“Former President Joe Biden celebrated Juneteenth on Thursday at a historic Black church in Texas, calling for Americans to come together to push the country forward,” CNN reports.
Said Biden: “I don’t come here today to only commemorate the past. I come here because we know the good Lord isn’t done with us yet. We have work to do. We need to keep pushing America forward.”
“President Trump’s sudden announcement that he could take up to two weeks to decide whether to plunge the United States into the heart of the Israel-Iran conflict is being advertised by the White House as giving diplomacy one more chance to work,” the New York Times reports.
“But it also opens a host of new military and covert options.”
“Assuming he makes full use of it, Mr. Trump will now have time to determine whether six days of relentless bombing and killing by Israeli forces — which has taken out one of Iran’s two biggest uranium enrichment centers, much of its missile fleet and its most senior officers and nuclear scientists — has changed minds in Tehran.”
Stephen Collinson: Why Trump’s two-week pause on Iran makes sense — and why it may not work.
“A federal appeals court on Thursday night allowed President Trump to maintain command of the California National Guard in response to the Los Angeles protests, blocking a lower court that ordered him to return those forces to the state’s control,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Politico: Appeals court blocks Newsom’s bid to reclaim control of National Guard from Trump.
“Some divides are emerging among swing-state Latinos who voted for President Donald Trump when it comes to his approach to mass deportations, according to new focus group conversations with some of these voters, who nevertheless remain broadly supportive of the president,” NBC News reports.
A new Economist/YouGov poll finds 60% of Americans think the U.S. military should not get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Only 16% support U.S. military action, and 24% are unsure.
President Trump said Thursday he will decide whether the United States will attack Iran “within the next two weeks,” adding in a statement that “there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future,” the New York Times reports.
“For days, Mr. Trump had mused publicly about the possibility of ordering American forces to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, suggesting that strikes could be imminent, while also insisting that it was not too late for talks. With his comments on Thursday, he appeared to opt for some breathing room to consider options that carry a lower risk of escalation.”
For members: The Presidency as Programming
The Los Angeles Dodgers said Thursday they denied Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entry to their stadium grounds, The Hill reports.
“Mike Bloomberg’s vast wealth is continuing to power Andrew Cuomo’s front-running mayoral bid,” Politico reports.
“The billionaire former mayor contributed $3.3 million to a super PAC supporting Cuomo’s attempted comeback in the nation’s largest city — a donation made public on Wednesday that comes just days after Bloomberg gave $5 million to the group.”
“With the latest gift, Bloomberg is now single-handedly responsible for one-third of the PAC’s total haul of $24 million since it launched in March.”
“President Donald Trump may have touted the latest trade deal between the US and China as a win for America. But it’s Chinese leaders who have walked away with an extra spring in their step,” CNN reports.
“While full details of the agreement, reached by negotiators in London last week, remain under wraps, it appears largely to restore an earlier arrangement sealed in May, which had rapidly deteriorated as mistrust and tension between the two sides spiraled.”
“This time around, China has learned a key lesson: the power of its leverage over the US — and how it can use that to its advantage in the months ahead.”
Leaders aren’t racing to make deals despite White House pressure, Bloomberg reports.
“For years, Republicans have warned about the government’s reliance on borrowed money to pay its bills. That stance has often led to standoffs over raising the nation’s borrowing cap, with Republicans insisting that any increase in America’s so-called debt limit be paired with spending reductions,” the New York Times reports.
“This year, the party of fiscal conservatism is poised to discard that philosophy as Republicans prepare to press ahead with domestic policy legislation that combines nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts with a $5 trillion increase to the debt limit. An increase of that magnitude would be a record and underscore the ideological flexibility that many Republicans are willing to embrace when they are in power.”
“Beneath Israel’s bombs lies an unpopular and repressive Iranian regime that has spent billions of dollars on a nuclear program and on projecting the Islamic Revolution through armed regional proxies, while presiding over a domestic economic disaster and stifling paralysis,” the New York Times reports.
“An 86-year-old autocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rules this restive nation, as he has for 36 years, in his role as guardian of the revolution, a conservative calling at which he has proved adept. The supreme leader is no gambler. But his system, remote from a youthful and aspirational society, looks sclerotic to many, and he is now up against the wall.”
“European officials are making a diplomatic push to de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Iran after nearly a week of deadly fighting, even as Israel’s defense minister warned on Thursday that the country’s military would intensify its strikes on ‘strategic targets’ in Iran,” the New York Times reports.
“After days of back-channel discussions, the Europeans, who have been effectively sidelined since the war started, are now trying to exert what limited leverage they have as weapons suppliers or potential peacemakers to try to end the war.”
“Beyond projecting military strength and pledging unity, a more pressing theme has emerged for next week’s NATO summit: Keep President Trump happy,” the New York Times reports.
“As leaders prepare to meet for the annual forum starting on Tuesday, U.S. allies have watered down their public support for Ukrainian membership and drafted a policy communiqué as short as five paragraphs to keep the American leader on board. The meeting itself, in The Hague, will open and close in under two days — a timeline designed to keep it devoid of drama.”
“I wonder if—you know, the Civil War, it always seemed to me maybe that could’ve been solved without losing 600,000-plus people.”
— President Trump, speaking to reporters.
“As President-elect Donald Trump assembled his core national security team early this year, congressional and media attention fell on two choices better known for their Fox News appearances and invective against a supposed “deep state” than for their executive branch experience: Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. Both won Senate confirmation, barely,” the Washington Post reports.
“But as Trump faces a critical decision about whether to join Israel’s military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps the most momentous of his presidency, neither Gabbard nor Hegseth are playing starring roles as members of Trump’s inner circle of advisers.”
“Trump instead has turned to a small group of lower-key but more experienced aides.”
NBC News: Tulsi Gabbard sidelined in Trump administration discussions on Israel and Iran.
“He’s in his last term of his presidency. He may or may not see a window to do something that is something he’s always believed is right and is important for the world, and has the added benefit of being legacy-building. And this is a window. It’s never existed before. It will likely never exist again insofar as he can do anything about it. So while he has that window, he’s going to take a shot, even if it is not something that everybody agrees with.”
— A White House official, talking to Playbook, about President Trump’s decision of attacking 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.