USA Today: “In a matter of days, rank-and-file female lawmakers banded together across party lines to oust Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales…”
“It was a striking demonstration of bipartisan resolve on Capitol Hill. And on the heels of the overwhelming approval of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, it was just the latest example of women legislators teaming up, at odds with the men in charge of Congress, to force accountability for prominent figures accused of hurting women.”
A new Politico poll finds support for military action in Iran is weak — just 38 percent of Americans back the strikes — and views remain largely unchanged from the days following the joint U.S.-Israel strikes, even as the administration has now had weeks to make its case.
A majority of respondents say the war is not in the interests of the American people, and a plurality are still not confident that the president has clear objectives — including a notable chunk of his 2024 supporters.”
A new Politico poll finds half of Americans — including one quarter of President Trump’s 2024 voters — said Trump’s mass deportations campaign, including his widespread deployment of ICE agents, is too aggressive.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wreaking havoc on Israel’s standing with Americans as the Iran war supercharges a deterioration in relations with the U.S.,” Axios reports.
“Israel’s polling collapse among younger Americans is hitting Congress, too. Lawmakers who started out staunchly pro-Israel are becoming increasingly vocal critics.”
“As the Supreme Court barrels toward the final stretch of a politically explosive term, its private tensions are surfacing in public,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A series of blunt remarks by three justices in recent days has offered a glimpse into strained personal relationships, ideological divides and internal alarm over how the court is making key decisions. Such candid airing of friction is unusual at the court, where personal discord is normally kept behind closed doors and legal disagreements are rendered in the formal language of written dissents.”
“The U.S. military is preparing in coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, expanding its naval crackdown beyond the Middle East,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“President Donald Trump signed an executive order to expedite research and access to psychedelics used outside the US to treat post-traumatic stress disorder,” Bloomberg reports.
“A federal appeals court on Friday allowed construction on President Trump’s ballroom project to proceed through early June, pausing, for now, a lower court’s order that construction stop after next week,” the New York Times reports.
“The overnight decision was procedural: An administrative stay gave the court around seven weeks to consider the case more fully. But it was the latest in a series of careful extensions by courts that have each allowed the president to keep building for short stretches as a lawsuit fighting the project proceeds.”
Iranian Revolutionary Guards gunboats fired on a tanker traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, CNN reports.
“President Trump has a complicated relationship with the Bible. He has often called it his favorite book, has posed with it for photographers outside a church and has sold his own edition for $60. But he has also struggled to name a favorite passage or even pick a favorite Testament between the two,” the New York Times reports.
“Now, fresh from a week in which he skirmished with the pope and Christians accused him of blasphemy, Mr. Trump will participate in a marathon reading of the entire Bible in Washington, the event’s organizers announced Friday.”
Politico: Trump to release reading of scripture days after angering many Christians.
Secret memos obtained by the New York Times illuminate the origins of the court’s now-routine “shadow docket” rulings on presidential power.
“The memos show how the justices stumbled into a new way of conducting their work in major cases on presidential power, short-circuiting longstanding procedures meant to ensure careful consideration and reasoned opinions.”
The Iranian military said on Saturday morning that the Strait of Hormuz had “returned to its previous state” and is being “strictly controlled,” adding to confusion over the extent to which the waterway is open to maritime traffic, the Wall Street Journal reports.
CNN: What to know about the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran says it is reimposing restrictions.
President Trump said documents related to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena, aka UAPs, will be released “very soon,” NewsNation reports.
“Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the subject of intensifying speculation about a potential retirement before the midterm elections, is not expected to leave the bench this year,” ABC News reports.
“The court’s most senior member — 77-year-old conservative Justice Clarence Thomas — is also expected to remain on the bench.”
“Republican officials are sounding the alarm and urging significant changes ahead of November’s midterm elections, worried that the war in Iran and Democratic enthusiasm could lead to a blowout,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In some places, they fear it might already be too late.”
“Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, facing potential investigations pushed by President Trump and House Republicans, said she isn’t as wealthy as documents she previously submitted to Congress suggest because there were major accounting errors in her filing,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
President Trump told Axios that U.S. and Iranian negotiators will probably meet this weekend, and he expects them to hammer out a final deal to end the war.
Said Trump: “The Iranians want to meet. They want to make a deal. I think a meeting will probably take place over the weekend. I think we will get a deal in the next day or two.”
Wall Street Journal: Trump’s efforts to strong-arm Iran into deal spark optimism — and confusion.
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.