“Stevie Wonder can even see how much this war is costing us. So, gas prices are going up. It’s almost $10 in California. And fertilizer’s going up. I mean, you name it, prices have gone up. And this dude, Dr. Jesus, ok, is wanting to spend $2 billion of your money every single day rather than help you get healthcare. Fuck his ass!”
— Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), talking to reporters.
CNN: “The Justice Department has removed the career Miami federal prosecutor leading the investigation into John Brennan, after she resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against the former CIA director and prominent critic of President Donald Trump.”
Washington Post: “The Supreme Court on Friday sided with oil giant Chevron, ruling that it can fight an environmental damage lawsuit in federal court — a decision that could affect the outcomes of nearly a dozen other lawsuits that make similar allegations about the oil and gas industry.”
“The unanimous decision puts into question a $745 million state court judgment against Chevron to help restore coastal wetlands in Louisiana that were damaged as far back as World War II.”
“The Iran war is risking America’s global security ties and damaging its reputation, especially among the world’s Muslims, according to a set of State Department cables,” Politico reports.
“The cables, dated Wednesday, described the fallout of the war for America’s standing in three countries in different parts of the world: Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Indonesia.”
“Candidates looking to take down sitting members of Congress in primaries are stockpiling cash as their races heat up, according to fundraising reports filed Wednesday — and it’s Democratic lawmakers who are mostly on defense,” NBC News reports.
“At least nine House Democrats and one Democratic senator, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, were outraised by their primary challengers in the first fundraising quarter of the year, suggesting the energy within the party that is clamoring for new leaders is fueling some of these contests.”
Paul Krugman: “According to Donald Trump, the U.S. economy is doing great. We’re enjoying a huge boom, there’s no inflation, and we’re all getting tax cuts. We have prosperity like nobody has ever seen before.”
“But it’s probably not news to you that reality doesn’t agree. Inflation was stubbornly elevated even before the Iran debacle, while growth has been sluggish. Jobs for entry-level workers are hard to find while mortgage and car loan rates are up. Gas-pump prices are above $4 on average and around 10 million Americans are projected to lose health insurance by 2028. Yet the one economic variable that stands out, that really is like nothing anyone has ever seen before, is consumer confidence: The long-running University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment just hit its lowest point ever recorded.”
“And that’s a puzzle. Obviously, I’m no defender either of Trump’s policies or of his lies. But while the U.S. economy isn’t nearly as good as he claims, it’s objectively not bad enough to justify the worst consumer sentiment in history — worse than during the stagflation at the end of the 1970s, worse than in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.”
Politico: “In the 2018 midterms, only five super PACs raised more than $50 million over the entire cycle, according to data from OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics, with four of the five being each party’s traditional caucus-aligned groups.”
“Now, at least seven super PACs have already exceeded that threshold, according to a Politico tally, with the midterm election cycle only starting to heat up.”
“Steve Bannon on Thursday offered a rosy view of the populist right’s influence — and of Republicans’ fortunes, predicting they would keep the U.S. House this fall,” Semafor reports.
Said Bannon: “I feel better than ever.”
“He touted the success of conservative Senate candidate Ken Paxton in Texas and polls showing that less than a majority of South Carolina voters approve of GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose hawkishness has made him a frequent political punching bag for Bannon.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said Thursday that she believes the U.S. war in Iran will need congressional authorization once it hits a 60-day mark that past legislation established for military conflicts — and she doesn’t think she’d vote for it, Semafor reports.
Said Collins: “It is very likely that I would vote not to authorize further hostilities.”
Politico: “Donald Trump has become so politically toxic in Europe that even his closest ideological allies increasingly view him as a liability.”
The Economist: “America’s free-wheeling treatment of AI looks as if it is coming to an end. The reason is that the models’ dizzying progress also poses a threat to America’s own national security, unnerving members of the Trump administration previously more inclined to worry about overregulation.”
“At the same time, growing resentment among American voters is turning AI into a political lightning-rod. A laissez-faire approach is no longer politically tenable or strategically wise.”
“The watershed was Anthropic’s announcement of Claude Mythos on April 7th. The model-maker’s latest creation is so startlingly good at finding software vulnerabilities that, in the wrong hands, it would threaten critical infrastructure, from banks to hospitals. AI models increasingly pose other risks, too, from biosecurity hazards to industrial-scale scamming.”
Financial Times: “Senior international financial officials have warned the latest AI models from U.S. tech companies could threaten the world banking system by exposing weaknesses in lenders’ cyber defense.”
“President Trump announced that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will remain in full force, casting uncertainty on whether the Strait of Hormuz would be fully open to commercial shipping in the near future,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A shadow industry of law firms and advisers is charging thousands of pounds to help migrants pretend to be gay in order to stay in the UK,” the BBC reports.
“In the first part of a major undercover investigation, we reveal how migrants whose visas are due to run out are being given fake cover stories and instructed in how to obtain fabricated evidence, including supporting letters, photographs and medical reports.”
“They then apply for asylum claiming to be gay and in fear for their lives if they return to Pakistan or Bangladesh.”
New York Times: “NOTUS, a Washington political news website with ambitious plans to fill a void it says was left by deep cuts at The Washington Post, will be renamed The Star and relaunch in the first week of June.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz “is completely open for commercial ships for the remainder of the ceasefire,” NBC News reports.
Shortly after Iran’s announcement, President Trump responded in a social media post: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!”
“The White House and Anthropic are in active discussions about deploying the AI firm’s powerful new model, Mythos Preview, within the federal government despite ongoing efforts to blacklist the company as a supply chain risk,” Axios reports.
“Anthropic is in a bitter feud with the Pentagon, but even U.S. officials who dislike the company concede that it’s building tools that could aid U.S. national security — or harm it, if they fall into the wrong hands.”
“The U.S. and Iran are negotiating over a three-page plan to end the war, with one element under discussion being that the U.S. would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium,” Axios reports.
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.