Trump Signals Midterms Are Not Part of His Calculus on Iran Deal

All of those with the conviction that Iran must not have a pathway to nuclearization are taking heart. Trump was speaking at the public portion of his cabinet meeting yesterday. Wall Street Journal: President Trump said Iran was miscalculating if it thought he would soften his position to avoid a prolonged standoff with Tehran. “They thought they were going to outwait me,” Trump said Wednesday at the start of a cabinet meeting at the White House. “He’s got the midterms [they thought]. I don’t care about the midterms….” Trump rejected the idea of allowing Iran to turn over its stockpile of enriched uranium to either China or Russia. “No,” he replied when asked about the possibility. “That would not make me comfortable.” More than 11 tons of uranium enriched at levels up to 20% was shipped to Russia as part of the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal that lifted punishing economic sanctions against Iran. While the president struck an optimistic note during the cabinet meeting, saying that the Iranians were beginning to come around at the negotiation table, he again held out the possibility of additional military strikes. “If they won’t,” he said, pointing to Hegseth, “the man on my left is going to finish them off” (Wall Street Journal). Secretary of War Hegseth: The man on his left agrees (Hegseth).

Justice Department Files Challenge to California Electoral Maps in Wake of Supreme Court’s Callais Decision

Jesus A. Osete of the DOJ’s Civil Rights division: “Callais comes to California.” From the complaint: “[T]he Constitution almost never permits … a State to discriminate on the basis of race.” … California nevertheless discriminated on the basis of race “when it drew new congressional district lines using race as the predominant factor” in order to enhance Hispanic voting power. Specifically, the United States alleges that in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, “[r]ace was a predominant factor in drawing the boundaries of at least sixteen congressional districts,” all of which are Hispanic-majority. The Complaint alleges extensive direct evidence of race discrimination. The mapmaker Paul Mitchell made several “public statements confirm[ing] that he intentionally and directly used race and Hispanic demographics as criteria in designing the map.” Most notably, he publicly boasted that the “number one thing that [he] first started thinking about” was “drawing a replacement Latino majority/minority district in the middle of Los Angeles.” Several California legislators made similar public comments evincing their desire to empower Hispanic and black voters (Osete). Sen. Eric Schitt (R-MO): California’s mapmaker said his “number one thing” was increasing the Congressional representation of a particular racial group. I’m glad DOJ is taking California to court. This should be an easy case. Let’s get this map thrown out (Schmitt).

DHS Weighing Plan to Block International Flights From Sanctuary Cities

It seems it would put an end to sanctuary cities in a moment. Washington Times reports: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he’s working on a plan that would shut down international flights that land at airports in sanctuary jurisdictions — a move to pressure anti-ICE politicians. Mr. Mullin confirmed the idea, which he reportedly raised with travel executives last week, in an interview on Tuesday on Fox News’ “Hannity” program. “We’re currently drawing up plans to say listen, these sanctuary cities where the local radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities, either,” the secretary said. He stressed the idea hasn’t been initiated “yet” (Washington Times). More from DHS Secretary Mullin: If they’re going to not allow us to go out and arrest the worst of the worst, and then …. they’re barricading our employees from coming in and out of the facility. Then why are we processing international flights into the airport there? And we are currently, which we’re not initiating yet, but we’re currently drawing up plans to say, listen, in these sanctuary cities where the local radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities either because they don’t want us to enforce immigration, but they want us to process immigration at their facilities. Nothing about that makes sense to me (Kolvet).

The Trump Endorsement Mattered: A Closer Look at the Paxton Victory

Whether you were bullish on Paxton or wanted to see the veteran Cornyn win, there is no question about the major takeaway: President Trump’s endorsement had enormous sway over the voting pattern from Texas Republicans. In the March 3 primary—before Trump had endorsed either candidate—John Cornyn won narrowly over Paxton, 42.5 percent to 40.8 for Paxton. That’s a spread of 1.7 percent (Ballotopedia). Trump endorsed Paxton on May 19: Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate….  Ken Paxton has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next United States Senator from the Great State of Texas (Truth). The result on Tuesday: Paxton beats Cornyn, 63.8 percent to 36.2 percent—a 27.6 percent margin. Trump continues to demonstrate his enormous, historic influence on his party and on the nation.

Talarico Boasts of Meat-Free Campaign in Nation’s Leading Beef Producing State, It’s ‘existential’

Texas is the leading beef production state in the nation—boasting $11.35 billion from 6.2 billion pounds in 2023 (WorldPopulationReview). And the Democrats’ nominee for the Senate—James Talarico—is all about “animal welfare”:” We have, I think, heard more and more issues of animal welfare. I think not just because it’s the right thing to do and the moral thing to do, but also it’s, as all of you know, necessary to fight climate change. It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption and that we try to respect animals in all aspects of society. I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign. We are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses …. everyone has to take personal responsibility in this effort (Pavlich). Scott Jennings: Talerico—being popular among donors in California and New York and Massachusetts—is never going to wash off the weirdness of the gender thing, of the meat thing, of the God is non-binary, of the Bible actually endorses abortion. All of these things, wherever you are on the issues, who talks like that? No Texan that you know actually speaks these things out loud (Jennings).

Cornyn Finishes the Way He Served: A Class Act

The senior senator from Texas concedes charitably and makes clear he will support the GOP ticket. Cornyn: We’ve come up short in this primary runoff. A few years ago I had a friend of mine say, “You know what makes God laugh?” He said, “When we make plans, I’ve spent most of my time in the Senate building the Republican Party in Texas and in the U.S. Senate, and I’ve always supported the Republican ticket and I intend to do so again in this general election. I’ve said throughout this race that I trust the voters of Texas and they’ve made their decision and I must respect it. Tonight I’m joined up here by three women who mean everything to me and without whom I never would have enjoyed the incredible ride and public service career that I’ve had for many, many years. Of course my wife Sandy of 46 years and counting and then our daughters Danley and Haley of whom I’m enormously proud and they mean everything to me.  Politics is hard on families especially, but I believe and I know my family believes that public service is an honorable calling. Serving others is a high purpose (Chandler). Hugh Hewitt: Exactly the class one would expect from Senator and Mrs. Cornyn (Hewitt).

What’s Next for Chip Roy?

The Texas Congressman stepped away from his House seat to run for attorney general in the Lone Star state. That gamble did not pay off. He lost in the runoff on Tuesday to state Sen. Mayes Middleton, who received 57 percent of the vote to Roy’s 43 percent. Middleton is an oil executive who put in some $17 million of his own resources (Texas Tribune). Chip Roy was one of the most conservative members of the House. He served on the House Freedom Caucus, the Republican Study Committee and was instrumental in the new Sharia Free Caucus. Roy’s response to the loss: “I’m one of those who believes we need to cycle through people in Congress,” Roy said. “I’m a husband and a father who needs to be home. …  I think I’m doing the right thing.” He also vowed it wouldn’t be the last time voters would hear from him. “Post-cancer, post-surviving stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I’m kind of a ‘put-me-in-coach’ kind of guy, … I can promise you, my voice is not going to go anywhere,” Roy said. Middleton will face Democrat state Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas), who won his party’s nomination in a similarly heated — albeit far lower-budget — Democratic primary runoff on Tuesday night. As for Roy’s congressional seat, Republicans have rallied around former MLB Player Mark Teixeira as their nominee to Texas’ deep red 21st Congressional District (San Antonio Report).

Mojtaba Khamenei Describes Israel as ‘cancerous tumor’

The new Khamenei is remarkably similar to the old Khamenei. What is notable is that he’s speaking this way concurrent with the ongoing talks with the U.S. Iran International: In a fiery Hajj message, Mojtaba Khamenei described Israel as a “cancerous tumor” nearing the “final stages” of its existence, praised the October 7 attacks and repeated his father’s prediction that Israel would not survive beyond 2040. The statement came as Hezbollah sharply increased attacks on Israel’s northern border, including explosive drone strikes near civilian communities, and as the Trump administration signaled progress toward a possible deal with Tehran. The parallel escalation has raised questions over whether Tehran may be trying to strengthen its hand in talks with Washington, using Hezbollah as leverage while publicly hardening its posture toward Israel. On X, Iran analyst Arash Azizi described Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement as “remarkable for how extremely eliminationist it is toward Israel, even by the regime’s standards” (Iran).

Is America Ready For an Al-Qaeda-Linked Candidate?

That’s the question—most immediately—that voters in New Jersey’s 12^th Congressional District need to be asking. Adam Hamawy is running to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman. Hamawy’s terror connections are beyond disturbing. Ed Morrissey: Adam Hamawy’s past has already come up in this campaign. He assisted the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, both before and after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, for which Abdel-Rahman was tried and convicted for terrorism and seditious conspiracy. Even Politico noted three weeks ago that Hamawy “had a real yearslong association” with Abdel-Rahman, as established at trial. Hamawy shrugged it off as “guilt-by-association attacks on Muslim and Arab candidates.” It turns out that Hamawy has some other associations that are just as problematic. Jewish Insider dug up Hamawy’s volunteer work in Bosnia as related by Hamawy himself to the Newark Star-Ledger in 1996. He worked with the “Benevolence International Foundation,” a non-profit that later got exposed as a front for al-Qaeda, which provided financial support for Osama bin Laden: “But just one year before Hamawy took the witness stand to describe his travels with Abdel-Rahman, the now-Congressional candidate made a different journey with another party entangled in terrorist conspiracies: to Bosnia, with a group subsequently shut down for providing ‘logistical support’ to Al-Qaida” (Hot Air).

Is Oregon Going to Criminalize Hunting? Looks Like We’ll Find Out

The petition to put the measure on the ballot for November has secured the requisite number of signatures. Those have not been certified yet, but it looks like Oregon voters will test an idea that the Texas Democratic candidate for Senate—James Talarico—is sure to like. New York Sun: Animal rights activists in Oregon hit a major milestone as their petition to criminalize the killing of animals — even hunting for food — secured enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot in November. An animal rights organization, People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions, PEACE, has spent the last two years collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would ban hunting and fishing, breeding practices, and pest control. A website set up in support of IP28 says the ballot measure is not meant to be “punitive towards anyone currently involved with the injuring, killing, or breeding of animals,” but to “be protective of the needs of the animals and to codify their right to life and bodily autonomy in law” (New York Sun). The “Yes on IP28” campaign: The road to 2026 may be an uphill battle, but the animals need us now more than ever (Yes on IP28).