memeorandum: Trump Tower in Georgia to be built on land part-owned by son of US sanctions-hit leader (Daniel Boffey/The Guardian)

9:45 AM ET, May 25, 2026

Top Items:

Yuliya Talmazan / NBC News:

Iran says no deal ‘imminent’ despite progress in talks with U.S. — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier Monday that an agreement could be finalized “today,” though he cautioned that if talks fail, Washington would find “another way” to resolve the situation.

Discussion: Al Jazeera, Responsible Statecraft, American Thinker, RTÉ and The Gateway Pundit

Reuters:

Rubio says US will find ‘another way’ if Iran talks fail — The United States will either have a good agreement with Iran or deal with the country “another way,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, as Washington played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war.

Discussion: The Times of Israel, The Daily Signal, Townhall, Bloomberg, Washington Post, NPR and NewsMax.com

Paul Krugman:

Donald Trump's Ego-Driven “Excursion” Has Crashed Into Reality — Trump lost his war, bigly. Why? — “Many questions, few details in latest Iran peace proposal,” read the headline on a New York Times report Sunday. As the subhead explained, “It is too early to tell what exactly Trump …

Discussion: RealClearPolitics and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

Will Trump Bail Out Iran's Regime? — The outlines of a 60-day framework agreement suggest U.S. concessions before a nuclear deal is signed. — Is that it? The American people are left to wonder as the terms of President Trump's emerging “memorandum of understanding” with Iran leak to the press.

Discussion: Reuters, American Thinker, NewsMax.com, New York Post and New York Times

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

Trump's War Is Staggering to an Incoherent Defeat — Even the president's supporters are alarmed. — No one yet knows the details of the Iran deal that President Trump has been teasing on social media for the past day or so. The president himself has admonished his followers not to …

Discussion: The Hill, CBS News, Forbes, RedState, CNN, HuffPost, MS NOW, Mediaite, Roll Call and The Guardian

New York Times:
To Get the Strait Open, Trump Had to Leave the Hardest Issues for Later

Discussion: Israpundit, NewsMax.com, The Post Millennial, Middle East Monitor, Reuters, Semafor, The Times of Israel, The Hill and Los Angeles Times

Associated Press:
Trump says not to rush as details emerge of a potential Iran deal

Reuters:
Trump says Iran deal ‘largely negotiated’, would reopen Strait of Hormuz

Barak Ravid / Axios:
Trump asked Muslim leaders to join Abraham Accords after Iran war ends

Discussion: Reuters, NewsMax.com, NPR, U.S. Home, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Breitbart, The Times of Israel, HotAir, Middle East Monitor, Deadline, The Gateway Pundit and Associated Press

Erika Solomon / New York Times:
Iran Projects Victory in Potential Deal With Washington

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, The Hill and NewsMax.com

Reuters:
US Treasury rout tests Washington's tolerance for higher borrowing costs

Discussion: NewsMax.com and Semafor

Barak Ravid / Axios:
White House says Iran deal could take days

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Breitbart, Middle East Monitor, New York Post, Semafor, The Contrarian and HotAir

Sean James / Mediaite:
Trump Bashes ‘Losers’ Ripping His Iran Negotiations: 'I Don't Make Bad Deals!'

Discussion: NewsMax.com, The Free Press, The Independent, New York Sun, New York Times, Fox News, American Thinker and The Gateway Pundit

David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast: Why Trump's Iran Mess Is Undeniable Proof of His Mental Unraveling

Cheyanne M. Daniels / Politico:
Trump, after signaling deal was imminent, says he will not ‘rush’ deal with Iran

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, The Hill, One America News Network, UPI, Washington Times, CNBC, RedState, Al Jazeera, Mediaite, Mother Jones and Washington Examiner

New York Times:

Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I. in 42,300-Word Encyclical — The document marks a powerful foray by the leader of the Roman Catholic church into the debate about the misuse or overuse of artificial intelligence. — Pope Leo XIV on Monday set out a sweeping vision for corporate executives …

Discussion: vaticannews.va, CNN, Reuters, RNS, Mother Jones, Straight Arrow and New York Sun, more at Techmeme »

Associated Press:

Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery — Watch live as Pope Leo XIV and Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah launch the pontiff's first encyclical, a document on the care of human dignity in the era of artificial intelligence.

Discussion: RTÉ and WTOP News, more at Techmeme »

Associated Press:

Pope calls for robust regulation of AI in manifesto that ponders the future of humanity — Pope Leo XIV called Monday for robust regulation of artificial intelligence and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit, issuing a sweeping manifesto on safeguarding humankind …

Discussion: Breitbart, Politico, The Times of Israel, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, WLTX-TV, NPR, Washington Post, WTOP News, RNS and RTÉ, more at Techmeme »

Elisabetta Povoledo / New York Times:

Pope Leo Has Released an Encyclical About A.I. Why Is That Important? — Leo XIV issued his thoughts about artificial intelligence in the modern world using a centuries-old form of papal communication called an encyclical. — Pope Leo XIV on Monday presented his vision for how to preserve human dignity …

Discussion: RNS, Politico, Variety, vaticannews.va, Bloomberg, Diane Montagna's Substack, Althouse and The Daily Wire, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Trump's Self-Indulgence Deepens G.O.P. Fears in Midterms … A little more than five months ahead of the midterm elections, President Trump seems to be focused on virtually anything other than keeping Republican control of Congress. — He endorsed a MAGA challenger over Texas's senior Republican senator …

Discussion: Fox News

Ramsey Touchberry / Washington Examiner:
GOP senators spurn anti-weaponization fund payout for phone data seizure: 'I don't need any compensation'

Discussion: New York Sun

Daniel Boffey / The Guardian:

Trump Tower in Georgia to be built on land part-owned by son of US sanctions-hit leader — Links between Trump Organization and Ivanishvili family for Tbilisi skyscraper raise new conflict of interest concerns — A Trump Tower planned for the Georgian capital, Tbilisi …

more at Techmeme »

Adam Sella / New York Times:

What to Know About the Citizenship Lists Trump Wants to Create — President Trump is trying to create individual lists of citizens by state to determine who can vote, even as his administration acknowledges they would be unreliable. — President Trump is seeking to create state-by-state citizenship lists …

Discussion: Election Law Blog

Dan Diamond / Washington Post:

Trump faces health questions ahead of another Walter Reed trip — The president trumpets claims that he is in excellent health, but independent physicians say the White House hasn't answered key questions ahead of his third visit in 13 months. — Summary

Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:

Scenes from a personalist regime — When asked about constraints on his power, President Trump replied: “There is one thing. My own morality.” Not Congress. Not Courts. Not the constitution. Not law, domestic or international. Not allies. … His party can't stop him.

Washington Examiner:

Freedom's price must never be forgotten — Two hundred fifty years ago this summer, our Founding Fathers created a new nation, as President Abraham Lincoln put it, “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” This Memorial Day …

Discussion: America, America

Washington Post:

How this age of extreme gerrymandering is transforming American politics — Politicians, no longer content to leave elections to chance, are working to choose their voters as often as every two years. — Summary — The nationwide redistricting battle that erupted last year has evolved into a forever war.

Discussion: WTOP News and American Thinker

Tom Schaller / Public Notice:

The triple toll of Trump's terrible tariffs — This special Memorial Day edition of Public Notice is made possible by paid subscribers. If you value this newsletter but haven't already signed up to support our journalism, please consider doing so 👇 — 🗽 Subscribe to PN 🗽

Matthew Yglesias / Slow Boring:

The man behind Memorial Day — A John Logan appreciation post — Most of us don't think much about Memorial Day as anything other than the unofficial beginning of summer, but the holiday originates in a commemoration of the Union war dead in the wake of the Civil War.

Russell Contreras / Axios:

Campaigns pay the price for America's secular shift — America's fastest-growing religious group is also one of the hardest — and costliest — to reach: the “nones.” … But without church-based networks, they're significantly more expensive for campaigns to reach and mobilize.

CNN:

State of the Union — JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Turning point? President Trump says he's closing in on a deal with Iran. — MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Perhaps a little bit later today, we'll have more to say. — TAPPER: But does Iran agree?

Discussion: The Hill and Grabien

Max Rego / The Hill:
Zeldin says EPA providing ‘flexibility’ by loosening rules for pollutants used in grocery refrigeration

Discussion: NewsMax.com and CNN

Tara Suter / The Hill:

Donalds defends ‘anti-weaponization’ fund — Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on Sunday defended the Justice Department's controversial new “anti-weaponization” fund saying, “Everybody's losing their minds.” — “This is not new. It happened ... under the Obama administration after the IRS …