memeorandum: Illinois woman with green card has been detained by ICE for 12 months. Her daughters plead for her release. (Allison Kiehl/Chicago Tribune)

12:05 PM ET, July 27, 2026

Top Items:

Jordain Carney / Politico:

Trump tells Thune to keep Senate in session to pass SAVE America Act — President Donald Trump ramped up pressure Monday on Majority Leader John Thune, telling him to keep the Senate in session until a GOP election bill passes. “John Thune should not allow the United States Senate …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, New York Post, The Hill, Courthouse News Service, The Gateway Pundit, The Independent and Raw Story

Politico:

Capitol agenda: Thune tries to focus as Trump fumes — John Thune has a long to-do list, a shrinking runway for getting it done and a president in the peanut gallery. The Senate is back Monday with only two more weeks — more realistically, eight legislative days — in town until the chamber leaves Washington through mid-September.

Discussion: Semafor, Washington Examiner and The Hill

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Some GOP senators say they will vote to cancel recess over SAVE America Act — Senate conservatives led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) are calling on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to cancel the August recess so that they can debate the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election reform bill …

Discussion: NOTUS, NewsMax.com, PJ Media, The Gateway Pundit, Joe.My.God. and Democracy Docket

Samuel Chamberlain / New York Post:
GOP Sen. John Kennedy warns John Thune ‘being too cautious’ as Trump agenda hangs in the balance

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Forbes, NewsMax.com and The Hill

Vaughn Hillyard / MS NOW:
Why Trump's team is letting some Republicans distance themselves from him

Discussion: New Republic and Raw Story

Jem Bartholomew / Columbia Journalism Review:

A Tale of Two Speeches — The press's responsible handling of Trump's incoherent speech about US election integrity contrasted starkly with Friday's farcical WHCA dinner. — Ever since Donald Trump thudded onto the national political stage, the press has had a difficult time handling the frequency …

Discussion: Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Margaret Sullivan / American Crisis:

The predictable disgrace of the White House Correspondents Dinner — The insults. The lies. The extremely unfunny attempts at humor. — The lack of respect for the role of the free press. The lack of respect for the U.S. Constitution, which forbids a Trump run for president in 2028.

Discussion: The Guardian

Washington Post:

67 boat strikes. 221 dead. The cocaine hasn't slowed, officials report. — The president says Operation Southern Spear has virtually ended drug trafficking by sea. Pentagon and DEA analysts have concluded otherwise. — Summary — The Trump administration's deadly military strikes …

Discussion: Raw Story and New Republic

New Republic:

The Real Reason Elon Musk Keeps Insisting DOGE Cuts Killed “Zero” Kids — “Zero died because of DOGE. Zero. Point. Zero.” — That remarkable claim is from Elon Musk's interview last week with The Economist, in which he reiterated one of his favorite new claims …

Gene Johnson / Associated Press:

Multiple people shot as gunfire erupts near Seattle's iconic Space Needle, police say — Police arrested one suspect and were looking for another after gunfire erupted at a crowded food festival beneath Seattle's Space Needle, leaving three people dead and four others injured, including a toddler.

Bernie Becker / Politico:

Poll: Even Trump voters aren't very impressed by the GOP's tax overhaul — Congressional Republicans have a political problem with their signature legislative achievement of the second Trump era: People don't know about it. — A new POLITICO Poll finds that nearly half of Americans …

Discussion: The Hill and Staff Stories

Kevin Frey / MS NOW:
Republicans worry about rising gas prices — but won't blame Trump

Discussion: Raw Story

Kyle Kondik / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

The 2026 House Map is No More Favorable to Republicans than the 2018 Map was — KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE — Republicans made the House map better for themselves compared to the 2024 map by winning this cycle's expansive redistricting fight. — However, comparing this year's map …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Election Law Blog

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

Taxpayers spend about $2 billion annually on Medicaid for Amazon and Walmart employees — American taxpayers are spending billions every year providing Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands of employees of Amazon and Walmart, a new analysis by Popular Information reveals.

Discussion: MS NOW, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn't Spending It. — For decades, the federal government has funneled big-ticket grants to local communities to help them take on ambitious construction projects to expand public transit. The grants, sometimes in the billions of dollars …

Rob Taub / The Hill:

Compounded GLP-1 drugs creating concern among doctors and FDA — (NewsNation) — The growing availability of compounded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs has prompted warnings from doctors and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. — Last month, the FDA issued 25 warning letters to telehealth companies …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Chris Livesay / CBS News:

Berlin Pride attack suspect raised red flags, group says, amid questions about prior release from prison despite ISIS ties — Add CBS News on Google — The suspect in the Berlin LGBTQ+ Pride parade attack, who officials said was known to have ties to ISIS, was about to be disqualified …

Washington Post:

Police vetted dubious allegation only after Buttigieg was separated from children — The Michigan attorney general's office is investigating how the accusation that prompted the ex-Cabinet secretary's separation from his 4-year-old twins was handled. — Summary

Discussion: Raw Story

Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:

Trump Gutted the Kennedy Center. A Tour Guide Wants You to See It Anyway. — In a dogged demonstration of love for a Washington institution, Sandy Weiswasser is among a few dozen volunteers still showing dwindling visitors a hollowed-out building. — Sandy Weiswasser has been guiding tours …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Alex Nitzberg / Fox News:

Acting Director of National Intelligence announces 4th wave of layoffs — William Pulte described the ODNI cuts as ‘a 4th round of thoughtful, measured layoffs’ — Acting Director of National Intelligence William Pulte announced Sunday that his office has completed a fourth batch of layoffs.

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, RedState, One America News Network and NewsMax.com

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

GOP senators warn confidence in Hegseth eroding as Iran war drags on — Republican senators say that confidence is waning in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership of the U.S. armed forces as the war with Iran drags on without an end in sight. — They are also warning that the success …

Discussion: The Parnas Perspective, The Independent and Wonkette

Politico:

‘Put one ogre on a pike’ — With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner — Good Monday morning. After spending some days in Maine, the political press corps will travel to Michigan down the homestretch before the big Aug. 4 primary. Try a Vernors, and get in touch. — In today's Playbook ...

Allison Kiehl / Chicago Tribune:

Illinois woman with green card has been detained by ICE for 12 months. Her daughters plead for her release. — Beata Siemionkowicz spent her first night in Kentucky's Campbell County Detention Center in a cell with black mold covering the air vents and dead bedbugs lingering in the room's corners.

Felicia Schwartz / Politico:

Netanyahu is finally getting his White House meeting. He may not like what comes with it. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected at the White House this week at a moment of significant tension between the longtime allies — after months of waiting for an invitation to come.

Discussion: New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Times of Israel, New Yorker, The Atlantic and Raw Story

Reuters:

French police arrest man after he attacked three women with knives in Paris — French police detained a man on Monday after he attacked three women with knives near Porte de Clichy in Paris, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters. — The man attacked the three women, who were aged 19 …

Discussion: Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Telegraph, RedState, The Daily Wire and The Gateway Pundit

John Fetterman / Washington Post:

Now I see the truth about the filibuster — The 60-vote Senate rule forces compromise. Democrats were wrong to attack it. — John Fetterman, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. — It's not often you hear someone in D.C. admit they were wrong, let alone horribly wrong …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

The Times of Israel:

Ex-IDF generals appeal to Trump, warn of ‘calamity’ if PM doesn't curb settler violence — Hundreds of retired security officials urge US president to force Netanyahu's hand in West Bank, say politics leave army ‘severely constrained when it comes to Jewish terrorists’

Discussion: Middle East Monitor, JURISTnews, UPI, Los Angeles Times and NewsMax.com

New York Times:

How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal — A Times examination details how the Silicon Valley giant used private talks with local officials to start a project big enough to cover nearly six square miles. — A Louisiana state legislative committee …

more at Techmeme »

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:

The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🌎 Subscribe to PN 🌎 — Last Wednesday, the United States announced it had reached an agreement to allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium for civilian nuclear use.

Moira Donegan / The Guardian:

Why are Democrats so quiet about the Tate brothers? — The party's silence shows how broadly male supremacist thinking has seeped into the conventional wisdom of political strategists — It's not exactly strange that elements of the Magaverse have embraced Andrew Tate.

Discussion: TMZ.com and Forbes

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Democrats hit the anti-incumbency trap — Democrats are learning a hard lesson Republicans know all too well: The party out of power doesn't just ride the anti-incumbency wave — it can also get swept up in it. … - Just ask Senate Republicans how that went for them in 2010, 2012 and 2022.

Souhail Karam / Bloomberg:

Trump Says 660-Mile Highway in Disputed Sahara to Bear His Name — US President Donald Trump said Morocco is naming a 1,055-kilometer (660 mile) highway in the Western Sahara after him, seemingly reflecting his landmark recognition of the kingdom's rule of the disputed territory in 2020 that helped spur an investment boom.

Discussion: Forbes and HuffPost

John F. Harris / Politico:

As Bombs Fall in Iran, Trump Bombs in Washington … There's a familiar explanation for the rise of Donald Trump that dispenses with ideology or sociology in favor of something more relatable in human terms: Let's face it, the guy can be very funny. — Or so some people believe.

Hugh Leask / CNBC:

Why Trump's new tariff blitz is very different this time around … As the U.S. military conflict with Iran enters its sixth month, President Donald Trump has returned to a more familiar battleground: global trade. — Trump on Friday launched a fresh tariff blitz targeting 60 trading partners …

Davis Winkie / CNN:

Iran war casualty count eclipses 600 as Pentagon quietly changes accounting — Federal agencies US military The Middle East Congressional news — The Pentagon updated its war casualty database Saturday, recording more than 140 additionally wounded and restoring the four soldiers killed due …