Good morning! U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer proved that the awkward among us can still achieve success in the political arena. At a G7 meeting last week, Starmer appeared to think an interpreter was actually South Korea’s president. His office claims there was no mix-up, but, c’mon. This is the guy who once accidentally referred to the Israeli hostages as “sausages,” soooo….

IRAN

💣️ U.S. strikes Iranian nuclear facilities

The late Sen. John McCain once took some flak for jokingly singing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ 1965 banger “Barbara Ann.” Eighteen years later, it seems he’s gotten his wish.

President Trump addressed the nation live from the White House on Saturday night and announced that the U.S. military had bombed three Iranian nuclear weapons facilities. He had initially said he’d decide “within two weeks” whether to jump into the fray alongside Israel, but that now appears to have been a misdirection.

• Six decoy bombers were also deployed to the Pacific over the weekend to draw Iran’s attention.

• The misdirections seem to have worked, as Iran deployed no defenses during the attack.

Operation Midnight Hammer: After coming up with a dope name for the mission (a must-have), the Air Force sent seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers on an 18-hour flight to Iran that included multiple mid-air refuelings. Their targets? Three Iranian nuclear weapons facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

• They arrived around 2 a.m. and dropped 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker buster bombs. These bad boys are 30,000 pounds a piece. That’s perfect for hitting Iran’s nuclear bases, buried 300+ feet underground.

• The Navy also took part, with a submarine launching 24+ Tomahawk missiles to take out nearby surface targets.

Results: Gen. Dan Caine, the military's top dog, said an "initial assessment" shows the operation worked and destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities. The New York Post has some wild before-and-after satellite pics showing the results.

Why, again? Trump said the objective was to destroy Iran's "nuclear enrichment capacity" and to stop "the nuclear threat." How close Iran was to building a nuke is up for debate. Recent U.S. intel said they weren't close. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that Iran had "everything” needed to build the bomb, including weird things (like 60% enriched uranium) that are only used for nuclear bombs.

• Iran’s government hates America (they call us the Great Satan) and props up terrorists all over the place. Preventing it from building a nuke has been a bipartisan goal for decades.

• The Trump administration tried negotiating with Iran to dismantle its nuclear program, but Rubio said Iran was faking it.

Are we at war now? Not really, no. The U.S. military takes warlike actions all the time. Every recent U.S. president, including Obama and Biden, has made similar moves. Countries hit include Libya, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen. This one is bigger, but it doesn't mean we're at war.

Will Iran respond? Who knows. Iran swore the attacks will have “everlasting consequences,” but its military has been severely weakened by recent Israeli strikes. (and it wasn’t very strong to begin with). The U.S. does have 40,000 troops stationed in the Middle East, though, and Iran is threatening to close off the nearby, oil-heavy Strait of Hormuz. Officials also worry about potential cyberattacks.

Was Trump’s strike legal? That depends on who you ask. The Constitution says only Congress can declare war, and Trump did this on his own. But Congress sort of gave him permission already, via a 1973 law called the War Powers Resolution. That lets any president deploy the military during national emergencies for up to 60 days without prior approval.

• Opponents in Congress say Iran’s maybe-advanced-maybe-not nuclear program doesn’t qualify. They’re pushing resolutions forbidding him from taking similar actions again.

• Others, including AOC, called the strikes illegal and "clearly grounds for impeachment." But Republicans are in full control of Congress, so don’t expect that to go anywhere.

Related: Pakistan plans to nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his “stellar statesmanship” in ending its scuffle with India in May.

GOVERNMENT

🏛️ The Senate parliamentarian ruled against Republicans on Friday. Elizabeth MacDonough has been the parliamentarian since 2012. She's basically the Senate's official referee and makes rulings on the chamber's wildly complicated, archaic rules. Senate Republicans are working on their version of Trump's megabill, which includes everything from tax changes to immigration reform to budget cuts. To get it passed, they're using a Senate process called reconciliation. That means they can avoid the filibuster (and getting 7 Democratic votes), but are limited in what can be included. At issue for MacDonough? Their plans to bar some immigrants from receiving SNAP benefits (aka: food stamps) and shift part of the program's cost to the states.

⛓️ Former Columbia student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released on Friday after 104 days in federal immigration detention. A judge ruled that the government hadn't met the high legal standard required to keep holding him. Khalil is a legal U.S. resident, but the Trump administration wants to deport him. They say he enflamed anti-Israel protests in New York that had a negative influence on U.S. foreign policy and that his events were antisemitic and violated the civil rights of other students. He's free for now, but Khalil's not off the hook yet. His deportation case is still in process.

TRIVIA

A newly restored statue of George Washington is creating a stir after being reinstalled in its home outside the National Gallery in the heart of London (no, not London, Kentucky). Some Brits aren't sure they're fans of a rebel general getting the monument treatment less than a mile from Buckingham Palace, but the statue isn’t new. It was a gift from the government of Virginia in 1914.

Ole GDubs is far from the only president with a statue in a foreign country. That’s a long list that includes a Jefferson in Paris, a Reagan in Budapest, a Clinton in Kosovo, and even a Lincoln in Russia. But only one president has an honor that makes a little statue seem like garbage: a foreign capital city. Other than Washington, D.C., which national capital city is named for a U.S. president?

Hint: The president is James Monroe.

POLITICS

🏙️ New York goes to the polls

The next mayor of New York City is likely to be decided in tomorrow's Democratic Party primary election. Leading the polls is a normie Democrat in disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment. Close behind is state legislator Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist who wants the city to freeze rent, operate grocery stores, and more.

• Mamdani has picked up endorsements from progressives like AOC and Bernie Sanders.

• Cuomo boasts support from Bill Clinton and moderate former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Outlook: November's general election will be a four-way affair, with tomorrow's winner facing off against current Democrat-turned-independent Mayor Eric Adams, a hopeless Republican, and another hopeless independent.

• Should he win tomorrow, Cuomo is widely seen as a strong favorite.

• But a Mamdani victory could help restore the political fortunes of scandal-tarred Mayor Eric Adams, who could be a refuge for anti-Mamdani Democrats.

Elsewhere in the NYC area’s political scene, former New Jersey Sen. “Gold Bar” Bob Menendez reported to federal prison last week to begin serving an 11-year sentence on bribery charges.

BRIEFS

● Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols has launched a national fundraising campaign to raise $105 million to help alleviate the effects of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. He wants to revitalize the Greenwood area and give descendants scholarships and help with housing.

● Cryptocurrency stocks rose on Friday after the Senate passed the pro-crypto GENIUS Act. The bill aims to juice the adoption of stablecoins (crypto with values pegged to other assets, like U.S. dollars) by creating consumer protections, regulations, and more.

● In a bid to boost tanking prices, the Democratic Republic of the Congo extended its four-month freeze on cobalt exports by an extra three months. Cobalt is a key part of EV batteries, and the DRC is the world’s top supplier.

● The L.A. Dodgers donated $1 million to help the "families of immigrants" impacted by two weeks of immigration raids in Southern California. But some fans are still considering boycotts and say the team hasn't done enough to oppose the raids.

QUOTE

ANSWER

James “Big Jim” Monroe (we made that nickname up) landed the ultimate ego boost when the West African country of Liberia named its capital city of Monrovia in his honor.

The city was founded in 1822 during his presidency. Monroe was a big fan of the Back-to-Africa movement that thought the best solution to the whole slavery issue was to send freed slaves back to Africa to create their own country. Putting aside whether that’s a spectacular or horrendous idea, it did result in the creation of the country of Liberia. Thanks to Monroe’s support, they named their capital city for him.