Trump Has Given Up  —  Another day of many errands and meetings, so another short, informal post.  —  Donald Trump will never admit that his gratuitous Iran war has been a total disaster.  But the debacle has clearly broken him.  So we are now saddled with a president who has given up governing …

Primaries leave muddled picture of Dems' way ahead … - Iowa's Senate primary: Moderate state lawmaker Josh Turek easily topped Zach Wahls, a progressive endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), with a $10 million assist from an organization often aligned with the Democratic establishment.

CBS News Fires Scott Pelley of ‘60 Minutes’  —  Mr. Pelley, a longtime correspondent and former “CBS Evening News” anchor, harshly criticized the show's leadership during a staff meeting on Monday.  —  CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, he said, jettisoning one of the network's best-known journalists …

America Broke Something When It Gave Trump a Second Chance  —  The Heritage Foundation's “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” — popularly known as Project 2025 — was much more than a wish list of conservative policy preferences.  It was much more, even, than a blueprint for a second Trump administration.

G. Elliott Morris  —  This chart from the latest YouGov/Economist poll result is really quite stunning.  Trump's net approval is not only deeply negative, but about 15(!!) points below what it was at this point in 2018.  With this data you'd expect this year's midterms to be even worse …

Aftermath: Something Is Going to Snap  —  This story was first featured in the Aftermath newsletter, a series from David Dayen exploring the economic consequences of the war in Iran.  To have these stories delivered to your in-box as soon as they are published, sign up for the newsletter here.

Rules of Engagement When the Troops Appear at Polling Sites  —  State election officials can mitigate the perils of federal “armed men” at the polls.  —  Meet The Authors  —  Open, noncoercive, and safe elections are a hallmark of a healthy democracy.  Today, those characteristics are in jeopardy.

Trump says Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon  —  U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon and that he would probably meet with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at some point if things “work out”.  —  “They've already agreed they're …

Americans' national parks passes will pay for Trump's July 4 plans, documents show  —  Entry fees are going toward a $1.6 million fireworks display and D.C. beautification, while donations will fund a $5 million helipad at the White House.  —  Summary  —  The Trump administration is diverting …

Trump library says no Twitter DMs can be found, despite evidence he sent them  —  Records show that Trump's first administration opted not to save DMs in its library archives, raising questions about compliance with the Presidential Records Act.  —  Summary

Rep. Ogles deletes homophobic tweet, blames staff amid rare GOP pushback  —  A post on the Tennessee Republican's official X account Tuesday stated: “Homosexuality has no place in America.  Happy Nuclear Family Month.”  —  Summary  —  Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tennessee) …

The Supreme Court Just Transformed Its Horrible Voting Rights Ruling Into Something More Calamitous  —  This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate's coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court.  The best way to support our work—and unlock exclusive legal analysis—is by joining Slate Plus.

U.S. Support for LGBTQ+ Issues Remains Down From Peak  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — After two decades of rising support for LGBTQ+ issues, U.S. attitudes have plateaued and begun to slide back modestly.  Approval of same-sex marriage, moral acceptance of gay and lesbian relations …

‘Infuriated’ Former Judges Take on Trump  —  Critics say it is unseemly for retired judges to trade on the prestige of their former positions.  —  Judges retain a special status even after they hang up their robes.  Addressing them in a 2020 article, an American Bar Association official …

Lawmakers Demand Answers After the White House Initiated a $620M Loan to a Firm Tied to Donald Trump Jr.  —  In a letter, a group of Democratic Congress members wrote that ProPublica's reporting on the deal “reveals a staggering level of corruption and influence.”

Senate GOP drops $1 billion for White House ballroom from budget package  —  Senate Republicans have stripped language providing up to $1 billion for security upgrades to the proposed White House ballroom from a revised budget reconciliation bill unveiled on Wednesday.

Was Kash Patel's Winter Olympics Trip for Work or Play?  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Do you remember FBI Director Kash Patel's viral video showing him drinking with the US men's national ice hockey team at the Olympics?  We do, and we think it's time there's some transparency around his winter trip.

Bessent, Wyden get in heated back and forth over Jeffrey Epstein  —  In his opening statement, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, ripped Bessent for not turning over financial records related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Fetterman says he was wrong to campaign on eliminating the filibuster  —  Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he was “absolutely wrong” for campaigning to eliminate the filibuster in 2022 because he now realizes that eliminating the procedural tactic would give the minority party “little to no voice.”

The Mounting Toll and Absurdity of Trumpism  —  Mourning All We Have Lost  —  Laying awake last night processing the Supreme Court's latest galling decision, I reflected on how many evenings over the past decade have been consumed by late breaking bad news of another historic setback.

Trump Begins Rebuilding His Tariff Wall, Citing Forced Labor  —  The US is proposing new tariffs of at least 10% on imports from 60 trading partners in President Donald Trump's biggest move to rebuild his protectionist wall since his earlier levies were struck down by the Supreme Court.

Five Eyes spy agencies issue warning over LinkedIn recruitment by Chinese intelligence  —  LONDON — The spy agencies of the Five Eyes international intelligence partnership warned on Wednesday that Chinese spies are attempting to recruit and compromise government and military personnel to gain …