New York Post: “Brianna Menard, 30, describes herself as a ‘committed vegan,’ yoga buff and cat mom who likes ‘dancing the night away’ at local gay bar Cheer Up Charlies in Austin, according her bio at a local food coop, where she serves on the board.”
California Jungle Primary Remains Too Close to Call
The final Emerson College/Inside California Politics survey of the California governor’s race finds Xavier Becerra leading the field at 28%, followed closely by Tom Steyer at 22% and Steve Hilton at 21%.
When undecided voters are asked to decide who they would support, Becerra’s support remains at 28%, and Hilton and Steyer both receive 23%.
The top two finishers will face off in the general election.
Trump to Headline Fair After Musical Acts Cancel
“President Donald Trump will headline an opening ceremony for the Great American State Fair on the National Mall next month after many of the musical performers slated for the event canceled, citing the event’s associations with him,” the Washington Post reports.
Graham Platner’s Wife Flagged Sexually-Explicit Texts
“Days after Graham Platner announced his Maine Senate bid, his wife informed the campaign about a potential political problem she had previously discovered on the oyster farmer’s phone: sexually explicit texts with several women,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Amy Gertner, who married Platner in 2024, told the campaign about messages she had found early in their marriage in the spring of 2025. In late August, as some aides were conducting opposition research on their own candidate, Gertner disclosed the texts to a campaign aide to make sure they didn’t pose a risk to her husband’s nascent campaign.”
“Aides ultimately decided the texts were a private matter that was being handled by the couple in marriage counseling.”
New York Times: “It was the kind of revelation with the potential to damage the political newcomer just as his campaign to unseat Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, was beginning to resonate with voters, especially in a state where female voters make up a large share of the electorate.”
Republicans Test Anti-‘Woke’ Playbook in Texas
Axios: “Republicans came away from 2024 convinced they had won more than an election — they had broken through on culture, turning Democrats’ progressive language and identity politics into symbols of elite detachment.”
“The durability of that culture-war coup is now an open question, as the GOP tries to redeploy the same playbook in a far more hostile midterm environment.”
The U.N. Is Going Broke
“The United Nations is going broke as the U.S. and China withhold payments to the institution in a jostle for control,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The U.N. relies on U.S. and Chinese money for 42% of its basic funding.”
The Terrifying New Wave of Republican Candidates
Rolling Stone: “The president has already made clear that he intends to use the midterms as a mechanism to punish and expel Republicans who have been anything less than obsequiously loyal to him. He has managed to oust some of his more vocal crickets, like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and even reliable Republican stalwarts like Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), by backing their MAGA primary challengers.”
“In some cases, extreme MAGA diehards have stepped in to fill the void, crystallizing the transformation the party has undergone under the leadership of the president. We’ll find out in November whether Democrats can take advantage of Trump’s sinking approval numbers and stop more of his loyalists from making their way into Congress.”
A Controversial Deal Ended Trump’s Audits
“President Trump’s extraordinary no-audits promise from his acting attorney general operates far outside normal tax administration, with tax lawyers saying the deal likely exceeds the Justice Department’s authority to close tax cases,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The May 19 arrangement ends pending audits of Trump, his family and his businesses, and it blocks future audits of already filed returns. That creates a protective blanket that will be difficult—but not impossible—for Trump’s opponents or future tax authorities to pierce. The shield goes far beyond what other taxpayers typically get when resolving disputes with the Internal Revenue Service.”
Trump Snubs Nancy Mace
President Trump endorsed a GOP challenger to Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) campaign for South Carolina governor, backing Lt. Gov. Pam Evette in the contest, NewsNation reports.
Trump Sends Mixed Signals on War
“Several Americans were hurt in a missile attack on a Kuwaiti air base over the past day as a White House meeting to discuss extending the ceasefire with Iran ended without conclusion,” Bloomberg reports.
“The lack of public comment after the Situation Room talks on Friday, despite Trump suggesting earlier an agreement was near, was the latest conflicting signal from Washington over the prospects for a deal with Tehran as the conflict drags into its fourth month.”
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Mike Johnson Faces Brutal June
“House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is staring down a brutal stretch of deadlines and uncomfortable votes when the House returns from recess next week,” Axios reports.
“Johnson bought himself time this spring by punting a series of politically difficult fights. But those deadlines are now coming due, setting up a brutal June for House Republicans.”
MAGA Lives In a Different World Than the Rest of Us
Paul Krugman: “YouGov’s surveys subdivide Republicans into those who do and those who don’t support MAGA — and the economic views of these two groups are very different. A remarkable 65 percent of non-MAGA Republicans say that the economy is getting worse, while only 11 percent say that it is getting better…”
“Aside from MAGA Republicans, Americans are bunched at the upper left, with few people seeing the economy getting better and the vast majority seeing it as getting worse. Non-MAGA Republicans are much more similar in their views to independents, and even to Democrats, than they are to MAGA.”
“So how big is the group that believes that we have a good economy? Only 19 percent of Americans.”
The Results of Trump’s Latest Physical Exam
“The White House released a three-page report from President Trump’s physician late Friday detailing the results of his physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier this week,” the New York Times reports.
“Friday’s report, written by the president’s physician, Dr. Sean P. Barbabella, gave a similarly upbeat assessment of Mr. Trump’s health, declaring that the 79-year-old president ‘remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall physical function.’”
Washington Post: “Barbabella’s report once again suggested that Trump’s frequent handshaking and use of aspirin were behind the bruising, though some outside physicians have suggested that is unlikely, noting that the bruises have appeared on Trump’s nondominant left hand.”
Wall Street Journal: “The president weighed 238 pounds, 14 pounds more since his 2025 exam.”
Is JD Vance the 2028 Front Runner?
New York Times: “It is not that Mr. Trump is abandoning Mr. Vance. He involves him in major decisions, has given him high-profile opportunities to position himself for 2028 and trusts the 41-year-old vice president to wage partisan warfare on his behalf. In a cabinet meeting this week, Mr. Trump compared Mr. Vance to Eliot Ness, the mob-busting federal agent, for working to ferret out fraud in mostly Democratic controlled states.”
“Mr. Trump has long conducted running focus groups on his closest aides, and appears to enjoy needling them and keeping them off balance as a way of asserting his dominance. Several people in the president’s inner circle have been subject to his quasi-public questioning of their performance and their future.”
Powerful AI Super PACs Are Dueling Over the Midterms
New York Times: “The bad blood between the super PACs comes as powerful Silicon Valley companies race to shape the future of A.I. regulation. The groups are two of the biggest spenders in this year’s midterm elections, laying out nearly $24 million and promising that over $100 million more is on the way.”
Trump Squeezes Immigrants By Cutting Them Off
New York Times: “For more than a year, administration officials have sought to pull every bureaucratic lever possible to cut off immigrants — both documented and undocumented — from jobs, medical care, financial services, tax credits and even from enrolling their children in day care. The goal has been to compel immigrants to leave the country, and, in the long run, to eliminate incentives that draw many people to the United States in the first place.”
“The initiative underscores the president’s ability to reshape immigration policy through executive orders and the vast power of federal regulations while sidestepping Congress. And it shows how the administration has pursued more creative — and lower-profile — tactics after Mr. Trump’s militarized deportation raids into major cities prompted political backlash earlier this year.”
Trump Is Intent on Writing His Own History
“President Trump’s presidential library, planned as a gilded glass tower on a donated chunk of Miami waterfront, is designed to be what Eric Trump, the president’s middle son, calls ‘a lasting testament to an amazing man.’ If the president has his way, it will also serve as a monument to his norm-busting conduct in office,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump had said that the $1 billion project, the priciest presidential library yet, could include a hotel and retail sales outlets. But more disturbing to historians and government watchdogs is his determination to own and control every document a presidential library would contain. Not since the Watergate era, when President Richard M. Nixon took his fight to control the incriminating White House tapes to the Supreme Court, has a president worked so hard to shield documentary evidence of his administration’s inner workings from public view.”
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