Top Items:
New Republic:
Trump Hit by Brutal Fox Poll as Aides Scramble: “He's in a Bad Mood” — A new Fox News poll contains crushing findings for Donald Trump. His approval on the economy is at 34 percent with 66 percent disapproving. On inflation, those numbers are even worse, at 28-72.
Discussion:
Politico
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Greg Sargent / New Republic:
The Incredible Shrinking MAGA — If you follow politics on social media, you've probably encountered a claim about Donald Trump that goes like this: “LOL Trump's support is rock-solid LOL, his base will never leave him LOL.” And it's true: The white-hot core of MAGA does remain with him.
Discussion:
Fox News
US Department of Justice:
The Justice Department Takes Actions to Strengthen the Federal Death Penalty — For Immediate Release — President Trump's Day-One Executive Order Directed the Department to Prioritize Seeking and Implementing Death Sentences to Protect Public Safety — Today, the Department of Justice acted …
Discussion:
CNN, Straight Arrow News, CBS News, The Independent, The Daily Caller, New Republic, Forbes and The Post Millennial
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Reuters:
Justice Department readopts firing squads in federal executions — The department said it is also resuming the use of lethal injection in executions.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Associated Press, Washington Times, Al Jazeera, Joe.My.God., Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Mediaite
Fox News:
Justice Department announces it's readopting the firing squad as a means of execution — The Department of Justice on Friday directed the Bureau of Prisons to expand death penalty protocols to include pentobarbital injections and firing squads as part of broader actions to strengthen the federal death penalty.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Washington Examiner, Townhall, Breitbart and Louder With Crowder
Trevor Aaronson / The Intercept:
Kash Patel Got Arrested for Public Urination After a Night of Drinking — FBI Director Kash Patel was twice arrested in incidents involving alcohol, once for public intoxication and once for public urination after leaving a bar, he admitted in a 2005 letter about disclosures on his Florida Bar application.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Marc Caputo / Axios:
DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats — Florida bans lawmakers from intentionally creating congressional seats to give their party an advantage. But Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly has launched a three-tiered power play to evade the ban — and create more GOP-friendly seats — in November.
Discussion:
New Republic, The Contrarian, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Fox News, Roll Call, IJR, Florida Politics, Washington Examiner, The Hill, KDFX-TV and Politico
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Ryan Mancini / The Hill:
Rove warns of proposed Florida Republican gerrymander ‘risk’ — Republican strategist Karl Rove on Friday warned that a proposed Florida Republican gerrymander could be a “risk” for the GOP's control over the state's House delegation. — “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Rove …
Discussion:
Florida Politics and Daily Kos
Parker Molloy / The Present Age:
The “Freakout” and the “Abyss” — When Texas Republicans gerrymandered at Trump's direction, the Washington Post told readers to calm down. When Virginia Democrats responded, the editorial board found the end of democracy. — Hello! If you are reading this today, April 24, 2026, it is my 40th birthday!
Discussion:
The Week and Letters from an American
Phil Stewart / Reuters:
Exclusive: Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift, source says — An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, NewsMax.com, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, France 24, Al Jazeera, Breitbart, The Independent, CoinDesk, Raw Story, Council on Foreign Relations, The National Pulse, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, Bloomberg, GB News and Modern Diplomacy, more at Techmeme »
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Paul McLeary / Politico:
Hegseth declares victory while preparing for more war with Iran … Hegseth opened his remarks by saying that the operation is not an endless war like Vietnam or Iraq and Afghanistan, all of which dragged on for years amid shifting or unachievable strategic goals.
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Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
April 23, 2026 — Yesterday Secretary of the Navy John Phelan spent the day talking …
April 23, 2026 — Yesterday Secretary of the Navy John Phelan spent the day talking …
Discussion:
Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Hill and MS NOW
Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Hegseth responds to pope's criticism: ‘We know what authority we have’
Hegseth responds to pope's criticism: ‘We know what authority we have’
Discussion:
IJR
ABC News:
DOJ expected to drop criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell amid pressure from senators: Sources — The investigation threatened to delay the confirmation of Powell's successor. — Katherine Faulders, Elizabeth Schulze, Allison Pecorin, and Alexander Mallin
Discussion:
CBS News, The Hill, Washington Post, NPR, NBC News, NOTUS, CNBC, Reuters, New York Post, Blaze Media, The National Pulse, MS NOW, The Gateway Pundit, The Stanford Daily, New Republic and Bloomberg
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Associated Press:
Justice Department drops criminal probe of Fed chair Powell, likely clearing way for Warsh — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Deparment has ended its probe into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, clearing a major roadblock to the confirmation of his successor, Kevin Warsh.
Discussion:
Axios, The Hill, Bloomberg, CBS News, Scripps News, Straight Arrow News, CoinDesk, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, Associated Press, Semafor, The Independent, New Republic, Mediaite, KARE-TV and Joe.My.God.
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Conspiracy Theory Behind Tucker Carlson's Apology — Tucker Carlson, you might have heard, is sorry. Early this week he posted a long conversation with his brother, Buckley, a former Trump speechwriter, in which they tried to make sense of the wreckage of the second Donald Trump presidency.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Digby's Hullabaloo
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Matt Lewis / The Hill:
Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price
Trump lived by the conspiracy theory — now he pays the price
Discussion:
Raw Story
Washington Post:
Elon Musk's near-daily online posts about race are turning off some fans — The billionaire posted 850 times on the topic in recent months, almost triple the rate for the previous two years. — Summary — Elon Musk, the world's richest person, is on the cusp of a record-setting initial public offering …
Discussion:
The Independent
Ayaan Hirsi Ali / The Free Press:
The SPLC Targeted Me. Now Its Reckoning Has Come. — The group that called me an ‘extremist’ has been accused of funding hate groups. And it's provoked racial conflict for decades. — Upgrade to Listen — A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday issued an 11-count indictment …
Discussion:
Breitbart, PJ Media, The Daily Wire, No More Mister Nice Blog, twitchy.com, The Federalist, Townhall and Public Notice
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Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
What's Wrong With The SPLC Indictment
What's Wrong With The SPLC Indictment
Discussion:
The Intercept, MS NOW, Raw Story, Townhall, New York Post, Fox News, CBS News, The Hill, Associated Press, Talking Feds Substack and The Daily Wire
Ben Protess / New York Times:
Trump Says He Dislikes Prediction Markets. His Family Invests in Them. — The White House has warned staff not to wager on government decisions, but his family's involvement with these firms undermines the president's message. — When a U.S. soldier was indicted on Thursday on charges …
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, Business Insider, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller, Truthout, UPI, Al Jazeera, CBS News, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Joe.My.God., Financial Times, Gizmodo and Mediaite
Rick Hasen / Election Law Blog:
Trump Bizarrely Ties Politically-Motivated Prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center to Having the Results of the 2020 Election Be “wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect” — Hard for me to see the logic in any of this, even given Trump's usual unclear statements:
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
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Chris Bradford / New York Post:
Trump calls for 2020 presidential election to be ‘permanently wiped from the books’ if Southern Poverty Law Center convicted of fraud
Trump calls for 2020 presidential election to be ‘permanently wiped from the books’ if Southern Poverty Law Center convicted of fraud
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Breitbart, New Republic, MeidasTouch News, NewsMax.com, Joe.My.God., The Daily Wire, HuffPost and IJR
Claire Carter / Washington Examiner:
Panda diplomacy: China sends two bears to Atlanta ahead of Trump-Xi summit — China on Friday agreed to send two giant pandas to the United States in a renewed display of “panda diplomacy,” a move that comes weeks before a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Discussion:
The Daily Wire, Zoo Atlanta, NewsMax.com, Bloomberg and Washington Times
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Trump Isn't Thinking Strait — Another day, another Pentagon press conference in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fruitlessly demands Europe get more involved with reopening the Strait of Hormuz: “This should not be America's fight alone,” Hegseth seethed. “We barely use the Strait of Hormuz. . . .
Discussion:
CNN, MS NOW and Joe.My.God.
Anna Clark / ProPublica:
Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash — Reporting Highlights — Health Fears: Some critics say large solar farms are a public health threat. While there is little reputable evidence for this, their claims have helped power a backlash.
Erica Orden / Politico:
Judge sanctions law firm that has pursued Leon Black over Epstein ties … The woman in this case, whom Christensen no longer represents, sued Black using a Jane Doe pseudonym. — Clarke, a Biden appointee, found that Christensen “repeatedly lied to the Court and to opposing counsel in this litigation” …
Natalie Hausmann / Democracy Docket:
Many Americans believe Trump's lies about voter fraud, poll shows — President Donald Trump's repeated attempts to convince the public that elections are rigged and voter fraud is rampant - both false claims - have had an impact, a new poll shows. — The findings underscore the damage …
Tracey Tully / New York Times:
Concern Grows Over Republican Congressman's Mysterious Absence — A spokesman for Representative Thomas Kean Jr. said an unspecified “personal medical issue” has led the New Jersey Republican to miss House votes. — Representative Thomas Kean Jr., one of the most vulnerable Republican members of Congress …
Discussion:
NBC News, ABC News, Townhall, New Jersey Globe, Althouse, RedState, NJ Spotlight News and New York Post
New York Times:
Iran War Live Updates: Kushner and Witkoff to Talk With Iranian Officials in Pakistan — Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will also be in Islamabad this weekend, and Iranian officials said he planned to meet with the two Americans. — Here's the latest.
Discussion:
The Hill, Axios, CBS News, GZERO, Los Angeles Times, Human Events, The Times of Israel, Daily Caller News Foundation, Reuters, Washington Times, Joe.My.God., Financial Times, CNBC, WAGA-TV, WVEC, Al Jazeera and WXIA-TV
Jason Leopold / Bloomberg:
FOIA Documents ‘Scrubbed’ From Intelligence Agency Website — Last year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence removed all documents from its FOIA reading room. Emails say a Biden-era FOIA release caused a “fuss.” … At first glance, the disappearance of documents …
Minho Kim / New York Times:
White House Allowed Officials' Text Messages to Be Deleted, Lawsuit Says — Two watchdogs say internal White House guidance that text messages need not be preserved unless “they are the sole record of official decision-making” contradicted the law. — Two government watchdogs sued President Trump …
Discussion:
Washington Post and NewsMax.com
Benjy Sarlin / Vox:
Nobody is laughing at Donald Trump anymore — When I think of the difference between Donald Trump's first term and Donald Trump's second term, the image that stands out most is the president bombing. — Not a country, in this case — a comedy routine. — It was this January's keynote speech …
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
Palantir Is Helping Trump's IRS Conduct “Massive-Scale” Data Mining — Military contractor Palantir has been paid more than $130 million by the IRS to analyze sensitive federal databases. — MILITARY CONTRACTOR PALANTIR is helping the IRS analyze dozens of different data sets on Americans …
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
The incredible shrinking Trump coalition — An updated look at the president's approval rating by geography and demographics shows just how narrow his coalition has become. — It has been an exciting poll week here at Strength In Numbers. On Tuesday, we released our April Strength …
Fox News:
Blue state residents ‘fleeing in droves’ after ‘insane’ progressive takeover, says top state attorney — A top state attorney in Democrat-controlled Maryland says he has had enough and is throwing in the towel after saying the Old Line State has suffered an “insane” “ultra-progressive” takeover.
Discussion:
RedState
Associated Press:
Head-on bus crash near a Pentagon stop injures 23 people, including Defense Department workers — Two buses crashed head-on near a Pentagon bus stop on Friday, injuring 23 people, including Defense Department personnel. The Omni Ride and Fairfax Connector transit buses struck each other shortly …
Discussion:
WUSA, RedState, The Daily Wire, WTTG-TV and Fox News


