Trump's Semiquincentennial Faceplant  —  Our long national nightmare may be coming to an end: The White House and Iran are reportedly closing in on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran seemingly willing to forgo tolls or controls on the waterway in exchange for various U.S. concessions …

Judge temporarily blocks payouts from Trump's $1.8B ‘anti-weaponization’ settlement fund  —  A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for the Republican president's allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government.

Inside Bari's ‘60’ Bloodbath … “They're killing ‘60 Minutes.’”  —  That's how the iconic newsmagazine's former executive producer Bill Owens, who quit last summer citing corporate interference, put it to me by phone on Thursday as news broke about the firings ordered by the widely disliked …

Summary of Key Changes in OMB's Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule  —  https://www.federalregister.gov/ public-inspection/2026-10817/regulation - for-federal-financial-assistance  —  Thanks for reading!  Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Why so much election analysis is basically useless  —  Last Friday, I (reluctantly) wrote a long piece about the Democratic National Committee's finally published “autopsy” of the party's 2024 campaign.  In that post I argued that the single biggest cause of Trump's win was the economy/inflation …

Trump Might Already Be a Lame Duck  —  President Trump has never really cared about the Republican Party per se.  He basks in its adulation, and it's beneficial to him when the GOP controls Congress.  But he's never adhered to its orthodoxies or honored its heroes.

There's No Escaping the Rot in This Justice Department  —  The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois used to be considered one of the best federal prosecutors' offices in the country, but the last week has shown that Donald Trump's administration is driving it off the rails.

Boat Strikes Have Failed to Curb Flow of Cocaine to U.S., Experts Say … With deadly precision, the Trump administration has launched dozens of attacks on small boats in the waters off South America, killing nearly 200 people in a campaign U.S. officials say is meant to curb the flow of illicit drugs to the United States.

Bondi defends handling of Epstein files to House panel … Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.  — CNBC Councils  — Join the CNBC Panel  — News Tips  —  Got a confidential news tip?  We want to hear from you.

Trump's Violent Threats Can't Hide the Truth: He's a Humiliated Bully  —  Under Trump, the United States is looking for weaker and weaker victims in order to mask its own fragility.  —  Pocket  —  Donald Trump is a rotten peacemaker for many reasons—but one of them is that he can't even remember which enemy he's fighting.

Biden just won't go away  —  Some of us haven't yet finished wishing Barack Obama would just go away.  A decade after leaving the Oval Office, the former president still hovers over our politics issuing sanctimonious tweets in support of dishonest causes, such as the Democrats' botched gerrymander in Virginia.

Becerra leads governor's race, with Hilton and Steyer in tight contest for second spot, poll finds  — 9 min Click here to listen to this article  — On the cusp of California's gubernatorial primary, former Biden Cabinet member Xavier Becerra narrowly leads a volatile race …

Habeas Flight Watch: New tool helps track ICE flights to your city  —  Activists have been quietly piloting a live map of ICE flights to help immigration attorneys with habeas filings.  Now they say it's ready for everyone to use.  —  A group of activists have built a new online tool …

He hasn't been seen in Congress for months.  Now Republicans are worried.  —  Rep. Tom Kean Jr.'s New Jersey district is among the country's most competitive, and his absence from the House since March has sparked increasing alarm in his party.  —  Summary

A court in Kenya blocks U.S. plan to keep American Ebola patients in Africa  —  A facility built by the U.S. military on a Kenyan air base was intended to isolate Americans exposed to Ebola during the growing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  —  Summary

Vietnam moves its dead for Trump golf course  —  Project has become symbolically important for relations between Washington and Hanoi  —  In a small cemetery nestled between fruit farms in northern Vietnam, farmers who for decades buried their dead near family plantations are digging up the graves.

The 2026 race that's a presidential proxy  —  With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner  —  Good Friday morning, this is Adam Wren coming to you from beautiful and crisp Michigan, which feels these days like the center of the midterm universe.  Get in touch.  —  In today's Playbook ...

FBI interviews election workers in a swing state amid Trump's false 2020 claims  —  Agents in Wisconsin have been following up on debunked conspiracy theories as part of their queries, after pursuing 2020 ballots in other swing states.  —  Summary  —  MADISON, Wis. — The FBI in recent weeks …

China is building launch pads near its nuclear missile silos  —  In a remote Chinese desert, a vast military complex is taking shape that some security scholars say appears built to ensure no American first strike on China's nuclear arsenal could reliably knock out Beijing's ability to hit back.

The Record Divide Between Corporate Profits and Worker Pay  —  Labor's share of economic output just hit an all-time low, while the profit share hit a near record.  It helps explain why consumers feel so glum.  —  To understand why people are so miserable about the economy …

White House Whipsaws Once Again on Iran  —  Plus, President Trump's face could appear on a $250 bill and the U.S. agrees to a deal with Kenya to establish Ebola quarantine center for Americans  —  Good morning.  On Saturday, President Trump said on Truth Social that a deal with Iran was near complete.

The Rise and Fall of the House Freedom Caucus Leaders  —  As Trump's power has grown, the influence of the conservative group has waned significantly.  — Copy  —  As he came down the center aisle of the House for his February State of the Union address, President Donald Trump shook …

Curating in the Cross Hairs: Is This the Smithsonian Chief's Last Show?  —  Lonnie G. Bunch III, the Smithsonian secretary under pressure from the White House, organized an exhibit exploring America's founding ideals.  —  Lonnie G. Bunch III, the secretary of the Smithsonian …

Inside Putin's $26 Billion Quest for Longevity  —  From mini-pigs and organ printing to cryotherapy and genetics, Russia's president has turned antiaging research into a Kremlin priority  —  When Vladimir Putin was captured by a hot mic telling Xi Jinping that humans could achieve immortality …

AI billionaires brace for pitchforks … - Populist politicians, particularly on the left, have cast this as capitalism's next great reckoning: an even deeper concentration of wealth and power in an economy already rigged for the elite. … Many suggest the answer is not deceleration or wealth taxes, but shared abundance.