Donald Trump, an Iraq War critic, appears to be getting into the nation-building business. www.bbc.com/news/article...

He fills that glove with Vaseline to keep his hand soft for his next wife.

Trump is president of the board that just voted to add Trump's name to the Kennedy Center.

Whoever wins the Republican nomination in 2028 will have been given a winning coalition – if they can keep it. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Arguing that the economy is better than Americans think didn't help Joe Biden. And encouraging American frugality was hardly a winning message for Jimmy Carter. So yeah, good luck with that. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Donald Trump now has his Fifa Peace Prize on display on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

I'm not so sure about this Jeopardy reboot.

Politics is complicating Friday’s World Cup event (but I’m still sporting my U.S. jersey). www.bbc.com/news/videos/...

Agents in Key Largo, Florida ripped this woman wearing medical scrubs out of her car as she screamed she is a US citizen. Agents cuffed her and put her in one of their cars. She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:

There are 777 college football teams. All presumably have field goal kickers. Of that number, only 32 end up on an NFL team at any one time. This is one of them.

Democrats - whether through strategy or political self-preservation in the face of Trump attacks - are claiming the mantle of patriotism. www.bbc.com/news/article...

A Democratic win in conservative Tennessee could force Republicans to grapple more fully with the costs of sticking with Trump when he is not on the ballot. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Hey, let’s give our massive AI project the same name as the device in a Star Trek movie that was created for altruistic purposes but in the hands of a madman became a weapon for global genocide and galactic terror.

Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The shutdown is over, Trump is spiking the football and Democrats are wondering what went wrong. But fortunes change quickly in politics... www.bbc.com/news/article...

Economists say there's not enough tariff revenue to pay Trump's $2,000 "subsidy" - and it might drive up prices. But after last week's electoral defeats, the president is looking for a way to address affordability concerns that he first called a "con job". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Trump golfed, Democrats blinked and this shutdown may be drawing to a close, But shutdown politics is here to stay. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Always risky reading too much into Supreme Court oral arguments, but … Trump’s tariffs may be on shaky ground. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Dick Cheney championed an expansive presidential authority and built today's American security state. Trump is taking those tools and bending them to his will. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The ecclesiastical way of subtweeting

I was with Trump on his Asia swing - and I saw a lot of personal accommodations that bordered on the obsequious. But his face-to-face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping was all business, no fanfare. www.bbc.com/news/article...

This is one policy option. Another is for tech giants to voluntarily contribute hundreds of millions to a massive government vanity project favored by the regime that is considering how to regulate them. www.politico.eu/article/fren...

Meanwhile, at the White House... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Millions of Americans turned out for the No Kings rally this weekend. Can Democrats turn that energy into ballot box success? The first test comes next month. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The Supreme Court weighs doing away with the requirement that states draw congressional districts to give black voters representation roughly equal to their population share. Doing so could let conservative southern states flip more than a dozen seats to the Republicans. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The subtext of this comment is that the Mayor of Boston is Asian-American, whereas the Mayor of Chicago (like almost everyone else that Trump refers to as “a low IQ person”) is Black.

Trump has the advantage of personal relationships with Netanyahu and key Arab leaders. He has an unconventional approach that yielded conventional success. But in the end, Netanyahu may have decided that his military objectives had all been accomplished. www.bbc.com/news/article...

I watched five hours of Pam Bondi Senate testimony today... Here's what we learned - and what we didn't. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Happy first day of the new Supreme Court session, for those who celebrate. It's shaping up to be a pivotal one for defining the breadth of presidential authority. www.bbc.com/news/article...

After distancing himself from Project 2025 last year, Trump is now citing it - and co-author Russ Vought - to threaten Democrats. Is this a bluff or another step in a budget-slashing plan? www.bbc.com/news/article...

So how does this shutdown end? I tick through four possibilities - three of which aren’t great for the Democrats. www.bbc.com/news/article...

At this point, a government shutdown at midnight tonight seems certain. And while both sides have plans for how it might play out to their advantage, there are no guarantees. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Last yeear, Trump said, "Sometimes revenge can be justified." Back in the White House, he is now punishing his critics and adversaries. www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Clear and Present Danger" - but instead of covert CIA operations, they just come right out and say what they're going to do.

The president asks, and he shall receive... www.bbc.com/news/article...

"Your heroes will be ..." <spins wheel> "... John Bolton, James Comey and the Man Show guy."

If there is a sense that no one is safe – that public life itself has become a blood sport – it will have its own corrosive effect on American politics. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The birthday note Trump purportedly wrote to Epstein is a fragment of a larger mosaic of Epstein’s life - a story of sex, crime and proximity to power. And that’s why it is not the “dead issue” that Trump wishes it to be. www.bbc.com/news/article...

What Epstein records have not been made public?

The press conference at the Capitol on Wednesday put Epstein's victims front and centre - with an added promise that they would not be silenced. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Some thoughts on China. My latest in @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/the-real-m...

If only he has asked her that before Trump nominated her in March or the Senate confirmed her in July, huh?

Did the shirts sell? www.bbc.com/news/article...

The Chinese had a big parade - and Donald Trump was watching. This new world order is one that he is helping to make.

“Ai powered smart cities.” Lol. Are they payments made in crypto blockchain?

Trump plan to redevelop Gaza into a series of luxury resorts is slated to contain up to six “AI powered smart cities”, according to the “prospectus” reviewed by the Post. The plan assumes the “voluntary” departure of all now living in Gaza. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

I feel really good about the fact that our nation's continued economic growth hinges on pouring huge sums into AI. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Might as well ask for a new Supreme Court, too, since none of those laws would hold up with the current one.

From Trump's "Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again" order... I'd love to bring back more Art Deco buildings, but I don't think it could be considered "classical" by any definition...