April 3, 2026
Polling, Maps, and History
Good morning, everyone!
Over the weekend, be sure to stay up to date on my Notes page, where I will keep you apprised with the day’s historical snapshots and notable quotes.
Today, we will look at Attorney General Pam Bondi’s dismissal, global energy prices, and a series of charts and graphs.
Let’s get to it.
United States
-President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he would replace Attorney General Pam Bondi with Todd Blanche, who will serve in the post in an acting capacity. Trump had reportedly grown frustrated with Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files.
As he did when dismissing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Trump said that Bondi would be “transitioning” to a different role, this time in the private sector.
Both Bondi and Blanche have served as Trump’s personal attorneys.
Exactly two years ago this month, Blanche appeared alongside Trump in a New York courtroom.
Trump is reportedly considering appointing Lee Zeldin to serve in the post on a permanent basis. Zeldin, a former New York congressman and gubernatorial candidate, currently serves as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator.
-Gas prices continued their upward trajectory yesterday, with the national average reaching $4.08, according to AAA.
Prices are up 35% since the U.S. launched its military operation against Iran on February 28.
-According to a new CNN/SSRS poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision to launch military action against Iran.
-Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest level since he returned to office last year, according to The New York Times’ daily average of polls.
-In comments to reporters yesterday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that there was no appetite for a U.S. withdrawal from NATO in the Senate as Trump has increasingly suggested that he may do so.
See his full remarks here:
In 2023, Congress passed a law that prohibits an American president from unilaterally withdrawing from the alliance without congressional approval.
-Trump signed an executive order yesterday imposing 100% tariffs on patented pharmaceuticals in a bid to force lower drug prices.
-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Randy George to retire immediately as he seeks to remake the service.
-The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Arizona, Connecticut, and Illinois in a bid to halt their efforts to regulate prediction markets.
-Syracuse University announced it would cut 84 academic programs.
-Mortgage rates climbed for a fifth consecutive week as the ongoing war in the Middle East weighs on the housing market.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage now stands at 6.46%.
-The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the March jobs report this morning at 8:30 A.M. EST, with projections showing job gains of 59,000.
-On this day in 1948, President Harry Truman signed the European Recovery Act into law.
The aid package, which came to be known as the Marshall Plan due to Secretary of State George Marshall’s backing of it, provided billions of dollars in economic aid to 16 Western and Southern European nations following World War II.
The massive initiative sought to rebuild the war-torn continent, halt the spread of communism, and establish markets for U.S. goods.
In 1968, on the night before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what would be his last speech in Memphis, Tennessee.
In the remarks, which were in support of striking sanitation workers, King declared, “I’ve been to the mountaintop.”
Other Links:
Trump says he’ll sign order to pay all DHS workers as shutdown drags on - NBC
Mike Johnson will wait on holding a vote to fund DHS - Axios
Democratic senators demand answers from Hegseth over reported defense investment inquiry ahead of Iran war - ABC
Trump’s DOJ says he’s not required to turn over official records - Axios
Trump’s ballroom design gets final OK from planning commission - Politico
Ballroom commission changed documents at White House’s request - Washington Post
Trump cuts US duty rates on steel, aluminum and copper derivative products - Reuters
US Interior Department to reduce staff through deferred resignation, early retirement - Reuters
EPA moves to designate microplastics and pharmaceuticals as contaminants in drinking water - AP
Tina Peters could receive same sentence after re-sentencing ordered by Colorado Court of Appeals - CBS
Bill to ban sale of key AI chipmaking equipment to China introduced in House - NBC
McConnell joins Democrats to defend US NATO membership - The Hill
Africa
-Lawmakers in Cameroon are considering a constitutional measure that would reintroduce the role of vice president, who could complete the term of 93-year-old President Paul Biya in the event of his death or incapacity.
Biya, who has ruled the African country since 1982, was just elected to an eighth term last year. That term will expire in 2032.
Public discussion of Biya’s health is prohibited.
With his ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement dominant in both houses of parliament, approval of the proposed measure is likely.
-The military-led governments in Burkina Faso and Mali have killed more civilians than Islamic terrorist groups, according to a new report.
-Eastern Libya’s military leader, Khalifa Haftar, has acquired Chinese and Turkish drones despite a long-standing United Nations embargo, according to Reuters.
-On this day in 1978, President Jimmy Carter arrived in Liberia, where he and Liberian President William Tolbert waved from their motorcade in the capital, Monrovia.
The trip was part of a four-day visit to the continent, marking the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to sub-Saharan Africa.
The trip, which also included a stop in Nigeria, was part of Carter’s effort to promote democracy and human rights.
Other Links:
Global energy prices spark Africa inflation fears - Semafor
Uganda, Egypt discuss Iran war impact on Africa’s energy and food prices - Africa News
Uganda Ggaba school attack: Four children stabbed to death in Kampala - BBC
New funding transforms lives by expanding electricity access across Africa - AP
Mozambique clears IMF debt early - Africa News
Record 10 African nations qualify for expanded 2026 World Cup - Africa News
Americas and the Caribbean
-The United States lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the latest sign of warming relations between the two countries.
Rodríguez assumed the office after President Trump ordered an operation that captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, in January.
Since then, ties between Washington and Caracas have dramatically shifted, with the two governments reestablishing diplomatic ties and the Trump administration pushing for more U.S. firms to invest in Venezuela’s vast natural resources.
In a statement following the easing of sanctions, Rodríguez said, “We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of current sanctions against our country, enabling us to build and guarantee an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our people.”
The sanctions against Rodríguez were first imposed during Trump’s first term, with Washington accusing her and her brother, Jorge, of undermining the country’s democracy.
The lifting of the sanctions will allow Rodríguez to more freely interact with U.S. companies and investors.
-Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis announced he would dissolve parliament and set an early general election for May 12 as the Caribbean nation grapples with soaring inflation.
Statistics site Numbeo ranks the country's cost of living as the world's sixth highest.
Davis' announcement came after his government ditched a value-added tax on unprepared grocery items meant to rein in rising prices.
-On this day in 2016, the Panama Papers leaked, exposing a massive trove of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leak revealed how world leaders and billionaires used offshore accounts to evade taxes and hide their wealth.
Other Links:
FBI team arrives in Cuba to investigate fatal shooting of US-flagged speedboat - AP
Russia plans to send second oil tanker to Cuba - AP
Rubio accuses China of ‘bullying’ for holding up Panama-flagged ships after canal clash - AP
Argentina declares Iran’s top diplomatic envoy ‘persona non grata,’ orders expulsion - Buenos Aires Times
UN appoints former Haiti PM Conille to Kenya role - Retuers
Stephen Lewis, Leftist Canadian Politician and AIDS Activist, Dies at 88 - The New York Times
Asia/Indo-Pacific
-Lawmakers in Myanmar will vote to elect a new president today. The country’s former military chief and junta leader Min Aung Hlaing is among the candidates seeking the post. On Monday, he announced he would step down as military chief after 15 years in the post.
In 2021, Min Aung Hlaing led a coup ousting the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, the Southeast Asian nation has been mired in civil war, with disparate rebel groups warring against the government.
In December and January, the junta facilitated a phased election widely regarded as a sham by international observers. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won the vote.
-South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called on parliament to pass a $17.3 billion supplementary budget, saying the country faced “the worst energy security threat” due to the war in the Middle East.
-Pakistan and Afghanistan are holding talks in China after a month of conflict along the two countries’ shared border.
-Taiwan said yesterday that it would strengthen its defenses of the Pratas islands as China ramps up its military activity there.
-New Zealand and the Cook Islands signed a defense and security pact yesterday, easing tensions between the two countries after Wellington expressed concerns of the Pacific islands’ relations with China.
-On this day in 2013, Former President Jimmy Carter met with Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw as part of a visit to encourage a transition to democracy in the country.
Other Links:
Business sentiments in Japan improving despite Iran worries - AP
Japan’s international flights to get pricier due to hike in fuel surcharge - Japan Times
Taiwan military says budget delay threatens $2.4 billion in weapons buying, training - Reuters
Earthquake off Indonesia topples buildings, kills 1 person and sets off small tsunami - AP
Thailand and Tajikistan qualify for 2027 Asian Cup - AP
Europe
-The feud between President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron continued yesterday, with Trump mocking the French leader in remarks at the White House. At one point, Trump jokingly suggested that Macron had been abused by his wife, Brigitte—a reference to Macron appearing with a black eye in January.
View Trump’s full remarks here:
Speaking yesterday, Macron said the comment does “not merit a response.”
At the same White House event, Trump reiterated his frustration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, referring to the 32-member western military alliance as a “paper tiger.”
In an interview this week, Trump said Washington’s membership in the bloc was “beyond reconsideration.” He has frequently criticized the bloc’s leaders for not more enthusiastically backing Washington in its battle against Tehran.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is slated to travel to Washington next week to meet with Trump amid the standoff.
Tomorrow marks 77 years since NATO was established.
Speaking at a gathering to mark the bloc’s formation in Washington, D.C., President Harry Truman said its members shared a “common heritage of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law.”
He added the military alliance represented “free nations devoted to the common cause of peace.”
-The United Kingdom hosted talks with more than forty countries on ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The virtual meeting came after President Trump said reopening the vital waterway was a problem for other nations to solve.
-Russian leader Vladimir Putin hosted Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Moscow yesterday to discuss the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Moscow has scorned the United States for launching the operation against Iran while providing the Iranian military with intelligence. Russia, a major oil and gas producer, has also benefitted from soaring energy prices.
-Russian strategic missile forces carried out drills in Siberia.
-The Greek government is set to unveil a ban on social media for children 15 years old and younger, joining a growing list of countries that have taken similar action.
-On this day in 1930, Helmut Kohl was born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany.
He would go on to serve as chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990 and lead a reunified Germany from 1990 to 1998.
In 2008, leaders from NATO gathered in Bucharest, Romania, where they agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would become eventual members of the military alliance.
However, the leaders rejected offering the countries a formal membership track, a proposal backed by President George W. Bush.
Just four months later, Russia invaded Georgia.
Other Links:
Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine stalls for first time in more than two years - France 24
Sixteen Kenyans missing in Russia after army recruitment for Ukraine, Musalia Mudavadi says - BBC
Zelenskiy offers Ukraine’s maritime expertise with Strait of Hormuz - Reuters
EU Says It Will Help Reopen Strait of Hormuz When Possible - The Wall Street Journal
Serbian president invites parties for talks as anti-government protests continue - Reuters
NBA Europe draws host of bids, including $1 billion offers: Sources - The New York Times
Middle East
-Global oil prices soared again yesterday after President Trump said that U.S. forces would spend the next several weeks bombing Iran “back to the stone ages.”
The Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s oil consumption prior to the joint U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, has remained closed as oil tankers traversing the waters have faced attacks by Iran.
-Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said yesterday that he sees no end in sight to the war between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah. Fighting between the two commenced shortly after the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran in late February.
The conflict has displaced one million people.
-Eight Muslim-majority nations issued a joint statement yesterday condemning a new Israeli law that makes death by hanging the default sentence for those convicted in military courts of attacks against Israel.
The law, passed by the Knesset last week, is backed by far-right National Security Minister Ben Gvir.
-Hamas is reportedly demanding that Israel commit to troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip before disarming.
-The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners, known as OPEC+, will meet on Sunday.
-On this day in 2007, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank.
Other Links:
U.A.E. Wants to Force Hormuz Open and Is Willing to Join the Fight - The Wall Street Journal
Iran army chief tells commanders to prepare for any attack, state media reports - Reuters
USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to return to Middle East amid Iran fight - The Hill
IEA, IMF and World Bank to coordinate response to Middle East war’s impact - Reuters
Kuwait’s military says its air defences working to intercept missiles - The Guardian
Iran executes man arrested over January protests - Reuters
After Sting Operation, Cousin of Bashar al-Assad Convicted in Arms for Drugs Deal - The New York Times
That’s all for today. See you next week.
Getting rid of people who disagree with him???
Good for Senators Thune and McConnell in standing behind N.A.T.O.