he wants to take back the Panama Canal from Panama, claiming the trade route is controlled by China. He has not ruled out using military actions to take over the canal and told reporters in January, before being sworn in as president, that the passageway is needed for “economic security.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Bolton calls Trump, Zelensky meeting a ‘significant’ step towards ‘sensible conversation’
“I think the meeting was significant. I think this is a significant step back toward sensible conversation between the two leaders,” Bolton, a frequent Trump critic, said during his Saturday appearance on CNN.
He added that “both the president’s spokesman and Zelensky spokesman said it was productive. So, I think you’ve got to consider it good. It doesn’t necessarily mean much progress, but at least they’ve broken the image of what happened in the Oval Office on February 28th, so that’s a plus,” referring to the late February blowup between the two leaders.
Trump and Zelensky had a brief one-on-one meeting in Rome before taking part in Pope Francis’s funeral. It was their first in-person huddle since the contentious spat in the Oval Office.
“Good meeting. We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” Zelensky said after the meeting. “Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
Trump later Saturday wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be “tapping me along” in light of recent deadly strikes the Kremlin’s military launched on several Ukrainian cities.
Continue reading at The Hill
Zelensky touts ‘good meeting’ with Trump amid peace talks: ‘Hoping for results’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said his brief meeting with President Trump in Vatican City was “good” and “symbolic,” as the U.S. continues to facilitate peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
“Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one,” Zelensky wrote on social platform X, just hours after the two met ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral. “Hoping for results on everything we covered.”
“Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results,” he added, sharing a photo of the two. “Thank you @POTUS.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, without providing more detail, also touted the exchange as “productive.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump says Putin may not want to ‘stop the war’ in Ukraine
The post came shortly after Trump met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump said in a post to his social media site, referring to an attack on Kyiv earlier this week, which killed at least eight people.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently,” he added.
In the post, which includes some of Trump’s most public criticism of Putin, the president said that the U.S. would consider additional sanctions on Russia.
His Truth Social comments come one day after he said that Ukraine and Russia are “very close” to a ceasefire deal, calling for the two countries to meet for “very high level talks.”
Trump and Zelenskyy sat down at St. Peter’s Basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral earlier Saturday, in what the Ukrainian leader called a “good meeting.” It’s the first time the two men had met face-to-face since their heated Oval Office exchange in February.
Continue reading at Politico
Zelenskyy, Trump speak in Rome in first meeting since Oval Office bust-up
‘Good meeting,’ Ukrainian leader said after one-on-one in St. Peter’s Basilica. The White House called it “a very productive discussion.”
VATICAN CITY — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump Saturday morning in Rome in the two leaders’ first encounter since their disastrous meeting at the White House in February.
Zelenskyy said it was a “good meeting” and that they “discussed a lot one-on-one.” The White House called it “a very productive discussion.”
Trump and Zelenskyy are in Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Their meeting took place before the funeral started.
“President Trump and President Zelenskyy met privately today and had a very productive discussion,” said Steven Cheung, White House communications director. “More details about the meeting will follow,” he said.
“Hoping for results on everything we covered,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post after the encounter. “Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” he said.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump threatens Putin with new sanctions after meeting with Zelensky
President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky met on Saturday in Rome on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral and discussed the effort to end the war with Russia.
Why it matters: This was the first meeting between Trump and Zelensky since their explosive Oval Office shouting match in late February, which led to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis.
The two leaders met as Trump calls for a high-level summit between Russia and Ukraine "to finish it off" and get a peace deal.
Zoom in: Trump and Zelensky first huddled for a few minutes with French President Macron and British Prime Minister Starmer, then set down for a 15-minute one-on-one meeting inside the St. Peter's Basilica.
"President Trump and President Zelenskyy met privately today and had a very productive discussion," White House communications director Steven Cheung said.
What they're saying: Zelensky posted on X that he and Trump had a "good meeting" and stressed the need for a "full and unconditional ceasefire and a reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out."
Continue reading at Axios
A River of Regret Runs Through Trump’s Trade War With Canada
In the small towns along the St. Lawrence River, Trump’s outsized presence could shape a national election outcome.
GANANOQUE, Ontario — The Canadian officer who pulled me over had a question I wasn’t expecting.
I had just turned my rental car out of the Gananoque marina after dinner on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Had I been speeding? Constable Gibson of the Gananoque Police Service had something else on her mind.
“You know there’s a border, right?” she asked. “The reason I pulled you over is because you were getting out of a boat with a backpack.”
The police force of tiny Gananoque (and it seemed like the whole police force because two more cruisers pulled up behind Gibson) was concerned that I was entering Canada illegally — and potentially carrying some illicit goods in my ratty JanSport. (For the record, I had nothing more than a laptop, a notebook, a Mets hat and the latest Sally Rooney novel in there.) I spent the next half hour trying to explain that I was a journalist and that very evening I had been doing research on the rising tensions between the two countries at a dinner party on one of the river’s Canadian islands.
“I’m sure you understand with all the craziness going on that we have to check and make sure,” a second officer named Mike, who was bald with a gray goatee, told me.
I did understand “all the craziness” very well. Since the start of Canada’s federal election a month ago, I’ve been reporting on the two longtime allies who are suddenly at each other’s throats. President Donald Trump has incensed Canadians with his “51st state” rhetoric, enough that a seemingly assured victory for Canada’s Conservative Party has turned into a steady Liberal lead ahead of the vote on Monday. In the Thousand Islands region, where American and Canadian islands along the St. Lawrence River are separated seemingly at random, an aggrieved Canadian nationalism has blossomed and tourism to the United States side from Canada has withered to a trickle, potentially crippling a seasonal industry where profit margins are already tight.
Continue reading at Politico
‘Just never been anything like DOGE’: Inside Elon Musk’s turbulent takeover of government in Trump’s first 100 days
(CNN) — Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been Donald Trump’s battering ram during the president’s first 100 days, slashing the federal government and trying to bend its remnants to Trump’s will.
Driven by a band of 20-something coders and computer experts burrowing into agencies across the government, DOGE has thrown aside norms – and in some cases, federal laws – to forcibly cut spending, cancel federal contracts and building leases, and dismantle entire agencies.
DOGE has forced its way into some of the government’s most sensitive systems, which process trillions of dollars in federal payments and contain personal data for hundreds of millions of Americans, as well as federal workers and immigrants. Along the way, it’s fired more than 100,000 government employees, including highly trained scientists and experts in a host of fields such as public health, foreign aid and diplomacy and disaster management.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has served as the face of DOGE, trumpeting its findings – often riddled with inaccuracies or mischaracterizations. In Trump’s first 100 days, he frequently looked to be the second most powerful person in the government – appearing alongside Trump for joint interviews and being depicted on a February Time Magazine cover behind Trump’s Oval Office desk.
But amid a political backlash, Musk’s clashes with Trump’s Cabinet, and troubles at his electric car company, Musk said on a Tesla earnings call this week that his DOGE work is “mostly done.” While Musk can officially work as a “special government employee” for 130 days, he said that he would pull back starting next month, though he’ll continue to work a day or two each week at DOGE.
Even if Musk fades away, dozens of his lieutenants are now embedded in top positions across federal agencies, a structure that could help the DOGE-budget cutters outlive Musk’s tenure in the government.
Continue reading at CNN.com
The Rewiring of Social Security Admin With AI Has Begun, the Training Video Is Not Promising
Other countries have already automated their social welfare systems—with mixed results.
The Agency Support Companion is supposed to “assist employees with everyday tasks and enhance productivity,” an internal email viewed by the magazine reads. However, the chatbot does not seem to work very well. “Honestly, no one has really been talking about it at all,” a source who works at the agency told Wired.
The app’s launch was reportedly accompanied by a hilariously terrible training video (seen here) that involved a poorly animated, four-fingered woman. The video, which was supposed to explain to staffers how to use the app, neglected to tell them a very critical piece of information: that they should refrain from uploading sensitive personal information to the program. This oversight forced the agency to send out an apologetic email to staffers that highlighted the missing context: “Our apologies for the oversight in our training video,” it read.
“I’m not sure most of my coworkers even watched the training video,” the SSA source told Wired. “I played around with the chatbot a bit, and several of the responses I received from it were incredibly vague and/or inaccurate.” They added: “You could hear my coworkers making fun of the graphics. Nobody I know is [using it]. It’s so clumsy and bad.”
If Musk’s plan is to automate the SSA, there is plenty of evidence (aside from the terrible new app) that suggests it’s a bad idea. Indeed, a similar attempt at automating social services in Brazil shows why over-reliance on algorithms to operate welfare programs may result in worse outcomes for everybody.
Rest of the World reports that an attempt by the Brazilian government to reduce bureaucracy by replacing officials with algorithms hasn’t always produced the best results. Brazil has an app, Meu INSS, that was developed by a state-owned company, Dataprev, and is designed to handle social security claims. The app, which was launched in 2018, uses computer vision and natural language processing to analyze documents submitted to the government by claimants. Unfortunately, the app has a habit of rejecting legitimate claims based on minor errors. Those automated decisions can kick off lengthy legal battles that take many months to resolve.
The outlet documents the experience of one former sugarcane worker, 55-year-old Josélia de Brito, who filed for her retirement benefits through the app but was mistaken for a man by the automated system and had her benefits denied. “I have all the documents proving my health condition, proving everything, and [the benefit] still gets denied. It’s a humiliation,” De Brito told the outlet.
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Economic Analysis
Economist Jared Bernstein
Economist Dean Baker
Townhall Videos and
Protests around the nation
now have their own dedicated post
Video Features
How they see US
France 24 in English - Live
Sky News Live
Before you go…
I publish this daily news post, updated all throughout the day (and night), seven days a week. I publish it free to all because it is more important to me to keep us all informed, but it does take me from 04:00 through the evening to curate the news.
Please support me by subscribing for $5 a month.
Thank you.
My Opinion Pieces:
Opinion: Thanks, George! Biden II would, indeed, have been a disaster... | Blog#42
Jake Tapper got himself an interview with George Clooney, the man who single handedly tanked Joe Biden’s bid for reelection last year, so late in the cycle that it is doubtful that any Democrat would have had the time to run a proper campaign. Clooney, an old hand at fundraising for Democrats, must have known it and decided to accuse Biden of what we all knew: old age, thereby forcing the party to turn against him and get him to exit left. Tapper was very delicate with Clooney, never once asking a tough question or getting Clooney to apologize to the rest of us. If anything, Tapper was the googoo-eyed fan boy interviewer.