Also: Donald Trump tells judges it’s “OK to be loyal”
May 11th 2026 For subscribers
The US in Brief
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Chris Wright, the energy secretary, said that the Trump administration would support suspending the federal tax on petrol. The tax is 18 cents per gallon; average prices are about $4.34 a gallon. Congress would need to approve the change. In March Mr Wright said there was “a very good chance” prices would be under $3 by summer; now he says he “can’t make any predictions”. On Sunday Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace terms. The Strait of Hormuz remains mostly closed.
Mr Trump aimed a social-media blast at Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, two Supreme Court justices he appointed, and who voted recently to strike down some of his tariffs. “[I]t’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land,” he wrote, apparently not sold on the constitution’s checks-and-balances idea.
Democratic leaders held a testy phone call over Virginia ’s congressional districts, according to the _New York Times_. Earlier this year voters approved a proposal to gerrymander in favour of Democrats, part of a tit-for-tat contest started by Republicans in Texas. But last Friday Virginia’s supreme court struck down the Democratic map. On Sunday the Democrats discussed options including forcing court members to retire with a new age limit, or trying to overturn the state’s existing independent-redistricting law in a new legal challenge.
An American has tested positive for hantavirus , and another is showing mild symptoms. The two were aboard the Dutch cruise ship that suffered an outbreak of the rodent-borne disease, which disembarked in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday. The Americans are being airlifted to a specialised centre at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.
Abe Foxman , the long-time head of the Anti-Defamation League, died aged 86. Mr Foxman ran America’s most prominent group fighting antisemitism for nearly three decades. He oversaw the expansion of its remit, researching and advocating against other kinds of hatred as well. Supporters called him the “Jewish pope”, but critics said he often conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
KAL flashback
Illustration: KAL
Every week we publish a cartoon by KAL from the archive. In 2015 Lexington wrote that Congress was incapable of restraining spending, and that it should let the president try. Doubtless he didn’t imagine a president as profligate as Mr Trump. This week many of the president’s cabinet will appear before Senate committees to ask for money. Given Republicans’ deference to Mr Trump, expect lawmakers to be obliging.
A view from elsewhere
Kevin Warsh’s plans for the Federal Reserve are “based on two gambles”, wrote Donato Masciandaro in _Il sole 24 ore_ , an Italian newspaper. The probable new governor’s first bet will be on artificial intelligence lifting productivity. The second will be “on a reduction in interest rates and bank liquidity, perhaps achieved through financial deregulation”. That looks like a version of the “recipe that led to the great financial crisis of 2008”, writes Mr Masciandaro.
Figure of the day
90% , the share of the industrialised world that is within nine hours’ flying time from Alaska. Read our report from the SelectUSA Investment Summit, where states try to woo foreign investors. Some with salmon jerky.
Editor’s picks
A selection of must-read articles
Don’t waver over Taiwan
America’s commitments in Asia are a bulwark against catastrophe
Jeanne Shaheen and John Curtis, two US senators, explain how to keep them credible
Fed up
America faces another grocery-price shock
Higher energy costs will be felt unevenly across the food-supply chain
Lexington
The Supreme Court has become a great place to build your brand
On the left and the right, justices are becoming more preoccupied with their own ideas than the court’s institutional legitimacy
MAD problem
AI creates a fearsome cold-war-style dilemma
America and China are weighing co-operation and competition
Daily Quiz
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Monday
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Heard on Meet the Press
The Supreme Court desperately needs reform. It is a corrupt court.
—Cory Booker, a Democratic senator, minces no words after the court struck down Louisiana’s majority-minority congressional districts; he also referred to members who had accepted lavish gifts.
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