“Republicans are debating how far to go on their forthcoming party-line spending bill to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement for the rest of his presidency,” Semafor reports.
“Some Republican senators want to fund the entire Department of Homeland Security for three years to avoid another shutdown after this 53-day-and-counting lapse; however, a narrower bill focusing on ICE and CBP would be easier to pass.”
Former Gov. Chris Christie (R) told an audience at Harvard that Donald Trump didn’t want his daughter Ivanka to marry Jared Kushner.
Said Christie: “It became clear to Trump that Jared and Ivanka would get married. He was not thrilled about this. I was still the prosecutor. He asked me to go out to dinner and said, do you have anything more on the family, so I can break this up?”
“Voters in northwest Georgia are headed to the polls today to decide whether Republican Clay Fuller or Democrat Shawn Harris will represent them in Congress,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“Whoever wins this special election runoff to complete the term of former Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will have an immediate leg up in the race for a full two-year term.”
CNN: “One year after Elon Musk donned a cheesehead hat and unsuccessfully poured millions of his personal fortune into a judicial contest in the state, Democrats are hoping to deliver another setback to conservatives in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election on Tuesday.”
“Conservative judge Maria Lazar and liberal judge Chris Taylor are facing off to replace retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative. The race won’t flip control of the court after liberals last year secured a 4-3 majority, but it will determine whether liberals can extend their hold on the state’s highest court, potentially through the end of the decade.”
“President Donald Trump’s latest deadline for Iran to agree to a deal is just hours away, and investors are once again finding themselves forced to prepare for a range of possible outcomes,” Bloomberg reports.
“But whether they’re buying more bonds, loading up on commodities or holding cash, they share a common view — weeks of volatility sparked by Trump’s shifting positions have left them frustrated and uncertain about the path forward.”
“Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson tore into Donald Trump on Monday night, calling an Easter Sunday social media post from the U.S. president ‘vile on every level’ and accusing him of threatening to commit a war crime,” Politico reports.
Said Carlson: “How dare you speak that way on Easter morning to the country? Who do you think you are? You’re tweeting out the f-word on Easter morning.”
“Crowning a year of disputes with the Trump administration over trade tariffs, support for Ukraine and the future of Greenland, the Iran war has placed America’s friends in Europe, Asia and the Middle East in front of an uneasy dilemma,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Their most important ally is acting in ways that they see as erratic and that have already caused hardship and uncertainty. The war has sapped their economies and even bigger shocks loom if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, deepening the worldwide energy crisis.”
“Many—on both sides of the Atlantic—wonder if they are even allies anymore.”
“Negotiators are pessimistic Iran will bend to meet President Trump’s demand to reopen the Strait of Hormuz before his Tuesday-night deadline, paving the way for the U.S. to target Iranian bridges and power plants in a fresh escalation of the war,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Axios: “Mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are working to avert that outcome by brokering a deal — or at least putting time back on the clock.”
“Iranians who have weathered more than a month of war are bracing for things to get worse if President Trump acts on his threat to escalate attacks on civilian infrastructure,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Families in Tehran are taping up their windows and sleeping together in rooms away from the glass. Their buildings have already been shaken by nightly explosions from the most sustained bombing in the capital since the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. Some are rushing to buy generators, concerned that new attacks could cause critical services like electricity and water to unravel.”
“The bombings and threats have left many Iranians living in fear not only of their own government, which killed thousands of people in a crackdown on protesters early this year, but their would-be American rescuers, who pledged at the beginning of the war to create the conditions for their government to fall.”
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday likened the rescue on Easter Sunday of a missing American airman shot down over Iran to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” the New York Times reports.
“Minutes later, speaking at the same news conference describing the military operation, President Trump asserted that God supports the Israeli-U.S. war against Iran, which has killed thousands, including many civilians.”
Said Trump: “Because God is good, and God wants to see people taken care of.”
Washington Post: Trump says God supports U.S. cause in Iran war as he threatens wider bombing.
“Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is making the case that his primary race against Gov. Janet Mills is all but over, a full two months ahead of their primary election on June 9,” Axios reports.
“Platner’s team told donors and allies that he is pivoting to focus more on the general election and polls show him leading Mills by double digits.”
“To be a good president, I believe you have to have good instincts. And a lot of this is instinct.”
— President Trump, quoted by Bloomberg, on waging a war with Iran.
“The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements that previous administrations reached with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding rights and protections for transgender students,” the AP reports.
“The decision means the department will no longer play a role in enforcing those agreements, which called for schools to take steps to comply with federal civil rights law.”
CNN: “Far from shying away from the idea that there is a religious aspect to the US-Israeli war on Iran, US government leaders are leaning into it, invoking God and promising fire and brimstone for Iran’s civil society if its leaders do not buckle to US demands.”
President Trump told reporters he isn’t sure if the Iran War is winding down or ramping up six weeks into the conflict — a fact he readily acknowledged this afternoon, Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “I don’t know. I can’t tell you. It depends what they do.”
Idrees Kahloon: “America is now an energy superpower, largely insulated from the economic pain caused by its actions, which instead are now being borne by Asia and will soon reach Europe.”
“The dynamic is like a psychology experiment played out on a global scale: America can administer shocks to other countries without feeling much pain itself. The man at the control panel is Donald Trump.”
New York Times: “In the latest blow to Iran’s senior leadership, the intelligence chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Seyed Majid Khademi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran overnight on Monday, Israel’s defense minister said.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
