Axios

National security adviser John Bolton's announcement on April 17 of additional sanctions on Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba marked another step in the attempt to tighten the noose around the countries he has dubbed the "Troika of Tyranny."

The big picture: Ahead of 2020, President Trump is trying to fuse the anti-communism of Cuban American voters with the frustrations of other Troika migrants who have fled repression and dysfunction. With regime change yet to take hold in Venezuela, the administration has begun to increase pressure on Cuba while tying together its policies toward both countries.

2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden was endorsed by the International Association of Fire Fighters on Monday, thanks to his political history of standing by fire fighters, the union said in a video.

Why it matters: It's the first pledge toward a 2020 Democrat by a major union. The 300,000-member endorsement kickstarts Biden's early campaign initiatives to win over the labor vote. 14.7 million people were unionized in 2018, per a January report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

President Trump made 10,111 false or misleading statements over the first 828 days of his presidency, according to a Washington Post analysis.

By the numbers: Over the last seven months, Trump has averaged 23 false claims per day, buoyed by his statements during campaign-style rallies and tweets. The Post found that about 20% of Trump's false claims are on immigration, including the fact that he's falsely claimed 160 times that a wall is being built along the U.S.-Mexico border.

By 2045, the U.S. as a whole is projected to become majority minority. And the changes are already underway: non-white Americans are now the majority of the population in four states, as well as in the most prosperous and powerful U.S. cities.

Why it matters: The U.S. faces two possible futures: a thriving nation that embraces its new demographic makeup, or an escalation of fighting, racism and xenophobia.

President Trump's Fed Board nominee Stephen Moore apologized in 2 separate interviews, broadcast Sunday, for his past controversial statements on women, saying he's "embarrassed" by them.

They were humor columns, but some of them weren’t funny, so I am apologetic.

Details: The longtime conservative commentator also went on AM 970 in New York to address the columns he wrote for the National Review in the early 2000s, which have since resurfaced. In one article, he said "women tennis pros ... want equal pay for inferior work."

"[The article] was kind of tongue-in-cheek about women in sports. I just want to say this: I’m embarrassed by it. I’m embarrassed by some of the things I said 18 years ago. They do not reflect my positions. I am not making light of it. It was a wrongheaded thing to do."

• Moore told radio host John Catsimatidis he wanted to apologize to people who were offended by his comments, because his sisters were offended by them.

"I’m not saying that I’m blameless, and I’m not saying I’m an angel. I’m just saying that these kinds of things don’t have a lot to do with whether I’m qualified to be on the Federal Reserve Board and setting interest rates."

Context: In response to the backlash last week, Moore said he had endured "one personal assault after another and a kind of character assassination having nothing to do with economics" ever since Trump contacted him about the Fed job.

Go deeper: Stephen Moore's greatest hits

A van crashed into a building at a Miami Gardens campaign event for Democratic presidential hopeful Cory Booker while the New Jersey senator was giving a speech Sunday, video shows.

Details: Booker, who's received death threats from 2 South Florida men, remained calm as the vehicle crashed a few dozen feet from where he stood, as organizers asked everyone to leave the building, the Miami Herald reports. He stuck around for photos afterward.

Wall Street Democrats are concerned about the fate of the nearly two dozen Democrats in the presidential circuit, New York magazine's Gabe Debenedetti writes for "Intelligencer" [Updated]:

Trump wings it at his "Chuck 'n Nancy" meetings. But Schumer and Pelosi spend a lot of time choreographing these meetings, according to sources familiar with their planning. They list off things they won't budge on and game out how to respond to Trump’s inevitable curve balls (such as calling in the TV cameras to watch them spar).

Here's what Democrats will demand in Tuesday's infrastructure discussion, per a source familiar:

Vice President Joe Biden's 2020 announcement sounded like he was ready to skip the primary. He dove right in, directly attacking his hoped-for competitor: President Donald Trump.

The big picture: Axios reached out to every Democratic presidential campaign over the past few days to preview their general election strategy.

Former Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), a foreign policy expert who served in the Senate for 36 years and helped lead the dismantling of thousands of nuclear warheads and missiles from former Soviet states, passed away at the age of 87 on Sunday.

What they're saying: "I first worked with Dick when I was a freshman Senator, in an effort to expand his landmark 1991 nuclear nonproliferation framework," said former President Barack Obama. "Dick always stuck to the facts. He understood the intricacies of America’s power and the way words uttered in Washington echo around the globe. But perhaps most importantly, he exhibited the truth that common courtesy can speak across cultures.

What should a Democratic presidential candidate's economic policy look like? The field is now up to 20 candidates, with Joe Biden the latest big name to declare that he's running.

The state of play: While Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang have carved out a niche for themselves as the wonks of the race, most of the rest are light on detail, especially when it comes to fiscal policy.

Last night, the political world had something for everyone.

Driving the news: President Trump traded out the White House Correspondents' Association dinner for a rally in Green Bay, while the Clintons and former President Obama appeared at non-WHCA speaking engagements in Washington.

President Trump told a Green Bay, Wisconsin, rally Saturday that his administration is sending undocumented migrants to sanctuary cities.

"Last month alone, 100,000 illegal immigrants arrived at our borders, placing a massive strain on communities ... and public resources, like nobody has ever seen before. Now we're sending many of them to sanctuary cities, thank you very much. They ain't too happy about it. I'm proud to tell you that was actually my sick idea."

Former Vice President Joe Biden is slightly ahead in the crowded Democratic presidential race, an ABC News/Washington Post poll published early Sunday shows.

Details: Asked who their 2020 Democratic primary vote choice would be, 17% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents back Biden, with 11% for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and 5% for South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. However, 54 percent of those surveyed didn't name anyone.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged Japan will invest $40 billion in new car factories in the U.S., President Trump told at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Saturday.

Details: Trump's comments come after playing golf with Abe at Trump’s National Golf Club in northern Virginia. The U.S. ambassador to Japan provided a readout stating Trump urged Abe to have Japanese automakers produce more vehicles in the United States.