The Political Markup for May 16, 2026
Politics
Trump says privately that he doesn’t care about the midterm election outcomes.
Trump is pushing for the DOJ to settle his lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns. Trump’s suit had requested $10 billion. The Obama-appointed judge for the case is reviewing the conflicts of interest, since the DOJ is under Trump’s control. Tax info for other wealthy individuals had also been leaked. In those cases, the DOJ said it’s not liable for the actions of the contractor who leaked the materials. These other cases were settled and did not include any payments.
Trump may agree to forgo a settlement for himself in the IRS case in exchange for a $1.7 billion fund which would award payments to his supporters who were investigated during the Biden Administration.
Trump wants states to use federal citizenship lists to verify voters. The DOJ admits the lists would be unreliable.
Republican-aligned super PACs are helping typically unelectable Democrats in primary races, in an effort to prevent better Democrat candidates from winning and challenging the Republican candidates.
By having the FCC investigate ABC and The View for their political coverage, Trump is breaking with traditional Republican views on media coverage.
Kash Patel is under further scrutiny for his abuse of government resources for personal interests, this time for scuba diving at the Pearl Harbor memorial which contains the remains of service members.
The county clerk in Colorado found guilty of tampering with election machines in an attempt to help Trump in 2020 had her sentence shortened by the state’s Democratic governor.
Economy
Trump says, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.”
Americans have spent $45 billion more for gas and diesel during Trump and Israel’s war with Iran compared to the same period a year ago. If gas prices stay this high through the year, Americans will pay $172 billion more than last year.
Trump brought several business executives with him to China, but failed to secure any specific deals or policies that will benefit the American economy.
Amazon is being sued for not seeking tariff refunds and passing them onto consumers who had paid higher prices for products due to Trump’s tariffs.
International
Russia is attacking Ukrainian facilities of American companies and Trump isn’t doing anything about it.
Congress has failed to provide any oversight to Trump and Israel’s war with Iran, and may have missed the opportunity.
The U.S. House will vote on funding for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
France is conducting a legal inquiry into Saudi Arabia’s killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.