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Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for prolonging the Russo-Ukrainian war, following Zelensky’s rejection of a U.S. proposal to cede Crimea to Russia as part of a peace plan. “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that make it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, falsely claiming that Ukraine had “handed over” Crimea in 2014 “without a shot being fired.” Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff canceled plans to attend a meeting with top Ukrainian and British diplomats in London on Wednesday, citing scheduling conflicts.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday denied speculation that the U.S. had offered to unilaterally lower tariffs on Chinese goods. But, he added: “I don’t think either side believes that the current tariff levels are sustainable, so I would not be surprised if they went down in a mutual way.” President Donald Trump also continued to soften his rhetoric on China Wednesday, saying that he believed a “fair deal” was within reach. Beijing currently faces a combined tariff rate of 145 percent, while U.S. exports to China are subject to a 125 percent duty.
- A New Jersey wildfire that began on Tuesday rapidly spread to 13,250 acres on Wednesday, threatening more than 1,ooo structures. Fire officials said that the blaze, which could become the state’s largest in more than 20 years, had been 50 percent contained as of Wednesday night. An estimated 5,000 people were forced to evacuate as a result of the fire, which was fueled by high wind and low humidity. On Wednesday, acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency.
- A dozen states sued the Trump administration Wednesday over its tariff policies in the U.S. Court of International Trade, alleging that President Trump lacks the authority to enact sweeping tariffs. Led by Arizona and Oregon, the states argued that Congress alone has the authority to impose the duties, and that the president can invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in the event of an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad. “These edicts reflect a national trade policy that now hinges on the president’s whims rather than the sound exercise of his lawful authority,” the 12 attorneys general, all Democrats, claimed in the lawsuit.
- Trump on Wednesday signed a number of executive orders aimed at realigning the White House’s education policies with his administration’s priorities. The directives directed federal agencies to strengthen reporting requirements for universities that received foreign donations over $250,000, sought to spur accreditation bodies to ensure that universities complied with federal law related to diversity-promotion efforts, and ordered the federal government to investigate school-discipline policies, among other initiatives.
- Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in 2026. Durbin, 80, was elected to the Senate in 1996, making him the fifth-most senior lawmaker in the upper chamber. Illinois is expected to be a safe blue seat in 2026, and Durbin’s exit is likely to set off a competitive Democratic primary.
Russia Attacks, America Wavers
Around 1 a.m. local time today, families across Kyiv awoke to sirens signaling incoming Russian missiles and drones. By sunrise, the bombardment had injured 70 people and killed at least nine, becoming one of the deadliest attacks on Ukraine’s capital city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Hours before the strike, the White House was blaming Ukraine for disrupting the peace process. “I think Russia is ready,” President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday, indicating that the Kremlin is “easier to deal with” than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance laid out Washington’s steepest demands of Ukraine to date, calling on the war-torn country to accept an agreement that freezes the conflict along its current frontlines, recognizes Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, and prohibits Ukraine from joining NATO in the future.
Moscow hailed the latest American proposal, which would effectively endorse Russia’s occupation of nearly ...
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Today’s Must-Read
The very ideal that so many of us noncitizens cherish as America’s “first freedom” is now being curtailed. The administration is invoking a clause of the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952 that allows the Secretary of State unfettered discretion to deport aliens, including anyone he believes “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” This new scheme has begun with the detaining of foreign students—including visa and green card holders—for allegedly antisemitic speech. Combating antisemitism is an important and legitimate government interest, and both Americans and noncitizens are safer when bigotry is confronted. But for six decades, America has prohibited censorship and relied on counterspeech as the main bulwark against hatred, not least because leading Jewish and black civil rights groups have long recognized the danger of giving the government power over speech.
Toeing the Company Line
Plot Holes
Hubris and nemesis at the White House.
Donald Trump, Abundance Democrat
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson have an unlikely ally.
An Absurd Rationale for Provoking a Constitutional Crisis
Donald Trump’s ability to carry out mass deportations won’t depend on his ability to use the Alien Enemies Act against a Venezuelan gang.
No, Ukraine Is Not Fighting a ‘Proxy War’
Why the term is unhelpful in describing the war with Russia specifically, or other conflicts more generally.
Dead Dollar Walking
The Imperial Fed.
Worth Your Time
- Hours after his family gathered for the Passover Seder earlier this month, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania was forced to flee his home due to an arson attack. In a new piece for the New York Times, he recounted the experience and lessons to be gleaned from it. “The devastation was shocking, and to me, it did not appear to be an accident. The damage was too extreme. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of our home. As I looked around in horror, I found myself picturing where each of my kids and our guests sat the previous evening as we prayed and recounted the story of our ancestors escaping bondage thousands of years ago. As we moved our family to a secure location, I began receiving updates from the Pennsylvania State Police on what had happened: I was told with certainty that the fire was a deliberate, targeted attack by an arsonist,” he wrote. “This level of violence has to stop. It is our shared responsibility to do better. As elected leaders, we have an additional responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity. To not just call out what’s right and what’s wrong but also to do the hard work of bringing people together to find common ground in a world that’s constantly trying to divide us.”
Presented Without Comment
Reuters: Chechnya Leader’s Son, 17, Becomes Head of Chechen Security Council
Also Presented Without Comment
Los Angeles Times: ‘It Is Time for You to Leave’: DHS Mistakenly Sends Notices to U.S. Citizens
Also Also Presented Without Comment
Axios: Musk vs. Bessent Dispute Erupted Into West Wing Shouting Match
Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got into a heated shouting match in earshot of President Trump and other officials in the White House last week during a dispute about the IRS, two witnesses and three sources briefed on the matter tell Axios.
“It was two billionaire, middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing,” one witness said of the argument last Thursday.
In the Zeitgeist
Julien Baker, an indie singer-songwriter and one-third of Boygenius, just released Send a Prayer My Way, a collaboration with the artist TORRES. We know it’s early to say, but the album is shaping up to be one of our favorites of the year. Yeehaw!
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