Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Tired of all the winning: “Americans’ confidence in the economy slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs takes a heavy toll. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points in April to 86, its lowest reading since May 2020.”
* An important SCOTUS case: “The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to rule narrowly in favor of a family trying to hold federal law enforcement accountable in court after an FBI raid wrongly targeted their Atlanta home. The justices seemed open to giving them another chance to sue over the raid, but wary of handing down a more sweeping ruling on federal liability in law enforcement cases.”
* This probably won’t make the White House’s lists of accomplishments: “U.S. stocks have underperformed the rest of the world this year by the widest margin in more than three decades as Donald Trump’s erratic policymaking sparks an investor exodus from American assets.”
* Former senators tend to get favorable treatment: “The Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Sen. David Perdue as ambassador to China, just as the U.S. and China are locked in a tariff showdown that threatens to redefine diplomatic relations between the world’s two largest economies. Perdue, a Republican who served one term as a U.S. senator from Georgia, was confirmed 67-29 with some Democratic support.”
* Growing concerns about vaccines: “Former government health officials fear the Trump administration is moving to slow-walk vaccine approvals, including by imposing new regulatory hurdles on drugmakers, such as changing the requirements for approval or seeking additional clinical trial data.” * A wildly unnecessary escalation: “National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are creating a climate of fear and intimidation.” * The White House is no place for such cheap and ugly tactics: “Dozens of large posters with photographs of migrants the White House claims to have been arrested for various crimes now line the White House driveway that leads to the West Wing. The posters, each with a large photo of a migrant with a caption noting the crime the White House alleges they committed, come as the Trump administration highlights its border policies as a key accomplishment of Trump’s first 100 days in office.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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