DAY AHEAD - My Daily Editorial Note
April 2, 2026
Trump’s first primetime address since the beginning of the war in Iran has triggered the following:
1) Confusion about what his forward-looking message was
2) Lots of comments that the speech “could’ve been an email”
3) Another spike in oil prices
4) Another immediate blow to global markets
5) Questions about whether Trump is using his trademark “two weeks” forecast for when a solution (or an end to a crisis) will arrive
6) Questions about why the broadcast networks granted Trump access to the primetime airwaves, without a clear piece of news to deliver
7) Comments that Trump’s speech appeared to be a “spoken word”performance of his Truth Social posts
Reminder of my reporting earlier this week: Congress wants hearings on the war and wants better briefings from the Administration. Here: https://democrats-armedservices.house.gov/press-releases?ID=8F0525FD-397F-4012-8AE6-915544F16AC5
So…. Last night’s amorphous speech likely didn’t satisfy them.
Let’s just glance at this morning’s Congressional reaction:
Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-MD) “Markets down and oil up after Trump’s speech. Why? Because it gave no confidence that he has any plan to end this illegal war of choice.”
Rep. Debbie Wassserman Schultz (D-FL): “The Iran threat needs to end but Trump laid out no plan, no clear objectives, no exit strategy.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO): “The President’s double speak about his war of choice with Iran is astonishing.”
There were supportive statements from some Republicans. On MSNOW this morning, Chris Christie said Trump “has a responsibility that’s greater than just informing the public.” And Christie said Trump looked the part of “commander in chief” in that venue and in primetime, talking about the war. And he said Trump attempted to make a case of war—and needed to do so.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC): “America is quickly achieving our military objectives against the murderous Iranian regime and ‘Operation Epic Fury’ is winding down.”
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL): “President Trump spoke with great strength tonight about the threat posed by Iran and the progress being made to protect America and our allies.”
There are rays of sunshine in the news today…. as Spring begins. Well.. there are at least a few of them.
Amid all the clouds of political toxicity, threats and the shattering of democratic norms, there are stories of resilience to see.
1) For example: a very, very cool thing has happened in Harrisburg, PA. One year to the day after the arson fire attack on the residence of Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Governor held an interfaith vigil to mark Passover. A roundtable discussion was held in the State Reception Room at the Residence — that’s the same room that was burned one year ago.
Shapiro said “This is an important moment for our family and our commonwealth too. To move forward in a way that is inclusive and as people.. who have seen from this tragedy the goodness of the people of Pennsylvania. It’s strengthened my resolve to serve them. It’s made me a better public servant. It’s made me a better man.”
No matter your political leanings or persuasions .. that is unequivocally a moment of resilience. Here it is:
2) Speaking of resilience… there are wonderful charitable efforts underway to help furloughed federal homeland security employees, who are been slammed financially by the unending shutdown and Congressional standoff. Food banks are now setting up special distributions for impacted federal workers. And a national union is guiding its members on how to ask for mortgage and utility bill forgiveness. https://www.afge.org/take-action/campaigns/shutdown-update/2026-financial-assistance/
#Resilience is a longtime virtue and hallmark of the federal workforce.
Critics will argue it’s nevertheless a disgrace that Congressional leaders – including the House Speaker -- have not called back members and scheduled a series of votes to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. Real people are suffering real pain through this record-setting shutdown.
As the day begins, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson say they have a joint-plan to re-open the agencies. They’d use the appropriations process to partially reopen more agencies, then jam through a party-line “reconciliation vote” later to fund I.C.E., without the changes demanded by Democrats.
It *might* work. But it’ll take time. Potentially lots of time. And it’ll give Democrats an arsenal of political ammo for November.
Democrats are already arguing that Speaker Johnson caved. Watch this space later today, and you’ll hear the unbridled and animated criticisms of Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), who sat with me for an interview, and whose reaction foreshadows how politically damaging this shutdown plan might be for House Republicans.
3) In Virginia: This caught my eye. The national CASA organization, which helps support Black, Latino/a/e, Afro-descendent, Indigenous, and Immigrant communities, has weighed-in on attempts to end birthright citizenship. The group reminded its 189,000+ members that CASA was able to mobilize and galvanize voters successfully in Virginia last November, despite the villainization of some immigrant rights by Trump.
Here’s the excerpt and a statement of resilience “Black and Latino voters turned out in strong numbers because they wanted leaders who would protect their rights, not reopen settled constitutional questions.”
As for the road ahead on Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, we’ll have to buckle up and get comfortable for a few months. This feels like it could be one of the final opinions of the Supreme Court session… which means we might have to wait until June or July. Trump emerged from the Supreme Court Wednesday with the message of someone who KNOWS he’s going to lose. Trump immediately posted on Truth Social about how “stupid” birthright citizenship is.
Note this reaction from Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD), a former Justice Department attorney, who told me: “The Supreme Court could put this to rest with a strong opinion here. If they create another path, that could create another problem and feed the extremists who are behind these arguments” about birthright citizenship.
Other threads today:
1) Federal judge Christopher Cooper has ordered an April 28 hearing in the civil case filed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), a board member of Kennedy Center, against Trump’s plan to shutter the arts center for two years, beginning this summer.
2) Meanwhile, the federal appeals court here in DC has officially received Trump’s appeal of the Tuesday ruling which halted construction of the new Trump ballroom on White House grounds. We’ll watch to see how quickly things are scheduled in this matter. It’s been a bruising defeat for Trump.
And I’ll be joining my friend Katie Phang for a SUBSTACK LIVE at 11am eastern.
Chris Christie's observations about Trump's "speech" careen between delusion and absurdity.
WCK, Jose Andres' wonderful World Central Kitchen, has been providing meals to TSA agents for weeks now. How shameful and embarrassing that an organization known for being one of the first on the scene during big natural disasters and war-torn areas feels compelled to use their energies and our contributions to feed employed people, not technically in danger, only because our government refuses to do its job. Shameful.