A new Pine Tree State poll in Maine finds Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) at just 14% favorability and with an unfavorability of 57 percent.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue-collar and one with a suit and a silver spoon. A choice between dirty fingernails and manicured nails. A choice between someone who delivered lower crime, the most jobs in history, the most new housing… and an assemblymember who did not pass a bill.
— New York City Mayor Eric Adams, quoted by Politico, kicking off his re-election bid.
‘Big Balls’ Is Back
Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, one of the first young technologists brought on to Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has returned to government shortly after resigning, Wired reports.
Mamdani Pivots to the General
“Zohran Mamdani’s team knows he’s got a fight ahead of him,” Politico reports.
“The 33-year-old democratic socialist’s aides and allies are girding for a costly battle in November against opponents bankrolled by a fired-up business class desperate to stop him from taking over the epicenter of world finance. Mamdani’s campaign, as well as outside groups backing him in New York’s mayoral election, said they are preparing to drop millions to counter those efforts, while also tapping into an asymmetric strategy to capture voters’ attention through social media and a door-knocking volunteer army.”
Trump Threatens to Sue the New York Times and CNN
“President Trump on Wednesday threatened to sue The New York Times and CNN for publishing articles about a preliminary intelligence report that said the American attack on Iran had set back the country’s nuclear program by only a few months,” the New York Times reports.
The Times’ attorney responded: “No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming. We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.”
A Big, Beautiful Mess
Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” is in tatters, Politico reports.
Playbook: “Yes, technically, there’s still a path to meet that self-imposed deadline. But ‘technically’ and ‘likely’ are two very different things. Senate Majority Leader John Thune had hoped to tee up votes for today; that hasn’t happened. Tomorrow now looks possible, if uncertain; Saturday votes in the Senate would assume Republicans are able to both iron out any wrinkles spotted by the parliamentarian and shore up support from the stragglers within the conference. If all goes well, we could see final passage in the Senate on Sunday.”
“But the obstacle course ahead — for Thune, Speaker Mike Johnson and, ultimately, for Trump — isn’t just a matter of procedure. There are major policy disagreements within the GOP conference. And they aren’t easing up.”
The Loyal Convert in Chief
Wired: “Vice president JD Vance is on top of the world. Once a critic of President Donald Trump and now his right-hand man, Vance is everywhere—with full MAGA backing. He’s on television promoting the US bombing of Iran. He’s a repeat guest on Theo Von’s podcast. He’s reportedly been key to negotiating the tenuous détente between Elon Musk and Trump. He’s even carved out time to enjoy an offseason soccer tournament match between a German and South Korean team in Cincinnati on Wednesday.”
“Most importantly, he’s also become the highest point of contact in the administration for the Silicon Valley billionaires who helped propel Trump to a second term. The vice president has a much closer relationship with these new players in the GOP than the president does.”
Cool on Kamala
Politico: “In interviews, several major donors in the state told Politico they fear her reemergence as a candidate would re-open still-fresh wounds from her defeat in 2024. Some harbor lingering frustration about how her billion-dollar campaign juggernaut ended in debt and want assurances she would have a clear plan to win the governor’s mansion.”
Said one Democratic megadonor: “Kamala just reminds you we are in this complete shit storm… With Biden, we got bamboozled… I think she did the best she could in that situation, but obviously she knew about the cognitive decline too. I’ve written so many checks because I knew the Trump administration would be horrible, but we’re living in a nightmare because of the Democrats. I’m furious at them, truly.”
The Mamdani Moment
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Democratic Presidential Race Is Wide Open
A new Emerson College poll of the 2028 Democratic presidential primary finds Pete Buttiieg with 16% support, Kamala Harris at 13%, Gavin Newsom at 12%, Josh Shapiro at 7% and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 7%. Twenty-three percent are undecided.
Quote of the Day
“I mean, I’ve never, ever been part of a major Cabinet-level classified briefing where the director of national intelligence was banned from the room.”
— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), in a CNN interview, on Tulsi Gabbard not being in the room for a briefing on the U.S. strikes against Iran.
Inside Cuomo’s Flat, Flailing Comeback Bid
Politico: “In sum, Cuomo ran like an aging rocker on a final tour playing his greatest hits — touting infrastructure projects on his watch like a renovated LaGuardia Airport — while Mamdani was promising to make the wealthy city a cheaper place to live. Rather than address voters’ financial concerns in a deeply expensive city, the former governor ran as a virtual incumbent in a political atmosphere hostile to almost anyone in power.”
Developers Gripped by Hysteria After Mamdani’s Rise
“New York City’s developers and landlords are in a mad scramble to block from City Hall the socialist who wants to freeze rent,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Zohran Mamdani struck fear across the business community after his Tuesday night surprise victory against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who conceded in the city’s Democratic primary for mayor. In the days since, phones across the real-estate industry are ringing almost nonstop as panicked executives scrape together their contingency plans.”
“Most want to back the more business-friendly incumbent, Eric Adams, who is running for mayor as an independent, or draft another candidate for November’s general election.”
Israel’s War With Iran Has Reordered the Middle East
“The Middle East is undergoing a dramatic realignment—just not the one U.S. and regional leaders envisioned less than two years ago,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Before the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, years of painstaking negotiations brought Saudi Arabia to the cusp of a landmark deal for diplomatic recognition of Israel. That would have solidified an Israeli-Arab coalition against Iran, locked in U.S. support for Saudi security and opened the door to greater acceptance of Israel in the Arab and Muslim worlds.”
“This month, Israel’s thrashing of longtime enemy Iran scrambled the calculations underpinning that proposed agreement in just 12 days.”
U.S. Attack on Iran Risks Emboldening North Korea
“The U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities unfolded half a world away from North Korea. But for dictator Kim Jong Un, the attacks were a clear lesson: Nuclear weapons are critical for his survival,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The American and Israeli attacks likely hammered home for Kim how intertwined his country’s nuclear weapons are with the fate of his regime.”
“As such, the strikes potentially hardened his determination to hold on to—and expand—his nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to any attack on North Korea, security experts say. Kim can point to other countries, such as Iraq, Libya and Syria, whose nuclear ambitions invited military attacks aimed at stopping them from fully developing atomic weapons.”
How to Survive the New Nuclear Age
Foreign Affairs: “The United States now faces a Category 5 hurricane of nuclear threats. After decades of maintaining only a minimal nuclear capability, China is on pace to nearly quintuple its 2019 stockpile of some 300 nuclear warheads by 2035, in a quest to attain an arsenal equivalent in strength to Russia’s and the United States’. Far from being a partner in arms reductions, Russia is using the threat of nuclear weapons as a shield for its aggression in Ukraine. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to expand its arsenal, which now includes missiles capable of hitting the continental United States. Iran is closer than ever to producing a nuclear weapon. And in May, the world witnessed India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed powers, strike each other’s heartlands with conventional weapons in the aftermath of a terror attack, a confrontation that—already unprecedented—could have escalated to a nuclear standoff.”
“These multiplying threats have not just brought nuclear strategy back to the center of U.S. defense concerns; they have also introduced new problems. Never before has the United States had to deter and protect its allies from multiple nuclear-armed great-power rivals at the same time.”
RFK Jr.’s Advisers Rescind Recommendations for Vaccines
“An advisory panel recently appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted on Thursday to walk back longstanding recommendations for flu vaccines containing an ingredient that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism,” the New York Times reports.
“The vote signaled a powerful shift in the way federal officials approach vaccines, putting into action Mr. Kennedy’s deep skepticism about their safety and delivering the first blows to a scientific process that for decades has provided effective vaccines to Americans.”
Trump Teases ‘Big’ India Trade Deal
President Trump said a “very big” trade deal could be signed soon that would open up the Indian market to American business, as negotiators meet in Washington to break a recent deadlock over key issues, Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “We are having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe, with India, a very big one, where we are going to open up India.”
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