Democrats weighing bids for president are struggling for footing on transgender issues, dodging questions on the topic more than a year after President Trump's "Kamala is for they/them" ad was widely seen as one of his most effective attacks in the 2024 campaign.
Why it matters: Republicans already are promising to air 2028 campaign ads blasting Democrats over the party's support for trans rights, as polls show a majority of Americans favoring the GOP's side on key parts of the debate.
The Pentagon has ordered some 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare to possibly deploy to Minnesota, per multiplereports, as President Trump considers invoking the Insurrection Act for the first time in the 21st century.
The big picture: The battle between state officials and the federal government has sharply escalated in the days since an ICE officer shot and killed Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good. Sending troops to the streets would surely fan the flames higher.
President Trump's pledge to tax eight NATO allies to force a deal on Greenland triggered swift blowback across the Atlantic, jeopardizing the U.S.–EU trade agreement Trump once called the "biggest deal ever made."
President Trump has spent his first year in office treating Joe Biden's presidency as a historical aberration — not just undoing his policies, but casting his entire term as illegitimate.
Why it matters: Presidencies usually fade. But in just one year, Biden's has been reduced to a footnote by a successor committed to dismantling every pillar of Washington's old liberal order.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of top military, political and diplomatic officials in Washington and across the Middle East believed U.S. bombs would be dropping in Tehran within hours.
By that afternoon, it was clear the order was not coming, two U.S. officials said. America had stood down.
The big picture: Over the past week, President Trump has at various times been leaning toward striking the Iranian regime over its violent crackdown on protesters — thousands of whom are believed to have been killed.
Global perceptions of AI are improving, but the U.S. remains skeptical, according to a new poll from Google and Ipsos.
Why it matters: AI is moving quickly into work, education and daily life, but Americans trail much of the world in usage, excitement and confidence — gaps that could shape who sets the rules and norms for AI's future.
President Trump's advisers have little patience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's objections as they push ahead with "phase two" of the Gaza peace plan.
"This is our show, not his show. We managed to do things in Gaza in recent months nobody thought was possible, and we are going to continue moving," a senior U.S. official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu.
American politics has gotten dirty — and so have officials' mouths.
The big picture: In the era of politics often defined by the in-your-face style of President Trump, lawmakers are dropping f-bombs like "The Wolf of Wall Street" went to Washington.
President Trump announced Saturday he would impose a 10% tariff on imports from eight NATO allies — including Denmark — until a deal is reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland.
Why it matters: The threat marks the most significant step yet in Trump's campaign to acquire the vast Arctic territory, which has been controlled by Denmark for centuries.
Senior Trump political adviser Chris LaCivita and The Daily Beast have reached a settlement agreement stemming from a defamation suit LaCivita brought against the news outlet last year.
Why it matters: LaCivita's lawsuit was one of several that figures in Trump's orbit brought against news organizations in the wake of the 2024 election.
The Justice Department on Friday launched an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly obstructing federal law enforcement officers in their state, per a senior administration official.
The big picture: The probe marks the Trump administration's latest escalation with local and state leaders in Minnesota, after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good.
OpenAI's ChatGPT previewed the future with its chatbot release in late 2022. Anthropic's latest Claude AI takes you there.
Why it matters: Claude Opus 4.5 — which powers Anthropic's agent tools, Claude Code for developers and the newly released Cowork — lets anyone quickly turn an idea into a functioning program or app, using plain English.
Yes, national average power prices have risen, but no, not as much as President Trump said.
Why it matters: With plug prices the political term du jour this election year, sifting through arcane power price data will be important to find the facts.
A federal judge ordered ICE agents to stop retaliating against peaceful protesters and observers in Minnesota.
Why it matters: Minnesota officials have banked on federal courts stepping in to deescalate tensions around the Trump administration's increasingly forceful immigration enforcement campaign in the Twin Cities.
