Happy Wednesday! In New Zealand, it’s long been known that sheep outnumber humans. But in a shocking underdog story, the humans are catching up—we’re at 4.5 sheep per New Zealander, down from 22 in 1982. It’s good to see humanity getting a win these days.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- The U.S. will lift all sanctions on Syria, President Donald Trump announced from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. For years, Syria—under the leadership of recently ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad—faced broad sanctions that blocked foreign investment and export revenue. Removing restrictions on the new government will give the country “a chance at greatness,” Trump said, adding that the decision followed conversations with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with Syria’s new foreign minister in Turkey this week.
- Saudi Arabia has committed to investing a total of $600 billion in the United States through a variety of deals, the White House announced Tuesday. The largest of the deals is a nearly $142 billion agreement for the Gulf state to purchase “state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen U.S. defense firms,” which the White House described as the largest defense sales agreement in history. MBS said the investments could eventually total as much as $1 trillion, a figure equal to Saudi Arabia’s entire GDP last year. U.S. companies announced new commercial partnerships with Saudi Arabia, as well, including a data center project between the Saudi company Humain and Nvidia, which committed to sending 18,000 cutting-edge chips to the kingdom.
- Israel on Tuesday targeted Hamas’ Gaza leader, Mohammed Sinwar, in an airstrike on a command and control center under a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military reportedly discovered that Sinwar was in the bunker the same day as the strikes, but it could take several days before Israel can determine whether the Hamas head was killed in the attack. Sinwar became the leader of Hamas in Gaza after Israeli soldiers killed his brother, Yahya Sinwar—a key architect of the October 7, 2023, attacks—last year.
- The Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to cut an additional $450 million in grants to Harvard, on top of the $2.2 billion already frozen. The administration’s task force on antisemitism sent a letter to the university stating that the school had failed to address the issues of “discrimination” and “antisemitic harassment,” although it did not cite any new infractions. The move followed a letter from Harvard President Alan Garber to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday, in which pushed back on the task force’s earlier allegations and affirmed the Ivy League’s commitment to rooting out antisemitism on campus. The task force previously demanded sweeping changes in the university’s governance, admissions, and structure—demands that Harvard has rejected—in exchange for the resumption of federal funding. The university is currently suing the federal government to end the freeze.
- A group of Democratic attorneys general from 20 states filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration on Tuesday, alleging that the White House threatened to withhold federal funds from the states unless they took specific immigration enforcement measures. The lawsuits claim that the Trump administration used billions of dollars for transportation, counterterrorism, and emergency preparedness as a “bargaining chip” to force states to cooperate with immigration enforcement. However, no federal funding has yet been withheld.
- U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. However, the administration must allow the individuals 21 days to file a lawsuit challenging their removal. The order—which applies only to Haines’ Pennsylvania district—diverged from decisions by three other federal judges, who deemed the administration’s use of the authority unlawful. In April, the Supreme Court temporarily allowed the administration to invoke the law, provided that migrants are given the opportunity to challenge their deportations. The split among the district courts could increase pressure on the Supreme Court to resolve the issue.
- The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent month-over-month and 2.3 percent annually in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The increase was slightly higher than March’s 0.1 percent decline but lower than the 0.3 percent increase economists expected, as the Federal Reserve tries to bring inflation down to its 2 percent target. CPI could increase in future months, however, as analysts expect the effects of the tariffs to work their way through the economy and drive prices higher.
The Fed Finds Itself Between a Rock and a Hard Place
“No Inflation, and Prices of Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and practically everything else, are DOWN!!!” President Donald Trump wrote on Tuesday, following the release of April’s consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation.
Hyperbole aside, last month’s inflation rate was lower than economists expected. But some analysts believe the relatively strong report could be the final calm before the storm, as American firms brace for the impact of Trump’s unpredictable trade policy.
While Trump imposed a series of tariffs early in April, pauses in implementation, various climbdowns by the administration, and anticipatory buying by importers have softened their initial blow for consumers. As the Federal Reserve faces pressure to cut rates in the face of a slowing economy, it must now ...
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Today’s Must-Read
Largely unnoticed by the general public on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is a particular way America has pulled away from Europe: The average American is now vastly more affluent than the average European. The difference is not only reflected in the overall sizes of their respective economies but by the much more practical metrics of disposable income, living space, and accessibility to basic services. Despite the overwhelming evidence, though, the idea that Americans are better off than their European counterparts is an unpopular sentiment. I casually mentioned on a recent episode of Paul Krugman’s interview show that, whereas both continents were similarly affluent a few decades ago, America is now nearly twice as rich as Europe. Cue a flood of outraged emails.
Toeing the Company Line
In Plane Sight
Why (some) populists are mad about the latest presidential bribe.
Exiled Russian Journalists Face Growing Threats in Europe
Already grappling with surveillance and arrest warrants, reporters and outlets are also dealing with a loss of international aid.
The Root of Our Dysfunction? Congress.
Legislators have conceded too much power to the president, and judges are left to clean up the mess.
Do Federal Funding Cuts Spell the End for ‘Sesame Street’?
The nonprofit group that owns the show collects only 4 percent of its revenue from the government.
Reagan Rolls Over
The Industrial Revolution and its consequences.
Worth Your Time
- In an excerpt from their upcoming book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson pulled back the curtain on former President Joe Biden’s shocking mental decline. One of the most revelatory moments came at a 2024 fundraiser co-hosted by actor George Clooney. “Clooney was shaken to his core. The President hadn’t recognized him, a man he had known for years. Clooney had expressed concern about Biden’s health before—a White House aide had told him a few months before that they were working on getting the President to take longer steps when he walked—but obviously the problem went far beyond his gait. This was much graver,” they wrote. “Clooney was certainly not the only one concerned. Other high-dollar attendees who posed for photographs with [former President Barack] Obama and Biden described Biden as slow and almost catatonic. Though they saw pockets of clarity while watching him on television, and onstage later that night, there were obvious brain freezes and clear signs of a mental slide. It was, to some of them, terrifying. Obama didn’t know what to make of how his former running mate was acting. At one point, in a small group of a few dozen top donors, Biden began speaking—barely audibly—and trailed off incoherently. Obama had to jump in and preside. At other moments, during photos, Obama would hop in and finish sentences for him.”
Presented Without Comment
New York Times: The Pope’s Florida Brother, a MAGA Disciple, Plans to ‘Tone It Down’
Also Presented Without Comment
NBC News: DOJ ‘Weaponization’ Group Will Shame Individuals It Can’t Charge With Crimes, New Head Says
The conservative activist named by President Donald Trump as the head of the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group” said Tuesday he planned to “name” and “shame” individuals the department determines it is unable to charge with crimes, in what would amount to a major departure from longstanding Justice Department protocols.
…
“There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them,” [Ed] Martin said. “And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so that’s, that’s how I believe the job operates.”
In the Zeitgeist
In the last decade, a sea of action movies inspired by—or ripping off—the hit John Wick franchise have inundated Hollywood. But one of the most surprisingly fun post-Wick films was Nobody, the 2021 film starring Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul fame. And, after a four-year wait, Odenkirk’s action hero is back for a sequel set to hit theaters in August.
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