Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) “will announce Thursday that he will seek a third term next year, answering a question about his immediate political future but leaving unanswered whether he will pursue a longer-term goal of running for president in 2028,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
The Plan to Vaccinate All Americans Despite RFK Jr.
“Professional medical societies, pharmacists, state health officials and vaccine manufacturers, as well as a new advocacy group, are mobilizing behind the scenes to preserve access for vaccines as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. works to upend the nation’s decades-old vaccine system,” the Washington Post reports.
“The groups are discussing ordering vaccines directly from manufacturers and giving greater weight to vaccine recommendations from medical associations. And they are asking insurance companies to continue covering shots based on professional societies’ guidance instead of the federal government’s.”
Republicans Struggle to Finalize Trump Megabill
Wall Street Journal: “Senate GOP leaders are revising their version in advance of potential votes later this week, searching for a mix that can garner a majority in the chamber, which is divided 53-47. Anything that gets through the Senate must pass the House, which is divided 220-212 in Republicans’ favor; any subsequent House changes would require another Senate vote.”
“Lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington for a recess next week but could stay to finish the bill.”
Two Million Student-Loan Borrowers at Risk of Docked Pay
“Nearly two million student loan borrowers are at risk of having their wages garnished this summer,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Roughly six million federal student-loan borrowers are 90 days or more past due after a pandemic-era reprieve ended… The credit-reporting company estimates that about a third of them, or nearly two million borrowers, could move into default in July and start having their pay docked by the government.”
Powell Reaffirms Wait-and-See Posture on Rate Cuts
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to tell lawmakers on Tuesday that the central bank remains focused on making sure any one-time increases in prices from higher tariffs won’t turn into an “ongoing inflation problem,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Politico: As Trump fumes, Powell tells lawmakers he’s in no rush to lower rates.
Harvard Officials Debate a Risky Truce With Trump
“Harvard University, battered by a devastating conflict with the Trump administration that has jeopardized its elite standing, is facing a problem as it weighs a possible truce with President Trump: how to strike a deal without compromising its values or appearing to have capitulated,” the New York Times reports.
“The conundrum has bedeviled law firms, tech and media companies and even one of the school’s Ivy League peers. According to three people familiar with the university’s deliberations, it is now shaping internal debates around the school’s freshly resurrected talks with the government.”
Trump Backs Away from Regime Change in Iran
President Trump on Tuesday backed away from talk of a regime change in Iran, amid pushback from MAGA supporters about the possibility of deeper U.S. involvement in the Middle East, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Regime change takes chaos and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos. So we’ll see how it goes.”
He added that he wants to “see everything calm down as quickly as possible.”
Don’t Turn the War Into Entertainment
Mark Jacob offers eight suggestions for the news media to avoid turning war with Iran into the sort of entertainment show President Trump craves.
Tucker Carlson Slams ‘Deranged’ Former Colleagues
Tucker Carlson played clips of Mark Levin and Sean Hannity agitating for further conflict with Iran, and calling it “deranged.”
The point of it, he said, “is to scare old people into obedience.”
Appearing on Emily Jashinsky’s new show, Carlson called Levin a “buffoon” and “a repulsive ghoul” — and repeatedly suggested the Fox host is sexually attracted to warfare.
Trump Reveals the Gap Between Reality and Reality TV
The Wrap says the Iran conflict has put “renewed focus on the president placing looks and loyalty over credentials.”
The NYC Mayoral Race Isn’t Over Today
Playbook: “Even if they lose today, Cuomo and Mamdani could still choose to run in November, either as independents or with third parties. Yes, that means there’s potential for a four-way race with incumbent Eric Adams (who’s still running as an independent) and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.”
Betting Markets Give Edge to Mamdani
Polymarket shows Zohran Mamdani and the slight favorite over Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary.
Why Big Tech Turned Against Democrats
Paul Krugman: “One of the ironies of this great leap backward is that it was made possible in part by a hard turn toward Trump among technology billionaires — men who surely imagine that they are leading us into a glorious future, not into a latter-day Dark Age.”
“Silicon Valley used to support Democrats. For one thing, people in tech tend to be socially liberal. And at least some recognize that the modern Republican Party is hostile to science and education, the pillars on which the tech industry rests.”
“So what explains the turn away from Democrats and, given Trump’s obvious authoritarianism, democracy?”
“A major factor may have been a shift in attitude and policy on the part of Democrats, especially Biden administration officials, who moved away from uncritical tech boosterism and toward increased regulation.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We basically, we have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”
— President Trump, quoted by The Hill, lamenting the breakdown in the ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Pressure to Seal Trump Trade Deals Ramps Up
“Two weeks from President Donald Trump’s self-imposed deadline to reach deals with the US’s major trading partners, some of the most-watched talks aimed at clinching agreements to avoid higher tariffs are struggling to get over the finish line,” Bloomberg reports.
Parliamentarian Rejects Offshore Drilling Provisions
“Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled against provisions in the GOP megabill to enact President Trump’s agenda that would dramatically accelerate the approval of offshore oil and gas projects, handing Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R-SD) a setback and Democrats another procedural victory,” The Hill reports.
“The parliamentarian ruled against a provision in the legislation that would deem offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act, essentially nullifying the environmental review process for these projects.”
Democratic Power Struggle Fuels NYC Mayor’s Race
“New York City voters face a choice today: A 67-year-old scandal-stained insider or a 33-year-old democratic socialist scorned by the city’s elite,” Axios reports.
“It’s the first, difficult step on the road to redefining the Democratic Party.
At its core, the race can be boiled down to old-guard moderates running against younger, energetic candidates with ambitious — often expensive — ideas. It’s the same dynamic that will likely play out across the country over the next few years.”
Washington Post: What to know about New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
We likely won’t know the result — after many rounds of ranked-choice tabulation — for several days.
Cuomo Has Slight Edge in the Polls
Lakshya Jain says the polling average has Andrew Cuomo leading the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City by three percentage points — but that’s largely due to a late Yale Poll/YouGov survey that gave him a big 14-point lead.
“This is by no means an insurmountable or even an especially strong lead. It’s basically a coin-flip. Cuomo is weakest among high-information voters, which makes a lot of sense when you consider how his gubernatorial tenure ended. Low-information voters and minorities tend to favor him. If the primary electorate is whiter or more engaged than what pollsters have modeled, he would easily lose.”
