National Review
CBS and Its Colbert Apocalypse
How Spielberg, Byrne, Springsteen, and Obama worshippers bowed to woke media.
Center Right
Politics - CBSNews.com
5/22: CBS Evening News
Center
45 million Americans expected to travel for Memorial Day weekend; new details on the death of NASCAR champion Kyle Busch.
Compare Perspectives
Found 8 stories
Axios
Even Republicans are souring on Trump's economy
President Trump promised an economic golden age when he returned to office last year.Instead, voters are in their crankiest mood in years about their financial outlook — and the pessimism is spreading even to Republicans.Why it matters: The growing GOP gloom could hardly come at a worse time for Trump and the party — less than six months out from a midterm election that's likely to turn on the economy.The big picture: Trump's approval rating has been dropping for months, but the University of Michigan's May consumer sentiment survey released Friday revealed something more striking: Republicans are beginning to lose confidence in the economy, too.Republican and independent voters' attitudes about the economy hit a low point of Trump's second term, per the survey. Overall sentiment hit an all-time low, period.Expectations that inflation will remain high shot up among everyone surveyed — but especially Republicans. The long-run inflation expectations for Republicans "are currently more than double their February 2025 reading on a monthly basis," the Michigan survey found.By the numbers: An AP/NORC poll out this week found that around 6 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. That's down from about 8 in 10 in February.Gallup's gauge of consumer economic confidence released Friday found that Republicans' economic outlook has dipped the past four months to the lowest level of Trump's second term.A CBS News/YouGov poll this month told much the same story: Just 36% of Republicans said Trump's policies were making them financially better off. 2% of Democrats and 14% of independents reported feeling that way.What they're saying: General satisfaction is still reasonably high among Republicans, but the softening GOP view on the economy is "a crack we're seeing," said Megan Brenan, a senior editor with Gallup.Between the lines: The reasons for the gloom aren't hard to spot.📈 Inflation: 37% of Republican respondents disapprove of Trump's handling of rising prices, an 11-point jump since March, per CBS News/YouGov.⛽️ Gas prices: Brenan pointed out there's been a noticeable increase in the percentage of Republicans citing higher gas prices as their top concern — 10% in May, up from 4% in April.🇮🇷 The Iran war: Two-thirds of Republicans in the AP/NORC poll gave Trump a positive rating on his handling of the war — a solid figure, but short of full-fledged support from his party. Trump's overall approval rating among Republicans was 72%.Reality check: Republicans are unlikely to suddenly start voting for Democrats because their gas prices are higher, and a string of bad polls doesn't necessarily mean they're going to lose Congress.For the record: "While the President has been clear there would be short-term disruptions to ensure Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, the Administration is focused on implementing the proven Trump agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance to keep America on a solid economic trajectory," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. The bottom line: Even small cracks in Republican confidence add to the litany of warning signs for the GOP this year.
Center Left
US news | The Guardian
Even if the Iran war ended today, US fuel prices aren’t likely to normalize this year
Prewar US gas prices averaged about $3 a gallon nationally – kiss that number goodbye for 2026Sorry, US drivers, but don’t expect pump prices to return to prewar levels any time soon, even if the US and Iran agree to a lasting peace deal tomorrow.As the war with Iran enters its third month, drivers have become infuriated by rising gas prices – and inflation – and Donald Trump is facing a historic backlash in the polls. The president promised recently that relief will be swift once the war ends. “I see it going down very substantially when this is over, I think very rapidly too, at levels that you’ve never seen,” he said. Continue reading...
Center Left
The New Republic
Even Fox News Admits It: Trump’s Presidency Is in Free Fall
After Donald Trump launched his war on Iran, a spirited debate broke out among a small set of public intellectuals over an unexpectedly relevant question: Is Trumpism dead? The case for Trumpism’s passing rested on the idea that the war is so contrary to his promises to the base that the movement can’t survive such a betrayal. The counterargument held, correctly, that Trumpism isn’t actually antiwar, and its deeper impulses within right-leaning America aren’t close to spent.But a bunch of recent events suggests that Trumpism as a broad ideological project has suddenly sustained a new kind of damage. The findings in this week’s poll from Fox News—a major institutional ally of Trumpism—combined with fresh levels of exasperation at Trump among GOP lawmakers leave little doubt: Some kind of new threshold has been crossed. The Fox poll’s most brutal finding is that Trump is losing major ground among both his most loyal constituencies and those he made surprise inroads with in 2024. On the former, Trump’s approval is underwater with working-class whites (46–54), rural voters (43–57), and even white men (48–52). On the latter, he’s tanking among young voters (31–69), Latinos (33–67), and working-class voters of all races (40–60), suggesting he’s squandered his gains with nonwhite working people entirely.His numbers on the economy are even worse. Only 29 percent of voters approve of his handling of it, while an extraordinary 71 percent disapprove. On inflation it’s an eye-popping 24–76. All his aforementioned core voter groups disapprove of Trump’s economic performance, as well—in very large majorities.Just look at Fox’s write-up of its poll. It reports that Trump’s disapproval is at a “new high,” while even noting that he has slipped underwater on border security. It takes note of sudden new jumps in the percentages who disapprove of Trump on the economy and reports candidly on precipitous declines among base voter groups. That’s as close as Fox will ever come to admitting that Trump is in collapse. As Media Matters’s Matt Gertz, who closely follows Fox, tells me, this is “certainly the most devastating Fox News poll of this presidency” and “portrays a presidency in free fall.”Now look at what’s happening inside the GOP. At a private lunch Thursday, many Republican senators unloaded angrily on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over Trump’s new $1.8 billion slush fund. They questioned the legality of the fund—which will hand out taxpayer money to Trump allies, including the January 6 rioters, pursuant to a corrupt “settlement” of his lawsuit against the IRS. Some Republicans objected to giving taxpayer money to January 6ers who attacked police officers.This comes just after Republicans dropped their quest to give Trump $1 billion in taxpayer money for his ballroom. And House Republicans just shelved a vote on a measure to end his Iran war because they lacked the votes to defeat it. These too saw serious GOP defections from Trump.What ties all this together? It’s this: Republicans probably wouldn’t be standing up to Trump so aggressively if his approval were in the mid-40s or higher, if his economic standing weren’t dropping so precipitously, and if his war weren’t destroying the global economy.But there’s an even deeper connecting thread here. In recent days, Trump has crowed about his ousting of disloyal Republicans via his backing of primary challenges to them. He has succeeded at that. But suddenly, that’s not cowing the GOP into doing his bidding. Trump’s primary-success boasts are meant to strike fear into GOP lawmakers: He can still turn the MAGA base against them on a whim with a twitch of his Truth Social thumbs. Yet terror of the base apparently weighs less heavily on Republicans when party actors come to genuinely fear the broader electorate outside the MAGA bubble—as evidenced by their apparent belief that Trump’s ballroom, his corrupt slush fund for January 6ers, and even his war are growing too toxic for them to bear.It’s no accident that this comes as Trump is hemorrhaging support from both base groups and 2024 converts. To be a viable political project, Trumpism likely needs a combination of hypercharged core voters (the low-engagement Americans directly energized by Trump and only Trump) and non-MAGA voters sporadically attracted to him by economic dissatisfaction and his lingering cultural aura.Yet it now looks plausible that these constituencies can’t hold together in a plurality coalition—let alone a majority one—under the conditions unleashed by Trumpist governing. Recent events drive this home with fresh clarity: It’s precisely the conditions wrought by the policies most associated with Trumpism and “America First” nationalism that are alienating voters the most.
Left
US news | The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: sidelined Tulsi Gabbard resigns as US director of national intelligence
Gabbard leaves after tumultuous stint during which she was largely left out as Donald Trump launched attacks on Venezuela and Iran – key US politics stories from Friday 22 May at a glanceTulsi Gabbard is leaving her post as US director of national intelligence following a tumultuous stint in which she was largely sidelined as Donald Trump launched attacks on Venezuela and Iran.In a letter to the US president, she said she would resign and leave her post on 30 June. “While we have made significant progress … I recognize there is still important work to be done,” she wrote. Continue reading...
Center Left
Raw Story
Insider warns Colbert ouster will hurt CBS in ways executives didn't see coming
The end of The Late Show and the ouster of host Stephen Colbert could backfire on CBS, an insider warned. According to reporting by Status, a CBS network insider expects "various hard-to-measure costs baked into the 'Late Show's' absence, including its impact on other CBS programming."The last episode of The Late Show aired on Thursday. CBS blamed financial reasons for the show's end, but Colbert was also a notable critic of Trump, who had financial leverage over the network's parent company. "The show did create a platform for talent associated with series like 'Tracker' as well as former 'CBS Evening News' anchor John Dickerson, whose kinship with Colbert became such he emceed the late night show's Wednesday episode," according to Status.
Far Left
New York Post
ESPN reporter Marty Smith got very emotional delivering Kyle Busch death news
ESPN reporter Marty Smith was visibly emotional while discussing Kyle Busch's legacy in NASCAR after the two-time Cup Series champion died at 41 on Thursday.
Right
Washington Examiner
Trump urges Warsh to ignore political pressure on interest rates, even from the White House
President Donald Trump urged Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh on Friday to ignore public musings about fiscal policy — even from the commander in chief himself — and operate “independently.” “Honestly, I really mean this. This is not said in any other way. I want Kevin to be totally independent,” he told the East Room […]
Center Right