Top Items:
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
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Steve Vladeck / One First:
227. “We're All Trying to Find the Guy Who Did This” — With both its ruling in Callais and its behavior before and since, the Supreme Court has not only accelerated the race to the redistricting bottom; it has placed itself *squarely* in the middle of it. — Welcome back to “One First …
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:
Off Message, RedState, the @smotus report and Townhall
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 …
Paul Waldman / Public Notice:
This is a crisis of democracy. What will Dems do about it?
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and Election Law Blog
Justin Papp / CNBC:
Redistricting war isn't over, Democrats say as Jeffries calls a meeting this week
Redistricting war isn't over, Democrats say as Jeffries calls a meeting this week
Discussion:
Democracy Docket, Townhall, NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit
Riley Rogerson / Politico:
Jeffries guarantees Democratic House win in midterms despite ‘undemocratic’ rulings
Jeffries guarantees Democratic House win in midterms despite ‘undemocratic’ rulings
Discussion:
The Hill
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:
CNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Business Insider, Associated Press, The Hill, NBC News, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Axios, Washington Examiner, ABC News, New York Post, WLTX-TV, New York Magazine, RedState, NewsMax.com, WTTG-TV, The Independent, Washington Times, The Daily Wire, WALV-TV, Mediaite, Straight Arrow News, Bangor Daily News and FOX 32 Chicago
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Barak Ravid / Axios:
Trump weighs military action against Iran with ceasefire “on life support” — President Trump is meeting with his national security team Monday to discuss the way forward in the Iran war, including possibly resuming military action, after negotiations with the country deadlocked on Sunday, three U.S. officials said.
Discussion:
Jewish Insider, Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, The Independent, New York Magazine, Asia Times and Al Jazeera
New York Times:
Iran Defends Its Demands After Trump's Rejection
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Fox News, Raw Story, IJR, Council on Foreign Relations, The Daily Wire, CBS News and UPI
Bloomberg:
Trump Floats Temporary US Gas Tax Halt as Pump Prices Soar
Trump Floats Temporary US Gas Tax Halt as Pump Prices Soar
Discussion:
Scripps News, The Hill, CBS News, Townhall, WTTG-TV, Associated Press, NewsMax.com, New York Times, UPI and Fox News
New York Times:
Cost of Reflecting Pool Repairs Nearly Doubles, Trump Administration Says — A no-bid contract for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial pool now costs $13.1 million, far more than the $1.8 million Mr. Trump initially said it would. — President Trump said that his handpicked contractor …
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Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Lawsuit filed over Trump's Reflecting Pool renovations
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Politico, twitchy.com, UPI, KEYT-TV, The Gateway Pundit and MS NOW
NBC News:
Trump is growing impatient as Cuban regime clings to power — U.S. officials believe the regime could fall by the end of the year, but that timeline isn't fast enough for the president, sources say. The White House says Cuba has rejected humanitarian and economic assistance to stabilize.
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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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Politico:
Here's how Trump's meeting with Xi could spark a crisis over Taiwan … The diplomat, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue. — U.S. policy on Taiwan has long been to acknowledge it as distinct from the People's Republic of China, which claims the island …
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Damien Cave / New York Times:
What Middle Powers Fear About the Trump-Xi Summit
What Middle Powers Fear About the Trump-Xi Summit
Discussion:
CBS News, UPI and Al Jazeera
Emily Goodin / New York Post:
Elon Musk to join Trump in China for high-stakes Xi meeting - along with Apple, Meta and Boeing CEOs — Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and several top CEOs will travel to China with President Trump as he lobbies President Xi Jinping to invest in America. — Meta's Dina Powell McCormick …
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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:
HotAir, Straight Arrow News, RedState, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, The Independent, Mediaite and Althouse
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.
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:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Newsweek and Townhall
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:
IJR, LGBTQ Nation and Fox News
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
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.
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.
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, Los Angeles Times, MS NOW, Deadline, NewsMax.com, GV Wire, New Republic and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Politico:
One American has tested positive for hantavirus, another has mild symptoms … In a statement Sunday evening, HHS said the State Department would airlift the passengers, transporting some of them to the Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Discussion:
France 24, The Hill, Associated Press, NBC News, NPR, Deseret News, Forbes, WTTG-TV, TMZ.com, The Daily Wire, WLTX-TV, Al Jazeera, One America News Network, The Gateway Pundit, U.S. Home, TimesLive, Politico, Washington Examiner, New York Post, UPI, Fox News, CBS News and CNN
David Farrier / Webworm with David Farrier:
Everlee Has Disappeared — Like all of Webworm's public interest journalism, there is no paywall - and there are no ads. This is made possible thanks to its paying subscribers. This work is not possible without them. Thank you. — Hi, — As I write this newsletter at 7.42pm in New York …
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
G.O.P. Plant? Democratic Ruse? Accusations Fly in Nebraska's Senate Race — One Democrat is accused of being a Republican in disguise. Another plans to drop out to boost an independent. It's primary eve in one of the country's most unusual midterm contests.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, MS NOW and Associated Press
New York Times:
As Trump Heads to Beijing, China Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ for a Fight — Beijing is signaling that it is ready for a trade showdown, and it is building up a legal arsenal in preparation. — Peace and stability will be the public message when President Trump and China's leader, Xi Jinping, meet in Beijing this week.
Discussion:
Axios, Straight Arrow News, Washington Post, NewsMax.com, The Hill, To the Contrary, Asia Times and The Atlantic

