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“Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Fla., 90 miles north of Havana,” Axios reports.
“The intelligence — which could become a pretext for U.S. military action — shows the degree to which the Trump administration sees Cuba as a threat because of developments in drone warfare and the presence of Iranian military advisers in Havana.”
“Two senators working to protect children online are introducing bipartisan legislation that would ban digital gambling advertisements targeting people under the age of 18, hoping to address fears that minors are getting hooked on betting through ads on social media,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Playbook: “It’s the last day of campaigning in the most-expensive House primary in history. Cabinet secretaries are hitting the campaign trail, Trump is hammering away on Truth Social, long-suffering residents are besieged by a blitz of TV ads. For the next 48 hours, Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District will be the center of the political world. Polls open at 6 a.m. tomorrow, and we’ll get the results early tomorrow night.”
“As a seven-term member of Congress, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has faced primary battles before, but nothing like this. More than $30 million has been lavished on this extraordinary campaign, as Trump marshals the full force of the MAGA machine to oust another one of his political enemies from the Republican conference.”
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President Trump told Axios in a phone call that “the clock is ticking” for Iran and warned that if the Iranian regime doesn’t come with a better offer for a deal, “they are going to get hit much harder.”
“President Trump talks sympathetically about the country’s 500,000 Dreamers — but his administration is putting them in the crosshairs for deportation,” Axios reports.
“The recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are finding it no longer reliably protects them from deportation or disruptions to their ability to work legally.”
“An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts will get its first full airing Monday in the state House, as lawmakers launch a lengthy and potentially testy discussion on whether to accede to President Donald Trump’s desires for a U.S. House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans,” the AP reports.
“John Fetterman knows his fellow Democrats are not happy with his Iran war powers votes. They might stand a better chance winning over a few more Republicans than flipping him,” Semafor reports.
“The Pennsylvania Democrat is unbowed by the intraparty criticism of his votes against ceasing the war — a position that last week proved decisive.”
Said Fetterman: “Something like this is much more important than just voting what your base might demand. Because I think things are much bigger and more important than that. And Iran with a nuclear bomb is one of those things.”
“The Ebola outbreak spreading across Democratic Republic of Congo and into neighboring Uganda is fast becoming an early test of what a retreat in Western health funding might mean for global pandemic preparedness,” Bloomberg reports.
“For years, the US financed networks of laboratories, epidemiologists and emergency-response programs through agencies including USAID and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Nate Cohn: “Just 37 percent of Americans approve of his performance as president, a drop of four percentage points from the last Times/Siena poll in January and his lowest approval rating in any Times/Siena survey in either term.”
“A four-point decline isn’t necessarily huge, but it puts Mr. Trump’s ratings in new political territory. While recent presidencies have often been unpopular and polarizing, no president’s approval rating has been under 38 percent for more than a few days in the last 17 years, according to our average. If there has been a floor during this partisan era of politics, Mr. Trump’s ratings today have fallen to it.”
“Most voters think President Trump made the wrong decision to go to war with Iran, a New York Times/Siena poll found, leaving the Republican Party on rocky political footing heading into the midterm elections as his approval rating sinks and economic concerns rise.”
“Majorities of voters said that the war was not worth the costs and held deeply pessimistic views about the economy.”
“Mr. Trump’s approval rating — a key historical predictor of how a president’s party will fare in an election — has sunk to a second-term low in Times/Siena polls of 37 percent amid the deeply unpopular Middle East conflict.”
“Kevin Warsh won the Fed chair nomination with a double-barreled policy agenda for the central bank: lower interest rates and a smaller Fed balance sheet. As he takes the reins, economic conditions will make it tough for him to achieve either of those goals,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A troubling rise in inflation over the past two months has left Fed policymakers in no mood to deliver the rate cuts that President Trump has demanded. The job market has shown signs of stabilizing, further undercutting the case for easing.”
“President Trump is discussing plans to install a helipad at the White House to prevent powerful new Marine One helicopters from damaging the South Lawn,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The helipad would be the latest renovation to the historic White House grounds since Trump began his second term.”
Wall Street Journal: “For now, the U.S. has been able to meet needs at home and replace some of the missing Gulf barrels. No nation in the world’s history has ever exported as much energy: It shipped 14.2 million barrels of crude and products a day late last month—the rough equivalent of one out of seven barrels consumed globally in ordinary times.”
“But trouble is brewing. U.S. oil producers are barely stepping up their output, refineries are running at full-throttle, and domestic stocks are getting depleted fast. The upshot: American consumers are set to keep paying more for fuel to stay inside the U.S.’s borders.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed doubt Sunday that U.S. negotiations with Iran would prove fruitful and called on President Trump to follow through with his threats to strike Iranian energy infrastructure, NOTUS reports.
Said Graham: “I think we’ve hit a wall when it comes to negotiations.”
“A crowd of thousands, many in red, white and blue, transformed a block of the National Mall into an evangelical-style worship service Sunday morning at a White House-led, day-long prayer festival for the country’s 250th anniversary,” the Washington Post reports.
“The event, supported with millions of dollars in public funding, featured Christian clergy, music and appearances by multiple senior government officials, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson.”
Wall Street Journal: “The House Democratic leader from New York has become a steady recipient of Trump’s social-media trolling in recent weeks, complete with derogatory nicknames such as ‘High Tax Hakeem’ and ‘Low IQ,’ a tried and tested approach by a president known for labeling his political foils.”
“The focus on Jeffries is part of Trump’s battle plan for November’s midterm elections in less than six months. Republicans will be defending their narrow majority in the House, attempting to insulate Trump from investigations and impeachment battles during the president’s final two years in office.”
“The social-media push aims to make Jeffries the face of House Democrats and a symbol of what Republicans view as advocates for higher spending, unchecked borders and liberal policies out-of-step with Americans, White House officials have said.”
“For decades, the information that fueled insider trading was found on Wall Street or inside the glass offices of public companies across the country,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The rise of prediction markets has created a new temptation in Washington, where the Trump administration’s fast-moving agenda is giving those privy to government information a chance to cash in on the volatility.”
“Regulators and prosecutors are now playing catch-up to combat a batch of suspicious betting that touches various corners of the federal bureaucracy. It is a new challenge for authorities because insider-trading laws weren’t designed for people who bet on the outcome of legislation, political races and even U.S. military operations.”
Washington Post: “At the height of his political influence, Maryland‘s former Republican governor Larry Hogan was courted as a presidential candidate to offer an antidote to Donald Trump’s takeover of the GOP. But the brand that made him a popular blue state governor never made a splash outside the ‘Never Trump’ world…”
“Instead, in what he calls his ‘Zen’ era, Hogan is announcing Sunday the launch of the nonpartisan Hogan Institute at a small liberal arts college. Vowing to never run for office again, Hogan is instead focused on teaching leadership skills to Washington College undergraduates.”
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.
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