President Trump attacked Harvard saying that “Leftist dopes” are teaching at the university “and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges.”
He added: “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
“When some of the nation’s biggest law firms agreed to deals with President Trump, the terms appeared straightforward: In return for escaping the full force of his retribution campaign, the firms would do some free legal work on behalf of largely uncontroversial causes like helping veterans,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump, it turns out, has a far more expansive view of what those firms can be called on to do.”
“Over the last week, he has suggested that the firms will be drafted into helping him negotiate trade deals…”
“And he has hinted that he sees the promises of nearly $1 billion in pro bono legal services that he has extracted from the elite law firms — including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher — as a legal war chest to be used as he wishes.”
“President Donald Trump’s choice for Internal Revenue Service director just had his six-figure debt paid off by campaign donors whose firms have significant, often contentious business before the tax agency he would lead,” The Lever reports.
“The revelations come as lawmakers call for a criminal probe of how tax credits were used by these donors’ firms — many of which have previous ties to former Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), Trump’s IRS nominee whose confirmation is pending in the Senate.”
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The suspected arsonist who allegedly tried to kill Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro decided to firebomb his official residence because of “what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” ABC News reports.
The Economist: “For decades politicians in Washington might have been mistaken for lobbyists for American companies in China. They pushed for the country to be opened up to American banks, planes and fast-food chains. Boeing, an American plane manufacturer, for example, began receiving orders from China just after Richard Nixon visited the country in 1972. Now many American executives in China believe they are witnessing their government dismantle much of that work.”
“Donald Trump’s heavy use of tariffs is rendering their supply chains untenable. Retaliation by the Chinese government threatens to unwind years of commercial success.”
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds President Trump’s approval rate at an upside down 42% to 52%.
Last week’s poll had his approval at 43% to 51%.
A protester at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) town hall last night was tased by police as supporters of the congresswoman cheered.
Said Greene, after the incident: “This is a peaceful town hall. Now, this is a peaceful town hall, ladies and gentlemen. This should not have to happen. This is a town hall.”
President Trump lashed out at MSNBC and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts in a late-night Truth Social post calling him “a disgrace to the integrity of broadcasting.”
“House Democrats are still honing a message for next year’s midterms, but they appear to have found an early cudgel as they gear up to battle Republicans for the majority: congressional stock trading,” Politico reports.
“The market turmoil surrounding President Donald Trump’s tariffs has supercharged Democratic attacks on politicians’ investment activity, with top lawmakers calling for investigations of White House officials and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries embracing a ban on trading of individual stocks.”
“We want to do it. I would love to do that.”
— President Trump, to Fox News, on deporting American citizens to prisons in El Salvador.
“The Justice Department is suing Maine over its refusal to comply with a ban on transgender athletes in high school sports,” CNN reports.
“The lawsuit, which alleges that Maine is violating Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal aid, is the latest action in a public feud between the Trump administration and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat.”
Paul Krugman: “Yesterday the Financial Times had a mostly good writeup of the stakes, which pointed out that US exports to China are ‘heavily focused on agriculture.’ The FT said that these goods are ‘low value-added,’ which I’m not sure is true — U.S. farming is highly productive and highly capital-intensive. But what matters in a trade war is the fact that China can fairly easily find other agricultural suppliers, buying soybeans from Brazil instead of Iowa.”
“By contrast, the United States will have a hard time replacing many of the goods it imports from China. Furthermore, many of the goods we buy from China are industrial inputs rather than consumer goods.”
“So Trump has started a trade war that will disrupt our own supply chains. Remember Covid and its immediate aftermath? Remember how shortages spread through the economy and fueled inflation? Those days are about to come back, inflicting especially large damage on the manufacturing sector Trump claims he will revive.”
“The European Union is preparing for more tariffs from the United States, despite conversations with President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this week,” CNBC reports.
“It’s been an intense back-and-forth over the past few months, with Trump accusing the EU of being among the worst culprits in its trade treatment of the U.S.”
“The U.S. has removed sanctions from the chief of staff of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the latest move by the Trump administration to dissociate itself from decisions taken by former president Joe Biden,” the Financial Times reports.
“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he trusts President Donald Trump despite recent surveys showing growing disapproval of the American leader in Australia just weeks before the May 3 election,” Bloomberg reports.
The Economist: “Another sign of the times is that Pentagon figures recently questioned one ally about why it was still supplying weapons to Ukraine—a challenge that was ignored. Diplomats in Washington also report that some Trump aides say privately that they are ‘fed up’ with Europe’s effort to strengthen Ukraine. As always with such a chaotic administration, it is hard to distinguish the true signal from the noise.”
Joan Biskupic: “Chief Justice John Roberts has been outmatched by President Donald Trump in the fight over the administration’s wrongful deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador.”
“No matter how much the right-wing justices wanted to balance deference for the executive branch with the effort to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they now appear ineffectual. The White House has rendered the Supreme Court’s order in the case completely hollow, insisting it won 9-0 and need do nothing to bring Abrego Garcia back from a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison.”
“The Trump team read the Supreme Court’s order in the stingiest terms possible, acting with a degree of bad faith that the justices may not have anticipated.”
Wall Street Journal: “Since taking office less than three months ago, Trump has challenged the global order and upended Washington. In his spare time, he has also become the White House art director, adding golden flourishes to every corner of the government.”
“In recent weeks, Trump has turned parts of the White House gold, making the world’s most famous address look more like Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club.”
“To assist with the White House makeover, Trump brought in a man that one of his advisers referred to as the president’s ‘gold guy.'”
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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