“The Supreme Court’s conservative justices signaled Wednesday they are open to allowing the Catholic Church to launch the country’s first publicly funded religious charter school, despite arguments from opponents who say the school would violate the Constitution’s ban on government-established religion,” Politico reports.
Trump Is Less Popular Than He Was Last Time
Nate Silver: “We’re 100 days into Donald Trump’s second term, and for the first time, his net approval is worse than it was at the same point in his first term. As of this post, Trump has a net job approval rating of -9.7. But 100 days into term 1, he sat at -9.1 net approval.”
“For some additional points of comparison, Joe Biden’s day 100 net approval was +13.3, Barack Obama’s was +26.4, and George W. Bush’s was +28.0. In fact, Trump 2.0 now has the lowest day 100 approval rating of any president in our historical database.”
The Trump Voters Who Like What They See
Elaine Godfrey: “Even as Trump’s critics cheer the apparent change of heart among some of his supporters, they face an inconvenient reality: Many of his voters are jubilant. For these happy millions, the first 100 days of Trump’s second presidency have been a procession of fulfilled campaign promises—and have brought the country not to the precipice of economic ruin or democratic collapse, but to a golden age of greatness.”
Bukele Wanted Assurances Prisoners Were Gang Members
New York Times: “Mr. Bukele wanted assurances from the United States that each of those locked up in the prison were members of Tren de Aragua, the transnational gang with roots in Venezuela…”
“Mr. Bukele’s demands for more information about some of the deportees, which has not been previously reported, deepen questions about whether the Trump administration sufficiently assessed who it dispatched to a foreign prison.”
Related from Aaron Blake: Trump’s big admission about the Kilmar Abrego García deportation case.
Trump Organization Agrees to Middle East Deals
“The Trump Organization has agreed to a deal with a Qatari government-owned firm to back a golf course and luxury home project in the country, two weeks before President Trump is set to travel to the Middle East on a state visit,” the New York Times reports.
“Eric Trump, the president’s son who runs the family business, traveled to Dubai this week to attend a cryptocurrency conference and promote the real estate developments, which include a new Trump-branded tower in the United Arab Emirates.”
Trump Wants a Mulligan for Bad Economic Report
“President Donald Trump blamed former President Joe Biden for weak economic data that sent stocks tumbling, arguing government data showed increased domestic investment signaled his tariff regime is working,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump, at a Cabinet meeting: “I have to start off by saying, that’s Biden. That’s not Trump.”
He added: “Let’s give us a pass on the first month, we were sort of getting a little bit used to things.”
Airlines Warn of Fewer European Tourists to the U.S.
“Two of Europe’s largest airlines have warned that some Europeans are starting to avoid U.S. travel, as President Donald Trump’s policies risk hitting some of the world’s busiest flight paths,” the Financial Times reports.
El Salvador Spurned Request for Return of Migrant
“The Trump administration recently sent a diplomatic note to officials in El Salvador to inquire about releasing a Salvadoran immigrant whom government officials have been ordered by the Supreme Court to help free,” the New York Times reports.
“But the authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele, the leader of El Salvador, said no… The Bukele administration claimed the man should stay in El Salvador because he is a Salvadoran citizen.”
The Courts Won’t Save Us
Kate Shaw: “Federal courts, are limited in both power and reach. They are by design slow and reactive. They are not self-starters: They can rule only in cases properly before them, which means there needs to be a party experiencing a particular injury that is continuing or will imminently occur and that the judicial process can remedy…”
“Courts typically confront cases raising discrete questions, meaning there’s an atomistic nature to constitutional law and constitutional adjudication… They cannot act as roving guarantors of the rule of law.”
Chart of the Day
Peter Navarro Waves Off Shrinking Economy
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro brushed off concerns Wednesday about the unexpected drop in U.S. gross domestic product last quarter, saying: “We really like where we’re at now,” the CNBC reports.
Elise Stefanik Considers Her Next Move
New York Times: “To detractors, the president’s decision to pull Ms. Stefanik’s nomination was something akin to karmic comeuppance for a Republican lawmaker who was elected as a moderate but tacked unapologetically to the MAGA right, coming to personify the opportunistic shape-shifting that has gripped her party in the age of Mr. Trump.”
“Ms. Stefanik’s plight seemed to crystallize in one succinct cautionary tale the limits of loyalty in the MAGA universe. Even one of the president’s most stalwart defenders, an effective ally since his first impeachment trial, ultimately did not get what she had long been promised.”
“To her supporters, however, the implosion of her cabinet dream was a gift in disguise, one that proved her mettle as someone willing to stomach a personal setback for the good of the team and set her up for something potentially better down the line. The result has been a new level of admiration from the president and among top G.O.P. donors, who are now encouraging her to enter the New York governor’s race for 2026.”
Trump’s Pointless Trolling of Canada
Charles Cooke: “What did Trump get out of this ploy? What did America gain? What did Republican voters achieve? What was improved for conservatism, or nationalism, or MAGA, or whatever other Trump-coded movements are the supposed beneficiaries of his maneuvers? Where, as the old advertisement liked to inquire, is the beef?”
“Because, from where I’m sitting, the whole incident looks monumentally, comprehensively, impressively stupid.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“President Trump went in full force. He’s got his own negotiating style. I think he’s been quite smart about how to do this. And he’s obviously wants to make sure that the store shelves are not totally empty.”
— Steve Bannon, talking to NPR about President Trump’s tariff policy.
How Mark Carney Plans to Manage Trump
Bloomberg: “A banker turned politician, Carney’s calm demeanor appealed to Canadians unnerved by seeing the US switch from trusted neighbor to adversary overnight. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to turn Canada into the 51st US state turned the fortunes of Carney’s Liberal Party, which for months appeared poised to lose the election to Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. He assured anxious voters that the country could not just survive the trade war — but win it.”
“Carney is likely to take that same sober approach — honed by steering two central banks through the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis — into his negotiations with Trump. He has already ditched the acrimonious tone of his predecessor, fellow-Liberal Justin Trudeau, who promised to punch back at every tariff.”
Mike Johnson Cracks Open the Door to Action on Tariffs
“Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that Congress could intervene to curtail President Donald Trump’s global tariff regime — but only, he said, if there’s an ‘imbalance’ in the relative powers of the executive and legislative branches,” Politico reports.
Said Johnson: “I think the executive has a broad array of authority that’s been recognized over the years… If it gets close to where the imbalance is there, then we would step in.”
“But he made clear he did not think that, despite the turmoil in the economy, things were anywhere near that point.”
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The Polls Are Sending Trump a Message
David Graham: “An unpopular president is a less powerful president. Enacting an authoritarian approach is harder (though not impossible) without public support, and other institutions—the Republican Party, universities, law firms—are less likely to bend their knee if they see weakness.”
“One way you can tell these polls have some effect is that Trump is lashing out furiously about them.”
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