“As President Trump takes his first trip to the Middle East after getting re-elected, he’s planning on skipping over America’s closest ally in the region: Israel,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“It follows a series of announcements by the Trump administration that either sidelined or surprised the Israelis, raising questions in Israel about whether the two sides are fully in sync on some of the biggest challenges in the region.”
Politico: Trump’s Gulf tour doesn’t bode well for Israel.
“Joe Biden’s physical deterioration was so severe in 2023 and 2024 that advisers privately discussed the possibility he’d need to use a wheelchair if he won re-election, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson write in their new book, Original Sin, out May 20,” Axios reports.
“The discussions reflected the extent of the president’s declining health — particularly the significant degeneration of his spine — and his aides’ alarm over it as Biden sought a second term at age 81.”
“The conversations also reveal the White House’s determination to conceal the reality of Biden’s condition, at the risk of his own health, while he faced a tough re-election bid against Donald Trump.”
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) said the GOP’s tax legislation as currently written is “dead on arrival” — and accused his party’s chief tax writer of acting in “bad faith” by proceeding with a proposal for a key tax deduction that didn’t have sufficient buy-in, Politico reports.
Said LaLota: “The bill is dead effectively on the floor.”
Punchbowl News: “Much of the House Republican Conference is intently watching how Johnson handles this. Every major decision on assembling President Donald Trump’s agenda was delayed until the last minute. Johnson likes to say he is in the consensus-building business.”
“Yet on issues ranging from health care to taxes, there’s no consensus inside the House Republican Conference on this package. Conservatives think the bill is too weak on cuts to Medicaid and other programs. Blue-state Republicans don’t have a deal on SALT, while moderates worry about the Medicaid changes.”
“This is going to be a problem over the next two weeks as GOP leaders attempt to squeeze the reconciliation package through multiple committees and across the floor with only a razor-thin margin of control.”
“And then House Republicans will have to see if – and how – their Senate GOP counterparts change the package.”
Politico: Trump gets wish list in House GOP tax bill, with some exceptions.
Washington Post: What’s in Trump and Republicans’ giant tax and immigration bill?
“The Federal Railroad Administration, the nation’s railroad agency, has brought in the Boring Company, the tunneling firm founded by Elon Musk, to see if it could help with a multibillion-dollar Amtrak project,” the New York Times reports.
New York Times: “Ms. Bondi earned a reputation as a hard-charging prosecutor known for combating opioids and street crime during two terms as Florida attorney general. Since taking office as U.S. attorney general in early February, she has adopted a conspicuously performative approach to survive inside a Trump cabinet that rewards self-promotion, ritualized public flattery and, above all, a willingness to execute White House directives with little fuss…”
“The path taken by Ms. Bondi, 59, is common enough in the Trump court — few cabinet members have autonomy to chart their own course. But her approach represents a noticeable departure from that of her predecessors at the Justice Department who saw themselves, to varying degrees, as guardians of institutional independence, attentive but not beholden to the presidency.”
Charlie Savage: “During President Trump’s first term, the idea that special interests and governments were buying meals and booking rooms at his hotels set off legal and ethical alarms about the potential for corruption.”
“Mr. Trump’s second term is making those concerns look trivial.”
Aaron Blake: Qatar plane gift could awaken Trump’s sleeping ‘corrupt’ problem.
“The issue with Donald Trump is, he does not believe in rules and laws and norms. He thinks they’re for suckers. He thinks if you can get a free plane, as he said today, why wouldn’t you do it?”
— David Axelrod, on CNN.
“Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) said he was the victim of a drunken man’s belligerence on Saturday night, but a Rotarian who helped organize the event where Edwards spoke said the congressman was the aggressor — striking a man in anger with a clipboard after finishing his speech,” the Charlotte Observer reports.
President Trump on Monday endorsed Jack Ciattarelli (R) in the New Jersey governor’s race, cementing the frontrunner in a contested primary, NBC News reports.
New York Times: “As the unusual contest came to a close on Monday, at least 17 of the 220 winning bidders had figured out a way to effectively outsmart the sponsors of the contest.”
“These crypto investors had secured an invitation to the dinner even though their online wallets showed that they held zero of the memecoins, a type of novelty digital currency often based on a joke or mascot.”
“That is because of a quirk in the rules: The winners were selected based on the average number of coins they held during the three weeks the contest was underway rather than their total at the end of bidding.”
“The credentials committee of the Democratic National Committee voted on Monday to void the results of the internal party vote that made David Hogg a party vice chair, ruling that the election had not followed proper parliamentary procedures,” the New York Times reports.
“The decision — which came after roughly three hours of internal debate and one tie vote — will put the issue before the full body of the Democratic National Committee. It must decide whether to force Mr. Hogg and a second vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta, to run again in another election later this year.”
“He totally fucked us.”
— David Plouffe, quoted by The Guardian, in the new book, Original Sin, saying President Biden undermined Kamala Harris’ “fucking nightmare” of a presidential campaign.
“Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump met quietly Saturday in Washington to discuss unifying behind a Republican Senate candidate in Georgia,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“It was not immediately clear if the two reached an agreement over backing the same contender in the wide-open race against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, but one person described the meeting as productive.”
President Trump said the “European Union is, in many ways, nastier than China,” during a news conference on Monday, Axios reports.
He added that the U.S. has “all the cards” in trade deals with the EU.
Jessica Yellin: “I’ve been watching videos that show ICE agents — some seemingly unidentified, others in military style gear — grabbing people off the streets or out of their backyards with force, even in communities that have explicitly rejected these policies. In some cases, they’ve reportedly done this without asking for documentation or showing a warrant. These aren’t isolated incidents; they’re happening in neighborhoods just like yours and mine. Many of those targeted have no criminal record. These detentions raise serious questions about due process.”
“I pulled some of these accounts together on my Instagram because I think we need to see this. You can watch them here. These stories aren’t getting amplified by the algorithms, so if you feel this matters, please engage — like, share, comment. It makes a difference.”
“Top congressional leaders are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s attempt to replace two Library of Congress leaders, with the dispute over presidential powers over the institution leaving its future in question Monday,” Politico reports.
Cook Political Report: “Democratic Auditor Rob Sand threw his hat in the ring for Iowa governor on Monday, elevating a Republican-held seat to a new competitive tier. Sand, 42, is the lone Democrat holding statewide office in Iowa and easily the strongest contender his party could have recruited for the open seat.”
“His candidacy warrants a rare ‘double jump’ rating change, shifting this contest from Solid Republican to Lean Republican.”
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.