“President Trump told Axios the U.S. initially worried that a message from the stranded crew member of an F-15 downed by Iran was a trick by the Iranians to lure U.S. forces into a trap,” Axios reports.
“The crew member survived more than 24 hours in the mountains despite being wounded, before being rescued in a special forces operation on Saturday.”
“Democrats weighing runs for the White House want to forget many of the positions they took in 2020 — and they’re hoping voters will too,” Axios reports.
“Leaders and would-be leaders in the party have shifted their views on border security, DEI, crime, climate change, Covid-era lockdowns and more — all with an eye on this year’s midterms and the 2028 presidential election.”
“Many Democrats believe they lost to Donald Trump in 2024 because voters didn’t like some of their left-leaning policies, not just how they were communicated.”
New York Times: “No other recent American president has talked so openly about committing potential war crimes, legal experts, historians and former U.S. officials say. Wartime American presidents and their aides have usually insisted they were trying to follow international and U.S. military law, even if they violated it in some cases.”
“International laws aimed at preventing the horrors of total war are codified in a series of agreements, including the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, the Nuremberg Principles and the United Nations Charter. Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure violate those. So does pillaging a country, which Mr. Trump has suggested he might do by taking Iran’s oil.”
“The Trump administration’s language and actions could have far-reaching consequences. Within Iran, it is likely to galvanize opposition to the United States, including among some ordinary Iranians who have protested their own government.”
President Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants if the country’s leaders don’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Trump: “If they don’t come through, if they want to keep it closed, they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country.”
Pressed on when he thinks the war will end, Trump said: “I will let you know pretty soon.”
Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter speech Sunday to deliver a resounding call for peace in times of renewed war, declaring, “Let those who have weapons lay them down!,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Leo: “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them! We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people.”
President Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s energy plants and bridges if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reopened.
Said Trump: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!”
He added: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
G. Elliot Morris: “So we’ve got two layers of anti-Trump consolidation happening at once. YouGov’s data shows the Democratic left is coming home, and the CNN poll shows voters who dislike both parties — a swing group that has been decisive in recent elections — are breaking heavily toward Democrats for the first time in years. Neither group is necessarily enthusiastic about Democrats. But both are currently heavily voting against Republicans…”
“This could make for a big electoral win for Democrats in November, despite the division in the party and its overall nominally unpopular rating…”
“This is the pattern I’d expect in a midterm environment that favors the out-party. But with many Americans (including the vaunted ‘double-haters’) still viewing the Democrats as weak and ineffectual, a big electoral victory will not completely solve their deeper problems of identity and division.”
“An Air Force weapons officer whose fighter jet had been shot down in Iran was rescued by U.S. Special Operations forces in a risky Saturday night mission that took commandos deep into enemy territory,” the New York Times reports.
“The rescue came after a life-or-death race between U.S. and Iranian forces that stretched over two days to reach the injured airman, who evaded Iranian for more than 24 hours in mountainous territory with little more than a pistol.”
“As U.S. forces converged on the downed airman, a firefight erupted, a former senior military official briefed on the operation said. In the end, the United States extracted the officer in an operation that involved hundreds of special operations troops.”
After a phone call with President Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Iran will be facing “overwhelming military force” if they do not give in to U.S. demands.
Said Graham: “I am completely convinced that he will use overwhelming military force against the regime if they continue to impede the Strait of Hormuz and refuse a diplomatic solution to achieve our military objectives. If it’s not clear to Iran and others by now that President Trump means what he says then I don’t know when it will ever be.”
The White House unexpectedly cut off press access to President Trump at 11 a.m. ET Saturday, The Guardian reports.
Unlike most recent weekends, Trump has remained in Washington this weekend instead of traveling to Mar-a-Lago.
The Economist: “Beyond his loyal, red-capped base, Donald Trump has never been especially popular. Our tracker of polling data from YouGov shows that, across both his terms in office, he has spent only eight weeks with more Americans approving of his performance than disapproving. Even so, the latest numbers should worry both Mr Trump and Republicans heading into November’s midterm elections.”
“This week Mr Trump’s net approval hit -23 percentage points among all Americans and -19 among registered voters. That is worse than the president’s previous low of -21 in 2017, and roughly matches Joe Biden’s nadir after his disastrous debate performance in 2024, when many Americans concluded he was unfit for office.”
The Guardian: “U.S. federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after the Trump administration’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, revoked their lawful permanent resident status.”
Bloomberg: “The next steps in the U.S. military campaign against Iran will commit nearly its entire inventory of stealthy JASSM-ER cruise missiles, drawing them from stockpiles devoted to other regions.”
“The order to pull the $1.5 million weapon from Pacific stockpiles was issued at the end of March… Missiles at US facilities elsewhere, including the continental US, will be moved to US Central Command bases or Fairford in the UK.”
President Trump warned Iran that “time is running out” before the U.S. rains “all hell” down on the country.
Said Trump, on Truth Social: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”
“The White House quietly scrubbed footage of a bizarre Easter event after a presidential adviser compared Donald Trump to Jesus Christ—and he didn’t exactly look offended,” the Daily Beast reports.
“The now-deleted video, briefly posted Wednesday on the White House website, showed an East Room gathering that quickly veered from prayer into full-blown flattery, with Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White, likening his legal and political battles to the crucifixion.”
“An Iran war that was already proving quite unpopular with the American people has entered a new, more problematic phase. That comes with the news that a US fighter jet was shot down over Iran… And that was followed by news that Iran hit a second US combat aircraft on Friday,” CNN reports.
“Neither of these incidents means Iran is suddenly on anything close to an equal footing militarily. And there have thus far been limited American casualties, including no known deaths in the last three weeks.”
“But in a conflict in which military dominance is the US’ chief advantage, this episode underscores the perils of asymmetric warfare, the costs of which the American public already isn’t buying.”
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.
