(Raw Story) Senate Republicans unveiled a $72 billion spending package late Monday night, and onlookers were left stunned after discovering a $1 billion line item related to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, which he’s long claimed would be entirely funded by private donors. “What happened to the ballroom being paid for by private funds?” asked political strategist Reed Galen, co-founder of the conservative organization The Lincoln Project, writing in a social media post on X late Monday night.

(Daily Beast) CNN’s chief data analyst is sounding the alarm on President Donald Trump’s abysmal poll numbers, saying they amount to an “absolute collapse” among key supporters. CNN’s Harry Enten said Trump, pushing 80, has watched his approval rating tank in recent months, with his disapproval hitting a record 62 percent as Republican-leaning Independents turn on him. “We are talking about a very important block [of voters] for the president of the United States—that is Republican-leaning Independents. That is what’s going on," Enten said Monday.

(Politico) President Donald Trump on Monday gathered more than a hundred small business leaders at the White House to tout tax cuts included in his “Big Beautiful Bill.”. Some of his closest allies worry the president is wasting time. With gas prices approaching record levels and Trump’s approval rating hovering around 37 percent, it’s time for Republicans to go scorched earth on Democrats, GOP operatives insist. And while Trump has never shied away from blaming the opposition, especially his predecessors, his tendency to deviate from his message — to talk about the new White House ballroom, the reflecting pool or the construction of his “victory arch” — is muddying the negative message allies insist the White House needs to sell heading into the fall.

(The Bulwark) Donald Trump's critics on the left have taken a lot of heat for suspecting that the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner two weeks ago was a false flag attack—perhaps intended to give Trump a boost in the polls or provide an excuse to build his new ballroom. But it turns out that Trump supporters, already swimming in a sea of other conspiracy theories, don’t necessarily trust the WHCD shooting story presented by the feds, either. That’s one of the big findings of a recent focus group conducted by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell’s Longwell Partners of nine people who voted for Trump at least twice (in 2020 and 2024).

(The Hill) House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Monday he was devising a plan for redistricting in New York. The effort follows Florida’s decision to pursue new congressional maps and a Voting Rights Act decision from the Supreme Court that could change the math of some states’ districts ahead of the November midterms. In a statement, Jeffries said he asked Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) to travel to Albany, N.Y., on Tuesday to meet with state leaders in regard to the redistricting plan.

(Huff Post) The Department of Homeland Security is closing an office responsible for investigating misconduct and abuse in the immigration detention system, according to an internal email to DHS employees obtained by HuffPost. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman is in the process of removing all its public signage and ending its inspections, according to the email. Over 30 people died in ICE custody last year — making it the deadliest year for ICE detainees since 2004. So far this year, ICE has reported 18 deaths in custody, marking an even deadlier pace so far.

(The Guardian) Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, signed a new gerrymandered congressional district map into law Monday that gives Republicans an electoral advantage in four additional races in November’s midterm elections. “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis said in a post on X, with a map of the new districts attached. With the stroke of a pen, DeSantis, a Republican, has done more to determine the outcome of congressional elections in Florida than any political operative or field organizer in the state.

(Paul Krugman) The global energy transition — the shift from fossil fuels to electrotech, which uses solar, wind and batteries to power an electrified economy — is accelerating. It’s now clear that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz marks an inflection point: the global green energy curve, which was already on a rapidly rising trajectory, has suddenly become even steeper. “Investors,” reports the Financial Times, “are piling into clean energy funds.” This acceleration isn’t just a consequence of soaring fossil fuel prices. It is also the result of the worldwide realization that, with the end of Pax Americana, depending on imported hydrocarbons is a risk not worth taking.

(ProPublica) To the narcotics agents investigating drug smuggling in Puerto Rico prisons, it seemed at first like a typical scheme: associates of an inmate gang sneaking drugs into the prison, gang members distributing them inside and bank records showing the money flowing. Then the agents discovered something unusual. Leaders of the prison gang known as Los Tiburones, or the Sharks, were selling drugs to inmates not only for money, but for their votes. Specifically, votes for now-Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón, a longtime Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, investigators found.