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“President Donald Trump’s approval rating fell in recent days to its lowest point since he returned to the White House, hit by a surge in fuel prices and widespread disapproval of the war he launched on Iran,” a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
“The four-day poll, which closed on Monday, showed 36% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, down from 40% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week.”
New York Times: “A Russian oil tanker possibly bound for Cuba is highlighting a key U.S. security concern: the communist island’s ties to foreign adversaries who use Cuba to spy on the United States.”
Punchbowl News: “The one-day-old plan to reopen the Department of Homeland Security is hitting massive turbulence from Republicans.”
“Everyone from hardline conservatives to moderate Republicans is rapping the plan as unworkable and unwise, a potential roadblock in the nascent White House-Senate strategy to end the monthlong shutdown.”
“And Senate GOP leaders are rebuffing Democrats’ demands for additional reforms to ICE’s operations and tactics.”
NewsNation: White House says Trump will back emerging DHS deal.
New York Times: “Less than 24 hours after President Trump threw cold water on their efforts to cut a deal with Democrats to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, Senate Republicans were intensifying their bid on Tuesday to find an offramp to the impasse amid staggeringly long lines at airports across the country.”
“Under a plan they discussed on Monday night with Mr. Trump at the White House, Republicans would put forth a bill to fund all of the department except for parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement involved in the administration’s deportation crackdown… It was not clear what, if any, enforcement limits would be included in such a plan, or if Democrats, who have insisted on reining in federal immigration agents’ tactics, would go along with it if it omitted such restrictions.”
Politico: “The chair of the House committee overseeing elections is circulating a list of proposals to include in a budget reconciliation bill as Senate Republicans and the White House move to rev up the party-line process to pass pieces of a contentious GOP voting bill in the coming months.”
Politico: “England’s King Charles III will make his first state visit to Washington next month… The king will address Congress in a joint meeting the week of April 27.”
New York Times: “President Trump’s threat to ‘obliterate’ power stations in Iran if its leaders failed to open the Strait of Hormuz suggests that the United States is willing to violate international humanitarian law as part of its military campaign, according to current and former human rights officials.”
“By threatening to attack civilian infrastructure, Mr. Trump has once again pushed the United States into territory more familiar to its enemies than its allies.”
Steve Bannon said that ICE officers assisting with airport operations is a “test run” for the 2026 midterms, The Hill reports.
“Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) warned against Republicans using their Senate majority to change the chamber’s filibuster rules, arguing the move could have far-reaching consequences,” NOTUS reports.
Said Lankford: “I’ve been very outspoken. I do not agree with taking down the filibuster. There are folks that believe if we want what we want, when we want it, we should just bring the house down to be able to get whatever we want. I think there’s long-term repercussions for that for the country.”
Bloomberg: “He is taking over a department whose budget has soared as it carries out Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Its tactics drove Democrats to block annual funding and played a key role in the ouster of former secretary Kristi Noem. Now, ICE agents are being deployed to another political flashpoint — heading to airports to help deal with long security lines stemming from the shutdown.”
“Mullin doesn’t plan major policy changes, but will be tasked, in part, with reforming the image of an agency whose public standing has plummeted, while still carrying out Trump’s deportation agenda.”
CNBC: “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday is launching a digital ad campaign targeting President Donald Trump and Republicans for rising gas prices amid the war in Iran.”
“The six-second ad, shared first with CNBC, shows the price at a gas pump going up and a final image saying ‘D.C. Republicans Did That!'”
New York Times: “Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been pushing President Trump to continue the war against Iran, arguing that the U.S.-Israeli military campaign presents a ‘historic opportunity’ to remake the Middle East.”
“In a series of conversations over the last week, Prince Mohammed has conveyed to Mr. Trump that he must press toward the destruction of Iran’s hard-line government.”
New York Times: “Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma said on Tuesday that he had chosen an energy executive and fellow Republican, Alan S. Armstrong, to temporarily fill the Senate vacancy left by Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary.”
“Oklahoma law requires Senate appointees to sign affidavits promising they will not seek election to a full term. President Trump has endorsed Representative Kevin Hern, who is running in the November election to serve in the next term.”
Bloomberg: “Latino voters, who helped seal President Donald Trump’s return to power in 2024, could be the reason why he loses control of the House and, possibly, the Senate.”
“More than a year into Trump’s second presidency, the same issues that helped send him back to the White House — the economy, inflation and immigration — rank as the most important for Latinos in the US ahead of November’s midterm elections, according to an exclusive national poll by Florida Atlantic University for Bloomberg News.”
New York Times: “The war in Iran is disrupting air travel around the world, but airlines in regions like the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia are being hit much harder than those in the United States.”
“For weeks, Iran has blocked a substantial share of the global oil trade through a vital choke point, the Strait of Hormuz, causing the price of jet fuel to roughly double. Because fuel is a large part of the cost of flights, airlines are among the first businesses to feel the impact of the war.”
“But airlines and the countries they operate in are exposed in different ways to rising fuel costs, flight restrictions and weakening demand.”
“A trader made nearly $1 million since 2024 from dozens of well-timed Polymarket bets that correctly predicted US and Israeli military actions against Iran,” CNN reports.
“The bettor won a staggering 93% of their five-figure wagers about Iran, even though the events they predicted were unannounced military operations.”
The Downballot: “Democrats have the chance to flip as many as three Republican seats in the Florida legislature on Tuesday night, including one district that’s right in Donald Trump’s backyard—literally.”
Former U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder writes in Politico that attacking Iran is a far worse strategic “blunder” for the U.S. than the Iraq war, and the consequences will be much longer lasting.
“The reasons for this are many, ranging from the immediate impact on the region and the global economy to the longer-term upshots for Russia and China, as well as the repercussions for U.S. alliances and America’s global standing.”
“That much is already clear — and we’re only three weeks in.”
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.
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