‘De-Trumpification.’ Washington Post and Intercept veteran Dan Froomkin looks ahead to “what a resistance governing agenda would look like—first in Congress, if Democrats win one or both chambers in November, and then across all three branches, if Trumpism is rejected by the voters in 2028.”
■ Speaking of which: The U.S. House today narrowly OK’d a largely symbolic resolution to end the war in Iran.
America’s ‘greatest threat’? Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein says it’s the Pentagon’s budget …
■ … which the House is sending the Senate—attached to a provision that would officially rename Defense the Department of War.
■ Defense Secretary Hegseth’s plan to treat troops for low testosterone is getting the stink eye from a federal judge.
Not so fast. President Trump’s added a new condition to a deal that would give Saudi Arabia clearance to launch a civilian nuclear program: A requirement that the kingdom normalize relations with Israel.
■ Popular Information: Mainstream media have largely ignored the deal’s big dividends for presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.
‘Disgusting and disrespectful to all Americans.’ Columnist Heather Delaney Reese recounts Trump’s “master class in distraction” at a Georgia high school yesterday.
■ Everyone is entitled to my own opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich: “Five-time draft dodger once again dishonors war dead.”
■ Former AP D.C. bureau chief Ron Fournier is gobsmacked by plans for Friday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner re-do with Trump: “Seriously, White House reporters: WTF? Why are you having dinner with this man?”
■ Media critic Tom Jones at Poynter: “Friday night’s dinner has a chance to blow up in the WHCA’s face. And … this time it will be the WHCA’s fault.”
‘Chuy Garcia pissed away all the goodwill I ever had for him.’ Columnist Eric Zorn recommends Illinois change the law to prevent a repeat of “the sleazy way” Chicago’s U.S. representative “greased the way for his chief of staff … to inherit his seat.”
■ Politico: Retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who during the primary withdrew her support from a candidate who’d taken cash from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is now backing another candidate who’s accepted close to $4 million from an AIPAC-aligned group.
Explosive diarrhea redux. Pediatrician, immunologist and columnist Zachary Rubin: The FDA’s reported a separate cyclospora outbreak involving at least 72 people, for which a food source remains unidentified.
■ The New York Times (gift link) visits a Mexican town once known for lettuce and now known for cyclospora: “They’re always going to blame us.”
‘A history of alleged child sexual abuse.’ The Sun-Times reports: “A controversial ‘fraternity’ of priests whose leaders were recently excommunicated by Pope Leo XIV—and that maintains a quiet presence in the Chicago area with a church in west suburban Oak Park and a priory on the Northwest Side—… shares an unfortunate characteristic with … more mainstream Catholic religious orders.”
■ CNN, earlier this month: “Priests and members of a breakaway Catholic group that ordained four new bishops in defiance of Pope Leo XIV’s wishes are in schism.”
‘AI platforms … are biased in favor of their own profitability.’ Lawyer and ProPublica cofounder Dick Tofel details troubling experiences using AI to illustrate his column.
■ Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “Much of the United States economy is now based on … expectations that AI will pay off very big. … But it’s becoming a house of cards.”
■ Touring a data center “innovation lab,” energy reporter Amy Harder says she “was immediately hit with what I can only describe as ‘demented white noise.’”
30 years. The Daily Show marked its 30th anniversary last night with a supercut of highlights touching on almost every major national story across those decades.
■ LateNighter: An ugly cat inspired the show’s closing “Moment of Zen.”
■ The show’s getting a spinoff: A serialized political soap opera—in vertical format.
■ ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel thanks CBS for his best ratings month ever—because it canceled Stephen Colbert’s show.
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