Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Regretful Trump Voter Slams ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ President

“I feel betrayed,” a retired U.S. Air Force captain said.

A retired U.S. Air Force captain who voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election has lashed out at the president amid soaring costs fueled partly by his war with Iran.Kathryn Bright, 60, from Colorado, told the Associated Press she feels “disgusted with myself” for backing Trump, whom she said she was initially drawn to for his pledges to provide better care to veterans, “stop wars,” and reduce the cost of living.“I feel betrayed, like he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Bright, who has several disabling medical conditions, said. “It’s like high school class president: ‘I’m gonna promise we are going to get pizza every single day,’” Bright said. “Then as soon as they get elected, they are like, ‘Oh, I lied.’”

Bright joins many of Trump’s own supporters who are angry with the president as oil prices continue to rise while Americans struggle with the cost of living.

Trump initially presented his military intervention in Iran as a regime-change operation, but it has since morphed into a rapidly expanding war that has led to the blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

The unpopular conflict is costing U.S. taxpayers almost $900 million a day.

A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Trump’s approval rating on the economy slumped 8 percentage points from March to April, from 38 percent to 30 percent.

Meanwhile, just 33 percent of American adults approve of the president’s overall job performance, down from 38 percent in March.

Nearly three-quarters of American adults described the country’s economy as “very” or “somewhat” poor in April. That percentage was nearer two-thirds in February.

With no end to the conflict in sight, costs are likely to soar further for Americans.

Trump announced in a statement on social media that he would extend a ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to facilitate peace negotiations. He also said he would continue a U.S. Navy blockade of Iranian ports, which Tehran considers an act of war.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/regretful-trump-voter-slams-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing-president/?

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• ✈️ The Trump administration is in talks to bail out Spirit Airlines in a deal that would prop up the budget carrier as it scrambles to avoid liquidation, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports.

✈️ Quote du jour

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

Tad DeHaven, policy analyst at the Cato Institute, on the prospect of a government bailout of Spirit Airlines, which could lead to the government owning a huge stake in the company: "I guess it would be the Amtrak of the skies." A deal would likely give Uncle Sam a substantial ownership stake in Spirit — possibly as much as 90%, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports.

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🚧 Trump's deal you can't refuse

This sign hangs on the fence of Charlie Angell's property and many others are hung around Presidio, Texas. Photo: Brittany Gibson/Axios

Axios' Brittany Gibson reports from Redford, Texas — a tiny border town in a remote corner of the state: The Trump administration delivered a blunt message to angry landowners at a rare in-person meeting this week: Work with us on the border wall, or we'll build it anyway. Why it matters: The pressure to show progress on border wall mileage in West Texas is leading to rushed and sloppy work that's infuriating local residents, ranchers and the tourism industry. Local residents told Axios they've heard that the goal is to finish construction as soon as December 2027 — with a year left in President Trump's term. Since the start of the year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been mailing packages — sometimes with inaccurate survey lines or owner information — offering people between $1,000 and $5,000 for initial access to land, according to landowners who have received these packets. The packets list three options. All end up with U.S. Customs and Border Protection getting the land for construction. 🔎 Zoom in: The Trump administration has done as much as possible to fast-track the construction process. Construction companies are rushing to rent out local RV parks to house hundreds of workers. The goal is to start work in June, which'll coincide with the start of the rainy season and regular flash flooding. More on the land fight.

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💉 Peptide injections boom

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new push to loosen federal restrictions on peptides could be a bonanza for telehealth companies and longevity clinics looking for the next big wellness trend, Axios' Tina Reed writes. Why it matters: The heavily touted but loosely regulated proteins could fuel the kind of boom we've seen with weight-loss drugs — even though there's little evidence they work in humans. The self-administered injections have become the rage among fitness enthusiasts, celebrities and consumers seeking to heal injuries, reduce inflammation and find anti-aging benefits. The interest has been juiced by social media influencers and podcasters like Joe Rogan, who hosted a February segment during which Kennedy previewed his agenda and said he had taken peptides himself. The FDA will convene an advisory panel in July to weigh loosening rules on certain peptides — and is also rolling back Biden-era limits on their production. Keep reading.

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Trump, 79, Posts Wild Supreme Court Conspiracy in Late-Night Tantrum

The president pushed bizarre claims about Chief Justice John Roberts.

President Donald Trump promoted the ravings of a self-described “conspiracy theorist” during his latest late-night temper tantrum on Truth Social.

In a flurry of seven posts in an hour-long period before midnight on Wednesday, the 79-year-old tore into “sleazebag” Norm Eisen, who served as Barack Obama’s ethics czar and ambassador in Prague.

“Norm Eisen is a major Sleazebag. You don’t get much lower than him!!!” he wrote on his social media site, sharing a screengrab from a post by an X user who had made an unsubstantiated claim about Eisen. The post, from self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist “Liz Churchill,” made a link between “lawfare king” Eisen and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. “SHOCKING SCOTUS BETRAYAL,” Churchill, whose account is based in Canada, ranted.

The poster then referenced an op-ed by attorney and Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley in which he “advises that Chief Justice Roberts should call the FBI regarding the NYT LEAKS…”

Churchill then attempted to implicate Eisen, one of Trump’s most persistent legal foes, in some sort of clandestine scheme. “Remember…Roberts is close with Obama’s friend, NORM EISEN…the Lawfare King and Colour Revolution Expert…who hosted him at his Prague Palace,” she said of Eisen, who served as ambassador to the Czech Republic under Obama.

Eisen has indeed spoken about spending time with Roberts when he was a diplomat in the Czech Republic. Obama’s ethics point man told the Pantsuit Nation podcast in May 2024 that though “corruption has crept into the Supreme Court,” Roberts “is not corrupt.”

“I know the chief justice well. He stayed when I was ambassador, stayed under my roof, came and spent a week with us. We worked on American and European rule of law issues together,” Eisen said.

This was seemingly enough to lead Churchill to believe that Eisen is involved in some conspiracy with the George W. Bush appointee.

This unfounded claim was then trumpeted by the president, shared with his 12.5 million Truth Social followers.

The New York Times reported on Supreme Court deliberations using sources inside the court, but there was no mention of Eisen or his supposed secret influence over Chief Justice Roberts.

Eisen responded to Trump’s missive in a comment given to the Daily Beast, describing the president as being “rattled” by the work of the watchdog organizations he’s part of, Democracy Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders Action.

“There is a massive, people-powered resistance to Trump’s authoritarian agenda, and I’m proud to be part of it. It’s no surprise that Donald Trump is rattled,” he said.

He said the organizations are “fighting back against his abuses of power through over 300 legal cases and matters-and winning.”

Eisen continued: “If he’s this upset, he should stop profiting off the American people, spending their tax dollars on monuments to himself, and trampling their rights.”

Trump, meanwhile, has turned his ire on the Supreme Court of late, including conservative judges he himself nominated after they failed to uphold all of his positions. Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, the president launched an angry tirade against the court, accusing the justices of lacking “common sense” on tariffs and of asking “bad questions” about his immigration policies.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in his Wednesday night rant, he shared links to stories from the right-wing press that stroked his ego. “One Year Since Taking Office, Trump Is Decimating Failed D.C. Status Quo,” crowed the headline of one such piece.

He also shared a link to a New York Post story, which said Iran opted against executing eight female protestors because Trump demanded their release.

“I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed. Four will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison,” Trump wrote on Truth Social before sharing the triumphant link.

“I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution.”

However, on Tuesday, Iran’s judiciary claimed the president was “misled” and was a victim of “fake news” regarding the supposed executions.

“The women who were claimed to be on the verge of execution, some of them have been released, while others face charges that, if convictions are upheld, would at most result in imprisonment,” the judiciary’s official Mizan Online website said.

The women had been arrested in connection with the deadly January protests in Iran. Rights groups claim that one of the women identified, Bita Hemmati, was sentenced to death for allegedly dropping blocks on security forces during the protests, according to NDTV.

Another group claims that another woman from photos re-posted by Trump, Mahboubeh Shabani, 32, was charged with the capital offense of “waging war against God.” She was accused of using her motorcycle to transport wounded protesters.

Eisen, meanwhile, has been a persistent thorn in Trump’s side. He filed one of the first emoluments lawsuits against the president and served as special counsel for the Judiciary Committee during his first impeachment, writing an insider account about the proceedings, A Case for the American People.

Eisen, a co-founder of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), has spent years scrutinizing Trump’s business entanglements, foreign profits, and alleged abuses of power.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-boosts-conspiracy-theorist-in-late-night-sleazebag-meltdown/?

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Republicans Freak Out That Trump’s Power Grab Plot Is Backfiring

The GOP is increasingly anxious it may have fired the starting pistol on a race it cannot win.

Donald Trump’s party is growing increasingly concerned that their bid to secure an edge in the race for control of the House and Senate may actually wind up costing them the midterm elections.

Virginia voted Tuesday to greenlight changes to its constitution that would allow Democrats to redraw lines on the state’s congressional map. The move could potentially shift the number of delegates to as lopsided as 10-1 in Democrats’ favor at the November polls, adding to an already likely five-seat gain from a similar vote in California last year.

A judge temporarily blocked the Virginia amendment on Wednesday, saying it violated the state’s constitution. The commonwealth’s Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, has vowed to fight that ruling in court.

Still, Tuesday’s result has spooked the GOP, which itself kicked off the nationwide redistricting fight with similar moves in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, as well as a failed effort in Indiana.

Party officials told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that at best, redistricting will hand them “only a small gain” in congressional seats. The newspaper adds that there’s now a growing sense among GOP ranks that Trump and his team “had miscalculated by pressing Texas last year” to make the first changes.

“I think it is a mistake in hindsight,” Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon, who is not running for re-election and plans to retire next January, told Axios. “They thought they could just do Texas and nobody else is gonna respond? … We started a war.”

Ari Fleischer, who was White House press secretary under George W. Bush, was of a similar mind. “Unleashing Texas was bad for the nation and it turned out to be bad for the GOP,” he told the Wall Street Journal.“This was avoidable, and if Texas hadn’t gone first, it is conceivable that Republicans actually would be better off than where they are now,” he went on. “So, Republicans picked the fight and lost the fight.”Fleischer’s gloomy forecast aside, the battle is far from over. Florida voters head to the polls next week to decide on yet another redistricting plan that could prove a boon to the GOP, with Louisiana waiting on a Supreme Court ruling on racial considerations in congressional mapping that could yield another opening there come June.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-freak-out-that-trumps-power-grab-plot-is-backfiring-after-virginia-redistricting-vote/?

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Triggered Trump Launches Vile Insult at Black Justice

The president’s scathing attack came ahead of a high-stakes decision on birthright citizenship.

President Donald Trump has attacked the U.S. Supreme Court’s only Black female justice ahead of a widely anticipated ruling on his bid to upend birthright citizenship in America.In an angry tirade on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the court’s three liberal justices—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson—“stick together like glue, NEVER failing to wander from the warped and perverse policies, ideas, and cases put before them.”

But he singled out Jackson in particular as “that new, Low IQ person, that somehow found her way to the bench.”

Jackson made history in 2022 when then-President Joe Biden selected her as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court in its 232-year history.

Announcing her nomination at the time, Biden described her “as one of our nation’s brightest legal minds” and declared that “for too long, our governments and our courts haven’t looked like America.”

“I believe it’s time that we had a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications, and that we inspire all young people to believe that they can one day serve their country at the highest level,” he said.

But despite Jackson’s qualifications—magna cum laude at Harvard University; clerk for former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Trump reverted to a familiar insult on Thursday as he raged against the court more broadly.

Over the years, the president has regularly used the term “low IQ” to describe women and people of color.

Targets of his attacks include former vice president Kamala Harris, Somali-born Congresswoman Ilhan Omar; Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib and Democratic firebrand Jasmine Crockett.

“For you to be in charge of the WHOLE country, you sure do have my name in your mouth a lot,” Crockett fired back after one of his insults last year.

“Every time you say my name, you’re reminding the world that you’re terrified of smart, bold Black women telling the truth and holding you accountable. So keep talking...”

He also described Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries this week as a “low IQ person” after Democrats criticized his approach to the Iran war.

But Jeffries fired back, telling MS NOW: “What’s so ironic is that Donald Trump is clearly the dumbest person ever to sit at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

By comparison, the president has often talked up his own IQ, bragged about passing three cognitive tests (which are essentially screening tests for dementia) and has previously referred to himself as a “very stable genius.”

In a separate Truth Social tirade on Thursday, he also referred to himself as an “extraordinarily brilliant person” as he lashed out at voters in Virginia backing a ballot measure that will help Democrats this November.

“As everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person, and even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the Referendum,” he wrote.

Trump’s latest attack on Jackson came during a wild rant against the court more broadly—including his own conservative justices—for striking down his signature tariff policy and questioning his push to end birthright citizenship.

The 6-3 tariff ruling was a major blow to Trump, undercutting one of his biggest tools for reshaping U.S. trade and pressuring other countries.

Birthright citizenship is one of the most consequential Constitutional decisions the court will make this year, determining whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive citizenship.

In a sign of how much is at stake, Trump sat in on the hearing earlier this month, staring down the bench as they quizzed his legal team about the policy.

But the president abruptly exited after some of his own conservative justices—including Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch—did not appear convinced.

With a possible defeat looming, Trump wrote on Thursday: “The Republican Justices don’t stick together, they give the Democrats win after win, like a 159 Billion Dollar pile of cash on a completely ridiculous Tariff decision, and nasty, one sided questions on the country destroying subject of Birthright Citizenship, something which virtually NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IS STUPID ENOUGH TO ALLOW.

“It was meant for the babies of slaves, not for the babies of Chinese Billionaires. No, certain “Republican” Justices have just gone weak, stupid, and bad, completely violating what they “supposedly” stood for,” he added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-launches-vile-insult-on-black-scotus-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson/?

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MAGA Hypocrites Exposed After Trump’s Disastrous Defeat

It seems to be one rule for Democrats, another entirely for the GOP.

Top MAGAverse figures are in an uproar over a Democratic victory in Virginia on exactly the same issue they couldn’t get enough of when it served to benefit Republican candidates in other states.

Voters on Tuesday approved an amendment to Virginia’s Constitution allowing Democrats, who currently hold six out of 11 House districts, to redraw lines on the state’s congressional map.

The measures remain subject to a Supreme Court hearing later in the week, but if approved, could shift the number of delegates to as lopsided as 10-1 in Democrats’ favor.

The outcome drew furious condemnation from Republican leaders and conservative commentators—many of whom had cheered or defended identical gerrymanders when Republicans drew them in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who had campaigned against the measures as a “totally scandalous, unlawful, unconstitutional Democrat gerrymandering scheme,” has called the result “egregious” and an effort by his political opponents to “force their radical, unwanted agenda down the throats of every American.”

Johnson assumed the polar-opposition position eight months ago, on the Texas redistricting vote last August, which kicked off the now-ongoing nationwide voter map fight.

He told Fox News then that “we will probably have a few more seats out of that and, of course, that’s good news for me.”

Politico later reported he had also personally lobbied Indiana Republicans to redraw their state’s map to benefit the GOP, a move which cleared the state’s House but was rejected by its Senate.

Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, issued a statement Tuesday night calling the Virginia result an “egregious power grab” and arguing the close margin “reinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn’t be represented by a severe partisan gerrymander.”

Hudson had cheered the same move in Texas seven months earlier, writing in an official NRCC statement that “House Republicans are in the majority, on offense, and expanding the map,” and that “vulnerable House Democrats are painfully out of touch with hardworking Americans.”

His own state, North Carolina, also redrew its map last fall to flip a Democratic seat.

CNN’s resident MAGA pundit Scott Jennings has followed much the same trajectory, similarly calling Tuesday’s results “egregious,” attributing Democrats’ victory to them having “all the money and all the lines,” and slamming the whole affair as “a complete joke.”

Jennings previously dismissed “rigging” concerns in Texas during an on-air exchange with former Obama aide Xochitl Hinojosa by rattling off a list of states where Democrats dominate congressional maps.

He also later defended the Texas redistricting by arguing Republicans had gone “through the legal process and the courts.”

Vice President JD Vance, who has not yet commented publicly on Tuesday’s results, appeared to be following a similarly contradictory logic ahead of time.

At an April 16 Turning Point USA event in Georgia, he urged, “Virginia, vote against the Obama-Spanberger redistricting plan. Vote against it.”

But last August, as the Texas fight raged, Vance told Fox Business he was personally lobbying Indiana Republicans to follow suit: “We want a unified Republican team. We want to redistrict some of these red states and we want to make the congressional apportionment fair in this country.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-hypocrites-exposed-after-president-donald-trumps-disastrous-defeat-on-virginia-redistricting-vote/?

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Trump reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in a historic shift

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general on Thursday signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a major policy shift long sought by advocates who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the federal government.

https://apnews.com/article/medical-marijuana-rescheduling-justice-department-trump-cannabis-1d6722d3aae122b1a91f8e4b6c690268?

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Nuke Expert Reveals Huge Problem With Trump’s War Plan

A former U.S. official who oversaw the removal of dangerous nuclear materials from the Soviet Union isn’t sold on the president’s plans for Iran.

A former U.S. official who helped de-nuke the former Soviet Union has delivered a brutal wake-up call on Donald Trump’s plans to keep weapons of mass destruction out of Iranian hands.

Andrew Weber, an Obama-era nuclear weapons adviser, warned in an interview with The Telegraph that any efforts to remove highly enriched uranium from Iran without an agreement with the regime would take several weeks and likely see thousands of U.S. service personnel killed.

“It’s not a quick and easy thing to do,” he told the newspaper. “It takes a skilled team a lot of time on target to do this safely.”

“If we put American boots on the ground, it would be extremely unpopular,” he added. “If we suffered significantly more casualties, it would be a political death for the Trump administration.”

Weber should know. He played a key role in Project Sapphire, a Clinton administration operation to remove roughly 600kg of weapons-grade uranium out of the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan after the collapse of the USSR.

Trump has repeatedly cited the need to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons as a justification for his war with the repressive Middle Eastern regime.

The president started that conflict on February 28 despite reports from his own intelligence service that Iran had made no efforts to rebuild its nuclear facilities after a barrage of U.S. strikes last June, which Trump claimed then had “obliterated” Iran’s weapons-making capabilities.

International nuclear inspectors reported earlier this month that Iran presently has 440kg of uranium at 60 percent purity, around 30 percent lower than the level typically considered weapons-grade.

Still, Weber estimates that amount could allow the regime to produce 10 warheads, should it have the will and facilities to construct them.

 

The president has offered his rationale for the war even after claiming to have "obliterated" Iranian nuclear capabilities last year. Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images

He told The Telegraph it would be “possible” to remove the materials as part of a negotiated operation, but “too risky” while the U.S and Iran remain at war.

“It would be much more expensive, especially in lives,” he said of any prospective wartime attempt.

“You would need a force of thousands of troops to secure the site over a period of weeks, maybe even over a month,” he added. “That would create a huge vulnerability too—the Iranians could fire drones and short-range missiles at [it].”

Trump announced a ceasefire two weeks ago to allow time for negotiations with Iran on a permanent end to the conflict.

That deal was made on condition that the Islamic Republic reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping lane, which the regime has effectively shuttered since the conflict began.

Iran did not reopen the strait, and no new deal was reached.

The president has since extended the ceasefire “indefinitely” until Iran presents a consolidated proposal for ending the war. Iran has responded by attacking three ships in the strait, seizing two of them.

It comes as the Pentagon warns that it may take at least six months to clear Iranian-laid mines from the strait.

That delay, in turn, threatens to keep oil and gas prices at the level they have skyrocketed to since the passage’s effective closure more than six weeks ago.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/former-us-diplomat-and-nuclear-expert-andrew-weber-reveals-huge-problem-with-donald-trumps-iran-war-plan/?

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Trump’s Net Approval Plunges to All-Time Low as Republicans Join Revolt

Republican approval dropped 17 points to its lowest level since 2017.

President Donald Trump is facing a sharp political setback as a new poll shows his net approval rating sinking to a record low, with unrest spreading even inside his own party.

A CNBC poll of 1,000 people nationwide, conducted between April 15-19, shows that Trump’s job approval stands at 40 percent, while 58 percent disapprove.

That puts his net approval at -18, a 10-point fall from the previous quarter and the worst recorded during either of his presidencies.

Approval also fell to record lows among Democrats and independents, but the most striking shift came within his own party.

Republican approval dropped 17 points to its lowest level since 2017, driven by rising disapproval and falling support.

And while MAGA-aligned voters remain overwhelmingly loyal at 96 percent approval, support among non-MAGA Republicans fell sharply, down 19 points to 60 percent, signaling widening fractures within his political base.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

The poll reflects latest surveys, which have shown Trump’s overall approval rating declining, with his support from non-MAGA Republicans dropping, while his support from MAGA Republicans has endured.

Analysis from CNN pollster Harry Enten last month showed that Trump’s support among MAGA Republicans remains at 100 percent.

Still, the surveys are warning signs for Trump and his party ahead of the 2026 midterms.

It comes as voters express growing

dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the economy and the ongoing war in Iran, both of which have weighed heavily on his approval ratings in polls.

 

The CNBC poll showed that Trump’s approval on the economy has fallen sharply, dropping to 39 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval, a net -21 that marks his weakest economic rating in CNBC polling across both terms and a 10-point decline from the previous quarter.

The decline is broad-based but especially pronounced among key voter groups, including independents, Latinos, and white non-college voters, who formed an important part of Trump’s base in 2024.

Republican approval also slipped, though it remains high overall at 77 percent. The biggest shift came among non-MAGA Republicans, where support fell to 55 percent from 69 percent, while MAGA voters remain strongly aligned at 92 percent approval.

Economically, the drop has been most visible in GOP-held congressional districts, where overall approval fell 11 points to 43 percent ahead of the midterms.

Jay Campbell, a partner at Hart Research, the Democratic pollster for the survey, told CNBC: “It’s hard to imagine a set of policies that could be proposed and implemented between now and Election Day that would have a material enough impact on the American people that they would say, ‘Actually this guy is doing pretty good with the economy.’″

On foreign policy, the poll also showed strong discontent with Trump’s deeply unpopular war in Iran, which has seen oil and gas prices spike.

Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes in Iran angered some of his MAGA base, who backed him partly for his pledge of “no new wars.”

Economist/YouGov polling conducted before the conflict indicated that 53 percent of Trump voters opposed U.S. involvement in Iran, and critics now argue the current situation represents a departure from his promise to end “forever wars.”

The CNBC poll showed that groups that were key to Trump’s 2024 coalition—Latinos, young men, independents and White voters without college degrees—are broadly negative on the handling of the Iran war.

Overall, a plurality of Americans say the Iran conflict has made them feel less secure, with 48 percent reporting they feel “less safe” compared with 30 percent who say they feel safer.

On the broader costs of the war, 64 percent say the conflict is not worth the financial strain and rising gasoline prices it has brought.

The economic impact is also being felt directly in household behavior, with majorities reporting cutbacks on non-essential spending and plans to reduce travel due to higher fuel costs.

In total, nearly 80 percent of Americans say they have taken some form of financial action in response to higher prices at the pump, including increased reliance on credit cards and reductions in spending even on essentials.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-net-approval-plunges-to-all-time-low-as-republicans-join-revolt/?

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Stocks and oil sail past each other

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images The Iran war's stock-oil connection is fraying, Axios' Emily Peck reports. When the war started, stocks fell and oil prices rose amid worries of economic fallout from a historic energy shock. Lately, stocks have risen when peace seemed imminent. But oil prices are climbing, too, on fears of prolonged supply shortages. The disconnect highlights a key distinction between the stock market, which often seems to trade on vibes, and commodities markets, which are tethered to real physical goods. 📈 Case in point: Stocks rose yesterday after President Trump extended the ceasefire. So did oil prices, fueled in part by a report that clearing mines from the vital Strait of Hormuz could take as long as six months. Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning: "I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz." 🛢️ Reality check: Oil prices are still far below some predictions from the start of the war. That's partly because investors believe oil will eventually get cheaper again. Yet analysts say that even if Hormuz is made navigable, it'll take time to re-establish normal shipping and logistics there. 👀 What we're watching: Right now, Asia is the epicenter of the oil supply crisis — but that pain could soon spread globally. Royal Bank of Canada analysts, writing in a note this morning: "The stage is set for a cruel summer." Go deeper.

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No Country for Bad Pundits

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Pity poor Tucker Carlson. Watching Donald Trump’s war in Iran—which Carlson has branded “the single biggest mistake” by a U.S. president in his lifetime—he is ruing his strong support for Trump in the 2024 election.

“It’s a moment to wrestle with our own consciences,” Carlson, long the most prominent media personality in the MAGA movement, said this week on his podcast. “We’ll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be. And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people.”

Or, even better, don’t pity Carlson. He is one of several media figures who are having second thoughts about Trump—and in some cases, receiving praise for it. But these pundits deserve no amnesty. Their second thoughts are wise, but to have erred so badly, when so many other commentators and journalists saw the truth, disqualifies them from being taken seriously on politics again.

The problem is not just that Carlson ought to have known better. It’s that he did, as the journalist Jason Zengerle reports in his recent biography, Hated by All the Right People. Back in the early 2000s, Carlson harbored reservations about the war in Iraq, but he swallowed them to be what he felt was a good team player for the right, Zengerle notes. Later, he said, he’d gone “against my own instincts in supporting it. It’s something I’ll never do again. Never.” (The Iraq disaster may inform Carlson’s vehement opposition to the war in Iran.)

And yet Carlson did just that with Trump, repeatedly. He initially found Trump coarse, but came around to him during the 2016 presidential campaign. By 2020, however, he’d become disgusted with Trump, including over his handling of COVID; Zengerle writes that Carlson first believed that the president’s approach was too blasé, then too strict. He told people he voted for Kanye West for president in 2020. When Trump tried to steal the election despite losing it, Carlson skewered Trump’s allies on air and was even harsher in text messages to colleagues.

“I hate him passionately,” Carlson wrote in texts revealed a few years later in a lawsuit against Fox. “That’s the last four years. We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn’t really an upside to Trump.” Yet after being fired from Fox, Carlson mended his relationship with Trump, counseling him to choose J. D. Vance as running mate and speaking at his rallies.

Discerning the “real” Tucker Carlson is, Zengerle suggests, a lost cause, and anyway, it doesn’t matter whether Carlson was honest when he was backing Trump or is being earnest now. Either way, he’s forfeited any reason to listen to him. And yet Carlson’s turn against Trump has won him commendation of the “strange new respect” variety from liberals such as Jon Favreau of Pod Save America. This is ill-advised, and not only because Carlson continues to mingle anti-Semitism and other bigotries with his Trump criticisms. If these liberals’ goal is to make allies who can draw Trump voters away, it’s also likely to be ineffective. As Carlson rejects Trump, his own popularity is cratering faster than the president’s.

Restoring American democracy after Trump will require reaching out to those who backed him. That’s good sense and good math: After all, he was democratically elected, and many of his supporters were fooled by him or didn’t believe he’d follow through on his more draconian promises. In the case of the unpopular Iran war, voters may have been tricked by Trump’s claims to be an antiwar figure; that impression was fostered not only by his rhetoric but also by credulous framing in the mainstream press. Every voter has a responsibility to do their best to understand the candidates in an election, and Trump’s foibles should have been plain long before November 2024, but most people are also busy and dependent on the media, whichever kind they choose, to inform them. Creating space for ordinary Trump voters to reject Trump doesn’t require welcoming or absolving the prominent figures who rallied the public to support him.

One group ripe for shunning is broadcasters such as Carlson and Alex Jones, who has also reacted strongly to the Iran war. “I love the old Trump,” he said during an interview with former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, another MAGA apostate. “I’m just going to be honest. I hate this person. This is a disgusting husk of a former person.” (Strong words from a guy who falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre was fake and the families of murdered children were “crisis actors.”)

A second is the so-called Trumpist intellectuals, who have tried to create an ideological framework around MAGA. The writer Sohrab Ahmari argued (with Matthew Schmitz) in 2022 that Trump was “the only candidate who recognizes” that the establishment’s warmongering was the root of American problems. Now, as the journalist Michelle Goldberg points out, Ahmari writes that Trump’s “mad-king governance is exhausting for Americans and the world” and bitterly adds, “Bring back Hillary.” The conservative commentator Christopher Caldwell declared the Iran war to be the end of Trumpism and wrote that Trump’s “virtues are not the ones you need to run a free country.” You get zero points for recognizing Trump’s style and character only now, a decade into his era.

A third is those you might call lifestyle podcasters, many of whom forswear any claim to be political commentators but happily take on the job anyway, interviewing political candidates or issuing endorsements for office. This includes Theo Von, who has called Trump’s strikes on Iran “diabolical,” and Joe Rogan. “Make America greater—I’m down. But Make America Great Again and then it becomes a movement of a bunch of fucking dorks? ’Cause a lot of them are dorks,” Rogan said last month, calling them “really weird, fucking uninteresting, unintelligent people.” If Rogan was unable to notice this before, this says little for his perception. (The White House seems to be eager to heal any rift and hosted Rogan at the White House this past Saturday.)

The proposition that people such as Carlson, Ahmari, and Rogan offer their audiences is that they are smarter or better informed than a lay observer, or have access to politicians that allows them to be useful conduits for information and ideas. They have also argued loudly that they’re more trustworthy and have clearer judgment than the mainstream media. If their most prominent political position was backing Trump in 2024, and they have all come to regret it, that says everything we need to know about their credibility going forward.

“It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I changed my mind’—or like, ‘Oh, this is bad. I’m out,’” Carlson said on the same podcast episode. He’s right, for once; perhaps he should try saying nothing at all for a good long time.

Related:

• Tucker Carlson is the emblem of GOP cynicism.
• Finally, someone said it to Joe Rogan’s face.

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😬 "Mean Girls" Pentagon

Illustration: Maura Kearns/Axios Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest channels the mood in the Pentagon after a series of high-level firings: Breakfast meetings, happy hours and group chats across Washington are abuzz with the same question: Who gets axed next? The big picture: The ousters this month of U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, alongside two other service leaders, have intensified Pentagon palace intrigue. The nerves are particularly charged inside the building. 👋 At least 15 defense officials have abruptly left or been pushed out of their jobs under Trump 2.0. The exits, civilian and uniformed, result from clashing politics, policies and personalities. "There's a lot of confusion and head-shaking," an administration official told Axios, describing the vibe this week. "It feels so much like petty, high-school or middle-school drama." "You have this pervasive: 'Oh my gosh, what is the next perceived slight that is going to upset the Mean Girls?'"

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🚔 Prediction market hammers drop

Illustration: Maura Kearns/Axios A trio of headlines captures the rapid-fire crackdown on prediction market insider trading after a series of controversial trades: An Army special forces soldier, who was part of the Nicolás Maduro raid, was charged with making $400,000 by betting on the leader's downfall. The 38-year-old, stationed at Fort Bragg, was involved in planning and executing the Jan. 3 raid, beginning Dec. 8. The indictment says the soldier made 13 bets related to Maduro being toppled by Jan. 31. Read the indictment. Kalshi fined and suspended three political candidates for trading related to their own election races. Go deeper. "State employees are the latest targets of prediction market insider trading bans." — Business Insider Photo: Wyatte Grantham-Philips/AP 💬 President Trump lamented yesterday that "the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino." 🎬 Go deeper: Kalshi founders told "The Axios Show" they expect the feds to probe bad actors on their platform. Watch the clip.

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‘Two ways of calculating’: Trump defends his mathematically impossible calculations on drug prices During a Thursday event announcing a deal with drugmaker Regeneron to lower the cost of its pharmaceutical products, Trump defended his past claims that prices on prescription medications had been cut by well over 100% — something that is mathematically impossible without manufacturers dropping prices to zero and then presumably paying consumers to use their product. Read more.

Why this matters: It was one of several times Trump used his own — but incorrect — math during the drug pricing event. He claimed the 7 1/2-week-and-still-going Iran war actually fell within the four- to six-week timeline he predicted early on. The president also brought up the crowd size for his 2017 inauguration — a subject that led onetime top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to unwittingly make the phrase “alternative facts” famous.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Details of Trump’s drug prices deal with Regeneron   FACT FOCUS: RFK Jr. misleads on Medicaid cuts   Reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug might only be the first step for Trump    Trump’s ‘gold card’ visa starting at $1 million granted to just 1 person so far, White House says   Republican proposes giving Democratic-leaning part of Virginia back to DC after redistricting vote   Trump considers a taxpayer takeover of Spirit Airlines and would aim to resell carrier    Civil rights groups condemn Southern Poverty Law Center’s indictment and prepare for legal fights   Trump administration vows crackdown on Chinese companies ‘exploiting’ AI models made in US    Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool gets a blue coating as Trump tackles renovation project

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Trump Gets Rude Awakening as He Arrives at MAGA Event

The president was the guest of Paramount CEO David Ellison but things quickly went south.

Protests greeted the arrival of President Donald Trump for a lavish D.C. dinner hosted by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, who is trying to push through the $111 billion takeover of a rival media giant despite monopoly concerns.

Thursday night’s private event, hosted by Ellison and attended by CBS News correspondents and executives including MAGA-friendly editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, was held at Washington’s Institute for Peace.

Ellison, the nepo-baby son of billionaire Trump pal Larry Ellison, took over CBS News following his acquisition of Paramount last year, promptly installing Weiss, who had no television news experience, at the helm.

The network has had a tumultuous few months since Weiss and Ellison’s takeover, experiencing significant layoffs while also losing key talent and failing to bring in viewers.

Ellison’s dinner for the president, two days ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, followed a controversial vote by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to approve a merger with Paramount, which still needs federal approval.

As the presidential motorcade arrived at the Institute for Peace, which the president renamed after himself last year, it was greeted with protesters concerned about the monopoly risk posed by the Paramount/WBD merger. Protesters bore signs reminding Trump that “Democracy is not for sale” and accusing him of “stealing” the Institute for Peace. One pool reporter observed a protester flipping off the motorcade.

Dozens of protesters were joined by Democratic Reps. Becca Balint and Jamie Raskin, the latter of whom described the dinner as “a lavish oligarch’s dinner for Donald Trump.”

“We’re gathered here together tonight [because] in the building behind us, David Ellison is hosting a dinner to honor President Trump, a dinner that’s designed to cement the Ellisons to the president in their years-running corrupt merger scheme,” Raskin told the crowd.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, CBS News, and organizers of the protest for comment.

Following Paramount’s acquisition of Weiss’ online outlet, The Free Press, and Weiss’ subsequent installation as CBS chief, the network took on a significantly more White House-friendly slant.

Weiss went so far as to temporarily shelve an episode of 60 Minutes about El Salvador’s CECOT prison, claiming that it “did not advance the ball” and needed more reporting, including interviews with administration officials, who had declined to be interviewed.

Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi pushed back on Weiss’ claims, telling colleagues via email that White House officials refusing to be interviewed was “a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

While FCC Chair Brendan Carr has said that his agency would be unlikely to play a role in the Paramount/WBD merger, President Trump has repeatedly weighed in, calling for CNN to be included in the acquisition “because the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.”

Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated the administration’s position, announcing during a briefing at the Pentagon that “the sooner David Ellison takes over [CNN], the better.”

The president will also be in attendance at the WHCA’s annual dinner on Saturday, as will Fox News alum Hegseth, who is expected to sit at one of the tables purchased by CBS News for the event. CBS News also invited White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to the event.

The decision to invite Trump officials like Hegseth raised concern among CBS employees given the defense secretary’s history of antagonizing journalists and attempts to dismantle the Pentagon press corps.

One employee told Status News that the network extending an invitation to Hegseth was “deeply disappointing,” while another described it as an “access play” by Weiss and CBS.

An executive at a rival network said that the invitation was a “slap in the face to the journalists at CBS News to invite the man leading the fight to unilaterally shut down press freedoms in this country.”

“Nothing says celebrating press freedoms like the man who won’t even let photographers in the room for fear they’d miss his good side,” the executive told Status.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-gets-rude-awakening-as-he-arrives-at-cbss-maga-event/?

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Testy Trump, 79, Loses It at Key Ally for Not Speaking Nicely to Him

The president threw another tantrum at a leader who has refused to back his war in Iran.

A sulking Donald Trump has lashed out at the British prime minister for not speaking to him nicely.

The president, 79, has made it known that he’s unhappy with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for his refusal to back the war in Iran and assist with a U.S. Navy blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

In his latest tantrum, Trump criticized the U.K. for failing to make “at least a minimal effort” and use “at least nicer words,” according to the BBC’s North America editor, Sarah Smith, who reported the remarks.

The president added that “many people from the U.K.” had told his administration it was “incredibly bad a decision” for the NATO member to stay out of the war.

Starmer refused to allow U.S. bombers to use U.K. airbases during the initial strikes on Iran, prompting the president to say the prime minister was “no Winston Churchill.”

Starmer eventually relented and allowed U.S. forces to launch defensive strikes from U.K. facilities, but has repeatedly said he “would not be dragged into the war.”

Trump has relentlessly criticized NATO member states for their refusal to participate in efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz—one of the world’s most critical shipping routes through which about a fifth of global oil supplies flow. It was closed by Iran after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on February 28.

The president warned in an interview with the Financial Times that rebuffing his calls to help secure the strait “will be very bad for the future of NATO.”

Speaking to the BBC, Trump insisted that the U.S. “didn’t need” NATO allies in his Iran war, but said they “should’ve been there”.

“I didn’t need them, obviously,” Trump added. “We’ve wiped Iran’s military out. I didn’t need anybody.”

Trump said his pleas for NATO allies to assist Washington were “more of a test” to “see whether or not they would be involved.”

The president told the publication that a four-day state visit from King Charles III and Queen Camilla next week could improve bilateral relations.

“Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutel,y the answer is yes,” Trump said of Charles. “I know him well, I’ve known him for years. He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and NATO for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/testy-trump-79-loses-it-at-key-ally-for-not-speaking-nicely-to-him/?

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Trump DOJ’s Alarming New Plot Against U.S. Citizens Exposed

The DOJ already has a 384-strong hit list ready to go.

Donald Trump’s administration is planning to push the Department of Justice to strip hundreds of foreign-born Americans of their citizenship.

The DOJ has already added 384 individuals who were born outside the U.S to a list of citizens it wants denaturalized, according to a report by The New York Times on Thursday.

Even for Trump’s deportation-obsessed administration, denaturalization is rare, and has previously been used against foreign-born Americans after committing certain crimes or who conducted fraud, such as a false marriage in pursuit of immigrating to the U.S.

Senior DOJ officials were advised in a meeting last week that civil litigators in 39 U.S. attorneys’ regional offices would be assigned to file the denaturalization cases, an official told the Times. It is not clear why the 384 individuals have been singled out.

The denaturalization process is usually handled by legal experts versed in immigration litigation, with the government required to present evidence to a federal judge, slowing down the process.

Civil divisions at attorney’s offices generally deal with healthcare fraud, forfeiting of assets, and the enforcement of civil rights, which they will now have less time to focus on.

The move is part of a broader effort by the DOJ to “ramp up” denaturalizations, according to two sources cited by the Times. It follows Trump administration officials ordering Department of Homeland Security staffers to refer over 200 denaturalization cases a month to the DOJ.

In the years between 2017 and the end of 2025, just over 120 naturalized Americans were stripped of their citizenship, according to the Times.

During the meeting last week, Francey Hakes, the director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, said the 384 cases earmarked are merely “the first wave of cases” intended for denaturalization.

Hakes flagged that many civil divisions at U.S. attorneys’ offices are already swamped by lawsuits filed by immigrants challenging the legality of their detention under the Trump administration’s ICE crackdown.

“I hope these cases will not be too much of an additional burden,” Hakes said, noting that the focus on denaturalization was a “White House initiative.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast, “This isn’t a White House initiative—it’s federal law.”

DOJ spokesman Matthew Tragesser confirmed to the Daily Beast that officers were “pursuing the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history.”

“The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process,” he added.

“Citizenship fraud is a serious crime; anyone who has broken the law and obtained citizenship through fraud and deceit will be held accountable,” Jackson told the Daily Beast.

When a person is denaturalized in America, they revert to the status they held before becoming a citizen, which can open the door to deportation efforts.

The plan has been in the pipeline since a Justice Department memo from last June that instructed staff to “prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence”.

It included a large range of categories of people to be stripped of their citizenship, including those accused of being gang or cartel members or having a “nexus to terrorism.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-dojs-alarming-new-plot-against-us-citizens-exposed/?

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Trump and other top Republicans read passages in a marathon Bible event  President Trump and many top Republicans are taking part this week in a marathon reading of the Bible in an America 250-themed event billed as encouraging a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country.” The America Reads the Bible event — with each participant reading a passage aloud — is being livestreamed from the Museum of the Bible in Washington and other locations. It featured a video of Trump from the Oval Office reading an Old Testament passage that called for national repentance in ancient Israel. Read more.

Why this matters: Critics say the event has a partisan list of participants and is part of a larger project to connect America's upcoming 250th birthday with a Christian nationalist vision. That vision portrays the nation’s founding as essentially Christian, something many historians dispute.    The event comes soon after Trump drew rare criticism from his evangelical supporters for circulating a social media meme in which a white-robed Trump appeared as a Jesus-like healer surrounded by patriotic symbols. Trump removed the image from his Truth Social site while insisting he was depicted as a doctor, not Jesus.    Trump read from a chapter of 2 Chronicles, set during King Solomon's dedication of the temple in ancient Jerusalem. In it, God promises forgiveness if a future generation rebels then repents.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ 'If my people': Here's why the Bible passage Trump read aloud is so potent and polarizing  Critics say Trump’s religion agenda will benefit conservative Christians the most  Many believe the founders wanted a Christian America. Some want the government to declare one now

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Two women risked everything after US raid to protest Venezuela’s detentions of their husbands

Venezuelan women have spent the year protesting to demand the release of hundreds of political prisoners. Mothers and wives have set up tent cities outside detention facilities where people detained for political motives are known to be held. The women are part of a movement that emerged after the United States military attacked the South American country on Jan. 3 and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro. Their protest highlights the ongoing struggle for civil liberties in Venezuela. The AP was there to tell their story. Read more.   US imposes sanctions on a China-based oil refinery and 40 shippers over Iranian oil WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil. https://apnews.com/article/treasury-bessent-sanctions-china-iran-oil-12a02b5ba394cbcab355d645bfe9cdf7?

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Hitting the oil ceiling

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios President Trump keeps talking up U.S. oil exports as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed — but exports face real limits, Axios' Ben Geman reports. 🛢️ By the numbers: Combined exports for U.S. oil and petroleum products (gasoline, jet fuel, etc.) hit a record 12.9 million barrels per day last week. For crude oil specifically, intel firm Kpler expects April to close with an average of 5 million barrels per day. That's up from the more typical 3.5 million–4.5 million. Yes, but: Kpler's Matt Smith says there's a hard ceiling of around 5.5 million daily barrels across any given month. U.S. ports can handle only so much oil and gas. Refineries are running at historically high — and likely unsustainable — levels. Either way, higher U.S. exports can only offset a small amount of the massive drop in Middle East shipments. 🌎 The big picture: The Iran war could redraw the global oil map. Mideast producers may build new pipelines to reduce their reliance on Hormuz. We could also see more tanker shipments from the U.S. and other countries outside the Persian Gulf. 👀 What we're watching: Whether all this upheaval attracts fresh private capital to expand U.S. Gulf Coast capacity. Several offshore crude port projects have been planned for years — though they're still big and uncertain long-term investments. Go deeper ...

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💪 Trump caves on Powell

Republican senators aren't celebrating yet after forcing the Trump administration to back off its investigation into Fed chair Jerome Powell.

Why it matters: Senate Republicans nudged President Trump for weeks to call off the Justice Department probe, which Powell publicly said he viewed as political.

• An announcement from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro that she is closing the Powell probe was met with silence from GOP leaders.
• Powell also remained silent and did not confirm he was in the clear.
• Don't expect retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who refused to advance Kevin Warsh out of the Senate Banking Committee until the Justice Department backed off Powell, to change his stance until Powell receives formal confirmation that it's over.

The other side: Democrats argued that Pirro's announcement — which said the Fed's inspector general would take over the building-related probe — was merely a ruse.

• "This is just an attempt to clear the path for Senate Republicans to install President Trump's sock puppet, Kevin Warsh, as Fed chair," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement.
• "Anyone who believes Donald Trump's corrupt scheme to take over the Fed is over is fooling themselves. The Senate should not proceed with the nomination of Kevin Warsh."

What we're hearing: If Warsh's nomination clears the committee, his confirmation will consume valuable Senate floor time.

• Powell's chairmanship ends May 15 and the Senate also needs to pass FISA authorization and fill out the details of the ICE and Border Patrol reconciliation package.
• But confirming Warsh will be a priority.

The bottom line: On the Republican side, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chair of the Banking Committee, came closest to declaring victory. But his statement didn't mention either Powell or Warsh:

• "I welcome the inspector general's review and expect a full accounting of how these costs spiraled out of control," Scott said.
• "I am inviting the inspector general to brief the committee within the next 90 days on its findings."

— Hans Nichols

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Republican Voters Turn on Trump as Cost of Living Explodes

A triple whammy of polls came as Trump declared he was in no rush to resolve the war in Iran.

The alarm bells are ringing ever louder for the GOP ahead of the midterm elections, with a slew of new polls showing voters turning on Donald Trump over soaring costs—including a growing number of Republican voters.

As the war entered another day, damning new research from bipartisan public affairs agency ROKK Solutions found that 73 percent of voters blame Trump and his administration for rising prices.

What’s more, the sentiment extends beyond partisan lines, with 57 percent of Republican voters blaming Trump for soaring costs while 55 percent blame congressional Republicans.

In another damning finding, a new Fox News poll showed that, for the first time since 2010, more voters believe Democrats would handle the economy better than Republicans, with inflation and the economy the issues voters are most concerned about.

And a third poll, by the Cook Political Report, found that Democrats now hold a 6-point advantage in a survey of the 36 House districts most likely to determine which party wins the majority in the lower chamber.

The triple whammy of polls came as Trump told reporters this week that he was in no rush to resolve the issue in Iran, where a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz has led to soaring oil prices and more pain at the pump for consumers.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth doubled down at his latest press briefing on Friday morning, saying that the administration was “not anxious” for a deal with Iran.

“We have all the time in the world,” he said on Friday.

But the polls show most Americans don’t feel the same way as they struggle to make ends meet, despite Trump’s many campaign promises.

“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again to bring down the price of all goods,” he told supporters at a rally in Montana weeks before the 2024 election.

Behind the scenes, alarm is building inside Republican circles. At a high-level strategy session convened by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria this week, insiders acknowledged the political drag created by the prolonged conflict and stubbornly high prices.

Attendees focused heavily on messaging, with some urging a sharper economic pivot while others warned that tying the party too closely to the war effort could deepen voter backlash.

Several Republicans have also publicly signaled unease about the trajectory of both the conflict and its domestic fallout.

Texas Senator John Cornyn, for instance, has cautioned about “the strain on resources,” while Maine Senator Susan Collins slammed Trump this month for his “incendiary” remarks on the war and called for a “swift” end to the conflict.

Trump, for his part, has brushed off mounting pressure to accelerate an end to the conflict.

Speaking to reporters this week, he insisted he would not be “rushed” into a resolution.

“We were in Vietnam, like, for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years,” Trump said on Thursday. “I don’t like to say World War II, because that was a biggie. But we were four-and-a-half, almost five years in World War II. We were in the Korean War for seven years. I’ve been doing this for six weeks.”

Meanwhile, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that electricity prices have risen 4.6 percent for the year, food away from home (ie, restaurant costs) has jumped by 3.8 percent over the same period, while energy costs have risen by 12.5 percent.

“I think the more that the economic costs start to become apparent in a couple of weeks here in the United States, he really runs the risk of not being able to have control over his own narrative,” said Narges Bajoghli, associate professor of anthropology and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.

“I think that is something that is proving extremely difficult to him.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-voters-turn-on-trump-as-cost-of-living-explodes/?

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Judge Jeanine Abandons Trump Enemy Probe After Republican Revolt

The president’s opponents had slammed the investigation as “bogus.”

Judge Jeanine Pirro says the Department of Justice is dropping its criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve and its leader, Chair Jerome Powell.

“This morning the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve has been asked to scrutinize the building costs overruns—in the billions of dollars—that have been borne by taxpayers,” the U.S. Attorney for D.C. said in a post on X, referring to allegations the Trump administration has leveled at Powell.

“Accordingly, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry,” she went on, adding she will “not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”

The Fed’s Office of Inspector General has already twice reviewed the claims against Powell. On both occasions, it found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Trump had raged against Powell, whom he appointed during his first term, for refusing to lower interest rates at the speed the president demanded.

Then the administration opened a criminal investigation into Powell’s congressional testimony regarding a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in D.C.

Powell called the probe “unprecedented” and framed it as part of an ongoing intimidation campaign.

A federal judge agreed, blasting the investigation as unjustified and quashing Pirro’s subpoenas—a move she had previously vowed to appeal.

Powell’s saving grace appears to have come in the form of Republican Senator Thom Tillis.

The president had pushed hard for Kevin Warsh, a former Fed Governor tapped by the president in January, to replace Powell when his term comes to an end next month.

Tillis repeatedly blocked Warsh’s nomination against what he framed as the Justice Department’s “bogus” investigation of Powell.

The North Carolina Senator, who’s retiring next year, had vowed to vote with Democrats against Warsh’s confirmation until the probe was dropped.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Justice Department for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-jeanine-pirro-abandons-probe-of-donald-trumps-enemy-jerome-powell-after-republican-revolt/?