Maine U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner (D) isn’t backing down from his comments that Sen. Susan Collins (R) “sent me” to fight in Iraq, charging her with “trying to offload her mistakes” for pointing out that he chose to enlist, Semafor reports.
A Very Busy Week
It’s always fun to chat with the great Julie Mason about politics.
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Trump Clears Way for Companies to Avoid Taxes in Havens
New York Times: “A year ago, the Trump administration withdrew from a global effort to curb offshore tax-dodging by multinational companies. That decision has been a huge gift to corporate America, enabling companies to avoid at least $40 billion in income taxes since the beginning of 2025.”
“A New York Times review of securities filings from nearly 500 companies showed that they avoided taxes by attributing hundreds of billions of dollars in earnings to low- or no-tax foreign locales like Cyprus, Bermuda, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Often, corporations funneled the profits through subsidiaries in places where they had no employees, offices or customers.”
Journalist Favored by Trump in Talks to Join White House
New York Times: “John Solomon, a reporter who gained President Trump’s favor through his work questioning the federal investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russians who meddled in the 2016 election, is in discussions to join the White House as special government employee.”
Why Can’t Musk Do for Politics What He Did for Industry?
The Economist: “Politics is NOT exactly rocket science. How interesting, then, that Elon Musk is so bad at it. Unlike the two or three industries—and still counting—where Mr Musk has done as much or more than any other human this century to advance the species, politics does not require much technical sophistication or even rigor.”
“The maths tend to be simple addition or division. Yet the calculations matter: the flourishing of the civilization whose multiplanetary future preoccupies Mr Musk requires a healthy politics, much as his own companies, such as Tesla and SpaceX, counted on far-sighted government subsidies and contracts, not to mention the principled rule of law, to succeed.”
“But unlike the other fields Mr Musk has shaped, his contribution to this bulwark of civilization is to make it not more imaginative and optimistic but more atavistic and fearful, and just plain dumber.”
“In politics, in contrast to other industries, Mr Musk has not chosen the path of revolutionary entrepreneurship.”
Talarico Grabs Early Lead in Texas Senate Race
A new Texas Public Opinion Research poll in Texas finds James Talarico (D) just ahead of Ken Paxton (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 44% with 7% undecided.
Almost a third of Sen. John Cornyn’s runoff voters say that they will vote for Talarico in November.
Trump Puts Off ‘Final Determination’ on Iran Deal
President Trump left a two-hour meeting on a possible deal with Iran without making a decision, despite suggesting on social media that he had intended “to make a final determination” during the gathering in the White House Situation Room, the New York Times reports.
Judge Orders Trump’s Name Off of Kennedy Center
“A judge on Friday ordered the removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that the iconic Washington venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress,” Reuters reports.
“The judge also temporarily blocked the Washington, D.C., cultural landmark from being closed for two years for renovations.”
Washington Post: “The ruling throws the Kennedy Center’s near future into uncertainty, blocking leaders from shutting down the performing arts venue in July after they have canceled most performances in anticipation of the closure.”
White House Cagey on Trump’s Medical Report
CNN: “The White House has yet to release any results from President Donald Trump’s most recent physical exam, a break from its own past practice that’s likely to fuel further questions about his health and fitness.”
UFC Fight and Race Cars Take Over National Park Land
Los Angeles Times: “President Trump plans to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary — and his own 80th birthday — next month by watching bare-chested and bloody UFC fighters kick, punch and choke each other on the storied South Lawn of the White House.”
“Later, during the administration’s summer-long festival to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, IndyCars will race in a fossil fuel-burning extravaganza around and around the National Mall — home to the U.S. Capitol and the Washington and Lincoln monuments.”
Ex-California Mayor Guilty of Being Chinese Foreign Agent
“The former mayor of Arcadia pleaded guilty Friday to acting as an illegal agent of China,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Eileen Wang, 56, was charged last month and agreed to plead guilty to accusations that she was directed by the Chinese government to promote propaganda in the U.S. between 2020 and 2022, according to court filings.”
John Cornyn’s Post-Runoff Fable
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) posted the fable of the scorpion and the frog, in which one creature can’t help but kill the other — even if it means both their deaths.
Who does Cornyn think is the scorpion? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Pentagon Recruiting Troops to Watch UFC Fights
“The Pentagon is moving to recruit hundreds of troops to appear as spectators at President Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting event at the White House, and requiring those who attend to pay their own way and meet height and weight requirements,” the Washington Post reports.
Louisiana Lawmakers Pass New Map
“Louisiana lawmakers passed a new congressional map Friday designed to pick up a Republican seat while leaving the state with just one of its two majority-Black House districts represented by Democrats,” CBS News reports.
“Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law. Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act.”
New York Times: “The new map is Louisiana’s response to the court’s ruling, which rejected its previous congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander. After delaying the state’s U.S. House primaries and negotiating for weeks, the Republican-controlled Legislature settled on redrawing the district at the center of the ruling in a way that reduces the number of Black voters who live in it and hands Republicans a structural advantage ahead of the November midterms.”
Bondi Wouldn’t Discuss Trump During Epstein Interview
“Democratic lawmakers said former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions about President Trump during a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee over the Justice Department’s handling of materials from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump Is Killing ’60 Minutes’
Oliver Darcy: “Trump has made it clear that he despises the program. He regularly rants about ’60 Minutes’ and, of course, filed an absurd $10 billion lawsuit against it, which CBS initially called ‘meritless’ before agreeing to settle for $16 million in order to gain government approval for previous owner Shari Redstone to sell Paramount to Ellison.”
“In other words, Trump has wanted the program dismantled for some time—and he has not been subtle about it.”
“Ellison, meanwhile, has done everything in his power to ingratiate himself with Trump… Given that Trump is not shy about demanding concessions to get deals done, and given his very public disdain for “60 Minutes,” it would be surprising if he has not privately communicated his desire to see changes made.”
“It doesn’t take a brilliant mind to connect the dots.”
Why the GOP Would Rather Talk About Testosterone
Charlie Sykes: “Miller’s slur was not a one-off. Indeed, the White House troll was signaling the GOP’s go-to strategy for propping up its scandal-infested senate nominee: portraying his opponent, Democrat James Talarcio, as a light-in-the-loafers, low-t, possibly gay, tofu-eating vegan.”
“None of that is true, but the GOP absolutely thinks this will work, because they think it was the kill-shot in 2024.”
“And obviously, the GOP would much rather talk about Talarico’s manlinesss than about inflation, gas prices, corruption, the Epstein Files, endless wars, Ken Paxton’s corruption, or the character of the man who has grabbed their party by its etiolated balls.”
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