Top Items:
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump Wins Big as Virginia Dems Won't Go Nuclear to Save 4 House Seats — Top Virginia Democrats have decided against exercising a controversial procedural end run around last week's state Supreme Court ruling that struck down their redistricting, which wiped away a gain of four House seats …
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New Republic:
Transcript: Trump Blurts Out Plot to Rig Midterms as Polls Turn Brutal — The following is a lightly edited transcript of the May 11 episode of The Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here. — Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
Discussion:
RedState, The Contrarian and Townhall
Jonathan Martin / Politico:
Trump's Redistricting Push Could Cost Republicans More Than It Gains … Last week was the best one President Donald Trump has had in months. — Trump reminded Republicans who's boss by ousting Indiana lawmakers who defied his redistricting demands, saw Democrats' attempt to gerrymander Virginia blocked …
Discussion:
The Bulwark, The Contrarian, Raw Story and Mediaite
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Republican Judges Leave Democrats No Choice But To Escalate
Republican Judges Leave Democrats No Choice But To Escalate
Discussion:
CNBC, Politico, Slate and NewsMax.com
Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
This is a crisis of democracy. What will Dems do about it?
This is a crisis of democracy. What will Dems do about it?
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and twitchy.com
Nancy Cordes / CBS News:
Trump says he aims to suspend gas tax “for a period of time” — Add CBS News on Google — Washington — President Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News Monday morning that he aims to suspend the federal gas tax “for a period of time.” — “I think it's a great idea,” the president said.
Discussion:
NOTUS, New York Post, Axios, CNBC, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico, Al Jazeera, Business Insider, NewsMax.com, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Deseret News, The Hill, NBC News, NPR, The Guardian, The Post Millennial, WLTX-TV, New York Magazine, RedState, WTTG-TV, New Republic, The Independent, Straight Arrow News, Washington Times, ABC News, The Daily Wire, Bangor Daily News, Mediaite and FOX 32 Chicago
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New York Times:
Iran Defends Its Demands After Trump's Rejection
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Asia Times, The Hill, Raw Story, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Fox News, Mediaite, IJR, CBS News, Council on Foreign Relations, The Daily Wire, Al Jazeera and UPI
Isaac Arnsdorf / Washington Post:
Trump seeks to pause federal gas tax as prices soar amid Iran conflict
Trump seeks to pause federal gas tax as prices soar amid Iran conflict
Discussion:
Scripps News, The Hill, CBS News, Townhall, Washington Examiner, WLTX-TV, Algemeiner.com, Reuters, New York Post and Axios
Politico:
Trump casts doubt on teetering ceasefire
Trump casts doubt on teetering ceasefire
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill and Washington Examiner
New York Times:
Reflecting Pool Repairs to Cost $13.1 Million. Trump Had Promised $1.8 Million. — The Interior Department added $6.2 million to the no-bid contract for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial pool late last week. — President Trump said that his handpicked contractor would charge only $1.8 million …
Discussion:
NBC News, The Hill, TCLF, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, The Architect's Newspaper, New Republic, CBS News, Washingtonian, Raw Story, The Independent and Mediaite
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Dan Diamond / Washington Post:
Nonprofit sues to stop Trump's changes to Reflecting Pool, a historic site
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Lawsuit filed over Trump's Reflecting Pool renovations
Lawsuit filed over Trump's Reflecting Pool renovations
Discussion:
Associated Press, CNN, twitchy.com, Washington Examiner, Reuters, The Independent, Politico, UPI, The Gateway Pundit and MS NOW
Gabriela Aoun Angueira / Associated Press:
Trump nominates Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA, a year after he was fired from the role — President Donald Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton Monday to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a surprising comeback for the former Navy SEAL who was fired from his role as FEMA's temporary leader …
Discussion:
Federal News Network
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Thomas Frank / Politico:
Trump picks Cameron Hamilton to run FEMA — The president nominated the man he fired as leader of the nation's disaster agency a year ago. — Cameron Hamilton testifies on Capitol Hill last year before he was fired as acting administrator of FEMA. President Donald Trump nominated him Monday to lead the agency again.
Discussion:
New York Times
Liam Scott / Washington Post:
Many Americans think Trump assassination attempts were fake, survey finds — About 1 in 4 say the correspondents' dinner shooting was staged, the poll found, including roughly a third of Democrats, as conspiracy theories spread widely online. — Summary — About 1 in 4 Americans …
Discussion:
Ace of Spades HQ, HotAir, Straight Arrow News, RedState, Raw Story, The Independent, Althouse and Mediaite
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Elena Moore / NPR:
New poll finds a majority of Americans unsure if attempts on Trump's life were real
New poll finds a majority of Americans unsure if attempts on Trump's life were real
Discussion:
The Hill, The Daily Caller, LifeNews.com and Mediaite
The White House:
Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate — NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE: — Francis Brooke, of Virginia, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. — Cameron Hamilton, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Steve Benen / MS NOW:
The problem(s) with the transportation secretary's tone-deaf reality series — Sean Duffy's return to reality programming isn't just a political mess, it also raises unavoidable ethical questions. — Just two weeks into Donald Trump's second term, Axios published a report noting …
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theRighting:
Traffic to Truth Social Soars 45% in April While Other News Websites Decline — Trump-Controlled Platform Vaults to #2 in Traffic for First Time Ever — Year-over-year (YOY) visits in April to the Trump-controlled Truth Social rose 45%, while almost every news website monitored by TheRighting experienced declines.
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Clears Way for More Beef Imports, Aiming to Bring Down Record-High Prices — The administration is suspending tariff-rate quotas on all beef-exporting nations; beef prices have climbed steadily since Trump took office — The Trump administration is opening the way to import more steaks …
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Gary Sernovitz / New York Times:
'Bill Cassidy Sold His Soul to the Devil, and He Didn't Get Anything for It' — On Saturday, we'll get some data on how yet another Trump Tragedy will end. Recent polls put Bill Cassidy, the senator from Louisiana, in third place heading into the first round of the Republican primary here.
Discussion:
Newsweek, Townhall and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
People Want What They Want — 1. The People — Sarah had Tim on The Focus Group this weekend.
People Want What They Want — 1. The People — Sarah had Tim on The Focus Group this weekend.
Discussion:
The Atlantic
New York Times:
Kennedy Is Driving a Vast Inquiry Into Vaccines, Despite His New Silence on the Issue … Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said little publicly about vaccines in recent months, at the behest of a White House worried that his unpopular stance will hurt Republicans in November's midterm elections.
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Inside the wild fight to oust a top GOP Trump critic — The fight between Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and President Trump-backed rival Ed Gallrein is now the most expensive U.S. House primary in history — and it's one of the nastiest, too. … - One pro-Gallrein super PAC ad features …
Discussion:
HuffPost, Raw Story, Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal, more at Mediagazer »
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice leaves Democratic Party over antisemitism concerns … In his statement, Wecht said he's long felt antisemitism was most potent on the fringes of the right — especially after the 2018 shooting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, where Wecht was married and is a former board member.
Discussion:
Jewish Insider and Reason
The Atlantic:
Stephen Miller in Retreat — Just hours before Stephen Miller arrived at the Mar-a-Lago ballroom on New Year's Eve—where he would welcome 2026 by dancing next to the soon-to-be-defenestrated homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, as the 1990s cultural relic Vanilla Ice performed—he won a great, though ultimately fleeting, victory.
Discussion:
The Independent, Adam Kinzinger, New Republic, Raw Story and Mediaite
Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
The families going hungry because of Trump's food stamp cuts — Under President Donald Trump's “big, beautiful bill,” food stamp applicants are fighting to prove eligibility and facing questions about birthday gifts sent over Zelle. A crisis in Arizona offers a warning for America.
Discussion:
Al Jazeera
David McAfee / Raw Story:
Trump official rages at legendary basketball star: ‘What a selfish move’ — A Donald Trump admin official took the time Sunday night to chastise one of the greatest basketball legends in history. — It all started with a video posted by LA Mayor Karen Bass, who is currently in a fight …
Discussion:
New York Post, The Hill, RedState, IJR, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News and LGBTQ Nation
Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians … It's a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape. — Supporters of Israel made that point after the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Discussion:
twitchy.com
Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:
Why Two Big Companies Just Cut Paid Family Leave — Deloitte and Zoom are among the employers reducing support for working parents, signaling a retreat from a “golden age of benefits.” — Not long ago, employers were competing over who could be most generous in providing family-friendly benefits …
Discussion:
UPI, MS NOW, Washington Examiner, Straight Arrow News and Washington Post
Associated Press:
Supreme Court temporarily extends women's access to a widely used abortion pill — The Supreme Court is leaving women's access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Thursday, while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug, mifepristone, to take effect.
Fox News:
GOP lawmaker unveils historic move to ‘expunge’ both ‘maliciously false’ impeachments against Trump — Rep Issa's resolution has support from House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan — FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has introduced a resolution aimed at reversing the two impeachments …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, RedState and New Republic
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
An FCC Commissioner Tells Disney the Agency Is on a Campaign to Censor It — In letter to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, Commissioner Anna Gomez criticizes agency for trying to curtail press freedom — ABC has been a victim of a “sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control” …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, New Republic, GV Wire, NewsMax.com, MS NOW and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Max Rego / The Hill:
Democrats urge Comer to subpoena prediction markets over suspicious trades — A group of seven Democrats sent a letter on Monday to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-K.Y.), asking him to issue subpoenas pursuant to an investigation into “suspicious” …

