An invite for members: Join a briefing with the Cook Political Report‘s David Wasserman.

Wassermann will discuss his 2026 midterm election projections in a conversation moderated by former Rep. Scott Klug (R-WI) and former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY).

President Trump spent the weekend pleading with other countries — including China — to help him out of the mess he created in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a stream of angry social media posts and impromptu remarks to reporters, Trump scrambled to invent new explanations for why other nations supposedly owe the United States their help in keeping the vital shipping lane open.

For months there’s been speculation that Vice President JD Vance was far less enthusiastic about confronting Iran than President Trump.

A new report now confirms it.

It’s been another dizzying week in the news, with the escalating war between the U.S. and Iran rattling global markets and sending oil prices soaring as the Strait of Hormuz faces major disruptions. 

See how closely you were paying attention to the headlines with this week’s news quiz.

The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live.

How the politics of the upcoming election cycle could constrain Trump’s military ambitions.

Just for members: The latest Inside Elections.

This issue takes a fresh look at the fight for the House, where the Republican majority is at considerable risk.

We’ve seen this movie before.

The turbulence of the past few months feels like a sequel to the most chaotic stretches of Donald Trump’s first term — when crisis piled upon crisis and the White House struggled to project even the appearance of control.

Midterms are usually a referendum on the party in power — and history is brutal.

Since World War II, the president’s party has managed to gain House seats in a midterm just twice: in 1998 and 2002. Those were unusual moments, powered by incumbents with high approval ratings.

President Trump warned that Iran will be “hit very hard” this weekend — including strikes on “areas and groups of people” not yet targeted — as the Israeli-American military campaign entered its second week with no clear offramp.

A few thoughts:

President Trump made it through more than a year of his second term without firing a single Cabinet secretary.

That streak ended yesterday when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was shown the door.

It was another week where the breaking news headlines wouldn’t stop.

From campaign shakeups and war in the Middle East to the latest twists in the Trump administration’s power struggles, the political world kept moving at breakneck speed.

The latest episode of Trial Balloon is live.

The 2028 presidential race just got less clear for Republicans but perhaps a little more clear for Democrats.

Montana politics took a sudden turn just minutes before the candidate filing deadline.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) abruptly withdrew his name from the ballot despite having already filed to seek a third term. Within minutes, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme (R) filed paperwork to run in his place.