President Donald Trump says both Israel and Iran violated ceasefire terms with attacks following an early Tuesday deadline to cease hostilities, the AP reports.
Said Trump: “They violated it but Israel violated it too.”
He added: “I’m not happy with Israel.”
“When Trump’s transition team first told European allies back before Christmas that the president-elect wanted NATO members to raise their defense spending from 2 percent of GDP to 5 percent, it came like a bolt from the blue,” Politico reports.
“But fast-forward six months, and Europe now has a long-term plan for its own self-defense, as mapped out by defense ministers last month.”
New Yorker: “The Administration is strong-arming European nations to do more on behalf of their own defense.”
“It’s just a more lonely position. And nobody likes being in a lonely position.”
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), quoted by the Washington Post, on standing up to President Trump in the Republican-controlled Senate.
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Washington Post: “Trump is a man of contradictions, and so is his attitude toward international summits. They provide him a world stage from which to perform. They contain trappings of power that he prefers, including opulent settings with majestic views.”
“Yet he has to share the stage with other world leaders. The meetings themselves are venues for disagreement and debate, and there are aspects that are outside of his control. And he prefers bilateral meetings, not those where he might be ganged up on by a Group of Seven, a Group of 20, or the NATO alliance.”
“Rep. Robert Garcia won the approval of a key panel Monday to become the next top House Democrat on the Oversight Committee,“ Politico reports.
“The 47-year-old Californian is in just his second term in Congress. But he pitched himself as a consensus candidate who could bridge the divides between Democrats seeking confrontation with President Donald Trump and the sensibilities of party elders.”
Playbook: “Donald Trump departs for the NATO summit in a triumphant mood this morning after brokering a stunning end to the Iran-Israeli conflict.”
“Expect plenty of grandstanding from the president as he lauds last night’s dramatic Middle East ceasefire deal — and a display of U.S. military aggression he can now sell as an unequivocal success.”
“The president believes — with some justification — that he has proved his critics wrong. America has asserted its military dominance in the region. Iran’s nuclear program has taken a severe blow. The pushback has been almost nonexistent. And that much-feared ‘forever war’ lasted less than 12 days. Trump is chalking this up as a comprehensive win.”
Axios: Trump declares victory as Iran, Israel acknowledge shaky ceasefire.
“President Donald Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes against Iran is broadly unpopular with Americans,” according to a new CNN poll.
“Americans disapprove of the strikes, 56% to 44%, according to the survey, with strong disapproval outpacing the share who strongly approve. Most distrust Trump’s decision-making on the use of force in Iran, with about 6 in 10 worried that the strikes will increase the Iranian threat to the US.”
“Republicans have now launched four separate investigations into former President Biden and whether his declining health affected his abilities in the White House,” Axios reports.
“Democrats don’t want to talk about Biden after last year’s elections. Republicans are trying to force them to — even as the GOP has shown little willingness to conduct oversight of the Trump administration’s norm-busting first months.”
“The GOP probes reflect how questioning Biden’s legitimacy has become a focus of Trump’s presidency — and how in the face of any bad news, Trump frequently blames Biden, 82, as an excuse or a deflection.”
Punchbowl News: “This is what it looks like when the Senate is about to jam the House — and many GOP senators are cheering it on.”
“During Monday night’s Senate GOP Conference meeting, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) stood up for his fellow Louisiana Republican, Speaker Mike Johnson, and insisted that the House won’t be able to pass what Senate Republicans have been cobbling together, citing the Senate’s stricter crackdown on Medicaid provider taxes.”
“Thune responded by saying the House will ultimately accept what the Senate passes, according to three senators in the room.”
“Several GOP senators told us they came away from the meeting — and this interaction in particular — with the impression that Thune is angling to use his substantial leverage to dare the House to reject any Senate-passed bill, especially with President Donald Trump eager to sign the measure by July 4.”
“President Trump’s pledge to revive American manufacturing is running into the stubborn obstacle of demographic reality. The pool of blue-collar workers who are able and willing to perform tasks on a factory floor in the United States is shrinking,” the New York Times reports.
“As baby boomers retire, few young people are lining up to take their place. About 400,000 manufacturing jobs are currently unfilled, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — a shortfall that will surely grow if companies are forced to rely less on manufacturing overseas and build more factories in the United States.”
The Israeli military said the country will “respond with force” after it said Iran fired missiles toward Israel’s north shortly after a cease-fire was announced, the Wall Street Journal reports.
CNN: “The Israeli military intercepted two missiles launched from Iran at Israel.”
“In the final hours before Primary Day, the Democratic race for mayor of New York City appeared to be razor-tight, leaving the two leading candidates — Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani — in scramble mode to boost turnout on Tuesday,” the New York Times reports.
Washington Post: Andrew Cuomo wants to be New York’s mayor. Do Democrats want him back?
The Economist: “Three questions now hang over the region: can the ceasefire hold; will there be a follow-on diplomatic deal to restrict Iran’s nuclear programme and will the Middle East become more stable after the war?”
“Begin with the ceasefire. Neither Israel nor Iran have formally confirmed the cessation of hostilities, but both have good reason to stop fighting. The theocratic Iranian regime has long chanted ‘Death to America’, but has for decades sought to avoid a direct confrontation with the superpower, preferring instead to rely on proxy militias and occasional diplomacy. It is unpopular at home, its armed forces seem powerless against Israel, and its allies across the region have been weakened. With America’s entry into the war, Iran may now prefer to lick its wounds.”
“As for Israel, it is unlikely Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, will defy Mr Trump after hailing his historic military intervention. Moreover, Israeli military sources reckon they have destroyed nearly all of the targets on their list. Indeed, some suggested Israel might declare victory and stop attacking Iran, even without a formal ceasefire. Mr Netanyahu may now feel he has achieved a legacy-defining victory against Israel’s arch-enemy. Mr Trump, for his part, will not want the war to drag on, having reassured Americans that he was not getting them into another ‘forever war’ after those in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he has long denounced.”
“As for the nuclear program, Iran will not unlearn the technology it has mastered. Humiliated and resentful, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could yet decide that his regime needs nuclear weapons for survival. Even if most of its facilities have been destroyed, the program might resume in secret.“
President Trump just wrote on social media that the cease-fire between Israel and Iran is now in effect, the New York Times reports.
He added: “PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!”
“War planning is a delicate matter, one that can involve years of strategic thinking and many layers of expertise, as seasoned military commanders game out how they might hit their targets and achieve a goal so that a conflict won’t spiral out of control,” the New York Times reports.
“There is, of course, another way to run a war and attend to the corresponding statecraft: Just post through it.”
“This is, remarkably, what happened this afternoon, as President Trump used his personal social media website to tell the world that he saw an off-ramp to the United States’ intervention in Iran.”
“Randolph Bracy and LaVon Bracy Davis are taking sibling rivalry to a new level as the brother and sister run against each other in a race for a Florida state Senate seat on Tuesday,” the AP reports.
“In the fall, long before President Donald Trump embarked on an effort to resolve concerns over Iran’s nuclear program through negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already set Israel on the road to war,” the Washington Post reports.
“After Israel decimated Iran’s air defenses in a missile skirmish and crippled its main ally, Hezbollah, in October, Netanyahu issued a general order to prepare for a strike, the current and former officials said. Israeli intelligence officials began huddling to compile lists of dozens of Iranian nuclear scientists and military leaders who could be targeted for assassination.”
“Meanwhile, Israeli officials were pursuing another track in their preparations — to sway Washington.”
It’s always great to talk with Julie Mason on her fantastic radio show. We discussed the New York City mayor’s race, the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” and the conflict with Iran.
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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