memeorandum: Now I see the truth about the filibuster — The 60-vote Senate rule forces compromise. (John Fetterman/Washington Post)

11:45 AM 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: NewsMax.com, PJ Media, Joe.My.God., The Gateway Pundit 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

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: New Republic and Raw Story

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

Washington Post:
Why even some Trump supporters are souring on his handling of the economy

Discussion: Semafor

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 …

Discussion: The Independent

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.

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 …

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: Associated Press, Al Jazeera, The Times of Israel, New Yorker, The Atlantic and Raw Story

Isabel Kershner / New York Times:
In Washington, Netanyahu Faces a Delicate Balancing Act

Discussion: Daily Mail

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

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

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

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 ...

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

Sam Sifton / New York Times:

Protected No More — Good morning. Hundreds of thousands of people will lose their protected immigration status today. — In 1990, during George H.W. Bush's presidency, Congress established a humanitarian immigration program called Temporary Protected Status.

Discussion: The Post Millennial, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Joe.My.God. and CBS News

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

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 …

Discussion: HuffPost, New York Times, MS NOW, Task & Purpose, Associated Press, Reason, The Guardian, CBS News, Stars & Stripes, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, OutsideTheBeltway, Joe.My.God., UPI, The Independent, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Parnas Perspective

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.

Josh Noble / Financial Times:

Fifa's Gianni Infantino lashes out at World Cup critics ‘consumed by hate’ — Detractors missed out on ‘joy’ of ‘best show in the world’, says president of football's governing body — Fifa president Gianni Infantino has accused his critics of being “consumed by hate” during the World Cup …

Discussion: UPI, Al Jazeera and RTÉ

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.

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.

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 »

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

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 and The Gateway Pundit

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.