Happy Friday! Monday is Cinco de Mayo, but I absolutely plan on overeating tortilla chips, salsa and tacos this weekend as an early celebration. Who’s with me?! (Here are some Cinco de Mayo restaurant specials if you’re interested.)
In today’s issue:
- Trump says he’ll strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status
- Surprisingly strong April jobs report
- Mike Waltz’s Signal texts caught in Reuters photo
- Eye-catching reporting on John Fetterman
⏱️️ NEWS THIS MORNING
Yikes, it’s already the first Friday of another month?:
It’s the first Friday of the month, and you know what that means? It’s jobs day! The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April, according to data released by the Labor Department. Unemployment remained unchanged at 4.3 percent.
Is that good?: Yes, actually! Economists had expected a gain of roughly 130,000 jobs.
Trump quickly touted the numbers: “Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!! Consumers have been waiting for years to see pricing come down,” President Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming prices have lowered on gasoline, groceries, etc.
Keep in mind: The economy has been shaky since Trump began a trade war with the U.S.’s trading partners. U.S. gross domestic product contracted by 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year, but as The Wall Street Journal notes, today’s figure gives better “hard” data on the state of the economy.
Just released — Trump’s wish list:
President Trump just unveiled his budget request for fiscal 2026.
The gist: It would make steep cuts to nondefense spending — cutting spending levels by $163 billion, to be exact. It would increase defense spending to just more than $1 trillion.
🔎Read Trump’s full budget request
⏱️ IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Harvard must be seeing Crimson right now:
President Trump announced this morning that he plans to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status.
Why?: This appears to be a part of Trump’s ongoing feud with colleges and universities over his demands that they revoke diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Harvard pushed back and sued over the halted funding.
Was this a surprise?: Trump reportedly asked the IRS last month to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status, but this is still a very big deal.
➤ ALSO ON HIS LIST:
Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that would strip funding for NPR and PBS. He has accused both organizations of projecting biased viewpoints to the public.
Plot twist:
President Trump caught everyone off guard Thursday afternoon, confirming the media reports that his national security adviser Michael Waltz will be ousted from his post. But Waltz will not be leaving the administration. Instead, he will serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Why did Trump boot him as national security adviser?: Axios reports that it was basically because of *vibes*.
Who will be Trump’s next national security adviser?: Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve in that role in an interim capacity until Trump selects someone else. This is now the current list of Rubio’s titles:
- Secretary of State
- Acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development
- Acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration
- Interim national security adviser
“Secretary of Everything,” as The New York Times describes him.
^ Btw: Vice President Vance responded to an X post noting this list of titles, adding, “I think he could take on a bit more. If only there was a job opening for a devout Catholic…”
🚨 NEW REPORTING: Axios reports that top White House aide Stephen Miller is the leading contender to be Trump’s next national security adviser.
Just imagine how Elise Stefanik must feel …: She was expected to glide through her confirmation as U.N. ambassador until her nomination was pulled to help Republicans’ margins in the House. Meanwhile, Waltz vacated a comfortably red House seat, got entangled with the Signal group chat snafu and now will get to take that ambassador role.
Related read, via The New York Times: ‘Stefanik Saw Her Cabinet Dream Dashed. She Blames the Speaker, Not the President.’
➤ TIDBIT — WANNA SEE MIKE WALTZ’S PHONE?:
A Reuters photographer captured a photo of Waltz using Signal during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. You can see his text messages with JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard and Steve Witkoff. 📸 Waltz’s Signal chats
➤ PETE HEGSETH APPEARS TO BE RIDING OUT THE STORM:
GOP senators have been wondering how long embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also central in the Signal group chat saga, will keep his job.
How are Republicans feeling?: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that “Republican senators expressed disappointment over the initial news that Waltz would step down as national security adviser. They viewed him as well qualified for the job and a steady hand to work with Hegseth, who has less national security policy experience.”
Read Bolton’s reporting: ‘GOP senators wonder about Hegseth’s future amid Trump administration turmoil’
📰 ️ ON CAPITOL HILL
Fetterman’s staff must be thrilled that today’s a recess day:
Journalist Ben Terris published his first piece for New York Magazine, titled, “John Fetterman’s Struggle.”
The gist: The senator “insists he is in good health. But staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew.”
Since winning in 2022: He’s lost three of his top spokespeople, his legislative director and his chief of staff.
Yikes, this excerpt: “Fetterman became so torn by the decision that, on the day of [Pete Hegseth’s procedural vote], he floated the idea of not voting at all … Instead of voting, he said, maybe he should just sneak out of Washington and hole up at his parents’ place in York, Pennsylvania. ‘I felt like I was looking at a six-eight 8-year-old,” the staffer said … he spent part of the day locked in his office, fighting with [his wife] Gisele and crying while FaceTiming with staff.” 🔎Read the full excerpt
His former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, reached out to the medical director who had overseen Fetterman’s care: He lists his “concerns,” including “high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues; lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room.” 🔎 Read the excerpt
⛓️💥️ OTHER NEWS
Worth the read:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was wrongly deported to a mega prison in El Salvador, has become the face of President Trump’s deportation effort. Neither Trump — nor El Salvador’s president — are willing to send him back to the U.S.
The New York Times published a reported profile on Abrego Garcia with six journalists’ bylines.
Read: ‘The Story of the ‘Mistakenly Deported Maryland Man’
COMING UP
The House and Senate are out. President Trump is in Palm Beach, Fla. (All times EST)
7:30 p.m.: Trump participates in the 2025 Republican National Convention Spring Gala at Mar-a-Lago.
Sunday: NBC’s Kristen Welker interviews Trump on “Meet the Press.”
🐝 INTERNET BUZZ
🍬 Celebrate: Today is National Truffle Day.
🎭 ‘Luigi the Musical’: Remember Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man who is accused of killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare? His story is becoming a musical.
👋 AND FINALLY…
To get your weekend off to an entertaining start, I want you to meet this golden retriever. This guy doesn’t offer handshakes to just anyone.
