Trump Attacks Pope Leo as Too Liberal and ‘Weak on Crime’  —  President Trump's lengthy post on social media showed there were really no boundaries when it comes to people he might target, including the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.  —  Pope Leo XIV is one of the world's most powerful critics of the U.S. war with Iran.

Trump Said Other Countries Would Help Blockade Iran.  So Far, There Are No Takers.  —  President Trump's announcement of a complete U.S. blockade was his latest effort to pressure Iran to negotiate after direct talks over the weekend did not yield an agreement.

Federal Judge Dismisses Donald Trump's Lawsuit Concerning the Epstein Birthday Letter  —  The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, but is a win for the Wall Street Journal  —  A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Donald Trump against The Wall Street Journal …

The world's worst dealmaker screws up the Iran negotiations  —  PN is supported by paid subscribers.  Become one ⬇️  —  🤝 Subscribe to PN 🤝  —  “The Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World …

The Axis of Autocracy Loses a Wheel  —  Hungarians stand up for democracy  —  After Victor Orbán's Fidesz party took power in 2010, Hungary became a role model for those who admired corruption, fascism, and loyalty to Vladimir Putin.  Orbán's regime brought widespread crony capitalism …

Trump post appearing to depict himself as Jesus sparks backlash from religious right  —  Evangelical and Catholic allies call the post “blasphemous” and urge its removal in a rare public break from a base that has largely stood by Trump.  —  President Donald Trump's posting of a rendering …

Election loss for Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán has ripple effects for Trump, US conservatives  —  The big election over the weekend was in a small European country nearly half a world away from Washington, but the defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has significant reverberations in the United States.

Fellow Democrats urge Swalwell to quit California governor's race and resign from Congress  —  Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign for California governor on Sunday following sexual assault allegations that he continues to deny.  “I will fight the serious …

Inside Trump's Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections  —  Reporting Highlights  — Safeguards Destroyed: In advance of this year's midterm elections, President Donald Trump has systematically demolished federal guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 election.

What the death of Direct File tells us about state capacity  —  This tax season, American taxpayers will spend billions of hours and hundreds of billions of dollars — not to pay their taxes, but to report them to the government.  In addition to tariff- and war-induced inflation …

What Orban's Defeat Means for the Rest of the World  —  On Saturday, the day before the Hungarian election, I went to Puspokladany, a run-down town of about 16,000 in northeastern Hungary, for the penultimate rally of opposition leader Peter Magyar.  Though the region has traditionally …

Iowa looks competitive, according to new Dem poll  —  Iowa looks to be seriously in play for Democrats in November up and down the ballot, according to a new survey from a Democratic group that backs moderate candidates.  Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand holds an eight-point lead in the governor's race …

America Used to Own the Internet.  Now It's Running Scared.  —  The U.S. restricted data transfers abroad.  Cast as an assertion of sovereignty, the new posture signals weakness in great-power competition.  —  nikenberger  —  Meet The Authors  —  For most of the internet era …

Peltola raises almost $9M in first three months of Senate bid … Sullivan's campaign said last week he had raised $2.1 million across his authorized committees and had $7.5 million in cash on hand.  Peltola's campaign declined to provide her amount of cash on hand, raising the possibility that she spent a lot to raise that much.