Political Wire (original) (raw)

“Congress’s most important job is deciding how federal money is spent. It hasn’t passed annual funding bills on time since 1997,” the Washington Post reports.

“And the normal act of budget-making has become all but impossible, with partisan gridlock and President Donald Trump’s push for Republicans to go it alone, opening new cracks in an already-battered system.”

“The breakdown in bipartisan budgeting every year threatens public programs that millions of Americans rely on and further endangers the government’s long-term fiscal health.”

Politico: “The newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool seems unable to escape an old scourge: algae blooming in the shallow water.”

“Thin layers of algae floated on the World War II Memorial side of the pool Friday morning, even after workers were seen cleaning out algae from the bottom of the pool Wednesday.”

Wall Street Journal: “The event portends an unprecedented fusion of the presidency and extreme combat sports, intended to bypass traditional norms and reconnect the president with a base that feels alienated by Washington.”

“In recent weeks, the verdant space better known for the Easter Egg Roll and receptions for world leaders has been transformed into an arena for a violent spectacle that has electrified mixed-martial-arts fans, outraged critics and intensified the collision of sports and politics.”

“A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the Trump administration to restore all signs that were changed or removed at national parks across the country as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial directive last year,” CNN reports.

In a scathing 63-page ruling, Judge Angel Kelley wrote: “Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths.”

President Trump said on Truth Social that a deal to end the war with Iran will be signed on Sunday, with the Strait of Hormuz opening up immediately after.

Said Trump: “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.”

The Economist: “These are unsettling times, even for the rich. Many of those wealthy enough to move abroad for low taxes or their physical or political security are less sure these days about settling in Dubai or Hong Kong, even America or Britain. Dry your eyes, however, for plenty of governments remain eager to take in foreigners with money and skills. And a growing industry of trusted advisers stands ready to help the rich relocate.”

“For these consiglieri, business is booming. Last year more than 140,000 millionaires migrated, the most on record, reckons New World Wealth, a research firm; this year it expects the figure to rise to 165,000.”

Washington Post: “As Democrats wrestle with the past behavior of their Senate candidate in Maine, one name keeps coming up: Donald Trump.”

“The president lowered the bar, some liberal voters and lawmakers argue, when he won the highest office in the land despite facing allegations of misconduct from multiple women and being caught on tape bragging about grabbing women’s genitals. The stakes, they say, are too high to obsess over a candidate’s past when flipping control of the Senate to Democrats would give the country a needed check on the president.”

Bloomberg: “The new fund was expected to offer a faster and easier path to government payouts for people alleging unfair treatment by the Biden administration or other perceived political enemies of Trump. Long before it was announced, though, US officials were fielding such claims — and in some instances approving million-dollar awards of taxpayer money — under a decades-old process set up by Congress.”

“Untethered to the fund proposal and the bipartisan political firestorm and legal battles that followed, claims brought under the existing legal pathways are moving ahead.”

The Justice Department filed a certification in federal court one hour before a judge’s Saturday noon deadline that said President Donald Trump’s name has been “removed” from “all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds,” ABC News reports.

Bloomberg: “President Donald Trump is trying to project brute strength as he turns 80, but mounting political problems at home and abroad are tarnishing his self-styled image as an all-powerful leader.”

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Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker told Vanity Fair that President Trump’s insults and personal attacks during their interview were anticipated and that it “doesn’t faze me at all.”

Tucker Carlson claimed former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino told him that President Trump personally shut down the investigation into the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Mediaite reports.

New York Times: “Blue-collar white voters are, for the first time, seriously doubting Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy. A review of polling by The New York Times shows an extraordinary swing on that issue among white voters without college degrees between his first midterm election and now.”

“Then, working-class white voters approved of his management of the economy by margins of 30 percentage points or even more. Now, recent polls show them disapproving by anywhere from 14 to more than 30 points.”

New York Times: “Activists in Texas and California continue to push independence. Lawmakers in inland California have pitched splitting the state in two, or three. Organizers in southeastern New Mexico want to join Texas.”

“Republican lawmakers in Indiana approved legislation last year inviting conservative counties in Illinois to become Hoosiers. A state senator in West Virginia followed suit in late 2025, inviting 30 border counties from Virginia and Maryland to join the Mountaineers.”

“The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board of trustees blew past the court-ordered midnight deadline to remove President Trump’s name from the building on Friday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“In a court filing just before midnight, the board said its work was delayed by thunderstorms in Washington, D.C., but that it expected to complete its work removing Trump’s name in the early hours of Saturday.”

“The United States and Israel went to war in Iran seeking regime change. Nearly four months later, there has been regime change, but not the kind they wanted. The Islamic Republic 3.0, as some call it, is now less a theocracy and more a military junta dominated by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” the New York Times reports.

“Washington and Jerusalem also went to war to eradicate Iran’s nuclear program and end the threat it poses. So far, this conflict has only produced a wounded Iran more willing to take risks and more likely to persist in its goal of advancing its nuclear program.”

“President Trump is reportedly planning to attend next month’s World Cup final in New Jersey,” the New York Post reports.

“The championship match of the global soccer tournament is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.”