Trump Judges Deal Republicans a Blow in 2026 Voting Map Wars

A federal court in Alabama has struck down Republicans’ attempt to redraw the state’s congressional map, on the grounds that it intentionally discriminates against Black voters.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court ruled that the state could not switch to its 2023 congressional map, which had previously been blocked in court three years ago, even after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act earlier this month. That earlier map only had one majority-Black, Democratic-leaning district, as opposed to the current two.

“Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the judges said in their ruling. Two of the three judges were appointed by President Trump himself.

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to redraw its maps, sending the redistricting process down to the lower court. Republicans will almost certainly appeal Tuesday’s ruling, sending it back up to the high court.

Alabama Republicans have ignored protests and even natural disasters in order to force through a new congressional map as primary elections draw near. Governor Kay Ivey last week delayed four of the state’s congressional primaries in anticipation of the new map. For now, though, three federal judges are blocking their attempt.

“There is no convincing evidence that it is necessary for us to allow Alabama to pivot to the 2023 Plan in the middle of an election, and substantial evidence that it is not,” the judges ruled.

This story has been updated.

To be a Donald Trump–endorsed political candidate, you must possess many qualities: integrity. Empathy. Intelligence. A love of the United States and all who inhabit it.

Just kidding! You don’t have to have any of those things. You just have to suck up to him more than the other guy.

The president made that clearer than ever in a post to Truth Social Sunday, in which he explained the complex reasons behind his endorsement of Ken Paxton in the Texas Republican Senate primary.

Paxton was “very loyal to your favorite President, ME,” Trump wrote. “Ken’s opponent was VERY disloyal to me.”

Trump’s obsession with fealty over everything is quite pronounced in the case of Paxton, an awful person with a long history of scandals.

Paxton cheated on his wife, was impeached by the state House on corruption charges, and illegally helped donors by targeting their enemies as state attorney general. Last month, his office offered a sweetheart plea deal to a repeated child molester that would see the offender spend just one day in jail.

Paxton should never be able to get the endorsement of a sitting president. It’s not even like his Republican rival, John Cornyn, doesn’t suck up to Trump. But Paxton has given the president lavish, consistent support over the years. It’s as simple as that for our commander in chief.

Paxton will face Cornyn in a runoff Tuesday night that is projected to go Trump’s way. The winner will advance to the general in November against Democrat James Talarico, a progressive Christian with a quiet cadence and the face of a Boy Scout.

Talarico won a close primary of his own against Representative Jasmine Crockett in March. He will have an uphill battle in a state as red and as anti-abortion as Texas, but is actually ahead in recent polls. Election pundits such as Nate Silver are giving Talarico a good shot, particularly if the controversial Paxton wins Tuesday.

President Trump went on yet another Truth Social posting spree over the holiday weekend, sharing Facebook-style memes into the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday. This comes as he is set to get his third medical check up in 13 months at Walter Reed Medical Center on Tuesday. 

He began the morning with a stream of low effort, low quality memes that look straight out of the bot-filled comment section of any of Trump’s Truth Social posts. At 5:52 a.m., he criticized Obama’s Iran deal and then posted affirmations about being the “dealmaker in chief” and the “man who saved America. And at 6:01 a.m, he posted an AI meme depicting former President Joe Biden slumped over sleeping at his desk, melted ice cream in front of him, and Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leering behind him with an autopen—perhaps the worst post of them all given that Trump has fallen asleep on camera in a similar position countless times in his second term. 

Since Monday evening, Trump twice posted an image about how the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., is larger than multiple skyscrapers—something that no one with real problems should care about, especially given that he’s comparing a pool in the ground to Ground Zero and the Empire State building. 

He also shared a basic oil painting of a suburban house with a white picket fence covered in American flags, captioning it “Trump’s America in 2026.” The image communicates virtually nothing while ignoring the fact that the reality of Trump’s America right now is extremely bleak. 

Trump then posted another meme, this time stating that Former President Barack Obama’s Iran strategy was just “pallets of cash,” while his grand solution is dropping bombs in the Gulf. Yet Trump is doing both—he’s reportedly considered offering Iran $20 billion for their uranium stockpiles and attacked Iranian ships on Monday. And there is still no real end to the war in sight, as warhawks from both the Democratic and Republican Party come out against Trump’s most recent proposed deal. 

The president’s strange posting marathons appear to be increasing as his approval ratings on the economy and the Iran war absolutely tank.  

Democratic Senator Andy Kim was met with force when trying to defuse tensions at an immigration detention center on Monday. 

Kim was pepper-sprayed, along with dozens of other protesters, outside of Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, Monday after visiting the center to look into reports of detainees on a hunger strike protesting poor conditions at the facility. Kim and other Democratic New Jersey officials were allowed to enter.

When Kim left the building, he saw that protesters had formed a human chain in front of the facility, and he said he tried to get in the middle of the situation to “de-escalate the situation” and avoid a “physical clash” after ICE said they planned to push vehicles through the crowd.  But then, Kim said, “that’s when [the agents] started to shoot at us with pepper balls as well as using the pepper spray.” ​A medic at the scene had to wash Kim’s eyes out with water. 

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that conditions at the facility were fine, claiming that detainees have access to phones, food, clean water, clothing, and medical care, and called the protesters “agitators.” 

“This is nothing more than a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks,” said acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis in another statement, denying that a hunger strike or “subprime conditions” exist at Delaney Hall. “These sanctuary politicians should be thanking ICE law enforcement for removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and drug traffickers from their communities.” 

Kim, who said he had to call DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to gain access to the facility, disputed that statement. The senator said he spoke to “as many detainees as possible,” who related “just the inhumane conditions.” 

“I talked with a pregnant woman who is not getting access to OBGYN health care in the way that she needs,” Kim told NJ.com. “I talked with a woman who actually had a miscarriage in Delaney Hall and was not given any medical support. I talked with an 18-year-old high school senior who just wanted to be able to graduate this month rather than being in a detention facility uncertain about what’s going to happen next in her life and being separated from her mom.”

The U.S. bombed several Iranian targets Monday, breaking its own ceasefire in the process.

American forces destroyed Iranian boats and missile launch sites, according to U.S. Central Command. The boats were reportedly attempting to lay more mines along the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman.

But the timing of the attack could not have been worse, as Iranian officials had arrived in Qatar just hours earlier for talks to end the war.

Iranian state media confirmed some of the attacks hit Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city that is home to the country’s key naval and air bases. State media reported that explosions occurred in other cities, as well.

CENTCOM characterized the strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying they were intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

“Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing cease-fire,” CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement. Hawkins declined to elaborate on which ships were hit, where the targets were located, or where the other U.S. attacks took place.

In a lengthy Truth Social post Monday morning, hours before the strikes, Trump declared that the U.S. and Iran would either broker a “great deal for all or, no deal at all.”

“Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before,” the president warned.

In another post, Trump said that his deal would be “the exact opposite” of the Iran deal brokered by former President Barack Obama, although he added that “nobody has seen it, or knows what it is.”

Trump also noted that any potential deal to end the Iran war should come with a stipulation requiring Tehran to sign the Abraham Accords, normalizing diplomatic, economic, and security with Israel. Trump shared that he had spoken with the leaders of several Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, and opined that “it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum,” sign the Abraham Accords “simultaneously.”

“Those Countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates (already a Member!), Qatar, Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (already a Member!),” Trump wrote.

Tehran has said there will be no “retreat” in its fight against the United States. Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton told CNN Monday that Iran had effectively played the White House by delaying the peace process.

“I don’t think the president understands the fanaticism of what’s left of the regime and the people in power. He is somebody who has spent his whole life making deals with people. He thinks everybody wants to make a deal on just about anything. That’s not what these people are into,” Bolton said.

“They can see that Trump is so palpably desperate to make a deal that he can declare to be a victory and that lowers prices of gasoline—and they’re playing him on that,” Bolton continued. “They’re stretching him out, they’re buying time. All of that works out in their advantage.”

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry—who for some reason is serving as President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland—admitted Friday that the administration wants to take over the Arctic island for the oil.

Landry’s comments came after he traveled to Greenland uninvited last week, while the U.S. pressures Denmark to allow it to increase its military presence in the territory Trump has already essentially threatened to annex.

“Greenland needs the deal.… Greenland could be exporting two million barrels of oil a day right now,” Landry said on Fox News. “Think about what that could mean. Think about what kind of pressure that would relieve in the Strait of Hormuz. Think about what kind of leverage that would give the Western hemisphere and America.… We could have those barrels on production within 10 months or so.”

Landry also went on to mention rare earth minerals and the other various natural resources in Greenland.

“Ah yes. Oil. It’s always about oil and money,” Missouri congressional candidate Fred Wellman wrote on X. “Remember how it was for our ‘national security?’ No, it was for corporations to exploit the natural resources.”

Occupy Democrats also chimed in: “But Trump also said that because of Venezuela, we have more oil than we know what to do with.… So the Strait didn’t matter. NOW, we need Greenlands oil to offset the problems from Iran and Hormuz? What happened to more oil than anyone on earth?”

It isn’t hard to connect the dots here. Trump’s monthslong Greenland obsession has only been exacerbated by the war he started with Iran, which led oil prices to skyrocket after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shut down the Strait of Hormuz. Now Trump is looking to Greenland—and its oil and natural resources—as a way out of his own mess.

Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her position as director of national intelligence.

Gabbard notified the president of her forthcoming departure during a Cabinet meeting at the Oval Office on Friday. Her last day is expected to be June 30.

She is reportedly departing Trump’s Cabinet to assist her husband, Abraham Williams, as he battles cancer, Fox News Digital reported.

“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026,” Gabbard wrote in her resignation letter, obtained first by Fox. “My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

Gabbard said that her husband “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she wrote.

Gabbard and her husband first met in Hawaii while he volunteered for her 2012 Democratic congressional campaign. They have been married for 11 years.

“His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” she continued. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

It is not immediately clear who will replace Gabbard.

Her exit has curious timing. Despite being appointed to run America’s national intelligence operation, Gabbard has spent the last several months largely sidelined from the Trump administration’s national security operations. She was noticeably absent during decisions surrounding the White House’s attack on Venezuela, as well as the ongoing war with Iran.

Gabbard’s opinion on such matters frequently differed from Trump’s talking points: She has argued that the U.S. had different objectives in the war from Israel’s, and claimed that Tehran had not actually attempted to rebuild its nuclear program after the U.S. military attacked three of its key nuclear sites last June. Gabbard blatantly irritated Trump earlier this year when she opted to shield a former deputy who openly disagreed with the war.

Regardless of the broad purview of her office, Gabbard had recently been relegated to pursuing claims of 2020 election fraud. In January, Gabbard was caught on camera overseeing FBI agents as they packed up the Fulton County, Georgia, election office and walked out with ballots from the 2020 presidential election, despite the fact that she is prohibited from taking part in domestic law enforcement operations.

Gabbard told Democratic lawmakers in February that Donald Trump himself had asked her to be there—but he did not stick by her side. Instead, Trump blamed Gabbard’s participation on ex–Attorney General Pam Bondi. Now both women are gone from his administration.

Four people have exited Trump’s Cabinet since he returned to office last year—all of them women. They include Gabbard, Bondi, former DHS chief Kristi Noem, and former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

This story has been updated.

Representative Tom Kean Jr. has claimed he’s too sick to do his job in Congress—but he has apparently been perfectly fine traveling, approving staff expenditures, and trading stocks.

The New Jersey Republican has been missing in action since March 5, skipped 88 House votes so far, and hasn’t been seen in Washington for more than 75 days. Yet he has also taken Amtrak and used several rideshare apps around San Francisco, according to pre-primary reports that Kean filed with the Federal Election Commission.

All the trips occurred in mid-April—several weeks into Kean’s unexplained disappearance.

Kean’s staff have also been traversing the country with their boss’s express approval. His chief of staff, Dan Scharfenberger, has obtained Kean’s signature twice since early March for trips funded by special interest groups. They include a jaunt to Las Vegas, paid for by the Republican Main Street Partnership, and a trip to Middleburg, Virginia, for a “spring issues conference” sponsored by the bipartisan policy organization Center Forward, NOTUS reported Friday.

The 57-year-old has also continued trading stocks during his prolonged absence, buying and selling shares of Amcor, Chubb Limited, First Citizens BancShares, Johnson & Johnson, and PepsiCo, according to congressional financial records obtained by NOTUS. The combined value of the trades ranges from $50,008 to $190,000.

Kean initially offered a meager explanation late last month for his sudden disappearance, confessing to House Speaker Mike Johnson (after a small pressure campaign fronted by journalists and tristate lawmakers effectively forced him to pipe up) that he had been dealing with an unspecified “personal health matter.”

At the time, Kean promised that he would return to work shortly. It has been nearly four weeks since then.

On Thursday, Kean told the New Jersey Globe that his health prognosis was “good” and that he would be transparent about his illness soon. He also said that he planned to return to Washington—and the campaign trail—in the coming weeks.

“My doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery,” Kean said in a lengthy phone interview.  “I understand the need for public transparency, and I appreciate the support of my constituents.”

But the clock is ticking on Kean’s return: Johnson is in the midst of advancing a partisan budget reconciliation that faces total opposition from the Democratic Party. The speaker can spare just two Republican votes on the measure, if all Democrats are present and oppose it.

Kean was elected to represent New Jersey’s 7th congressional district in 2022, and is months away from being thrust into a contentious midterm reelection cycle. He is currently unchallenged in the Garden State’s Republican primary, scheduled for June 2, but is likely to face tremendous opposition from Democrats come November. Over the last several months, his district has shifted from a “lean Republican” advantage to a total toss-up, according to an analysis by the Cook Political Report.

President Donald Trump personally called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to voice his displeasure with the latter’s decision to pull U.S. troops from Poland last week.

The president was reportedly shocked by the move, raising questions around who exactly is calling the shots in the White House.

Trump also announced he was sending more troops to the longtime U.S. ally.

“Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 troops to Poland,” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Trump called Hegseth to ask why he had withdrawn the troops, and say that he should be kinder to one of America’s oldest allies. This implies that Hegseth was acting independently, or at least without the knowledge of the president—a shocking notion given the significance and unpopularity of the decision to pull troops from Poland. Is Hegseth acting alone? Is Trump too mentally unstable to be looped into these decisions?

“More evidence that DoD is running its own foreign policy, often directly contradicting what Trump wants,” Brookings Institute fellow Tom Wright wrote on X. “This is not the first time it has happened.”

Last year, Hegseth paused aid to Ukraine multiple times, all apparently without Trump’s approval.

Republicans are going all out to convince the American people that President Trump’s $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund for his MAGA allies is actually a good thing.

Representative James Comer proclaimed that there’s a “need” for the slush fund.

“The things they tried to convict him of—it was a joke,” he said Friday. “So I think that there is a need for it. What the president needs to do to be able to get this through is to explain it and have a plan.”

Representative Ralph Norman appeared to have no problems with paying those convicted of assaulting police officers, saying Thursday that “January 6 is an issue that was made up in the first place” and a “staged thing from day one.”

Representative Jody Arrington called Trump “one of the biggest victims of weaponization” and argued that the slush fund is “an appropriate use of tax dollars.” Representative Dan Meuser went as far as to call the slush fund “reparations to those who were wronged by Biden.”

Even House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House, defended the slush fund.

“Having your own personal lawyer, at this point, become [attorney general]—A.G. is the only person who could’ve gotten rid of these audits, right?” CNBC’s Joe Kernen asked Emmer, referring to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s related settlement agreement that the IRS cease all audits of President Trump and his family. “It just looks … smells bad.”

“Joe, I think it’s unfair to say it’s just the president who’s upset. Americans are upset. They don’t wanna see their government be used against anyone, Donald Trump or anybody else,” Emmer replied, not engaging with Kernen’s actual point. “It was so egregious what they did to Donald Trump and his family. It’s one of the reasons that he’s back in the office. America wants this cleaned up, and Donald Trump is gonna make sure it is.”

Emmer is really arguing that the majority of Americans want their taxes to go toward a slush fund for MAGA sycophants, January 6 rioters, and any other individual or group that felt “targeted” by the Biden administration. He continued pushing this narrative later in the interview.

“So we’re all clear, you support the settlement that the president made with—some people would say he made with himself, others would say it was with the A.G.—you’re supportive of that, you feel like that was totally on the up and up?” Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Emmer.

“Let’s see what it is when it comes over to the House. The Senate’s gotta get their work done, Andrew, and you’re asking me to pass judgment on something—”

“No, no, no,” Sorkin interrupted. “The settlement unto itself. I’m not talking about the justice fund. The settlement that was made between the president and the administration.… Do you look at that and say, ‘That’s totally fine,’ you support how that was done?”

Emmer claimed ignorance.

“Well, I wasn’t in the room, so I don’t know what the details are. But I can tell you this: No one knows weaponization of government against him and his family better than Donald Trump. He was absolutely raked by these people for years, and the American public knows it,” he concluded.

Trump was “targeted” because he incited an insurrection. Now he wants you to pay his damages, and the GOP is acting as if it’s a completely reasonable thing to do—all as this widely unpopular president approaches midterm elections.