Trump Threatens to Fire Powell if He Does Not Resign From Fed  —  Although Jerome H. Powell's term as Fed chair officially ends on May 15, he can stay on as a governor until 2028 and said he would not leave until a criminal investigation was over.  —  President Trump on Wednesday vowed …

Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer from ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service  —  For the second month in a row, Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself “secretary of war,” read a violent prayer — that echoes a scene in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction …

Senate Republicans Again Block Bid to Limit Trump's Iran War Powers  —  For the fourth time since the war began, G.O.P. senators successfully fended off an effort to constrain the president.  But there were signs of growing unease among Republicans.  —  Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked …

Amid quarrel with pope, Trump strips Miami charity of funding to house migrant kids  —  The Trump administration has abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities to shelter and care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship between the Catholic Church …

U.S. sends thousands more troops to Mideast as Trump seeks to squeeze Iran  —  The deployment includes sailors and Marines due to arrive as the administration attempts to enforce a maritime blockade against the regime in Tehran.  —  Summary  —  The Pentagon is sending thousands …

Longtime Immigration Court Interpreter Arrested by ICE at South Texas Airport … Last month, Meenu Batra, 53, who has lived in the South Texas border colonia of Laguna Heights since 2002, was on her way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to work another case.  She's been a court interpreter for over 20 years …

Donald Trump messed with the wrong pope  —  The White House cannot stop fighting with the pope.  —  On Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance — who converted to Catholicism in 2019 — accused Pope Leo XIV of not understanding the Church's stance on war, saying it was “very …

Trump posts AI image of being embraced by Jesus Christ amid criticism for other religious posts  —  President Trump shared a post on Truth Social Wednesday that featured an image of him being embraced by Jesus Christ amid the criticism he has received for another image that featured him as Jesus.

In group chats and meetings, Republicans are privately petrified the Iran war could cost them the midterms  —  Many Republican lawmakers and strategists told NBC News they worry the party has little to run on.  “Right now, the voters don't see a message or a strategy,” a Trump pollster said.

Jury Finds Live Nation Acts as a Monopoly in a Victory for States  —  In a verdict that could have far-reaching consequences in the music industry, the live colossus that includes Ticketmaster was found to have violated antitrust laws.  —  A federal jury on Wednesday found that Live Nation …

Trump believes diet soda kills cancer cells, Dr Oz reveals  —  Physicians issue reminder to public after TV doctor and CMS chief relays president's claim on Don Jr podcast  —  Donald Trump defended his consumption of diet soda by suggesting it might help prevent cancer …

Exclusive: Pentagon ramps up planning of possible military ops in Cuba  —  Kim Hjelmgaard Rick Jervis Francesca ChambersUSA TODAY  —  WASHINGTON — Military planning for a possible Pentagon-led operation in Cuba is quietly ramping up, in case President Donald Trump gives an order to intervene there, USA TODAY has learned.

California Provides Sex-Change Procedures to Homeless Illegal Aliens  —  In San Francisco, ideology rules.  —  / Eye on the News / Politics and Law, Health Care, The Social Order  —  Last month, we received a report from a whistleblower who claimed that illegal aliens were staying in San Francisco's homeless shelters.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson slams Supreme Court's emergency docket actions … Rulings on the Supreme Court's emergency docket — often dubbed the “shadow docket” by critics — are typically brief and usually do not include the sort of detailed legal reasoning and conclusions the high court issues …

Labor Dept. Investigates Texts Among Secretary's Family and Staff  —  Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer asked staff members to bring wine to her hotel room, and to keep in touch with her husband and father.  —  The Labor Department's inspector general is reviewing material showing …

Trump Spirals Into Fury at Bad Iran News as Polls Hit Shocking New Low  —  Donald Trump is now raging at a staunch ally, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.  After she sided with the pope's criticism of the Iran war, which had infuriated Trump, he unloaded again, ripping her as “unacceptable” …

Cato Institute official pushes back after Trump touts its immigration data  —  The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, is pushing back on President Trump's claim that its immigration research shows the Trump administration's handling of the southern border is “the best in the History of the U.S.A.”

U.S. Puts Little Pressure on Israel to Stop Attacks on Lebanon  —  Despite hailing negotiations between the two sides as a “historic milestone,” Washington did not call for a halt to Israeli strikes or for a withdrawal from Lebanese territory.  —  The United States hailed rare talks …

New CBS Boss to Host Fancy Dinner ‘Honoring’ Trump  —  TAKES THE CAKE  —  David Ellison's friendly ties with the president have horrified staffers.  —  Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is hosting an intimate event to honor Donald Trump's White House, along with correspondents from the now-MAGA-friendly CBS News.

I Was Falsely Accused of “Censorship” in The Free Press.  Then Their Editors Censored The Truth.  —  I prefer to keep drama off main in this newsletter, so I would rather not have to publish a post like this.  But one of the things I've been meaning to write about is the way that partisan media ecosystems protect their own.

MAGA Is Starting to Look Beyond Trump  —  A seemingly endless torrent of criticism directed toward Trump from former MAGA allies suggests the president is losing support from his base.  —  For months now, it seems that every day brings with it a new faction of MAGAworld getting angry …

Vought: White House doesn't have ‘ballpark’ total for Iran war funding  —  White House budget director Russ Vought told lawmakers Wednesday that the Trump administration hasn't settled on “a ballpark” range for how much funding it will ask Congress to approve for the Iran conflict.

Majority Of Voters Blame Trump For Recent Rise In Gas Prices, Trump Job Approval Holds Steady At 38%, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 64% Think Threat To End ‘A Whole Civilization’ Was Unacceptable  — mail_outline  —  As the U.S. war with Iran drives up gasoline prices …

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is preparing banks to collect citizenship data … Banks in the U.S. may not like the idea of being forced to collect citizenship data on customers, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says they better be prepared for the task.

Prosecutors add terrorism charge in new D.C. pipe bomb indictment  —  Brian Cole Jr. is accused of placing explosives near the RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.  —  Summary  —  Federal prosecutors have added terrorism and weapons-of-mass-destruction charges …

State Navigate Poll: Virginians are Divided on Governor Spanberger and Redistricting Referendum  —  Follow the Election Results of the Virginia Constitutional Amendment with our NavCast Model on April 21st!  —  “Soon as they like you, make them unlike you.”  —  Background

Autocracy = Corruption  —  There will be many post-mortems on the demise of the Orbán regime.  The stunning victory of Hungary's opposition was delivered by an electoral surge so large that it swamped the anti-democratic breakwaters the regime had erected to maintain its grip on power.

How America Is Losing the World |  Lunch Money with Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson  —  A recording from Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson's live video  —  Thank you Quentin Hardy, Beth Arnold, Jane Trombley, Resistance Media, Victoria Priya, and many others for tuning into my live video with Heather Cox Richardson!