Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was born in Chicago, was elected Pope.
He’ll be known as Pope Leo XIV.
He’s the first American Pope in history.
Trump Urges Republicans to Raise Taxes on the Wealthy
President Donald Trump privately urged Speaker Mike Johnson to raise taxes on wealthy Americans during a phone call Wednesday, Punchbowl News reports.
Trump urged Johnson to raise the top tax rate and restated his interest in having Congress close the carried interest loophole.
Big Majority Say Trump’s Tariffs Will Increase Prices
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds 75% of Americans think that President Trump’s tariffs will increase the prices they pay, and most who do expect they will increase prices a lot rather than a little.
Majorities of Democrats and Republicans think Trump’s tariffs will lead to price increases. Among Republicans, the share who think tariffs will raise prices “a lot” has increased 8 percentage points in the past two weeks, to 22% from 14%.
RFK Jr.’s Running Mate Says Someone Is ‘Controlling’ Him
Nicole Shanahan, who was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate last year, claimed that someone else is controlling his decisions as health secretary.
She was reacting to news that President Trump had nominated Dr. Casey Means, a “wellness influencer,” as surgeon general and that her brother, Calley Means, was working for Kennedy.
Said Shanahan: “It’s very strange. Doesn’t make any sense. I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be).”
She added: “I don’t know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on. It has been clear in recent conversations that he is reporting to someone regularly who is controlling his decisions (and it isn’t President Trump).”
Exchange of the Day
President Trump took questions in the Oval Office:
REPORTER: The ports here in the U.S., the traffic has really slowed and now thousands of dock workers and truck drivers are worried about their jobs.
TRUMP: That means we lose less money… when you say it slowed down, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.
White Smoke Signals That a Pope Is Chosen
“White smoke puffed from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signaling that the 133 cardinals sequestered inside for two days have elected a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics,” the New York Times reports.
“The identity of the new pontiff is not yet known but is expected to be announced shortly. A large crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City prepared for the new pope to emerge on a balcony overlooking the square.”
How to Prepare for the Trumpcession
Annie Lowrey: “A tariff-induced recession is here and not here, visible and invisible—about to happen or already happening. The economy is in a state of imminence. And we should be preparing, even if we are not sure what we are preparing for.”
Trump Pulls Ed Martin’s Nomination to Be U.S. Attorney
“President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will replace interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin, his embattled nominee to serve as the top prosecutor for D.C., after 15 tumultuous weeks in office marked by his threats to investigate Trump’s perceived political adversaries and firings and demotions of career prosecutors who investigated the president and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “I just want to say Ed is unbelievable. And hopefully we can bring him in too, whether it’s DOJ or whatever, in some capacity. We have somebody else that we’ll be announcing over the next two days who’s going to be great.”
Republicans Discuss Raising SALT Cap to $30,000
“House Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans are discussing raising the state and local tax deduction cap to $30,000 — among other options — as the party seeks to resolve disagreements on the details of President Donald Trump’s tax package,” Bloomberg reports.
Texas Republicans May Give Democrats an Opening
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Senate to Forge Ahead with Vote on Crypto Bill
“The Republican-led Senate is expected to move forward with a vote Thursday on a bipartisan crypto regulation bill, but it’s unclear if enough Democrats will support it as negotiations between the two parties are ongoing,” NBC News reports.
Melania Trump Has All But Vanished
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Republicans Look to Add Farmer Bailout to Megabill
“House Republicans are aiming to add $60 billion in farm bill programs to the agriculture portion of the GOP’s megabill,” Politico reports.
“But they’ll have to convince several centrist holdouts to vote for a controversial proposal that pushes some food aid costs onto states in order to do it.”
John Roberts Says He Won’t Retire
“Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday he doesn’t think about retiring, but he once asked two longtime friends to intervene if his health is ever in decline,” The Hill reports.
Said Roberts: “I’ve sat down with them and said, ‘I want at the appropriate time’ — because you don’t always notice that you’re slipping — ‘I want the two of you to tell me if it’s time to go.’ It was a long pause, and at once, the two of them said, ‘It’s time to go.’ So I said, ‘Alright, never mind.'”
He added: “I’m going out feet first.”
Hakeem Jeffries Raises His Profile
“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) isn’t quite a household name. He’s trying to change that,” the Washington Post reports.
“If Democrats win the House in 2026 and his colleagues elect him as speaker, the typically buttoned-up, on-message Jeffries could become the only member of his leaderless party with real power in President Donald Trump’s Washington.”
“Allies have urged him to start putting himself out there now, seeing the 54-year-old as a fresher alternative to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY).”
Fetterman Finds Himself Increasingly Alone
“John Fetterman has long been on a political island — and now his tendency to rebuff professional relationships is coming back to bite him,” Politico reports.
“Few fellow Democrats have rushed to Fetterman’s defense after an explosive article in New York magazine reported that current and former staffers are seriously concerned about his mental and physical health. The Pennsylvania senator, who has strongly denied claims that he is unfit to serve, is not doing traditional damage control, and most top Democrats aren’t going out of their way to do it for him.”
“Instead, private chatter about primary challenges to Fetterman has ramped up. And in recent days, some Pennsylvania Democrats have begun to quietly review the rules about what would happen if he stepped down and whispered about potential replacements. Fetterman has vowed to serve his full term, which ends in 2029.”
House Will Vote to Make Trump’s Gulf of America Into Law
“The Republican-led House is set to vote Thursday on a bill to make the Gulf of Mexico’s name change to Gulf of America permanent,” ABC News reports.
“Its fate in the Senate is more of a challenge, given that it will need bipartisan cooperation to overcome a filibuster.”
Chip Roy Pledges to Block Megabill Without More Cuts
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told the PBS Newshour he is demanding more spending cuts before he’ll back the Republican megabill winding its way through the House.
Said Roy: “The fact of the matter is, they need to come to the table and show us the math. How are they going to balance the tax cuts that they so often want to dole out, but not do the spending reform we need to do when we’re $37 trillion in debt…”
He added: “So I would say to my Republican colleagues, my moderate friends, you have a hard wall you have got to get through.”
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