Today’s notice: Selling tariffs. Finding votes. The Republicans the DCCC thinks it can beat. Shadowboxing. SCOTUS and immigration. And: We know who your Venmo friends are.
What Would You Tell a Republican Candidate Right Now?
The week started off full of market fluctuations and Donald Trump’s Wall Street supporters asking for respite. With economic indicators as they are — read: bad — there are fears of inflation and a recession. For Republicans, there are also fears of electoral blowback.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Ted Cruz warned that prolonged economic hardship “politically would be a bloodbath.”
It’s a good reminder that 2026 is not that far away. And the memories of Joe Biden losing voter confidence over inflation are not that far away either. NOTUS’ Jasmine Wright and I have a new story on this White House’s plan to win economic hardship messaging in a way that the last one couldn’t. (Spoiler: It includes leveraging Trump’s strong relationship with influencers and a push into local media to get around panicking economists.)
But what about the Republicans who aren’t Trump? NOTUS talked to Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist who worked in Trump 1.0’s State Dept. but resigned after Jan. 6.
“All eyes are on Wall Street right now,” he said. “But make no mistake, Main Street is paying attention. And I’m not sure that they are cheering right now.”
“If there’s a notion of, ‘This is what we need to do for a very short time in order to create a better outcome,’ I think people could be open to that,” Bartlett said.
But the nobility of losing money to save the country, as some MAGA circles are arguing?
“It is crazy,” Bartlett said.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro | Read the story with Jasmine Wright.
Calmer-in-Chief
In public and private appearances, Trump is trying to quiet concerns about the multiple Signature Policies he is pushing through right now. In a joint appearance with Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Monday, the president again said the economic upheaval caused by his tariff plan ends with Americans better off. “No other president” would be willing to deal with the fallout, he said, “but it’s the only chance our country will have to reset the table.”
Today, the president will spend some time trying to smooth over his big, beautiful reconciliation bill in Congress, NOTUS’ Reese Gorman scooped. Trump is “expected to huddle with House Republican leaders on Tuesday ahead of a fundraiser for the House GOP’s campaign arm” at the big, beautiful National Building Museum, Reese reports.
He has his work cut out for him.
Our Capitol Hill team reports today that House lawmakers believe there are between 15 and 20 House Republicans who are currently opposed to the Senate-adopted budget, with the House due to vote Wednesday.
Front Page
- Texas Democrats Are Already Dreaming About a Senate Race Against Ken Paxton: “There are very fun times to be had,” said one Democratic operative.
- Republican Tariff Opponents Face Uphill Climb in the House: Rep. Don Bacon says he’s willing to file a discharge petition if needed.
- Some Republicans Are Interested in Privatizing Security Screenings at Airports: Two senators are running with what’s essentially “Abolish TSA.”
- Trump’s Renewed Push to Limit Voting by Mail Could Hurt His Party: Republicans who have pushed to expand mail-in voting said it would be a mistake to abandon the effort.
Make 👏 Your 👏 Venmo 👏 Private (Or Don’t, And We’ll Look)
In retrospect, it’s impossible to explain why Venmo was created as this weirdly open list of private activity and why so many people thought it was a great idea at the time. The Aughts, you had to be there!
Some, apparently, still are.
NOTUS’ Mark Alfred “identified the Venmo accounts of more than 50 current lawmakers, more than 20 former members of Congress and more than three dozen current Trump administration officials and nominees.”
Some highlights from this investigation:
- Rep. Steve Womack “apparently has a penchant for making bets on major golf championships.”
- Rep. Jennifer Kiggans had her complete home address in a publicly viewable transaction from 2023 until Monday when NOTUS asked her about it. (It’s now hidden.)
- Among the White House staff “with publicly viewable friends lists,” is Karoline Leavitt, deputy CoS James Blair, newly appointed U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and staff secretary Will Scharf.
- “Reporters from Politico, Semafor, CNN and The New York Times were often interspersed among the various friends lists for lawmakers and White House officials,” which “made it remarkably easy to find members of Congress and see who may have, at one point, been a potential source.”
Have fun fumbling with your Venmo settings today, folks.
Democrats Reveal Their Targets
NOTUS obtained a list of 35 Republican seats the DCCC is targeting in 2026. That’s two more flip targets than the committee went after last cycle. Some districts — like NJ-7, which Democrats most recently held until 2020, and NE-2, where incumbent Rep. Don Bacon has seen narrow victories since he first won in 2016 — are repeat targets. Others, like AZ-2, are new, more curious choices. (Rep. Eli Crane won it by 9 points in 2024, though Democrats held the seat until 2021.)
In a bit of coincidental timing, one of the committee’s targets, Rep. John James, announced a bid for Michigan governor right before the list went public. The targeted FL-7 may end up being an open seat, too, with Rep. Cory Mills considering a run for Senate.
SCOTUS Delivers for Trump — Sort Of
The White House scored a major victory at the Supreme Court on Monday, NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery reports, with a majority of justices ruling immigration enforcement authorities “can immediately resume its summary deportations of anyone it labels an ‘enemy alien’ … as long as it affords them some indeterminate extra time to challenge their detention.”
But the ruling “steered clear of making any final determinations on Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to engage in this aggressive new administration policy.” Justices ruled “detainees themselves must challenge these deportations-in-progress in the regions where they are taking place,” rather than in the single class action filed in D.C. that was before the court.
Congressional Democrats’ Latest Way to ‘Fight Back’
Democrats held a shadow hearing Monday starring people who have resigned or been fired from the DOJ since Trump took office. On the dais were minority members of both the House and Senate judiciary committees. The Dems have no investigatory power, but it was another in an increasing series of stunts the party has used to grab public attention with some success (see: Sen. Cory Booker).
“To all those who gathered across America … asking what Congress is doing to try to stop these excesses and these violations of the Constitution, remember what happens on this day,” Sen. Dick Durbin said at the hearing.
Read the story.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Amid anti-DEI push, National Park Service rewrites history of Underground Railroad by Jon Swaine and Jeremy B. Merrill for The Washington Post
- An anti-Trump Republican for governor tries to defy gravity in New Jersey’s primary by Matt Friedman for Politico
- DOJ planned to send US marshals to ex-employee’s home over Mel Gibson discussion by Rebecca Beitsch for The Hill
Be Social
Asked a trade lobbyist what's happening on tariffs, got a *shrug emoji*
— Taylor Giorno (@taylorgiorno_) April 7, 2025
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