“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russia’s top presidential security adviser Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang on Tuesday and discussed a “special military operation” in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine,” Reuters reports.
‘Bunker Buster’ Could Cripple Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
“The best shot at knocking out the most fortified part of Iran’s nuclear program comes down to a giant U.S. bomb that has never been used in war,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The GBU-57—also called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator—is a 30,000-pound behemoth encased in a high-density steel alloy designed to plummet through 200 feet of mountain rock before exploding.”
“Military analysts said the large bunker buster has the best chance of getting through to targets like the Fordow uranium-enrichment facility, which Iran buried under a mountain. Its existence has driven speculation that the U.S. could get involved in Israel’s attack.”
Washington Post: Trump debates bombing Iran in pivotal moment for presidency.
Obama Offers Careful Warning of a Democratic Slide
Former President Barack Obama warned on Tuesday night that the country was “dangerously close” to allowing its government officials to act in a way “consistent with autocracies,” offering a veiled rebuke of the Trump administration that was delivered with trademark caution, the New York Times reports.
Said Obama: “If you follow regularly what is said by those who are in charge of the federal government right now, there is a weak commitment to what we understood — and not just my generation, at least since World War II — our understanding of how a liberal democracy is supposed to work.”
He went on: “We’re not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that. And we need people both outside government and inside government saying, ‘Let’s not go over that cliff because it’s hard to recover.’”
Texas Quietly Defunds Its Border Wall Program
“Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border,” the Texas Tribune reports.
“That decision, made in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date.”
Trump Mobile Pulls Coverage Map
“Just hours into Trump Mobile’s Monday launch touting American-made smartphones, the venture pulled its coverage map after sharp-eyed users noticed a curious detail: the body of water south of Texas was labeled as the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Trump-preferred name, Gulf of America,” Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, The Verge looked for the maker of Trump’s forthcoming phone and found several similar models produced in China.
Quote of the Day
“The U.K. is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them. That’s their ultimate protection.”
— President Trump, quoted by CNBC, explaining that Britain would be protected from future tariffs.
Mamdani Narrows Cuomo’s Lead in NYC Mayor’s Race
A new Marist Poll found that 38% of likely voters planned to rank Andrew Cuomo first on their ballots for mayor, compared with 27% for Zohran Mamdani.
In a simulation of the city’s ranked-choice voting system, the former governor prevailed over Mamdani by 10 percentage points in the seventh round.
Yet, with less than a week to go before the June 24 primary, the results also showed signs of momentum for Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist running on an economic populist message. He cut the lead Cuomo held in a Marist poll in May by nearly half by consolidating progressives and making inroads with Latino voters.
Democrats Can’t Stop Fighting Each Other
“Many Democratic leaders and activists have grown frustrated with the state of their national party operation, worrying that a spate of internal divisions and unflattering feuds threatens to hinder their fight against President Donald Trump’s Republican Party,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Democratic National Committee, typically the domain of nuts and bolts political activity, has been rocked by clashes that reflect broader generational and ideological strains in the party. Now, some prominent Democrats are openly questioning the direction of the DNC under the leadership of Chair Ken Martin, with some suggesting it is stifling input from dissenting voices and refusing to change in a way that is risky for future elections. Others are blaming rival factions for adding to the party’s challenges by intervening in primaries and embracing personal vendettas. And many are simply fed up with all the rancor.”
Inside the Clashes Between Trump and Tulsi Gabbard
“As President Donald Trump privately mulled joining Israel’s campaign against Iran this month, one member of his Cabinet sent what he viewed as an audacious attempt to steer him in the opposite direction,” Politico reports.
“At 5:30 a.m. on June 10, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tweeted a cryptic, three-minute video warning that ‘political elite and warmongers’ are ‘carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers’ — and that the world is ‘on the brink of nuclear annihilation.”
“Trump saw the unauthorized video and became incensed, complaining to associates at the White House that she had spoken out of turn.”
Kristi Noem Taken to Hospital
“Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was transported by ambulance on Tuesday to a hospital in Washington, DC, after an allergic reaction,” CNN reports.
Justice Department Loses 4,000 Employees
“The Justice Department lost 4,000 employees in the Trump administration’s controversial government downsizing initiative, and critics worry those cuts will impact safety in U.S. communities,” CBS News reports.
“The so-called ‘fork in the road’ deferred resignation program, which incentivized some employees to leave federal government service, reduced the manpower in the agency for an estimated savings of $470 million.”
Iran Prepares for Possible Retaliatory Strikes on U.S.
“Iran has prepared missiles and other military equipment for strikes on U.S. bases in the Middle East should the United States join Israel’s war against the country,“ the New York Times reports.
“The United States has sent about three dozen refueling aircraft to Europe that could be used to assist fighter jets protecting American bases or that would be used to extend the range of bombers involved in any possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.”
Trump Gets Rolled Again
Donald Trump may project strength, but the defining feature of his presidency is weakness.
He’s routinely overruled — by courts, state officials and lawmakers in his own party. That shouldn’t be comforting to his critics. A president this easy to manipulate is a national vulnerability.
The latest example: Trump carved out exceptions in his mass deportation policy for the agriculture and hospitality sectors following pushback from business groups and their Republican allies.
But this week, the carve-outs suddenly vanished.
It appears Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins initially persuaded Trump to protect those industries — only for hardliner Stephen Miller to reverse course behind the scenes.
The infighting is revealing, but it misses the point.
The real story isn’t which adviser won the latest round. The real story is Trump got played again.
Cuomo Leads with One Week to Go
A new Manhattan Institute ranked-choice simulation in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City shows Andrew Cuomo defeating Zohran Mamdani 56% to 44% in the final round.
The former governor opens with a 13-point lead in the first round (43% to 30%)… Cuomo maintains his lead through every round and comes within striking distance of a majority in round 9 before sealing the win in round 10.“
Trump Considering a Strike on Iran
Wall Street Journal: “Trump is considering a range of options, including a potential U.S. strike against Iran, as he meets with top advisers in the Situation Room on Tuesday.”
Mike Lee Deletes Posts About Minnesota Killing
“Sen. Mike Lee, amid widespread outrage, has deleted a pair of social media posts associating the deadly Minnesota shootings last weekend with ‘Marxists’ and the state’s Democratic governor,” Politico reports.
“The move to remove the X posts came amid criticism from a Republican colleague Tuesday. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told reporters said Lee’s decision to comment online over the weekend ‘seems insensitive, to say the least, inappropriate, for sure’ and ‘not even true.’”
Trump Says Tulsi Gabbard Was Wrong
President Trump dismissed March testimony from his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who told Congress that the intelligence community believes Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it.”
Trump’s Tax Bill Would Add $3.3 Trillion to National Debt
“The centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s second-term legislative agenda would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, Congress’s nonpartisan bookkeeper reported Tuesday, when taking into account interest costs and the changes it would spell in the economy,” the Washington Post reports.
Wall Street Journal: “CBO’s analysis of the House-passed bill undercuts one of Republicans’ main arguments for the legislation. The bill’s authors have argued that critics are ignoring the economic boom that the tax cuts and President Trump’s other policies would create. That larger, faster-growing economy, they contend, would throw off enough extra tax revenue to cover the $2.4 trillion gap between the bill’s tax cuts and spending cuts.”
“The new CBO estimate says the opposite would happen. The bill would, effectively, un-pay for itself.”
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