New York Times: “The tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million to a super PAC backed by President Trump last month, about one week before his administration rolled out a new policy that could prove lucrative to the tobacco industry.”
Inside Trump’s AI ‘Slopaganda’ Machine
Financial Times: “Trump has posted more than 2,700 times on Truth Social in 2026 — equivalent to more than 19 posts a day — with almost half of these containing images or videos, helping him dominate the attention economy outside of formal media appearances.”
Trump Just Pardoned Himself and His Family Forever
Jeffrey Toobin: “For decades there have been disagreements among constitutional scholars about whether a president can pardon himself. But Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, just gave President Trump something even better: pre-emptive exoneration from all potential criminal liability for certain financial crimes. He also guaranteed that the federal government would not be able to pursue tax claims against the president (or his family or his businesses).”
“Mr. Blanche wrote a new chapter in the history of the presidency, elevating the office to a point where Mr. Trump and his family are declared exempt from the rules that apply to his fellow citizens.”
U.S. National Debt Officially Hits $39 Trillion
Fortune: “It wasn’t even a year ago that fiscal hawks were wringing their hands over a new national debt milestone: The debt had hit $38 trillion, and interest payments on an annual basis would be 13 figures.”
“A little over 200 days later, the U.S. national debt stands at more than $39 trillion. According to Treasury data, updated retrospectively for May 18, the debt landed at $39,008,999,901,378.68.”
Trump Bets His Venezuela Playbook Will Work in Cuba
Wall Street Journal: “With the murder indictment of Cuban leader Raúl Castro, President Trump is applying the playbook he used to upend Venezuela’s leadership to force Havana’s Communist government into submission.”
“Trump has pointed to Venezuela as a model for wielding power in America’s backyard after the U.S. military blasted through the defenses around its leader Nicolás Maduro and arrested him on drug-trafficking charges. Maduro’s successor, his Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, has delivered on U.S. demands, a scenario Trump has implied could be replicated in Cuba.”
Trump Eyes More GOP Targets for Revenge in 2028
Axios: “Fresh off his takedowns of GOP dissenters in this month’s primaries, President Trump is already making a list of Republicans who could be on his 2028 chopping block.”
“Why it matters: Trump’s string of primary wins over GOP adversaries has reaffirmed his dominance over the party — and now he’s looking to extend that influence after he leaves office in January 2029.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“People are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the president and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability.”
— Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), quoted by Punchbowl News.
U.S. Opens Greenland Consulate as Unease Grows
Bloomberg: “The U.S. is facing protests in Greenland’s capital as a new consulate opening fuels concerns over Washington’s designs for the island.”
Iran Rebuilds Military Industrial Base Faster Than Expected
CNN: “Iran has already restarted some of its drone production during the six-week ceasefire that began in early April, one sign it is rapidly rebuilding certain military capabilities degraded by US-Israeli strikes… Four sources told CNN that US intelligence indicates Iran’s military is reconstituting much faster than initially estimated.”
“The rebuilding of military capabilities, including replacing missile sites, launchers and production capacity for key weapons systems destroyed during the current conflict, means that Iran remains a significant threat to regional allies should President Donald Trump restart the bombing campaign.”
Midterm Strength Masks Democrats’ Divides
“The Democratic Party is entering the midterm elections with the political winds at its back but a fiercely dissatisfied and divided voter base that is trying to steer the party in wildly divergent directions,” a New York Times/Siena poll found.
“More than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents expressed frustration with the party, despite the fact that Democrats appear well positioned to take the House and compete for the Senate in November. Registered voters favored Democratic candidates over Republicans by 10 percentage points, a sizable margin less than six months out from the midterms.”
“But beneath that strong showing, unhappiness spanned almost every part of the party’s coalition — including young, white, Black and college-educated voters — and was especially strong among Democrats least attached to the party, who are the most likely to swing elections.”
Todd Blanche Jettisons Moderation
“Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has tried to tread an ever-narrowing path between his role as a top Justice Department official and the job that got him there in the first place — as President Trump’s doggedly loyal former lead defense lawyer,” the New York Times reports.
“Allies of Mr. Blanche thought he could achieve two seemingly irreconcilable goals when he was elevated to temporarily replace Pam Bondi after her ouster in April: restoring stability and competence to the department and taking a handful of actions that were sufficiently drastic to convince the boss he was tough enough to make his title permanent.”
“So far, however, Mr. Blanche has exhibited few of the modest moderating tendencies he exhibited during more than a year as Ms. Bondi’s top deputy.”
Iran Is Consolidating Control of the Strait of Hormuz
Reuters: “To reveal how Iran has been consolidating control over this strategic chokepoint in recent weeks, Reuters interviewed 20 people with knowledge of the evolving mechanism, including Asian and European shipping sources and Iranian and Iraqi officials, reviewed Iranian documents related to the vetting process, and analysed movements of ships.”
“Taken together, they offer rare insight into how the Iranian scheme functions, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps playing a central role.”
Gas Prices Likely to Spike Even Higher
GasBuddy predicts another big spike in gas prices next week — up from $4.56 a gallon — if President Trump doesn’t figure out a way to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Quote of the Day
“I’m not doing this politically. Look, everyone tells me it’s unpopular, but I think it’s very popular. When they hear that it’s having to do with nuclear weapons, weapons that could take out Los Angeles, take out major cities very quickly… I don’t really have enough time to explain it to people, I’m too busy getting it done — but when they understand, I think it’s frankly very popular. But whether it’s popular or not popular, I have to do it.”
— President Trump, quoted by Politico, on the Iran War.
Something Is Coming in Cuba
Playbook: “It’s not just domestic policy where Trump is handing Dems an open goal, with the president showing no sign of stepping back from his foreign affairs obsession. It’s pretty clear now that something big is coming on Cuba — you don’t send the CIA director to Havana and then indict a country’s 94-year-old figurehead on a whim.”
“Trump has been telling us all year that Cuba is on his intervention list, and we’re now at the point where Secretary of State Marco Rubio is addressing the Cuban public directly in Spanish.”
However: “The idea of military intervention is not popular with the American public. A recent YouGov/CEPR poll found 64 percent of Americans oppose the U.S. going to war against Cuba. Only 15 percent were in support.”
U.S. to Award Quantum Computing Firms $2 Billion
“The Trump administration is awarding $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies in deals that include U.S. government equity stakes,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The move accelerates the administration’s plans to boost the nascent industry, which has attracted a wave of investment from investors and businesses in recent months.”
Late-Night Jokes About Trump Have Increased
Washington Post: “President Donald Trump has long been critical of the late-night comedy shows that roast him daily. But his second term has been marked by his hostility toward late-night comics and his administration taking action against the networks that carry these shows. In some cases, networks made programming decisions that carried suspicions of political interference.”
“So, how have the late-night hosts reacted? Not by relenting in their skewering of Trump, his administration or his policies. In fact, they’ve turned up the heat, according to a Washington Post analysis of six late-night comedy shows critical of the president.”
“Since Election Day, Trump has remained the most frequently mentioned individual, and hosts have continued satirizing and critiquing Trump over his policies, scandals and legal troubles.”
“And as his second term progressed, Trump has been mentioned more frequently by these late-night hosts, not less.”
Trump’s Revenge Campaign Sparks Backlash
“President Trump’s retribution campaign is fracturing support for his priorities in the Senate, where anger is mounting among Republicans over his latest moves to punish GOP critics and reward allies headed into what is expected to be a difficult midterm election for their party,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The growing frustration with Trump could endanger Republicans’ legislative agenda, which relies on their ability to stick together on party-line votes, from immigration-enforcement funding to a gas-tax holiday to tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. war in Iran. It could also weigh on their chances for holding on to their majorities in the House and Senate.”
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