Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) suggested Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was supporting Mexican drug cartels at a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Said Davidson: “I didn’t know the Senate had a Cartel Caucus to protect the interests of the cartels, but maybe so.”
“President Trump said he encouraged Iran to make a nuclear deal and had warned the country’s leadership there could be lethal consequences for failing to negotiate,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Trump: “Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
He added: “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”
Tom Nichols: “At the end of the classic 1972 film The Godfather, the new don of the family, Michael Corleone, attends a baptism while his men wipe out the heads of the other New York mafia families—all of them Michael’s enemies, and all intending one day to do him harm. Rather than wait for their eventual attacks, Michael dispatched them himself. ‘Today, I settled all family business,’ Michael says to his traitorous brother-in-law, before having him killed.”
“Tonight, the Israelis launched a broad, sweeping attack on Iran that seems like an attempt to settle, so to speak, all family business. The Israeli government has characterized this offensive as a ‘preemptive’ strike on Iran: ‘We are now in a strategic window of opportunity and close to a point of no return, and we had no choice but to take action,’ an Israeli military official told reporters. Israeli spokespeople suggest that these attacks, named Operation Rising Lion, could go on for weeks.”
“But calling this a ‘preemptive’ strike is questionable. The Israelis, from what we know so far, are engaged in a preventive war: They are removing the source of a threat by surprise, on their own timetable and on terms they find favorable. They may be justified in doing so, but such actions carry great moral and practical risks.”
“Boasting tanks, cannons, soldiers and fireworks, President Trump’s military parade Saturday is designed to be a spectacle. Opponents to Trump want their nationwide protests that day to be an even bigger one,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Progressive groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Teachers, Planned Parenthood and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign office are planning peaceful protests in over 2,000 cities across the U.S.”
New York Times: Trump bristles at “No Kings” protests.
Punchbowl News: “The national political scene is on the verge of boiling over.”
“Republicans’ tax-and-spending megabill would give more money to middle-income and high-income households while taking benefits away from low-income people, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani bitterly clashed over age and experience Thursday in the final debate before New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, as Cuomo warned that the progressive state assemblyman is unprepared for the job and Mamdani hammered the former governor over scandals during his time in Albany,” CNN reports.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) urged Israel to “keep wiping out” Iranian scientists and military officials.
Said Fetterman: “Our commitment to Israel must be absolute and I fully support this attack. Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel. We must provide whatever is necessary—military, intelligence, weaponry—to fully back Israel in striking Iran.”
Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) shocked colleagues in both parties by tearing into Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in what sources described as a tense and profane confrontation over the forcible removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) from a press conference, Axios reports.
Mannion reportedly told Lawler: “You’ve got to do something. Stand up. Grow a pair of balls.”
Lawler’s response: “Fuck you… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, posted and then quickly deleted a statement on Wednesday evening attacking another high-level U.S. diplomat and criticizing the NATO military alliance as ‘a solution in search of a problem,’” the New York Times reports.
Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory, CNN reports.
Said IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin: “This is a different event to what we’ve experienced thus far, and we’re expecting difficult hours.”
“Iran has the right to retaliate against Israel, its foreign ministry said Friday, accusing Washington of aiding the overnight attack, despite U.S. claims otherwise,” CNN reports.
From a statement: “Such acts of aggression by the Zionist regime against Iran could not have occurred without coordination and authorization from the United States. Accordingly, the U.S. government, as the regime’s primary backer, is also responsible for the dangerous consequences of this reckless escalation.”
“An appeals court late Thursday allowed President Donald Trump, for now, to keep the California National Guard deployed in response to protests in Los Angeles, blocking a federal judge’s move just hours earlier that ordered the Trump administration to return control of the troops to California Gov. Gavin Newsom,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “The administration quickly filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Court, which temporarily stopped the ruling from taking effect while it considers the case.”
President Trump was aware of Israel’s plan to attack Iran ahead of time, Fox News reports.
“There were no surprises, but the US was not involved militarily and hopes Iran will return to the negotiating table. Again, the US military was not involved in any way in these strikes, but clearly the administration knew about the Israeli plans in advance and was not surprised.”
CNN: Trump didn’t want Israel to strike. They did it anyway.
The Economist: Iran’s alarming nuclear dash will soon test Donald Trump.
“Israel launched a stunning series of strikes against Iran on Friday morning, targeting nuclear and missile facilities and killing the nation’s top three generals. Fears grew that the long-simmering tensions between the heavily armed rivals could explode into a full-blown regional war,” the New York Times reports.
“Israel described the strikes as a pre-emptive step to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In addition to nuclear targets, Israel also struck Iran’s air defenses, long-range missile facilities, weapons depots, laboratories and the homes and headquarters of senior officials.”
Washington Post: “Israel’s military struck a dizzying array of targets in Iran on Friday, in a long-planned strike apparently aimed both at decapitating the leaders of Iran’s military and nuclear programs and neutralizing what Israel sees as an existential threat.”
“A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Trump illegally federalized the California National Guard in response to the Los Angeles protests and ordered that the force be returned to the control of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom,” the Wall Street Journal reports .
“Trump failed to follow the process Congress set forth to bring the Guard, which normally is an arm of the state government, under federal control, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said in a 36-page order issued just hours after a hearing on the dispute.”
Politico: “The ruling was an extraordinary rebuke of Trump’s unprecedented use of the military to support federal immigration authorities as they carry out deportation raids amid volatile protests in Los Angeles.”
“Protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles have triggered a flood of falsehoods and conspiracy theories online, and Russia has sought to exploit and amplify them,” NBC News reports.
“Russian media and pro-Russian voices have embraced right-wing conspiracy theories about the protests, including one that alleged the Mexican government was encouraging the demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.”
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.