memeorandum: Centrist Democrats are freaking out about progressives' winning streak (Politico)

9:20 AM ET, June 25, 2026

Top Items:

Donald Trump blows up at Bill Cassidy over Iran war powers resolution — President Trump blew up at Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) during an intense meeting behind closed doors in the Capitol Wednesday after the Republican senator accused the president of not being forthright with the American people about the Iran war.

Discussion: New York Post, Fox News, Associated Press, New York Times, ABC News, Jewish Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Esquire, Mediaite, The Independent, Daily Mail and CBS News

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

Trump runs into Republicans who won't bend — President Trump is making life hell for Senate Republicans, and they're returning the favor. — “I make no apologies for standing up to the president,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters after he got into a shouting match with Trump on Wednesday at a Senate GOP lunch.

Discussion: The Hill, NOTUS, The Daily Caller, RedState, Raw Story, PBS NewsHour, PoliticusUSA, The Independent, Rolling Stone, Washington Examiner, CBS News, Mediaite, NPR and New York Sun

Jonathan Tamari / Bloomberg:

Trump Is Blowing Up the GOP's Affordability Plans — A last-minute detour on the way to signing a housing bill spurs public grousing about the president's focus … Price Check — What Republicans in Congress want to focus on heading toward election season is affordability.

Discussion: The Hill and Crooked Media

Politico:

It could have been a peace summit. Instead, Trump clashed with senators inside ‘intense’ meeting. … Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) described Trump as “mad as a murder hornet” about the Iran vote, while Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) described the scene as “very much like a hospital board meeting …

Discussion: The Maine Wire, Semafor, The Guardian, Scripps News, NOTUS, CNBC, The Hill, NewsMax.com, Vox, The Daily Caller, RedState, CBS News, Truthout, Daily Mail, Bangor Daily News, Raw Story, NBC News, Deseret News and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Abruptly Cancels Signing Ceremony for Bipartisan Housing Bill

Politico:
The White House choreographed a victory lap. Trump veered off script.

Discussion: Associated Press, USA Today, Staff Stories, Blaze Media, Roll Call, The Mahablog, The Guardian, The Hill and NBC News, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:
Senate Republicans reject Iran war powers resolution after clashing with Trump at Capitol meeting

Discussion: The Hill and Bangor Daily News

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
Trump asks Congress for $87.6 billion, mostly for Iran war

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, NewsNation, Semafor, CNBC, The Japan Times, News Talk 105.9, Washington Post, Scripps News, Al Jazeera, Washington Examiner, Stars & Stripes, Associated Press, Breaking Defense and New York Times

Michael Gold / New York Times: Senate Democrats Will Train Staff as Election Observers

Akbar Shahid Ahmed / NOTUS: Democrats Doubt Iran Diplomacy But See No Alternative

Associated Press:
Federal judge bars Trump from implementing proof of citizenship requirement to vote

Calen Razor / Politico:
Johnson tries to clean up Trump's Hill mess

Discussion: MS NOW, American Greatness, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, The Hill, New Republic, Los Angeles Times, Legal Insurrection, New York Times and CNBC

Wall Street Journal:
Trump Stuns Republicans With Whirlwind Day of Frustration and Finger-Pointing

Discussion: MS NOW and New York Times

Theodoric Meyer / Washington Post:
Under pressure from Trump, Republican-led Senate reverses course on Iran

Discussion: Straight Arrow, CBS News, RedState, Wonkette, Washington Times, KWWL-TV, The Hill, UPI, Bloomberg, Reason, Al Jazeera, MS NOW, NewsMax.com and Breitbart

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:

'I'm Done, I'm Not in That F*cking Political Party': James Carville Freaks Out After Progressives Win Big in Democratic Primaries — Democratic strategist James Carville called for a “schism” in the Democratic Party, stating that he wants nothing to do with the likes of three candidates who won their Democratic primaries in New York.

Discussion: NewsNation, Blaze Media, Townhall and RedState

Politico:

Centrist Democrats are freaking out about progressives' winning streak … They also have a more fundamental fear: that progressives are becoming more mainstream as they keep winning — reshaping the Democratic Party. — “Centrist Democrats, normie Democrats, need to realize we're the insurgents …

Kelby Vera / HuffPost:

Top Democrat Seems Sour After Mamdani-Backed Candidates Oust House Incumbents — The House minority leader told CNN the mayor is going to have to patch things up with congressional Democrats follow Tuesday's primary upsets. — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) …

Discussion: The Hill, HotAir, New York Post, One America News Network, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, Jewish Insider, Fox News, VINnews, RedState, CNN, Bloomberg, The Post Millennial, Washington Examiner and Axios

David Nir / The Downballot:

Morning Digest, sponsored by NDTC: A tough primary season may soon get worse for House incumbents — Leading Off — The 2026 primary season has been rough for House incumbents—and it's not anywhere close to finished. Many more members from both parties are in danger through September …

Discussion: CNBC

CNN:
House Democrats' anxiety rises after wins by Mamdani-backed candidates: ‘Are we going to let them take over the party?’

Discussion: HotAir, twitchy.com, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Washington Post, The Hill, Mediaite, Truthout, NewsMax.com, Zeteo, The Times of Israel, CBS News, OutsideTheBeltway, Newsweek and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:
Mamdani Deepens His Influence—and the Divide—in the Democratic Party

Discussion: The Atlantic, Washington Post, NewsNation, City Journal, CBS News, American Prospect, Gay City News, ABC News, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, Eschaton, NOTUS and Bloomberg

Andrew Solender / Axios:
House Democrats brace for a “Freedom Caucus of the left”

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Peter Rothpletz / The Bulwark:
The Democratic Tea Party Isn't Here—Yet

Discussion: The Hill, Esquire, CBS News and HuffPost

New York Times:
Democratic Leaders Want the Party to Moderate. Its Base Has Other Ideas.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, RedState, Politico, Associated Press, Reuters, The Bulwark, Slate, The Daily Signal, Washington Examiner, Townhall and Newsweek

Zoe Hussain / New York Post:

Venezuela rocked by strongest earthquakes in over a century, as USGS fears up to 100K deaths — The strongest earthquakes in over a century rocked Venezuela on Wednesday afternoon — causing widespread destruction in the capital of Caracas and leading to fears of high casualties.

Discussion: Associated Press, Straight Arrow, CBS News, BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Townhall, New York Times, NPR, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, Forbes, NewsMax.com, Al Jazeera, VINnews, GV Wire, RTÉ, The Gateway Pundit and Instapundit

CBS News:
Back-to-back Venezuela earthquakes kill at least 164, injure hundreds, acting president says

Jake Spring / Washington Post:

Internal memo orders staff not to reveal deaths in national parks — The Interior Department's guidance instructs parks staff not to confirm deaths, the severity of injuries or other details. — Summary — On Friday, a 17-year-old girl drowned in Sequoia National Park after slipping into a river.

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Jacob Shamsian / Politico:

The secret settlements protecting Jeffrey Epstein's friends … Those conversations won't be under oath, and participants won't be legally compelled to answer every question. — Subpoenas could require witnesses to answer questions even if they have signed a nondisclosure agreement …

Discussion: Raw Story and The Independent

Ken White / The Popehat Report:

A Bit of Tedious Drama At Bluesky — Recently I got suspended for four days from Bluesky for posting this: — My suspension is over now. But I believe that returning after a suspension carries with it an implicit promise that I won't post that, or something like it, again.

Justin Lahart / Wall Street Journal:

The Data-Center Boom Is Sparking a Third Wave of Inflation — Demand for memory chips is pushing prices higher. Will AI's promise of increased productivity come in time to temper that inflation? — Created with Highcharts 9..1Change in consumer prices for computer software and accessories …

Discussion: New York Times, VINnews, NewsMax.com and Semafor

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

The Supreme Court's next rulings could set Trump off … It seems wise to expect a presidential outburst against the justices if that case goes as he expects. — The justices are also expected to hand down a ruling on another issue near and dear to Trump: whether mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day can be counted.

Discussion: New York Times, Slate, The Federalist and Reuters

Neil Irwin / Axios:

Why Americans hate the “good” economy — The big-picture indicators of the U.S. economy — GDP, unemployment and so on — are doing fine while public opinion on economic conditions is at rock bottom. … - That's the early conclusion of top Democratic economic policy minds who have embarked …

NBC News:

Lawmakers expected to press billionaire Leon Black about Epstein ties — The phrase “Please call Leon Black” appears more than 300 times in the investigative files released by the Justice Department involving Epstein, a convicted sex offender. — WASHINGTON — “Please call Leon Black.”

Kate Abnett / Reuters:

Swedish minister brings baby to EU meeting, a first for the bloc — EU governments' ministers gathered for a long day's discussion of climate change policies on Thursday were surprised by a fresh-faced participant at their negotiating table: a three-month-old baby.

Joey Cappelletti / Associated Press:

AP Exclusive: Sen. Van Hollen backs El-Sayed for Michigan Senate in break from Democratic leadership — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is backing progressive Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, breaking with party leadership and intensifying a battle over the party's direction …

Anna North / Vox:

MAHA is breaking up with Trump. Now what? — Donald Trump is not exactly a health influencer: The 47th president famously loves fast food and Diet Coke, and reportedly eschews both sleep and exercise. — But Trump's political power comes in part from a group of exceedingly health-conscious Americans.

Discussion: MS NOW and Raw Story

Hugo Lowell / Wired:

The Trump White House Is Over Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei — At high-stakes meetings with the White House, Anthropic's cofounder—a “weirdo,” per one official—has been replaced by cofounder Tom Brown. — The Trump administration has been happier talking to Anthropic lately …

Discussion: Gizmodo

Matt Phillips / Axios:

Why prices at the pump are slow to follow oil lower — President Trump's attempt to strike a deal with Iran was supposed to quickly cut U.S. gasoline prices. It's a slower process than he might like. … - “The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate …

Discussion: Bloomberg and The Independent

Adam Sella / New York Times:

Postmaster General Confirms Plan to Hold Back Mail Ballots Under Proposed Rule — The postmaster general, David Steiner, said on Wednesday that under a proposed rule, his agency would not deliver mail ballots in states that decline to hand over voter data. — Postmaster General David Steiner …

Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:

Democrats see midterm opportunity in abortion ballot measures — Four states could have abortion ballot measures in November, giving Democrats an opportunity to push the issue back into the national spotlight and make life uncomfortable for Republicans. — Voter anger about abortion rights …

Discussion: Navigator Research