Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

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The Trump Organization’s online store is now selling “Trump 2028” hats, the latest indication — even if frivolous — that the president wants to run for a third term.

Eric Trump, President Donald Trump’s son, posted a picture on his Instagram story wearing the hat, which is being sold for $50. In a social media post, Trump’s political operation promoted the hat as well.

“.@EricTrump rocking the new Trump 2028 hat!” the Trump War Room account said, alongside two emojis, eyes and fire.

Running for a third term in the White House would violate the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment, which says “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

That hasn’t stopped popular MAGA figures from saying the president should try to run again. MAGA podcast host Steve Bannon said in a December speech “Maybe we do it again in ‘28?”

In March, Trump refused to rule out a third term when asked by NBC’s Kristen Welker, telling her “there are methods” for doing so.

“You know, we’re very popular,” Trump said at the time. “And you know, a lot of people would like me to do that. But, I mean, I basically tell them, we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”

On the Trump Store website, the description of the hat tells buyers they can “make a statement” by wearing the hat, which was a change from an earlier version.

“The future looks bright! Rewrite the rules with the Trump 2028 high crown hat,” the initial description said, an apparent nod to changing the 22nd Amendment, according to the New York Post.

It’s not the first time Trump has floated the idea. In a May 2024 speech to the National Rifle Association before his November victory, he pointed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four election wins, which came before the 22nd Amendment was ratified in the 1950s.

“You know, FDR, 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” Trump said then.

At other times, however, he dismissed the idea. He told Time magazine in April 2024 that he would not want to run again.

“I wouldn’t be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job,” he told Time.

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Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm led by a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, has more than tripled its quarterly lobbying revenues compared with the same time a year ago, as companies and organizations have sought help from a handful of firms close to the new administration to decipher a second Trump administration marked by upheaval and retribution.

The firm will report $14 million in lobbying revenues for the first three months of 2024, more than double the $6.2 million Ballard brought in last quarter. Ballard reported $4.2 million in lobbying revenues during the first quarter of 2024.

Many of the largest firms on K Street have yet to report their first quarter revenues ahead of Monday’s midnight deadline, but Ballard’s haul will likely place it near the top.

The beginning of any new administration tends to be lucrative for the lobbying industry — and business was already booming on K Street before Trump swept into office again.

At the end of last year, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck topped the revenue rankings with $16.9 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, according to a POLITICO analysis, while the runner-up, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, reported $14.6 million that quarter. Brownstein’s revenue dipped slightly in the first quarter of 2025, to $16.8 million.

Longtime Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard set up a Washington office for his firm not long after Trump’s first White House victory in 2017, and quickly became one of the go-to firms for companies and trade associations looking to understand the unpredictable political novice in the Oval Office.

Though Ballard employs a number of Democratic lobbyists, the firm saw its business fall during the Biden administration. Still, it remained among the top 20 firms on K Street, according to POLITICO’s analysis.

Ballard’s rise this year represents a shift that happens every time power changes hands in Washington, as corporate America looks for an in with an incoming president or congressional leader. But that dynamic kicked into overdrive ahead of Trump’s second presidency. Ballard, along with a handful of other firms with close ties to the administration, like Miller Strategies, Mercury Public Affairs, Michael Best Strategies and Continental Strategies, have seen a tsunami of new business since November. Those firms did not respond to requests for their first quarter numbers.

But Ballard has disclosed more than 130 new lobbying clients just since Election Day, including JP Morgan Chase, Chevron, Palantir, Netflix, Ripple Labs and the Business Roundtable. The firm also registered to lobby for several entities that have been singled out for punishment by the Trump administration, such as the governing body of Harvard University, Public Broadcasting Service and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. (Ballard is also registered to lobby for Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company.)

Several former lobbyists at Ballard now serve in high-ranking posts in Trump’s second administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Another Ballard alum, Trent Morse, works as Trump’s deputy director of personnel. The firm’s Florida roots mean that Ballard also has relationships with the Floridians in positions of influence in Trump’s Washington, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

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NEW YORK — Opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration took to the streets of communities large and small across the U.S. on Saturday, decrying what they see as threats to the nation’s democratic ideals.

The disparate events ranged from a march through midtown Manhattan and a rally in front of the White House to a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration marking the start of the American Revolutionary War 250 years ago. In San Francisco, protesters formed a human banner reading “Impeach & Remove” on the sands of Ocean Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Thomas Bassford was among those who joined demonstrators at the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside of Boston. “The shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, heralded the start of the nation’s war for independence from Britain.

The 80-year-old retired mason from Maine said he believed Americans today are under attack from their own government and need to stand up against it.

“This is a very perilous time in America for liberty,” Bassford said, as he attended the event with his partner, daughter and two grandsons. “I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”

Elsewhere, protests were planned outside Tesla car dealerships against billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal government. Others organized more community-service events, such as food drives, teach-ins and volunteering at local shelters.

The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide protests against the Trump administration drew thousands to the streets across the country.

Organizers say they’re protesting what they call Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shutter entire agencies.

Some of the events drew on the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, calling for “no kings” and resistance to tyranny.

Boston resident George Bryant, who was among those protesting in Concord, Massachusetts, said he was concerned Trump was creating a “police state” in America as he held up a sign saying, “Trump fascist regime must go now!”

“He’s defying the courts. He’s kidnapping students. He’s eviscerating the checks and balances,” Bryant said. “This is fascism.”

In Washington, Bob Fasick said he came out to the rally by the White House out of concern about threats to constitutionally protected due process rights, as well as Social Security and other federal safety-net programs.

The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.

“I cannot sit still knowing that if I don’t do anything and everybody doesn’t do something to change this, that the world that we collectively are leaving for the little children, for our neighbors is simply not one that I would want to live,” said the 76-year-old retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia.

In Columbia, South Carolina, several hundred people protested at the statehouse. They held signs that said “Fight Fiercely, Harvard, Fight” and “Save SSA,” in reference to the Social Security Administration.

And in Manhattan, protesters rallied against continued deportations of immigrants as they marched from the New York Public Library north towards Central Park past Trump Tower.

“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” they chanted to the steady beat of drums, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Marshall Green, who was among the protesters, said he was most concerned that Trump has invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 by claiming the country is at war with Venezuelan gangs linked to the South American nation’s government.

“Congress should be stepping up and saying no, we are not at war. You cannot use that,” said the 61-year-old from Morristown, New Jersey. “You cannot deport people without due process, and everyone in this country has the right to due process no matter what.”

Meanwhile Melinda Charles, of Connecticut, said she worried about Trump’s “executive overreach,” citing clashes with the federal courts to Harvard University and other elite colleges.

“We’re supposed to have three equal branches of government and to have the executive branch become so strong,” she said. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable.”

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Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

This post was originally published on this site

President Donald Trump’s pick for Internal Revenue Service commissioner recently cleared a substantial debt from his failed 2022 Senate bid, using campaign contributions that rolled in after Trump announced his intent to nominate him to lead the tax agency, according to federal filings.

Former Republican Rep. Billy Long raked in roughly $137,000 in campaign donations in January — the month after Trump said he would nominate him to serve in Trump’s administration — according to campaign finance disclosures filed late Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Long then paid back an outstanding personal loan of $130,000 he had made to his now-dormant 2022 U.S. Senate campaign in February. A number of the donors are affiliated with firms in the tax consultancy industry.

The Lever was first to report on the filings.

Before January’s flood of donations, Long had only raised roughly $36,000 through his latent Senate campaign committee over the last two years, much of which came in December.

The IRS directed POLITICO to the Treasury Department for comment, which did not immediately respond. Long’s campaign treasurer did not immediately return a request for comment via email, and Long could not otherwise be reached for comment.

The disclosure comes as Long is facing backlash from Democratic lawmakers for connections to alleged tax credit loopholes. The disclosure report lists various contributions from financial advisers working at consulting groups such as White River Energy and Lifetime Advisors, which are in hot water with Democrats.

The firms are mentioned in a letter sent from Senate Finance Committee Democrats to the IRS on Monday urging the agency to open a criminal investigation into the groups’ promotion of allegedly fraudulent “tribal tax credits.”

The Missouri Republican represented the state’s 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2023. He lost the 2022 GOP Senate primary contest to now-Sen. Eric Schmitt.

After leaving Congress in 2023, Long pitched tax products for Lifetime Advisors. He also reported earning at least $5,000 from White River Energy for a duty designated as a “Referral to Capitol Edge Strategies” — a firm that, according to Bloomberg Tax, promotes tribal tax credit resources.

In 2022, the Supreme Court struck down limits on how much post-election cash candidates can use to repay personal loans, opening the door for donors with business before candidates to refill their coffers.

Long’s nomination to lead the IRS is still awaiting Senate confirmation.

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CHICAGO — Former President Joe Biden ripped the Trump administration’s efforts to slash Social Security spending in his first major public speech since leaving the White House, but never mentioned the current president.

“In fewer than 100 days, this administration has caused so much damage and destruction. It’s breathtaking,” Biden told about 200 people gathered for the conference of Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled on Tuesday. “They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration.”

Biden attacked the Trump administration for thousands of job cuts at the federal agency, arguing that they’ve eviscerated services and endangered benefits for the roughly 73 million seniors who rely on the popular financial assistance program.

“They’re shooting first and aiming later,” Biden said. “The result is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.”

Biden-isms shined throughout the sometimes rambling, roughly 30-minute speech, as he used the phrases “folks” and “I mean it sincerely” to make his points. The former president told well-trod stories of growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and of seeing his parents struggle to make ends meet, and he reminisced about his decades on Capitol Hill.

Biden’s comments were timed with “Social Security Day of Action” on Tuesday to protest what advocates describe as severe threats to the program under the Trump administration. His gradual reemergence comes as other — more critical — voices begin to shape the narrative surrounding his term. Biden’s aides have been bracing for the release of several books documenting his physical and mental state before he abandoned his reelection campaign last year, with allies already challenging reporting about his decline.

The speaking engagement in Chicago’s River North neighborhood was held just blocks from a high-profile campaign fundraiser held last year for Biden before he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.

The central argument of Biden’s speech Tuesday was that the Trump administration presents an untenable threat to Social Security.

“Social Security is more than a government program; it’s a sacred promise,” he said.

The White House response to Biden’s speech? “Embarrassing,” said a spokesperson, who referred POLITICO to the Social Security feed on X, which accused Biden of “lying to Americans.”

Two former administration officials granted anonymity to discuss private plans said that although Biden wants to remain “engaged,” his speech in Chicago is not necessarily a sign of a more aggressive public schedule. Instead, Biden is expected to pick his spots on specific issues, like Social Security, that matter deeply to him, these officials said. In recent weeks, he’s spoken to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, accepting an honorary membership, and he dropped in on students at the Model United Nations conference.

“Coming out with a big democracy, rule of law speech would have been, maybe, too on the nose, so picking Social Security, something that is real to people … and it matters to him, makes a lot of sense,” said a third former Biden administration official. “No one would be talking about Social Security tomorrow if Joe Biden wasn’t giving this speech, so that alone is proof positive that he can still command a certain level of attention and ability to set the agenda.”

He’s also working on another book, these officials said.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “The unprecedented assault on Social Security is an all-hands-on-deck moment that requires all of us to show up, stand up and speak up, which is why President Biden’s voice in this fight is going to be so incredibly important.”

Former Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who introduced Biden at the event, said he thought the former president waited the “appropriate” (almost) 100 days to make his first big speech. And former Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who also was in attendance, said it was “absolutely” important that Biden speak out on what’s happening in Washington, even as some Democrats still have hard feelings about Biden staying in the campaign as long as he did last year.

Earlier in the day, David Hogg, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, described Biden’s return to public view as a natural step taken by former presidents who want to share their expertise.

“He’s not gonna stop being involved. He is a workhorse and he wants to get things done and he wants to help with the party,” Hogg said.

But Biden left office with sagging approval ratings, and many Democrats blamed their party’s losses in November on him staying in the presidential race for so long. Hogg, responding to some of the criticism about Biden in 2024, said: “Somebody can be very good at legislating, but not necessarily the right person to be out there on the front and center of things.”

Biden is not the only former world leader stepping out in recent days. Biden’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, took to social media on Monday night to criticize the Trump administration’s funding freeze for Harvard University. And on the same day Biden spoke in Chicago, Justin Trudeau, who had been laying low since resigning as Canada’s prime minister last month, was back in public view with an exit interview scheduled to air on a PBS station in Buffalo.

Canada is in the middle of a snap election, and voters have largely moved on from the three-term Liberal leader who was intensely unpopular at the time of his exit. And as with Biden, Liberals in Canada may not be eager to see him back in the spotlight.

The conversation with broadcaster Valerie Pringle for “Canada Files” was taped after Trudeau’s final Cabinet meeting Although there is seemingly little in the interview to hijack a campaign, the timing is less than ideal for a Liberal Party that’s counting on Canadians to forget the reasons they wanted Trudeau gone in the first place.

“How are you feeling?” Pringle asked Trudeau off the top of the half-hour broadcast.

“Really good,” he replied. “I’m feeling serene about everything that I got done. I think I had a good run.”

Sue Allen and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

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Former Michigan state Sen. Adam Hollier on Monday launched a Democratic primary challenge against two-term Rep. Shri Thanedar.

The announcement marks Hollier’s third attempt to secure the House seat representing most of Detroit. Hollier previously served as a Michigan state Senator from 2018 to 2022 and has also led the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“From housing to daycare to the rising costs of everything from groceries to the brakes on our cars, we’re in a real crisis in this country,” Hollier said in a press release announcing the run. “We need bold solutions and leaders who won’t back down in the face of this challenge.”

Thanedar, an Indian American Democrat, has held Detroit’s plurality-Black district since 2023. Hollier, who is Black, came up short to Thanedar in the 2022 primary and didn’t make it onto the ballot in 2024. Leaders within the Congressional Black Caucus have previously rallied around Hollier.

Thanedar, a multimillionaire, has largely self-funded his congressional bids since taking over the seat held by former Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence.

“The last thing we need are more millionaires and billionaires like Elon Musk and Shri Thanedar who are only in it for themselves,” Hollier said.

“While everyday Michiganders are struggling, Shri Thanedar is spending hundreds of thousands of their hard-earned tax dollars putting up self-portraits of himself all over the district,” he added. “That’s something only Donald Trump would be proud of.”

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Democrats are targeting Donald Trump’s weakened standing on the economy — even after the president paused his far-reaching reciprocal tariff policy that reverberated across global markets.

In interviews with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers, congressional staffers and media strategists, many in the party see a prime opportunity to attack Trump on a key campaign promise they argue he’s failing to deliver — a message likely to be featured prominently in political ads if the economy continues to falter. Some candidates are already hitting tariffs in campaign launch ads, while the party is planning to capitalize on anger over the economy, among other issues, in upcoming town halls.

It’s an opportunity for Democrats on the economy, a major point of strength for Trump in his presidential campaign last year, even as they conceded the economic crisis had eased somewhat after the president paused some — but not all — tariffs on most countries. On Thursday afternoon, Trump clarified that the combined tariffs on Chinese goods is now at 145 percent. Most other nations will be subject to the 10 percent baseline tariff the administration levied last week. The markets reacted accordingly, with stocks plummeting at the end of the day.

Now, Democrats are banking on rising panic in worldwide markets and fears of a recession to knock Republicans down.

“We heard for five freaking months going into the last election, people beating up Biden and Harris about inflation, and the price of fucking eggs,” said longtime Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, who worked on both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. “So why the hell would we make [ads] about tariffs, as opposed to making it about the economy?”

He said Trump is presenting one of the most favorable gateways to Democrats in recent history, imploring Democrats not to squander the week of earned media about a near-global market implosion.

“There is an opportunity here, of historical proportions, given the advantage on the economy writ large that Republicans have had for decades,” he added. “You see Trump underwater on handling the economy and fighting inflation and bringing down costs – that is a major opening and a historic way for Democrats to take away what has been a major positive for Republicans.”

And recent polling backs up that claim that voters are waning on Trump’s economic stewardship. An Economist/YouGov poll of about 1,700 American adults released Wednesday showed Trump’s overall approval rating drop five percentage points from last week, combined with a four percentage-point drop in his handling of the economy. A poll from the Democratic group Navigator Research released Tuesday also showed 55 percent of 1,000 registered voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of the economy, an eight percentage-point swing since the group’s last poll in March. Another recent poll from the liberal group Data For Progress also showed a majority disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.

Not every poll showed dramatic changes. In a poll of 1,400 registered voters released Wednesday that was conducted April 3-7 from Quinnipiac, Trump’s handling of the economy and his overall approval rating remained steady or dropped only slightly.

Democrats and their affiliated groups are already blaming Trump for his scattershot tariff rollout as a way to pummel vulnerable Republicans in elections later this year and heading into the midterms.

Hours before Trump announced the tariff pause, the Democratic-aligned super PAC American Bridge released audio of Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, praising Trump’s tariff plan. Democrat Mike Sacks announced his candidacy Wednesday in a nearly two and a half minute ad. It featured an image of the word “tariff” nine times in bold red font along with a crimson-color graphic of a stock market plunging that was superimposed over the face of his opponent, incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), widely considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans next cycle.

The Democratic-aligned group Families Over Billionaires, a nonprofit, is putting six figures into an ad running on social media and streaming platforms bashing the Trump administration over tax plans, and Democrats are planning a new round of town halls in GOP-held House districts over the upcoming recess.

Democrats argue the upheaval Trump injected into the economy undercuts the central premise that he campaigned on: that as a businessperson would be best positioned to grow the economy.

“The one thing that American voters want is security and safety. What they don’t want is chaos and uncertainty,” said Alex Jacquez, a former economic adviser to former president Biden who is now chief of policy for Groundwork Collaborative. “I think why you’ve seen such rapid deterioration on his approvals on the economy and on cost of living, tariffs and trade, is because not a single action that he has taken has been in service of addressing people’s number one concern, which is cost of living.”

And that is precisely what has Democratic admakers salivating.

“Keep it simple and keep it tangible and keep it relatable to everyone’s lives here,” said veteran media strategist Julian Mulvey, who has cut ads for Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. He urged Democrats and affiliated groups to not overcomplicate their messaging by talking about esoteric economic concepts like supply chains and capital markets.

Instead, he referenced the “you break it, you own it” doctrine of politics.

“Trump is sort of charging headlong into breaking the economy and, and he’s going to find out when he does,” he said. “Or in the modern vernacular: fuck around and find out.”

The White House, meanwhile, criticized the Democrats’ planned strategy.

“President Trump is the first president in modern American history to take decisive action to finally corner China and restore American Greatness,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. “If Democrats see an opportunity in President Trump and Republicans standing up for everyday Americans and restoring American Greatness, they’re headed for a worse election night than November 5, 2024.”

Several Democratic media strategists acknowledged it’s too early to say what the economy will look like when prime time campaign season hits. But that hasn’t stopped progressive strategists like Chuck Rocha from storyboarding what the anti-Trump attack ads will look like in the coming months.

“The best way to deliver the ad is from one of his voters, a white guy in his 50s who works in a steel mill, works at whatever the place down the street is that says: ‘Look, I don’t really care about either party. I voted for Donald Trump because I thought he would change a rigged system,” Rocha said of a hypothetical ad that features someone speaking directly to camera. “But he’s even rigging it more, and he’s rigging it for himself.”

And that’s on top of the party’s already established playbook around Elon Musk’s sledgehammer to government. Some Democratic ad-makers said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutinck’s comments about “fraudsters” getting Social Security checks was bound to backfire.

It’s something that’s caught the attention of lawmakers too, including Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), who won reelection in a key swing state that Trump flipped last year. The representative is one of 26 Democrats that the Republican campaign arm is targeting in the midterms.

“Market manipulation … that’s what happened,” Horsford said on Wednesday. “On the same day that they’re screwing America.” Horsford was referring to Trump’s social media post this week where the president proclaimed: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY.”

This post was originally published on this site

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

This post was originally published on this site