Principals

1. Donald Trump outruns the GOP
2. Trump’s Bronx visit
3. Congress goes YIMBY
4. Key Democrat slams China drills
5. Biden ballot bailout
6. Kosovo leader talks Trump

PDB: Obama and other Kenya state dinner guests

Congress on Memorial Day recess … ICJ to issue new Gaza ruling … WSJ: Behind Scarlett Johansson’s feud with OpenAI

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

Donald Trump is outrunning other Republicans

Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden in swing state polling, but Republicans are frequently trailing Democrats down-ballot in the same surveys. David Weigel and Shelby Talcott dig into the phenomenon, which increasingly stands out after two elections where Trump was seen as a drag on the ticket. One popular explanation: Biden is being singled out for blame on inflation, which voters seem less likely to associate with Congress. A recent Cook Political Report poll found 59% of voters in battleground states believe the president has some ability to control prices and give Trump superior marks on the issue. Democrats are hoping the down-ballot numbers are a sign that wayward Biden voters are still bought into the party’s overall message and might return home by November.

Trump rallies in the Bronx

Donald Trump rallied supporters at a much-hyped trip to the Bronx on Thursday. “On day one we’re going to throw out Bidenomics and we’re going to replace it with MAGAnomics like your hats,” Trump said to a crowd of several thousand in Crotona Park. Semafor’s Kadia Goba surveyed the scene, where Trump voters from the suburbs mingled with a contingent of Bronx fans in the heavily Democratic borough. Democrats aren’t totally dismissing Trump’s visit: In addition to national concerns about Black and Hispanic support, Republicans made big midterm gains in New York. The Biden campaign called Trump a “lifelong racist” and posted an ad recapping Trump’s attacks on the “Central Park Five,” a group of teens who were wrongly jailed for rape and later exonerated, and old legal battles over housing discrimination laws.

Is Congress having its YIMBY moment?

After years of stringing together state and local wins, YIMBY housing activists are inching closer to their biggest victory yet on Capitol Hill, complete with a namesake bill. Last week, the House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan YIMBY Act — as in, Yes In My Backyard — which would require many localities that receive federal money to report what steps they’re taking to pare back restrictive zoning. As Jordan Weissmann writes, Congress appears to be taking its first serious stab at tackling land use in decades. But winning support from the left and right has meant writing a narrow measure that doesn’t interfere too directly in local control. “We want to move as aggressively as we can,” Sen. Brian Schatz told Semafor. “But so far we’ve been able to prevent a backlash, and that’s where we want to live.”

China’s Taiwan drills draw rebuke in Washington

The House China committee’s top Democrat had some harsh words for Beijing over its recent military drills around Taiwan. “I think it’s a temper tantrum. It’s provocative behavior, it’s senseless and it’s dangerous because it could escalate into unintended, catastrophic consequences and they need to stop,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi told Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant. China launched two days of air and sea drills surrounding the self-governing island as “punishment” for so-called “separatist acts” following new president Lai Ching-te’s inauguration. The moves should push the US to speed up military assistance to Taiwan, Krishnamoorthi said. In its second and final day of drills, China said it was testing its ability to “seize power.”

Ohio governor demands Republicans put Biden on the ballot

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is calling a special session of the state legislature to make sure that Joe Biden is actually on the ballot in November. The move comes after Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose again threatened to boot Biden off the ballot, arguing the Democrats’ convention dates were too late to meet its deadlines. The state legislature failed to agree on a fix earlier, thanks in part to LaRose requesting the bill also include unrelated policies. “This is a ridiculous — this is an absurd — situation,” an exasperated DeWine said on Thursday. Similar ballot issues have been addressed easily in the past, including in Alabama this month, and David Weigel reports that Democrats were growing quietly annoyed having to spend time addressing what they saw as a partisan nuisance.

Europe anxious over potential Trump return, Kosovo PM admits

Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House is causing “stress and anxiety” among European leaders, Kosovo’s prime minister acknowledged in an interview with Semafor’s Prashant Rao in London. Albin Kurti attributed those concerns to Trump’s unpredictability — something the former president considers an asset — saying the issue was not that “something bad can happen” but rather “anxiety for something unknown.” Kurti also didn’t sound thrilled about Richard Grenell — previously a Trump special envoy for peace negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia — returning under a second Trump administration. The headlines about jittery Europeans have become commonplace as Trump leads President Biden in the polls, and several governments have reached out to engage with Trump’s team or the former president himself in preparation.

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Whether you’re a media insider or simply curious about what drives today’s headlines, Mixed Signals is the perfect addition to your media diet. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Despite the summer in an election year being typically slow, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is still looking for a path forward for several pieces of bipartisan legislation.

Playbook: Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. is playing up his feud with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as he vies for the top Senate GOP leadership post. Scott blamed McConnell for Senate Republicans’ losses in the 2022 midterms and accused McConnell of subsequently attempting to hurt his fundraising. “He told people not to give me money,” Scott said.

WaPo: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he is opposed to President Biden’s new China tariffs due to inflation concerns. “If we are reducing our ability to get the solar panels we need to power our clean energy economy, everybody winds up paying more for electricity through their utility, and it slows the clean energy transition,” he said.

Axios: J.D. Vance has been lobbying top tech names to back Donald Trump and helped put together a fundraiser dinner for the former president in San Francisco next month that will be headlined by David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya.

White House

• President Biden is expected to skip a Ukraine peace conference being held in Switzerland next month after the G7 summit. He’s scheduled instead to attend a Hollywood fundraiser. — Bloomberg
• Biden defended not sending troops to Haiti to combat gang violence.
• Biden wrote a letter to the Uvalde community two years after the shooting at Robb Elementary School, pledging continued focus on addressing gun violence.
• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told Women’s Health that she doesn’t eat desserts or drink coffee or alcohol.
• On the guest list for Kenyan President William Ruto’s White House state dinner last night: Barack Obama, Hunter Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Roger Goodell, Merrick Garland, Lester Holt, Michael McCaul, Kwame Onwuachi, Sheryl Sandberg, Huma Abedin and Alex Soros, Wilmer Valderrama, Sean Penn, and Brad Paisley.
• NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, another dinner guest, announced a new youth development program in Kenya between NBA Africa and Safaricom. Africa has been a top priority for the league in recent years: Cameroonian-born star Pascal Siakam, who came up through its Basketball Without Borders camp, played in the Eastern Conference finals the same night as the dinner.

Congress

• As expected, the Senate failed to advance a bill containing bipartisan border security recommendations inked earlier this year. The vote was 43-50, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski being the only Republican to vote in favor of advancing the measure.
• Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress. He did not provide details on the timing of the address during an event at the Israeli Embassy in Washington marking the country’s independence.
• Fifty-two House Democrats joined with Republicans to pass a bill to block a D.C. law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.
• Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., said he suffered a “minor stroke” that will keep him out of Congress for six weeks.

Outside the Beltway

• Abortion pills will become controlled substances under a law passed by Louisiana lawmakers.
• A maritime safety committee repeatedly warned about a disaster involving Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in the years leading up to the cargo ship strike that collapsed it in March. — WaPo
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law to allow some Arizona doctors to become temporarily licensed in the state to perform abortions.

Economy

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged that many Americans are still grappling with inflation. — FT
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he doesn’t favor President Biden’s recently announced tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
• JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon acknowledged during a private conference in Shanghai that part of the bank’s business in China has “fallen off a cliff in the last couple of years.” — FT

Courts

• A 6-3 Supreme Court sided with Republicans and rejected a challenge to South Carolina’s new congressional map, reversing a lower court ruling that found it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
• The Justice Department unveiled its antitrust lawsuit — with 30 states — against Live Nation.
• The FCC fined political consultant Steve Kramer $6 million for sending robocalls impersonating President Biden in New Hampshire, on top of charges he faces.
• The EPA and Justice Department reached a $310 million settlement with Norfolk Southern, the company operating the freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio last year.

Polls

Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg believes President Biden’s chances are better than surveys in swing states are suggesting. – New Yorker

On the Trail

• Donald Trump’s campaign is trying to shape state-level races that determine spots on the RNC’s Platform Committee in order to prevent the party’s platform from moving “too far to the right on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage headed into the general election.” — NBC
• Trump said on the sidelines of his rally in the Bronx Thursday that there may be a place on his “team” for former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a day after she said she would vote for him. — News 12
• Ron DeSantis raised $3 million for Trump on Thursday. — AP
• Minnesota Senate Candidate Royce White, who has been endorsed by the state’s GOP, spent $1,200 from his 2022 Congressional primary campaign funds on a strip club in Miami, one of more than $100,000 in “outlandish but previously unreported payments” for luxuries like clubs, hotels, and limousines. — The Daily Beast

Immigration

Migrant crossings at the southern border are down over 50% from a record high in December. — CBS

Foreign Policy

• The US plans to announce another aid package for Ukraine containing ammunition and artillery today. — AP
• Donald Trump claimed he could secure the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, jailed in Russia, if he is reelected. “Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
• Israel’s military said it recovered the bodies of three more hostages in Gaza.
• CIA Director Bill Burns is headed to Europe to try to revive talks about a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. — Axios
• The Biden administration is considering naming a U.S. official to serve as a top civilian adviser to a largely Palestinian force when the Gaza war ends. — Politico

Technology

A deal between Microsoft and the UAE’s artificial intelligence firm G42 is attracting scrutiny in Washington. — Reuters

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Three US service members are being treated for non-combat-related injuries related to the Pentagon’s construction of a floating pier off the Gaza coast.

What the Right isn’t reading: TikTok unveiled plans to limit the reach of state-affiliated media accounts on the platform.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Danielle Alvarez is a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign.