Axios

The United States has an extensive history of interventionism, but President Trump has grown especially frank about his intentions abroad in recent months.

The big picture: Trump told Axios this week that he must be involved in picking Iran's next leader, which — alongside his recent moves in Cuba and Venezuela — demonstrate that aggressive military force has become part and parcel of his foreign policy.

• It wouldn't be the first time, however, that the U.S. has pushed for specific leaders to fill the vacancies it helped create.

President Trump said Saturday "we've knocked out 42 navy ships" in three days, adding that the US is doing "very well" in Iran.

Why it matters: Trump bragged about dominance in Iran and hinted at possible action in Cuba at the first Shield of the Americas Summit, which has outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the helm.

Just 54 Black-owned bookstores were identified across the U.S a decade ago. Today, a new report counts 306.

Why it matters: As public schools and libraries remove books by Black authors — from Beloved to The 1619 Project — Black-owned bookstores are increasingly serving as places where readers can access contested titles and authors' full bodies of work — and gather in community to discuss them.

President Trump threatened early Saturday morning to step up the bombing campaign in Iran, saying it may expand to people and regions that hadn't been targeted previously.

Why it matters: The war is entering its second week, with no let-up in sight.

President Trump is mired in risk:

• Risk his Iran war of choice goes bad.
• Risk the February job losses are a trend, not a blip.
• Risk the stock market keeps dropping.
• Risk his tariffs, and now soaring oil costs, are pushing prices higher.
• Risk that deregulated AI accelerates job losses.
• Risk that Democratic enthusiasm leads to a midterm wipeout.

Why it matters: Trump fancies himself a high-risk, high-reward president, a confidence cheered by the vast majority of Republican officials and voters. But risk is risk — and by most measures, it's rising everywhere.

Iraq's Kurds are caught in a three-way vise as the Iran war spills across their border:

• They're uncertain, based on President Trump's messaging, whether the U.S. actually wants regime change next door.
• They're under pressure to open the border from Iranian Kurds who want to fight the regime.
• And they're facing a public threat — backed by a private warning — that Iran will retaliate if those militants attack from Iraqi Kurdish soil.

Why it matters: The Kurds of northern Iraq have carved out a stable, semi-autonomous region in one of the world's most volatile neighborhoods. Now, the war next door is threatening to make their neutrality impossible to hold.

President Trump is positioning himself as a central architect of Iran's post-war future, demanding "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" on Friday.

The big picture: Trump is signaling ambitions that extend beyond military action into reshaping Iran's political and economic order just as he did in Venezuela. But experts warn it's not that simple.

A new civil rights report argues that lynchings of Black men didn't end in America — they evolved — and that some deaths today may still be misclassified as suicides or accidents.

The big picture: If killings are misclassified, families can lose their paths to justice, and possible patterns of racial violence can remain hidden in plain sight.

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said Friday he is registering as "no party preference," rather than as a Republican, as he seeks reelection to Congress.

Why it matters: The move comes after Kiley's Republican-leaning district was broken apart in mid-decade redistricting, forcing him to run in far more Democratic-leaning territory.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is expected to drop his bid for reelection just ahead of California's congressional filing deadline on Friday, two sources familiar with the matter told Axios.

Why it matters: The development shakes up the race for his seat significantly, with another Republican ally of Issa's reportedly filing to run instead.

President Trump on Friday unveiled a cybersecurity strategy calling for modernizing federal systems, expanding offensive and defensive cyber operations and streamlining regulations.

Why it matters: The seven-page plan is designed to set the administration's cyber policy for the next three years.

The Trump administration said on Friday that it could not immediately start issuing tariff refunds, casting new doubt about when U.S. businesses will get the hundreds of billions of dollars owed to them.

Why it matters: Trump officials say the process is too sprawling and complex, likely dragging out repayment.

Congressional Democrats in their 70s and 80s who are seeking reelection are tired of hearing that they are incapable of doing their jobs due to age — and they're gearing up to push back.

Why it matters: More than half a dozen House Democrats who are 70 or older are trailing at least one younger primary insurgent in fundraising, and those elections are fast approaching.

President Trump told Axios Friday that his demand for Iran's "unconditional surrender" could mean the complete destruction of the regime's military capabilities — not necessarily a formal surrender.

• "Unconditional surrender could be that [the Iranians] announce it. But it could also be when they can't fight any longer because they don't have anyone or anything to fight with," he said in a phone interview.

Why it matters: Trump's explanation came hours after he appeared to leave no visible off-ramp for Iran, ruling out any kind of "deal" as he demanded "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" in a post on Truth Social.

One of President Trump's first actions upon retaking office was to postpone enforcement of a law that required TikTok to be banned in the U.S. if still controlled by China's ByteDance.

Driving the news: That decision, and several that sprang from it, are the crux of a lawsuit that theoretically could cost TikTok U.S. — now under new ownership — billions of dollars. And possibly lead to renegotiation of the sale itself.

In theory, an emergency that's blocking petro-flows and spiking prices should boost the case for clean energy. But in practice, it's way more complicated.

Why it matters: The Iran war is the biggest energy crisis since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, if not longer.

The labor market surprisingly shed 92,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate was 4.4%, the government said Friday.

Why it matters: It was the worst month for payrolls since October, signaling that the labor market is on weaker footing than previously believed.

Oil and gasoline prices are marching upward again Friday, even as Trump administration officials seek ways to get more barrels into the market.

Why it matters: Ships avoiding the Strait of Hormuz and military threats to regional infrastructure are together shocking oil and natural gas markets.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) suggested Tucker Carlson should run for president after President Trump told ABC News that Carlson had "lost his way."

Why it matters: Carlson is one of the right's most-influential voices and he will remain so as long as influential figures like Greene want to see him in the White House.

A federal court wants businesses to receive tariff refunds swiftly. The Trump administration would rather they wait.

Why it matters: Businesses that quietly ate the tariffs could see an earnings tailwind when refunds come in. But the clock is ticking: The longer refunds drag, the more difficult it becomes to process.

President Trump seethed when the Supreme Court stripped away his unilateral tariff authority, the first real check on his presidency.

• Then he set out to impose his will on every remaining vector of American power — smashing norms and shrugging off Congress in a historic, 14-day show of executive force.

Why it matters: Over the past two weeks, Trump launched a massive Middle East war, blacklisted the hottest AI company on the planet, ordered new global tariffs, and presided over the biggest media merger in two decades.

Eight in 10 Hispanic voters in Texas say politicians take them for granted —and four in 10 are more likely to support candidates who communicate with them in Spanish — according to a new survey shared exclusively with Axios.

• Inflation and cost of living was the top concern this election year for Texas Hispanics, the survey for TelevisaUnivision by The Harris Poll found.

Why it matters: Texas' primaries this week put the Lone Star State in the spotlight. But what's true in Texas may well extend to other states with large Hispanic populations — and have implications for the November midterms.

• The poll was conducted earlier this week, as a surge in Latino voters in Texas' Democratic primary helped propel state Rep. James Talarico to the party's nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican John Cornyn.
• Talarico has emphasized working-class concerns in his campaign — and has reached out to Hispanics with Spanish-language ads while doing some interviews in Spanish.

What they're saying: "If you think you're reaching Hispanics with the message you have on English-language TV for the broad-based audience, you're missing the point," said Daniel Alegre, CEO of TelevisaUnivision.

• "Spanish-dominant or dual-language Hispanics, they will determine where the vote is going to go."
• But Hispanic voters are "no longer the Democratic vote that everyone expected" Alegre said. "They're an issues vote, and they feel they're not being listened to."

Zoom in: Republicans have been making gains among Latino voters in recent elections, though Hispanics' turnout Tuesday in Texas was widely seen as an indication that economic concerns have given Democrats a shot at recapturing support in November's elections.

• "The cost-of-living issue is a national issue, not just a Texas issue, and it impacts Hispanics disproportionately," Alegre said.

Three quarters of respondents said inflation and the cost of living was the most important issue this year.

• Other key issues seen as "very important" in the survey were health care access and costs (69%), jobs and wages (67%), housing affordability (65%), immigration enforcement tactics (54%) and immigration and border security at the Texas-Mexico border (50%).

Methodology: This online survey of 526 registered Hispanic voters in Texas was conducted March 2-4, 2026, online by The Harris Poll on behalf of TelevisaUnivision. The survey was offered in both English and Spanish.

• Breakdown of respondents by political affiliation is 29% Republican, 32% Democrat and 39% as independent. Respondents for this survey were selected from those who agreed to participate in the organization's surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval.
• For this study, the overall sample data is accurate to within ± 6.2 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.
• Data are weighted where necessary by age by gender, education, household income, language, and political party affiliation to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) will not seek reelection, he announced late Thursday.

Why it matters: His announcement came hours after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his House GOP leadership team called on Gonzales to drop out of his race after the Texas Republican admitted to having an affair with a former staffer.

The U.S. and Venezuela "have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations," the State Department announced Thursday.

Why it matters: The historic deal with a former U.S. foe comes as President Trump pushes to apply his actions in Caracas that led to the capture of former leader Nicolás Maduro to Iran, telling Axios Thursday that he must be involved in picking a successor to assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Chances are you're still stewing over some mistake in your past.

Why it matters: The new book "From Mistakes to Meaning" offers a framework for processing your missteps, large or small, and letting them go.

President Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday after he consulted allies and advisers — all of whom told him it was time for her to go, sources tell Axios.

• "She burnt up a ton of goodwill," an adviser who spoke with Trump told Axios. "It was everywhere. It was everything."

Why it matters: Trump's firing of Noem was the biggest personnel shake-up of his second term. It showed the backlash against her was so great that Trump was willing to dismiss the nation's domestic security chief as he's launching a war abroad.

The Pentagon has formally designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, as CEO Dario Amodei apologized Thursday for a leaked memo criticizing the Trump administration.

Why it matters: The dispute has raised fundamental questions over AI governance and cast a shadow over the industry's relationship with Washington.