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Gas hits $4.23 as Trump’s Iran war drags into month three
AAA reports the nationwide average for a gallon of gas just hit $4.23. That’s a fresh yearly high, with prices jumping seven cents in a single day, the biggest one-day spike in more than a month. Trump’s war with Iran is now in its third month. Peace talks have collapsed. The dual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil flows, has sent Brent crude up 25% in two weeks. Bank of America says lower-income households are already feeling the squeeze first. Working families didn’t ask for this war, but they’re paying for it every time they fill the tank. That’s how empire works in America. The rich start the wars, and the rest of us pay the bill.
Will Republicans hand the rich another massive tax giveaway?
Bloomberg reports that Ted Cruz and other Republicans are pushing a new capital gains tax cut by indexing gains to inflation. Sounds technical, but here’s what it means. The Yale Budget Lab found nearly every dollar of this tax break would flow to the top 20% of earners. The top 0.1% would collect the biggest savings. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says it could add up to $950 billion to the national debt. Trump himself stands to pocket millions on properties like Mar-a-Lago. The top 1% already grabbed $117 billion in tax cuts this year while the bottom 95% saw their taxes go up. And now they want more. This is class warfare from the top down.
Supreme Court guts voting rights to rig the midterms for Republicans
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court drove a stake through what’s left of the Voting Rights Act. In a 6-3 ruling written by Sam Alito, the conservative majority tossed Louisiana’s majority-Black congressional district. The court told states they can almost never consider race when drawing maps under Section 2 of the VRA. That same day, Florida’s legislature rammed through a new map giving Republicans a 24-to-4 advantage in the state’s House delegation. Civil rights leader Janai Nelson called it the “Alito map,” one that lets states “discriminate with impunity.” Senator Raphael Warnock warned the Congressional Black Caucus could be decimated in one fell swoop. Make no mistake, this ruling is flat-out racist, and it’s also a brazen Republican election-stealing scheme. Every silenced Black voter is a Republican seat. Every erased Latino voter is a Republican seat. Six unelected justices just rigged the midterms from the bench, and the Florida GOP didn’t even wait 24 hours to start cashing in.
Did Trump’s DOGE conspire with election deniers to steal future votes?
New documents obtained by Democracy Forward expose a secret paper trail. DOGE staffers inside the Social Security Administration signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with an outside political group dedicated to overturning election results. The records include Hatch Act referrals and emails about transferring sensitive voter data. A federal appeals court called the conduct “alarming.” Election denier group True the Vote was publicly begging the Trump administration for exactly this kind of access during that same period. They wanted Social Security data, financial records, medical records, all matched to voter rolls. This isn’t oversight. This is the infrastructure to overturn the next election before it’s even held.
Can Hawaii break the corporate stranglehold on American democracy?
For 16 years, Citizens United has poisoned our politics with unlimited corporate cash. Now Hawaii is fighting back. Senate Bill 2471 takes a novel approach designed by the Center for American Progress. Corporations are creatures of state law, and the state has the power to revoke any privilege it grants. So Hawaii is moving to strip corporations of the power to spend in elections. Fourteen states are exploring similar bills. Montana activists are taking it directly to voters this November. Senator Karl Rhoads says elections belong to people, not corporations. He’s right. If Hawaii holds the line in court, this could be the first real crack in the Citizens United wall, and the beginning of the end for legalized political bribery.
Crazy Alert! Don Jr inherits daddy’s reality show crown
The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is in talks to reboot The Apprentice, this time starring Donald Trump Jr. as host. Bezos already shelled out $40 million for Melania’s vanity documentary. Amazon helped sponsor Trump’s inauguration and his White House ballroom. Now they’re lining up to crown the prince. Jimmy Kimmel called the Melania film a “brazen corporate bribe.” This is worse. This is dynasty programming. Trump’s reportedly bragging behind closed doors that he’s the most powerful man who ever lived, ranking himself with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Now Bezos hands the royal scepter to Junior, ready to wave at the cameras and shout “you’re fired” like a Hapsburg prince in a bad blazer. The crown passes from father to son. America didn’t fight a revolution against King George just to install a Trump dynasty.
And that’s the way it is, Today Thursday, April 30, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
