The Messy Rise of Graham Platner
The Maine oyster farmer’s dark years are a mounting liability for Democrats in their quest to gain control of the Senate.

Anti-Zionism is rising among diaspora Jews; the future of Jewish identity may be increasingly Israeli.
The Maine oyster farmer’s dark years are a mounting liability for Democrats in their quest to gain control of the Senate.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Wisconsin on Friday, President Trump responds to concerns over the rising costs of basketball game tickets. (Source: Bloomberg)
U.S. employers added 172,000 jobs in May, according to the Labor Department, a better-than-expected jobs report. But in the heart of Wisconsin's farm country, many farmers are facing a different reality as they struggle with tariffs and rising fuel and fertilizer costs amid the Iran war. Nikole Killion has more.
The proposed cut is estimated to strip modest fruit and vegetable benefits from nearly 5.4 million WIC participants.
President Donald Trump may be boosting Secretary of State Marco Rubio over Vice President JD Vance because Vance, unlike Rubio, told the truth about the Iran war.“It’s clear that Trump is displeased with JD Vance,” wrote The Bulwark’s conservative commentator Jonathan V. Last on Wednesday. “Early on, when Trump thought he was winning in Iran, there were leaks about Vance not being onboard with the war. Daddy Trump sent Vance to negotiate with the Iranians when they clearly had all the cards, setting him up for failure—and at the same time took Rubio with him on vacation to fight night. There was a huge dump of leaks designed to show that Trump doesn’t think Vance has the juice.”Citing Rubio’s recent congressional testimony, in which he parroted Trump’s incorrect claims that "the war is over now” and "[w]e’re going to continue to systematically clear this passageway through the straits to restore freedom of navigation,” Last concluded that Vance fell out of favor with Trump because of his reported reservations about America invading Iran.“In a rational world, you might expect Trump to see Vance’s correct assessment of Iran as a positive and Rubio’s mistaken assessment as a negative,” Last wrote. “But that’s not how humans work.” Quoting the fictional character Albus Dumbledore from the famous “Harry Potter” literary series, Last observed that “people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.” He then speculated that “the worse Iran gets, the worse it will be for Vance. Trump will become even more resentful—even if Vance never says told you so. Trump will remember that Vance was the one who told him not to do it.”Last also mused that if Vance had been incorrect about the Iran war, his standing with Trump would potentially be more secure.“In a funny way, I suspect Vance’s position inside Trump’s court would be stronger if the war had been successful and he’d been wrong,” Last explained. “In that case, Trump could magnanimously forgive him and chide him for being a worrywart.”In contrast to Last, ex-GOP presidential aide Steve Schmidt argued on Wednesday that Vance might actually be better positioned to inherit the Republican Party’s presidential leadership than Rubio.“Marco Rubio will never, ever be the President of the United States, but because of the terribleness of [Vice President] JD Vance, he has become sort of a flavor of the month,” Schmidt, who advised President George W. Bush, said on his Substack. “And because of the corruption of the corporate media, Marco Rubio is taken and treated seriously. He's treated like a statesman.”Even though Rubio supporters praise his handling of foreign policy, Schmidt pointed out that Trump still seems to invest greater power in Vance.“At the end of the day, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, is not leading the negotiations in Pakistan — JD Vance is,” Schmidt argued. “And he's accompanied by the President's son-in-law, who may be one ... of the most corrupt individuals in the history of the country. ... These men are raking in billions in corrupt acts around the globe and they're leading the negotiations. The man who the Saudis deposited $2 billion of cash into his investment fund despite him having no investment experience.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will testify Wednesday morning before the Senate Finance Committee on President Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget request for the department. The White House is seeking $11.5 billion in budget authority for the Treasury Department’s domestic programs in 2027, a 12 percent decrease from 2026. The hearing comes as affordability concerns and the…
Eyebrows were raised on Tuesday as Dr. Mehmet Oz responded to questions about why President Donald Trump had an increased number of medical exams, prompting skepticism surrounding the commander-in-chief's overall health.Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, was filling in for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House press briefing when Daily Mail reporter Elina Shirazi pushed for Oz to respond."This is the fourth checkup that the president has had," Shirazi said. "He's supposed to have one a year. He's had several CT heart scans. What are the doctors looking for?"Oz responded and said the visits to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were "just a routine regular exam." The trained cardiothoracic surgeon then said the president's vitals were looking good."His cholesterol, his blood pressure, all the numbers are certainly in excellent parameters," Oz added. "That amount of energy and that amount of mental acuity does not exist in a vacuum. The president has unique abilities to just keep going at all hours of the day with remarkable strength."But the internet was not convinced."'We know he’s healthy because he enjoys taking the same dementia test over and over' might not be the best argument," Emmy-nominated writer and comedian Mike Drucker, who has more than 182,000 followers, wrote on X."'Going to the doctor is fun.' That's where we're at now with this administration's lies," anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project wrote on X."Dr. Oz really just said that Trump has gone to the doctor 4 times because he does so well there and 'likes the results.' The scariest thing about this is that this man is actually a real doctor who heads up the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. We are so screwed!" Writer and social media commentator Brian Krassenstein wrote on X."The thing that every Trump appointee has in common is a bottomless appetite to debase themselves in service to Dear Leader. When this era mercifully ends, clips like this will be used as evidence of our national mass delusion, which I imagine is a common theme in all post-authoritarian societies," political scientist and author Josh Zingher, who has more than 3,000 followers, wrote on Bluesky.“We know he’s healthy because he enjoys taking the same dementia test over and over” might not be the best argument https://t.co/6Xdz1S81p8— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) June 2, 2026
US stocks headed for a positive open on Monday as traders remained hopeful that Washington and Tehran would strike a peace deal, even amid a rise in oil prices.