“The Trump administration has been examining whether it can label some suspected cartel and gang members inside the US as ‘enemy combatants’ as a possible way to detain them more easily and limit their ability to challenge their imprisonment,” CNN reports.
“The ‘enemy combatant’ designation could also be applied to suspected narco-terrorists outside the US, the people said, as a way to potentially give the US a justification to conduct lethal strikes against them.”
“U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent,” the New York Times reports.
“Both numbers, which demonstrate that the U.S. labor market remains in good condition, are based on surveys taken in the immediate wake of the Trump administration’s move in early April to institute the highest level of tariffs on imports since the 1930s.”
“Hill Republicans are delivering a flurry of rare rebukes of the Trump administration, in the latest sign that the president doesn’t have complete control over the GOP governing trifecta,” Politico reports.
Related for members: Polls Suggest Trump’s Base Is Starting to Waver
President Donald Trump on Friday said he is “taking away” Harvard’s tax exempt status, ABC News reports.
Said Trump: “It’s what they deserve.”
Bloomberg: “The IRS code prevents presidents from interfering with the federal tax agency’s decisions, raising questions about whether Trump’s Friday announcement stemmed from his own decision-making or a reference to the end of the independent agency’s review.”
“Days after a Canadian election that hinged on who would best stand up to President Donald Trump, he is at the center of an election in another liberal democracy,” NBC News reports.
“Trust in the United States is plummeting in Australia, which votes Saturday amid global financial turmoil sparked by tariffs Trump has imposed on trading partners around the world including Australia, a U.S. ally and vital security partner in countering China.”
“As in Canada, Australia’s opposition conservative party, the Liberal Party, was primed to win before Trump returned to office, thanks to public anger over the cost of living and record-high home prices. But it has since lost support among voters increasingly concerned about how their government will handle Trump.”
“The government under President Donald Trump is bending the arc of U.S. history in a new direction, away from the civil rights focus of the past 60 plus years,” CNN reports.
“The Department of Justice division created by the landmark 1957 Civil Rights Act to defend American’s rights has a new mission: rooting out anti-Christian bias, antisemitism and ‘woke ideology,’ the head of the division, Harmeet Dhillon, recently told conservative commentator Glenn Beck.”
Vice President J.D. Vance warned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is not likely to come to an end “any time soon,” CNBC reports.
Said Vance: “It’s not going anywhere… it’s not going to end any time soon.”
Axios: “Trump’s family has enjoyed a historically lucrative first 100 days, leveraging its proximity to power — and raking in billions — through a flood of ethically murky business ventures.”
“Most presidents try to avoid even the appearance of using the office or public policy for personal enrichment. But Trump has blended official power and personal business in unprecedented ways — and often in plain sight.”
“Trump, his sons and their associates have launched a wave of high-dollar projects monetizing their proximity to the most powerful government in the world.”
“President Donald Trump suggested in a late-night post on social media Thursday that congressional Democrats who seek to impeach him should be expelled,” the Washington Post reports.
President Trump said he would rename Veterans Day as “Victory Day for World War I” and designate May 8 as “Victory Day for World War II” to celebrate U.S. military victories, the Wall Street Journal reports.
A year after Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) release from the hospital for clinical depression, the senator’s behavior had so alarmed then chief of staff Adam Jentleson that he resigned his position and wrote to Fetterman’s doctor, New York Magazine reports.
His 1,600-word email came with the subject line “concerns,” and it contained a list of them, from the seemingly mundane (“He eats fast food multiple times a day”) to the scary (“We do not know if he is taking his meds and his behavior frequently suggests he is not”).
Wrote Jentleson: “We often see the kind of warning signs we discussed. Conspiratorial thinking; megalomania (for example, he claims to be the most knowledgeable source on Israel and Gaza around but his sources are just what he reads in the news — he declines most briefings and never reads memos); high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self centered monologues; lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room.”
Senate Democrats are upset about the failed tariff vote this week, Politico reports.
Democrats knew Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) was out of the country and would be absent but thought Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would be there.
Said one senator: “It was a mistake… Politics 101 is you don’t count on your adversaries.
“In a potential softening of the bruising trade war between China and the United States, Beijing said on Friday that it was considering holding talks with the Trump administration after repeated attempts by senior U.S. officials to start negotiations,” the New York Times reports.
“China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that China was “evaluating” the U.S. offer to talk, but it said Beijing’s position remained consistent: It will only engage in negotiations if Washington cancels its tariffs on Chinese goods first.”
New York Times: “More companies are starting to warn that they will have to pass on higher costs to American consumers, raising prices for products like strollers, mattresses, power tools and cast-iron cookware as President Trump’s tariffs take hold.”
“Some company officials said they had been left with no choice but to raise prices as they pay more to import goods and materials into the United States. Other firms have said they will soon run out of inventory for certain products because they have paused orders from China.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has started “pitching fellow Democrats on a run for the party’s top Oversight Committee position, Politico reports.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday evening seeking to prohibit federal funding for NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service, the Washington Post reports.
“The Pentagon inspector general has expanded an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sharing of military plans to a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother,” the Wall Street Journal 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.