Republicans

The Hill reports: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to a Tennessee law restricting some drag performances, allowing the first-in-the-nation law to remain largely intact. In a brief, unsigned order, the justices denied a Tennessee theater company’s request to intervene in its challenge to the state’s limits on drag, first enacted in 2023 by the Republican-dominated Legislature. …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis is promoting a state version of the Elon Musk-led spending slash in Washington that will reach into all areas of state administration and local governments. “We were DOGE before DOGE was cool,” DeSantis said in Tampa. He praised the DOGE in Washington while noting that Florida has already been on a similar track in terms …

From the New York Times editorial board: The volume of misinformation and betrayal here is breathtaking. The very act of discussing an end to the war without the presence of Ukraine or any other ally at the table violates the fundamental principle the United States has proclaimed from the outset of its support for Ukraine, “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” …

Newsweek reports: Sen. Susan Collins warned that Trump and Elon Musk’s widespread firings of the federal workforce are a “big problem,” expressing concern about how they could affect her home state. Collins told CNN that she is “very concerned” about the firings and their “impact on the state of Maine, on everything from our national parks to biomedical research.” Maine …

The Hill reports: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said Sunday that President Trump was joking when he floated running for a third term, adding he could not seek to change the Constitution without the consent of voters. “First of all, he joked. And so I think we need to take that as a joke, not being literal,” Mullin said when asked …

Politico reports: Special envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russia should not necessarily be blamed for sparking the war in Ukraine — a position that aligns with President Donald Trump’s recent strikes against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the three-year anniversary of the fighting looms. “The war didn’t need to happen — it was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it …

Fox News reports: Conservative voters believe Vice President JD Vance will become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in the 2028 election cycle, a straw poll conducted at the 2025 CPAC found. “You guys are the conservative movement, you guys are the thought leaders, the opinion leaders. We asked folks who they thought would be the Republican nominee, who they preferred …

First, a reminder from yesterday: The Department of Homeland Security has budgeted up to $200 million to run anti-immigrant ads in the United States and overseas that repeatedly thank President Donald Trump for leading an immigration crackdown. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday night that these ads were Trump’s idea, and during the administration’s transition to power, the president …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: Florida is facing off with a retail giant over claims the store’s political correctness cost the state’s public employees retirement fund millions. Newly sworn-in Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whose predecessor Ashley Moody replaced Marco Rubio in the Senate, filed a class-action lawsuit against Target Corporation, accusing the retailer of misleading and defrauding investors by concealing …

Washington DC’s NBC affiliate reports: D.C. police confirm they are investigating an alleged assault of a 27-year-old woman by U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a Republican representing a district northeast of Orlando, calling it an active criminal investigation. The first police report said: “(Her significant other for over a year) grabbed her, shoved her, and pushed her out of the door.” …

The New York Times reports: It’s the political equivalent of homecoming week for conservatives, a chance to revel over President Trump’s return to power and the dismantling of government institutions despised by the MAGA movement. But as the Conservative Political Action Conference got underway outside Washington on Thursday, the group’s influential chairman, Matt Schlapp, was embroiled in another scandal involving …

Florida Politics reports: President Donald Trump made clear who he wants as the next Governor of Florida.  In a Truth Social post, Trump all but endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds to run as the state’s next chief executive in 2026. Donalds responded by all but announcing his candidacy. “I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick was peppered with boos and catcalls throughout a town hall meeting in Roswell late Thursday, as hundreds of critics jeered the Republican for backing President Donald Trump’s agenda during his first month in office. The Suwanee Republican’s staff expected a robust turnout for his first town hall since Trump took office. But …

“The reality is we have to push back on Obergefell. If we wait too long on that Obergefell ruling to start actually sending things back up and challenging that stance that somehow we have to all get along and say that same-sex marriage is okay, it’s going to be too late at some point for us to push back. “So, …

“I think that our culture sends a message to young men that you should suppress every masculine urge. You should you should try to cast aside your family. You should try to suppress what makes you a young man in the first place. “And I think that my message to young men is don’t allow this broken culture to send …

The Daily Beast reports: Dolly Parton has called on Indiana’s governor to reverse course on plans to do away with her popular “Imagination Library” program. The country singer, who started the book gifting program to encourage early literacy, urged Gov. Mike Braun to reconsider the state’s proposed budget, which does not include the usual 50 percent matching funds provided to …

Courthouse News reports: House Republicans, taking a cue from Elon Musk, formally moved to impeach the federal judge responsible for halting the Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to access the Treasury Department system for government payments. In Republicans’ crosshairs is Southern District of New York Judge Paul Engelmayer, who this month issued an order keeping Musk’s team out of the …

Reuters reports: U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists have been told to stop using the words “woman,” “disabled” and “elderly” in external communications, part of a list of banned terms that a White House spokesman said had misinterpreted Trump’s executive order. A list with the file name “Prohibited words” has been circulating since at least last week in official work …

Mediaite reports: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) called for an end to all military aid to Ukraine after falling for a Russian propaganda video on social media on Wednesday. Lee shared a video purporting to show Ukrainian soldiers burning an effigy of Trump referring to him as a “bastard” and adding, “You will never be president again.” The video was a …

Gabriel Sherman reports at Vanity Fair: Senate and House Republicans know Trump will orchestrate the running of a primary challenger backed by Elon Musk’s unlimited resources if a member defies him. But this is not the whole story of Republican subservience to the president. In private, Republicans talk about their fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit …