Good Morning, this is the CommonWealth Report. News for the public, not the powerful.
Is Trump’s Iran War Eating Your Paycheck?
The numbers are in and they’re brutal. Inflation jumped to 3.8% in April, the highest rate since May of 2023. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that prices rose six tenths of a percent in just one month. Energy costs shot up another 3.8%, with gas now averaging $4.50 a gallon. And for the first time in three years, workers’ wages aren’t keeping up with prices. Real hourly wages actually fell. Heather Long at Navy Federal Credit Union said it plainly. “Inflation is the key drag on the U.S. economy now.” Beef alone jumped 2.7% in a single month. Apparel and airline fares surged on top of Trump’s tariffs. Trump’s war with Iran is hammering every working family at the pump and the grocery store, while Wall Street keeps hitting record highs and the billionaire class cashes in.
Will Trump Jail Journalists for Telling the Truth?
Donald Trump personally pushed his Justice Department to subpoena reporters covering the Iran war. He handed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche a stack of news articles with a sticky note on top. Written in Sharpie was a single word. Treason. Within weeks, the Wall Street Journal received grand jury subpoenas demanding reporters’ records tied to a February article about Pentagon warnings to Trump before he launched the war. And the Journal isn’t the only outlet hit. Multiple newsrooms are being targeted. A spokesman for Dow Jones called it “an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering.” This is a president using federal prosecutors to hunt down journalists who told Americans the truth about how he dragged us into war. The First Amendment doesn’t have a Trump exception, and a free press is the last firewall between democracy and dictatorship.
Louisiana’s Governor Just Tossed 45,000 Votes in the Trash
Republican Governor Jeff Landry sat down with 60 Minutes and casually announced he’s throwing out 45,000 ballots already cast in Louisiana’s congressional primary. Reporter Cecilia Vega pressed him. Landry shrugged. “Well, it’s not a big deal. It’s not my fault.” Not a big deal? After the Supreme Court tossed Louisiana’s majority-Black district as a racial gerrymander, Landry suspended the primary entirely. Forty-five thousand voters who already mailed in ballots, gone. Black voters in Shreveport packed Galilee Baptist Church begging someone to stop this. Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields, who first won election in 1992, will likely lose his seat when the new map is drawn. No Black candidate has won statewide office in Louisiana since Reconstruction. This is voter suppression delivered with a shrug, and the only majority-Black congressional district in the state is about to vanish.
Why Did Trump Kill Sewage Help for Black Families?
In Lowndes County, Alabama, raw human sewage backs up into people’s toilets and pools in their yards. A 2017 study found one in three adults there carry hookworm. The Biden administration negotiated a $26 million settlement to fix it. Trump killed the deal, calling it “illegal DEI.” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the DOJ won’t push environmental justice anymore. Translation? Black families can keep stepping in their own sewage. Activist Catherine Coleman Flowers has fought for 23 years to get clean water to her neighbors. She said she wasn’t surprised. The federal government promised these citizens basic sanitation, then snatched it back because the people benefiting happened to be Black. That’s not policy. That’s cruelty as governance.
Trump Drags American Oligarchs to Beijing
President Trump is heading to meet Xi Jinping this week with a delegation that looks more like a billionaires’ boys’ club than a diplomatic mission. Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzman, Jane Fraser, David Solomon, and a dozen more CEO oligarchs are tagging along. Since Trump’s last visit eight years ago, U.S. merchandise trade with China has fallen by more than a third. The Strait of Hormuz has stayed closed for two months because of his Iran war. Trump used to demand America lead the world. Now he’s flying our richest men to Beijing to beg for crumbs. Right-wing billionaires bought our government, gutted our industry, shipped our jobs overseas, and now they’re bowing to Beijing for permission to keep getting richer. China is watching, and China is laughing.
Will Epstein’s Survivors Finally Be Heard Today?
This morning in Palm Beach County, Florida, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell will testify publicly under oath for the first time ever. It’s a shadow hearing, organized by House Oversight Democrats led by Congressman Robert Garcia, because Republicans refuse to hold a real one. Survivor Marina Lacerda told Scripps News. “It’s time to drop the rest of the files.” She’s right. The Justice Department is still sitting on documents. Trump’s name is all over Epstein’s flight logs and address books. Today’s hearing should be the first of many, and Democrats need to keep this fire burning until every survivor speaks, every file is released, and every powerful name comes to light.
And that’s the way it is, Today is Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
