Trump News for Thursday, May 21, 2026

US says it has not changed its stance on sanctioning Francesca Albanese

Al Jazeera Staff, Al Jazeera English

The Trump administration had sanctioned the UN expert for her criticism of Israel's policies towards Palestinians.

What’s Behind the New Trump Child-Savings Accounts

Will Gottsegen, The Atlantic

The policy has bipartisan appeal—but there are factors that could inhibit its success.

Ex-Proud Boys Leader: Jan. 6 Rioters Will Use Govt. Payouts for ‘Campaigns’ and ‘Organizations’

Nikkimccannramirez, Rolling Stone

Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio says Jan. 6 rioters could use payments from Trump's "weaponization" fund as campaign cash.

SCOTUS ruling allows lawsuits over property seized by Cuban government

Peter Charalambous, Devin Dwyer, Abcnews.com

Four major cruise lines can be held liable for using the American-built port in Havana that was confiscated by the Cuban government in 1960, the Supreme Court has ruled.

How Trump plans to build his arch

Cameron Peters, Vox

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump’s hand-picked arts commission i…

US diplomats undergoing divisive new review process

Shannon K. Kingston, Abcnews.com

The State Department says the reforms will lead to more effective assessments.

Apple Asks Supreme Court to Review App Store Contempt Ruling

Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple today formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the series of rulings that led to changes to App Store linking rules and fees in the United States. In 2021, Apple largely won its legal dispute with Epic Games, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers…

Apple seeks Supreme Court review of contempt finding and injunction scope in Epic Games case

Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac

Apple today filed a request with the Supreme Court in an attempt to reverse key lower court rulings over the App Store injunction in its long-running legal battle with Epic Games. Here are the details. more…

The Strangest Thing Donald Trump Has Said in Some Time

Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic

Trump’s funniest riff ever?

Judges in Maine and Wisconsin dismiss Justice Department's attempts to force turnover of voter rolls

PATRICK WHITTLE and SCOTT BAUER, Yahoo Entertainment

Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over...

Trump's towering arch clears another federal hurdle, despite public pushback

Rachel Treisman, NPR

The Commission of Fine Arts gave the arch design its final approval, even though it's missing some visual components. The president said Thursday that he doesn't need approval from Congress.

Trump’s Endgame Is Surrender

Robert Kagan, The Atlantic

He seems to hope to slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat.

DOJ fraud official announces 'unprecedented' charges in Minnesota

Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, USA Today

Trump administration officials announced charges in Minnesota for fraud schemes that allegedly targeted more than $90 million in taxpayer dollars.

Republicans stall votes on partisan ICE funding amid party infighting

Sam Gringlas, NPR

Republicans had planned to try to pass a major funding bill for Immigration and Customs Enforcement by the end of the week but plans collapsed over unrelated policy disagreements.

Five key takeaways from Democrats’ autopsy report on Kamala Harris’s loss

Ali Harb, Al Jazeera English

Riddled with mistakes and missing sections, 192-page document on 2024 election loss to Trump fails to mention Gaza.

Trump shifts between diplomacy and threats in Iran standoff

Joseph Stepansky, Al Jazeera English

Supporters say unpredictable Trump approach deal-making strength, others see reflection of strategic dilemma.

Trump Admin Takes Equity Stake in IBM and Other Quantum Computing Companies

Ece Yildirim, Gizmodo.com

The list also include a company that Trump Jr. is invested in.

US To Award $2 Billion To Quantum Companies, Take Equity Stakes

BeauHD, Slashdot.org

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Quantum Insider: The Trump administration is preparing a new round of industrial policy aimed at quantum computing, with roughly $2 billion in grants expected to go to nine companies developing quantum hardware and…

Palestinians drop bid for a senior U.N. role after U.S. pressure

Daniel Estrin, NPR

The Palestinian delegation to the United Nations has dropped its bid to secure a top U.N. job after the U.S. threatens to revoke their visas.

Three ways Cuba crisis could play out after US indictment of Raúl Castro

BBC News

The Trump administration has been putting tremendous economic pressure on the island's Communist government.

OpenAI Wants to Rewrite Its Washington Playbook With ‘Reverse Federalism’ Strategy

AJ Dellinger, Gizmodo.com

Create a regulatory vacuum and it'll get filled.

Democrats finally release 2024 autopsy, somehow forget to examine the body

Jason Weisberger, Boing Boing

After months of treating its 2024 election autopsy like the Ark of the Covenant, the Democratic National Committee has finally released the document, only for it to emerge as a 192-page error-strewn bundle that reportedly omits interviews with Kamala Harris, …

Police sue to stop Trump's apparent Jan. 6 loyalty rewards scheme

Jason Weisberger, Boing Boing

Nothing says law-and-order presidency like a possible rebate program for political violence. Having offered up a scheme that seats Donald Trump more as a comic book criminal and less like the sitting President of the United States, Police are suing to stop hi…

Amazon, Facebook, FBI have access to a private intelligence-sharing network

Glen Stellmacher, Prismreports.org

Seattle Shield requests suspicious activity reports from companies, which are then circulated with members as part of surveillance apparatus

WATCH: California couple found dead after sending money to Tom Selleck impostor

ABC News, Abcnews.com

Donald and Karen Whitaker were found with traumatic injuries inside their home on May 15, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Homeland Security’s Plan to Strong-Arm ‘Sanctuary’ Cities

Nick Miroff, The Atlantic

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told travel executives he may target airports in cities that don’t help ICE.

Forecasters expect slightly fewer hurricanes than usual this year, but the risk of destructive storms is still high

Jenny Staletovich, NPR

Forecasters expect 8 to 14 storms will form in the Atlantic between June 1 and November 30. But the danger is more serious than the numbers suggest.

10,000 Court Decisions Can’t Be Wrong, Even If Trump Thinks Otherwise

Tim Cushing, Techdirt

It’s absolutely amazing how wrong this administration has been when it comes to immigration enforcement. That some people still think the Supreme Court is in the best position to resolve this is insane. This isn’t a circuit split in need of mending. This is p…

Trump says he’ll speak to Taiwan’s leader: Why that is significant

Nils Adler, Al Jazeera English

Analysts say the remarks are less a sign of closer US-Taiwan ties than another example of Trump’s unpredictability.

Republicans eyeing restrictions on Trump's 'Anti-Weaponization Fund': Sources

Allison Pecorin, Abcnews.com

President Trump’s new "anti-weaponization fund" and ballroom project may both get pushback from Senate Republicans in the yet-to-be-released updated version of the bill.

Why the 2026 Hurricane Season Might Not Be That Bad

Brian Kahn, Wired

The impending arrival of El Niño will help keep the number of storms low. But it only takes one landfall to create a catastrophe.

Trump Destroyed USAID. Now People Are Dying....

Jason Kottke, kottke.org

Trump Destroyed USAID. Now People Are Dying. “Everyone, especially in South Sudan, wanted to know if the US really had cut off aid. It was easier for them to believe that the aid organizations were ly

Obama’s baseball outing with Castro reignites fury after Trump DOJ drops hammer on Cuban leader

Yahoo Entertainment

US-Iran diplomacy picks up: What’s the latest?

Sarah Shamim, Al Jazeera English

Iranian media reported that the Pakistani interior minister is in Iran to help the US and Iran reach a peace deal.

A Department of Justice for an Age of Conspiracy Theories

Quinta Jurecic, The Atlantic

The DOJ is now very much an active participant in the online discourse that promotes and perpetuates ideas that are barely connected to reality.

Doctors Say the Axing of USAID Has Already Cost Lives in Latest Ebola Outbreak

Jim Vorel, Jezebel

"The response is too slow and inadequate, not anywhere close to the standards that are required in a response for an epidemic like Ebola."

WATCH: Lawmakers come together to wash Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

ABC News, Abcnews.com

Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Tex., and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., discuss the volunteer effort which saw more than 20 veteran lawmakers gathering in an act of remembrance.

Watch Bruce Springsteen Rip the Ellisons and CBS on CBS

Alex Suskind, Pitchfork

“Larry and David Ellison feel like they need to kiss [Trump’s] ass to get what they want”

Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' exit marks the death of the good celebrity interview

Callie Ahlgrim, Business Insider

Stephen Colbert's last "The Late Show" episode airs as influencers like Jake Shane and Alex Cooper reshape celebrity-interview culture.

AWS parades orgs that took up its offer for Euro Sovereign Cloud

Dan Robinson, Theregister.com

Customers want their data kept and processed strictly within the EU

Trump phone is years-old knockoff with wrong number of stripes on U.S. flag logo

Rob Beschizza, Boing Boing

Imagined as an original made-in-America smartphone, but realized as a made-elsewhere knockoff, the $500 Trump Phone is finally here. It's an Alibaba-tier variant of the years-old HTC U24 Pro and has an American flag with the wrong number of stripes on it. — R…

NYC and LA Are Teaming Up to Fight for EVs

Aarian Marshall, Wired

After the Trump administration turned away from electrification, two of the nation’s biggest governments will advocate for more electric vans, police cars, and eventually, snowplows.

What’s Trump’s ‘anti-weaponisation fund’ and why are legal experts alarmed?

Sarah Shamim, Al Jazeera English

Democrats argue that the fund will be used to compensate January 6 rioters pardoned by Trump.

Colleges Are at a Breaking Point

Adam Harris, The Atlantic

The AI job market has made tuition look like a dubious investment. But it only exposes the deeper identity crisis in American higher education.

Susan Collins brings federal dollars to Maine. She's hoping that's worth it to voters

Steve Mistler, NPR

As Maine's Senate matchup is all but set, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins urges voters to pick her over Democrat Graham Platner because she can fund state priorities due to her seniority.

Trump FCC Using False Claims Of Immigrant Fraud To Drive Up Costs Of Broadband For Everyone

Karl Bode, Techdirt

Back in February the Trump FCC announced it was launching new “reforms” of a major bipartisan FCC program that helps poor people afford broadband. Dubbed Lifeline, the program provides a modest $9.25 stipend to help low-income Americans afford either broadban…

Nancy Mace Wants to Update the Constitution to Knock Naturalized Citizens Out of Congress

Danielle Han, Jezebel

The congresswoman has introduced a joint resolution to revise the Constitution—and effectively ban any naturalized citizen from serving as federal judges or in Congress.

The Download: online safety’s future and climate tech’s big pivot

Thomas Macaulay, MIT Technology Review

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Tech researchers are suing the Trump administration over the future of online safety For months, the Trump administration…

GOP races to fund immigration enforcement. And, U.S. indicts former Cuban president

Brittney Melton, NPR

Republicans are racing to pass a $72 billion immigration enforcement package. And, the U.S. has indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two planes.

Our Climate’s Wild Card

Jonathan Mingle, The New York Review of Books

Methane's part in the climate crisis remains largely overlooked, even though it is responsible for 30 percent of all global warming to date, and despite the fact that it's still possible to purge it from our skies.

Damming the Big Ocean

Quinn Slobodian, The New York Review of Books

Edward Fishman's Chokepoints explains how the US came to rely on its economic arsenal, but stops short of a complete assessment of the unreliable tactic and its often devastating consequences.

Dreams of Our Nation

David W. Blight, The New York Review of Books

Historians must not cede the study of how Americans understand their cacophonous nation to advocates of “patriotic” history.

Navalny’s Unfinished Work

Benjamin Nathans, The New York Review of Books

In his posthumous memoir, Alexei Navalny’s utopian vision of “the Beautiful Russia of the Future” remains strangely detached from history.

WATCH: Do humanoid robots pose national security risk?

ABC News, Abcnews.com

ABC News investigates the rise of humanoid robots manufactured in China and why experts say they pose a risk to U.S. national security.

China says US should stop 'threats' against Cuba after ex-leader charged

BBC News

It comes after the US charged Cuba's ex-leader with murder, the latest move putting pressure on the regime.

Iran Says the US’s Latest Proposal Has ‘Narrowed the Gaps’

Omar Tamo, Arsalan Shahla and Patrick Sykes, Yahoo Entertainment

(Bloomberg) -- Iran said the latest proposal from the US has partly bridged the gap between the warring sides, as they seek to turn a fragile ceasefire into ...

Democratic power players launch bipartisan effort to 'sabotage-proof' elections

Isabella Murray, Abcnews.com

A group of mostly Democratic strategists and power players are rebuilding a PAC meant to fortify election-defense infrastructure by focusing on overlooked state offices.

10 Thursday AM Reads

Barry Ritholtz, Ritholtz.com

My morning train WFH reads: • Before you invest in crypto, watch this film: Mother Jones on a documentary diagnosing crypto as a wealth-transfer machine pointed at retail. The OC star turned skeptic remains an unlikely but effective explainer. Ben McKenzie sc…

‘Homeland or death’: How Cuba would defend itself against a US attack

Urooba Jamal, Al Jazeera English

A US military operation in Cuba could be imminent, but Havana is not entirely defenceless, some analysts argue.

Researchers say the Trump administration is finding new ways to punish science

Katia Riddle, NPR

Even with federal grants largely restored, scientists say the Trump administration is still preventing those funds from reaching them. The consequences, they say, are already becoming clear.

Climate tech companies are pivoting to critical minerals

Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review

We’re over a year into the second Trump administration here in the US, and support for climate causes is weak. But climate tech companies are finding ways to survive and even thrive in this new environment, including by focusing on potential benefits outside …

Pentagon Reportedly Plans to Adopt and Weaponize Latest Cyber-Capable AI Models

Mike Pearl, Gizmodo.com

The report claims Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview may be involved, despite the company's supply chain risk designation.

The Department of Labor’s Faith Leader Is Now Also in Charge of Its Civil Rights Enforcement

Vittoria Elliott, Wired

Kenneth Wolfe organized the Department of Labor’s controversial prayer services before he was quietly appointed to lead a major agency office.

Iran reviews US proposal to end war as Pakistan steps up mediation efforts

Daniel Khalili-Tari, Al Jazeera English

Pakistan military chief Asim Munir to travel to Tehran for talks, according to Iranian media reports.

At one Kentucky bar, young Republicans wrestle with their disappointment in Trump and their party

JESSE BEDAYN, Yahoo Entertainment

On a recent evening in northern Kentucky, over a dozen young Republicans gathered with beers and brightly colored cocktails at a bar called dEcORa, its neon ...

The Education Department is hiring — while it's being dismantled

Cory Turner, NPR

The Federal Student Aid office lost half its staff last year as part of Trump administration downsizing. Now, it's hiring hundreds of new workers.

TSA's new 'Gold+' program looks to increase private security screening at airports

Bill Chappell, NPR

The agency calls the program an update to the Screening Partnership Program, in which 20 U.S. airports currently use private security screeners rather than federal workers.

COVID is shaping Americans' reaction to Ebola and hantavirus

Ava Berger, NPR

Some Americans seem to be extra-alarmed about Ebola and hantavirus in the wake of COVID-19. But public health experts say they don't expect another pandemic this time.

Beef prices are going to the moooooooon

Emily Stewart, Business Insider

Sky-high beef prices are colliding with America's newfound protein obsession, while ranchers say a crippling cattle shortage will take years to fix.

Vanessa Trump says she has been diagnosed with breast cancer

Meredith Deliso, Abcnews.com

She made the announcement in a post on Instagram, writing, "While this isn't news anyone expects, I'm working closely with. my medical team on a treatment plan."

Israel pushes for war amid US ceasefire, but its options may be limited

Simon Speakman Cordall, Al Jazeera English

Israeli officials and media indicate renewed conflict with Iran is being actively considered despite a shaky deadlock.

Taiwan’s President Lai says he would be happy to speak with Donald Trump

Al Jazeera Staff, Al Jazeera English

US and Taiwan leaders have not spoken since Washington shifted diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Officers who defended Capitol from rioters sue to block payouts from fund

The Associated Press, NPR

Two police officers who helped defend the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot are suing to block anyone from receiving payouts from a new settlement fund.

Ex-prosecutor charged with sending to herself report on Trump classified probe

The Associated Press, NPR

The former prosecutor faces federal charges over allegations that she sent a report on Jack Smith's investigation into President Trump's hoarding of classified documents to her personal email account.

WATCH: Car catches fire and explodes in Lower Manhattan

ABC News, Abcnews.com

A car caught fire and exploded Tuesday in Lower Manhattan, sending a plume of smoke into the air near New York City's famous Charging Bull statue.

The EU Is Going Through a Trump-Fueled Breakup With Big Tech

Matt Burgess, Vittoria Elliott, Wired

France is already moving on from Zoom and Microsoft Teams in favor of homegrown alternatives. Other countries are quickly following suit.

Cubans react to US indictment of former President Raul Castro

Al Jazeera English

Cubans in Havana and Miami react to the US charges against former Cuban President Raul Castro.

Senate panel hears testimony on online sports betting, prediction markets

Alana Wise, NPR

Senate lawmakers grilled sports betting industry officials during a hearing focused on recent cheating scandals, companies' marketing tactics and regulatory battles.

New Acting FDA Commissioner: Some Florida Lawyer That Shoots Animals With Don Jr.

Timothy Geigner, Techdirt

I assume at one point America was a serious big boy country, but we are certainly not that any longer. You can get examples of the unserious nature of our government in spades, of course, but I’m just going to keep hammering on what is going on at HHS and its…

I'm Filing for Justice Samuel Alito's Disbarment

Christopher Armitage, Substack.com

A billionaire gave him a gift, then won billions in his courtroom. The federal system that should have stopped it has refused. Three state offices still can.

How Trump's IRS settlement could block tax audits of him, his family and their businesses

BBC News

Some lawmakers and legal experts say the department has violated federal law with its addendum to the settlement.

US lifts sanctions on Francesca Albanese, UN expert on Palestinian rights

Lyndal Rowlands, Al Jazeera English

Albanese is among several people sanctioned by the US for advocacy against Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.

Trump says no escalation expected with Cuba after Castro indictment

Al Jazeera English

President Trump said the United States is “freeing up Cuba” and ruled out escalation after the US indicted Castro

Tennessee man jailed 37 days for a Trump meme wins $835,000

Ellsworth Toohey, Boing Boing

Larry Bushart, a Tennessee retiree who spent his career in law enforcement, will receive $835,000 from Perry County and Sheriff Nick Weems to settle the federal civil rights case he filed last December, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression anno…

Nvidia on track to be worlds leading CPU supplier claims CFO

Tobias Mann, Theregister.com

After riding the AI wave to become the world's most valuable company on the back of GPUs, Nvidia has turned its eye to the CPU market