u/kittehgoesmeow

"The president I saw was a spring chicken!" - Ed Gallrein, running to unseat Thomas Massie, glazing the president.

Going South

Donald Trump’s influence is waning… or is it? One of his biggest foes in the GOP has a primary tomorrow, in a major test of the president’s power.

• President Donald Trump has been itching to oust Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) ever since he broke with his party to force the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. Trump now has a chance to settle the score, as the congressman faces the toughest election of his career.

• All eyes are on Tuesday’s primary. Massie will square off against Ed Gallrein, a Trump-endorsed former Navy SEAL, who is leading in some polls. If Gallrein wins, it will mark the third time in two weeks that Trump has successfully ousted Republicans who defied him. A Massie victory, however, could threaten the president’s image as a kingmaker — and raise fresh questions about his influence in the party.

• “We’re in a fight against the worst congressman in the history of our country,” Trump said in a video from the Oval Office this afternoon. “I hope you're going to put him out of business tomorrow. He is so bad.” Because of Trump’s influence — paired with Massie’s unrelenting criticism of Israel — Gallein has raked in huge amounts of money.

• War Secretary Pete Hegseth even campaigned alongside Gallrein in Kentucky today. “President Trump needs reinforcements,” Hegseth said in a speech. “In the middle of a fight, you don’t weaken your own side.”

• Massie doesn’t seem to be sweating. At a recent campaign event, Massie did his best Trump impersonation: “I called Congressman Massie a horrible legislator, even a horrible human being!” But he may be masking concerns; Trump won 85 percent of the vote in the 2024 Kentucky presidential primary.

Trump’s power over his party appears strong. But there are signs that it may be slipping.

• Candidates endorsed by Trump unseated several GOP Indiana state lawmakers who balked at his demands to redistrict earlier this month. Trump scored another big win over the weekend, when Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial after the Capitol insurrection — lost his primary. A Massie loss would cement the message that he’s trying to send: Don’t cross me, or else.

• There’s a possibility, however, that Trump’s support could backfire. His endorsement could actually hurt candidates in a general election, according to a new poll. Only 22 percent of Trump voters said that the president’s blessing would make them more likely to vote for a candidate, while 55 percent of Democrats said it would deter them.

• Trump’s popularity is a red flag for Republicans. His approval rating dropped to 37 percent, the lowest of his second term in New York Times / Siena polls. Nearly two-thirds of voters said that his decision to go to war with Iran, a conflict with no end in sight, was the wrong choice.

There are two outcomes in this primary: Either Trump continues consolidating his power, or Massie proves that it’s possible to rebel against MAGA and live to tell the tale.

Meanwhile On The Pod...

Why Are Americans So Unhappy? The Answer Might Surprise You (05/18/26)

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

Attention, Los Angelenos! The Bulwark's Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Sam Stein are bringing their pro-democracy banter to the City of Angels for a one-night show this Thursday, May 21. Their guests: Our very own Jon Favreau (Pod Save America, Offline), Jane Coaston (What a Day), and Erin Ryan (Hysteria) — plus Brian Tyler Cohen and Van Lathan. Expect sharp political insights, a community building on good faith, and quite possibly, a little kiki about Ka$h Patel bourbon. Get your tickets now.

What Else?

Breaking: San Diego police responded to a report of an active shooter at the Islamic Center of San Diego this afternoon. At least one suspected shooter is dead, law enforcement officials told NBC News. The threat has been “neutralized,” local police said.

Donald Trump’s DOJ announced that it’s creating a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to help those who claim to have been unfairly targeted by previous administrations. His team unveiled the fund after it moved to dismiss its $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. “This is outright theft,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) tweeted. “Trump is stealing $1.7 BILLION of your money to set up a totally unprecedented, first-in-American-history political slush fund that he can use to dole out cash to win loyalty and favors for him and his family.”

Trump said that he’s calling off strikes against Iran that were scheduled for Tuesday at the request of the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. “Serious negotiations are now taking place,” Trump posted on social media, adding that “this Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!”

Trump is considering building a landing pad for new Marine One helicopters on the White House South Lawn to protect the grass. Why not use the Rose Garden? You paved over that already!

Trump officials have been holding secret talks with Greenlandic leaders for months about the nation’s future, according to the New York Times. Local politicians are worried that Trump’s team is trying to exert influence over Greenland, with proposals that include allowing American troops to stay in Greenland indefinitely and grant the U.S. veto power over investment deals from Russia, China and others.

More than 100,000 children have been separated from their parents amid the Trump administration’s scramble to deport immigrants, according to a Brookings Institution analysis provided to the Times.

Several Polymarket accounts raked in $2.4 million from mostly betting on U.S. actions toward Iran, according to a data analytics firm. The accounts won 98 percent of 80 bets, in what “might be the most insane pattern we have found on Polymarket so far,” Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman told CBS News. “Luck alone cannot explain those numbers.”

Trump’s MAGA allies used an nine-hour prayer festival on Sunday — hosted on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. using millions in taxpayer dollars — to push the idea that the United States was intended to be a Christian nation. Several top administration officials spoke at the event… but not the president, who reportedly spent the day golfing.

What A Sponsor

This hasn't gotten a lot of airtime, but President Trump's Religious Liberty Commission has been meeting regularly not to focus on religious liberty for all, but rather how to further a Christian Nationalist agenda in the US.

Religious freedom is meant to protect individuals' rights to hold and practice their beliefs without interference, so long as they don't harm others, including children. Yet that's exactly what has happened when taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care agencies deny kids a loving home that treats them with dignity.

Religion is also being used as a tool to discriminate and only allow people who are of the "right" religion to serve as foster parents. That's exactly what's happened to multiple of Americans United's clients:

• Liz and Gabe Rutan-Ram, a Jewish couple in Tennessee, were ready to foster-to-adopt a child - until a state-funded agency refused to work with them because they are Jewish.

• Aimee Maddonna, a Catholic mother of three, was rejected because she did not agree to an evangelical Protestant statement of faith.

• Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin were turned away because they are a same-sex couple.

If you believe religious freedom should protect everyone, not be weaponized to turn away qualified families looking to foster and adopt children, we need you to join the fight now, visit https://AU.org/crooked to learn more and become a member today. This fight is far from over, and everyone one of us has a part to play.

Light At The End...

State lawmakers have rejected dozens of anti-vax bills pushed by Make American Healthy Again supporters. “Even though this is an increasingly partisan ​space, Republicans across the board are not anti-vaccine and there are lawmakers that really just want sensible, transparent vaccine policy,” Dr. Erin ⁠Abramsohn, executive director of the Infectious Disease Prevention Network, told Reuters.

Police returned two bottles of wine, valued at $24,000 and $7,000, to a French restaurant in Virginia after they were stolen last year.

A Pennsylvania woman found a 3-carat uncut diamond while digging in… wait for it… Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. Visitors find one or two diamonds every day in the area, according to a park employee, but they’re usually about a quarter-carat.

Do you know about the “richest cat in the world”? A mystery has been swirling in the seven years since famed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s death about who might receive his vast fortune. One rumored recipient is his beloved Choupette, a blue-cream Birman cat that Lagerfeld fawned over: “She is the center of the world. If you saw her, you would understand. She is kind of Greta Garbo,” the designer once said of his cat. This 7,000-word investigation into the matter in The Atlantic is a delightful read.

D.C. baseball fans are going wild for limited edition hats released by Nationals Park, emblazoned with “Bad Day To Be A” next to an embroidered glizzy. The hats were given out for Hot Dog Day, during which concession stands sold shoestring-style hotdog fries and attendees downed 27,570 total dogs. Even legendary competitive eater Joey Chestnut joined in on the action: “My sister snagged me a hat!!” he wrote on Instagram. I love this city.

Enjoy

> Lauren Marie Cross on Threads: "The scariest president had to be Rushmore because he had four heads. It's a good thing we captured him and trapped him in that mountain, even if we have to live in fear of the spell wearing off."

"That's life." - Rep. Jim Jordan on higher gasoline prices.

Great Big Bags Of Cash

Is the Trump administration about to set up a $1.7 billion fund of taxpayer money to benefit the president’s allies? Media reports say that’s the idea.

• Just when you thought team MAGA couldn’t possibly think of fresh ways to turn their control of the executive branch to their own advantage, they come up with a new howler. This time, it’s the creation of a massive new fund to compensate President Donald Trump’s allies who claim to have been wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, according to reports in both ABC News and the New York Times, citing unnamed sources.

• Discussions are reportedly underway to create the fund in exchange for Trump dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of his tax returns, according to ABC News. The fund would be overseen by a commission that would have total control over doling out payments. It remains unclear who would be on the commission or how they would be chosen.

• As for where the $1.7 billion would come from: U.S. taxpayers. ABC reported that the money would come from the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund, which holds reserves to pay “court judgments and compromise settlements of lawsuits against the government.” Trump’s Justice Department is reportedly expected to settle the case any day now, with the new so-called “weaponization” fund serving as a key pillar of the settlement deal.

• Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS has been rife with questions of ethical and financial conflicts of interest from the start.

• As Pod Save America’s Dan Pfeiffer put it in today’s episode: “This is a lawsuit where Donald Trump sued Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is now going to settle with Donald Trump to give Donald Trump money.”

• Trump himself acknowledged that in October: “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”

• “An insane level of corruption—even for Trump,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) posted. “A $1.7 BILLION slush fund for Trump’s hand-picked stooges to hand money to January 6th insurrectionists and his political allies.”

Meanwhile, U.S. taxpayers are grappling with skyrocketing gas prices and higher costs fueled by the Iran war.

• Trump declared himself unconcerned about those problems this week, saying he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situations” even “a little bit” while negotiating with Iran. The White House social media team doesn’t appear to be thinking about it either — earlier today, they posted this graphic featuring a diamond-encrusted hand holding a “MAGA” diamond chain. Classy.

• Trump “may not be thinking about Americans’ financial situation, but he’s always thinking about his own and he continues to use the presidency to make himself richer in cartoonishly corrupt ways,” Pod Save America’s Jon Favreau said on today’s episode.

• Reached for comment by ABC about the president’s reported plan to drop his IRS lawsuit in exchange for the $1.7 billion fund, a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team railed against the agency and accused it of allowing a “rogue, politically motivated employee” to leak Trump’s tax information to media outlets.

“President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable,” they said.

Meanwhile On The Pod...

THIS Scandal Just Took Down Trump's Border Patrol Chief (05/15/26)

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

Voting rights are under attack, and Stacey Abrams is focused on the fight to protect them. In the latest episode, she unpacks what can be done in the courts, at the ballot box, and in communities to help strengthen and protect elections. Listen to Assembly Required every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube!

What Else?

Trump traded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of securities in top American companies in the first three months of the year, the Financial Times reported, citing regulatory filings. The heads of many of those companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, Meta, and Boeing also happened to join him for his high-stakes summit with China’s Xi Jinping this week.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) shrugged off rising gas prices, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “That’s life.” When Collins pointed out that saying “that’s life” might not make Americans feel better, Jordan replied: “Those are your words, not mine.” To which Collins countered: “You said that just now… I quoted you.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would advise his children against living or working in the U.S. given its current social climate. “I wouldn’t recommend that my children go to the U.S. today, get their education there, and work there, simply because a social climate has suddenly developed there,” Merz said at a Catholic convention in Wuerzburg.

The Supreme Court ruled that mifepristone, a widely-used abortion medication, can continue to be prescribed via telehealth and mailed to patients. The 7-2 decision means an earlier ruling from the conservative-dominated U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit restricting access to the drug will remain blocked, for now, though the issue could return to the Supreme Court down the road. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, as expected.

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s third New York rape case ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Weinstein was accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and was first convicted in connection to the allegations in 2020, but the conviction was overturned in 2024. Friday was the second time the jury was deadlocked on the rape charge, the New York Times reported.

Donald Trump is more unpopular than Joe Biden ever was, according to polling from YouGov/The Economist. Biden’s lowest three-week net approval average was -21.8, YouGov’s David Montgomery wrote. By comparison, Trump’s net approval “has been -22 for three weeks straight.”

Where in the world is Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ)? Kean last cast a vote on March 5 and hasn’t voted since, The New York Times reports. Kean’s office released a statement two weeks ago saying he was dealing with a “medical issue,” and would be back soon, but the New Jersey Republican hasn’t been seen since. Kean is running for reelection in a competitive House race in the Garden State’s 7th Congressional District.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, commuted the sentence of Tina Peters, a former Mesa County clerk who was convicted of tampering with voting machines to prove the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. Polis’ decision came after the president repeatedly called for Peters to be freed and targeted Colorado with funding cuts and other attacks. Polis said he wasn’t influenced by Trump, but that he believes Peters got too harsh a sentence as a nonviolent, first-time offender.

The U.S. plans to indict former Cuban President Raul Castro, Reuters reported, citing a DOJ official. It’s unclear when the indictment will come down, but the official told Reuters it appears to be imminent. Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba have reached a boiling point in Trump’s second term and his administration has repeatedly pushed for regime change in the island nation.

What A Sponsor

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Light At The End...

Tennis legend Billie Jean King is graduating college on Monday, 62 years after she left to pursue a professional tennis career that notched her six No. 1 rankings and paved the way for women’s sports. King, 82, will graduate from Cal State LA with a bachelor’s degree in history and compared the milestone to a game of tennis. “It’s like a match. You’re shaking hands at net, you know that feeling that it’s done. You did your best, win or lose,” she told USA Today. “I’d like to finish. That’s where I started. I should finish there.” We’re not crying, you’re crying.

A man using a metal detector in England came across the “largest group of Iron Age metalwork ever found in Britain,” BBC News reported. What’s more, the size and value of the findings indicate an immense “amount of wealth” and the items include a mirror and blue glass beads, which were associated with female power in the Iron Age, archaeologist Emily North told journalists. “What we could be looking at are the belongings of a queen,” she said.

Dubai just opened the world’s first 24-hour private beach for women and it comes with its own private fencing, a no-photography rule and “smart monitoring safety systems,” The Independent reported. The beach is open around the clock and has an all-women staff, including its security guards and lifeguards.

Oklahoma became the 17th U.S. state to ban child marriage. The law goes into effect November 1 and prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from getting married, with no exceptions. Before the bill’s passage, state law permitted minors to get married with the consent of a parent or guardian and children 16 and under could get married with permission from a court.

A nationwide vaccine program in Australia aimed at protecting babies from RSV, a potentially deadly virus, has nearly halved the number of babies hospitalized with the virus, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The results are preliminary and are still undergoing peer review, but one pediatrician said the vaccine program has had “amazing” results in one season, adding, “I’m very encouraged by these figures.”

Enjoy

Say hello to Cashew and Apricot, a pair of rescued littermates!

“Cashew is a nut, and makes fun demon noises when she has zoomies. Apricot is sweet and will play all day, and she’s the only one who will nap on my lap (when our stars align and I have been still for an hour already). Enjoy the twinning and toebeans.”

— AJ