May 12, 2026
The Gas Tax, Heightened Tensions, and Daily History
Good morning, everyone!
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Today, we will look at U.S. politics, the situation in the Middle East, and a series of historical entries.
Let’s get to it.
United States
-President Donald Trump said yesterday that he would suspend the federal gas tax as prices continue to soar amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Such a move would require congressional authorization, which lawmakers in both parties have shown little interest in doing thus far.
Yesterday, the average gas price stood at $4.52, according to AAA.
The gas tax, which stands at 18.4 cents per gallon, goes to the Highway Trust Fund, which finances the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges. The tax has not been raised since 1993.
Since the start of the war in February, several states have moved to either suspend or reduce their own gas taxes.
-According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, a majority of Americans do not believe that Trump has explained the goals of the U.S. military mission in Iran.
-Virginia Democrats have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a newly drawn, voter-approved congressional map.
Last week, the state’s high court ruled that the process used for the referendum which led to its approval was legally flawed, serving as a major setback for Democrats’ efforts to keep pace with Republican-led states that have moved to redraw their congressional boundaries.
Yesterday, the Court cleared the way for Alabama Republicans to redraw the state’s map in the wake of its decision invalidating a pillar of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 last month.
Since then, Tennessee has approved a new map that eliminates the state’s lone “majority-minority” district.
Today, lawmakers in South Carolina will advance a map that seeks to eliminate a Democratic-leaning seat held by longtime Congressman Jim Clyburn.
In a letter to his caucus yesterday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed that his party would win control of the chamber this year despite the setback and would “bury” Republicans “with a massive Democratic redistricting counteroffensive” in 2028.
View the letter here.
-Trump nominated failed gubernatorial candidates Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano to serve as ambassador to Jamaica and Slovakia, respectively.
-New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prospective 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Sunday.
View her remarks here:
-The number of children in public schools has continued to decline in recent years.
-Nebraska and West Virginia will hold statewide primary elections today.
Separately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the April Consumer Price Index.
-On this day in 1780, Continental Army General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered his 7,000 troops at Charleston, South Carolina, to the British, marking one of the worst American defeats of the Revolutionary War.
Other Links:
Supreme Court extends freeze on abortion pill restrictions - Axios
Third federal appeals court rejects ICE’s mandatory detention push - Politico
Multiple bodies found in train car near US-Mexico border - CNN
Teen dies hours after his parents reunited with him following immigration detention - NBC
Arcadia mayor, accused of being Chinese foreign agent, strikes deal with feds and resigns - Los Angeles Times
Treasury yields move higher as Middle East peace talks falter - CNBC
Africa
-Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will be inaugurated for a seventh term today in Kampala.
Museveni, who has ruled the East African country with an iron fist since seizing power in 1986, won January’s presidential election in a vote challenged by the opposition. In the run-up to the election, authorities shuttered the internet and deployed soldiers to the capital.
Today, the 81-year-old is Africa’s third-oldest head of state and the continent’s fourth-longest serving.
In recent years, he has made moves to empower his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to succeed him upon his death.
-On this day in 2004, President George W. Bush hosted Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos in the Oval Office for bilateral talks.
dos Santos led the Central African nation from 1979 until 2017, leaving his handpicked successor, João Lourenço, in charge.
Shortly after assuming office, Lourenço turned on his mentor, launching high-profile probes into his children’s lucrative business dealings.
The U.S. and Angola, once Cold War rivals, have since normalized relations and sought to expand security and economic cooperation.
Other Links:
France woos Anglophone Africa at a summit in Kenya - AP
South Africa plans presidential impeachment probe over ‘Farmgate’ scandal - Al Jazeera
Madagascar presidential election scheduled for October 2027 - Africa News
Aid group says Libyan-linked vessels fired on a migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean - AP
Clinical trials are neglecting Africa, study finds - Semafor
Americas and the Caribbean
-The Bahamas will hold a snap parliamentary election today.
Prime Minister Philip "Brave" Davis and his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) are seeking another term after five years in power.
Davis called for the election months in advance in a move analysts view as a strategic move to get ahead of expected rises in prices. Currently, the Caribbean island nation is ranked as among the most expensive in the world for cost of living.
Democracy tracker Freedom House rates the country high for its respect for “political rights” and “civil liberties,” although it notes that “government corruption is a serious problem that is thought to have had significant economic consequences.”
The center-right Free National Movement (FNM), led by Michael Pintard, is seeking to oust the PLP in the vote.
The PLP, the country’s oldest political party, has governed for approximately 40 years since it first took power in 1967.
-Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said yesterday that she would “defend” her country’s sovereignty after President Trump said he was “seriously considering” making the country the 51st U.S. state.
-A new wave of violence in Haiti has rocked the already-besieged island nation.
-On this day in 2005, President Bush hosted leaders from the Dominican Republic and Central American nations at the White House to rally support for a regional free trade agreement.
Just three months later, Bush signed the multilateral agreement into law, known as the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
The agreement, modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), remains in effect today and represents a major U.S. trade bloc, with total goods and services trade reaching an estimated $108 billion in 2022.
Other Links:
Venezuela warns of ‘serious’ environmental impact from alleged oil spill in Trinidad and Tobago - AP
Surge of cartel violence in central Mexico forces between 800 and 1,000 families to flee homes - AP
Brazil Supreme Court justice suspends bill that ordered early release of ex-president Bolsonaro - Reuters
Birders push back on hantavirus fears tied to Argentine city - NBC
Indigenous Amazon groups urge the UN to curb organized crime, not militarize territories - AP
Asia/Indo-Pacific
-Lawmakers in the Philippine House of Representatives voted yesterday to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte on several charges, including the misuse of public funds and threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and other prominent public officials.
The measure was overwhelmingly approved by lawmakers.
Duterte has denied all charges against her.
She will now face a trial in the Senate where, if convicted, she would be removed from office and banned from politics.
Sara Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has been widely viewed as the frontrunner to succeed Marcos in 2028 as he is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term.
The senior Duterte is currently in The Hague where he awaits a trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over charges of crimes against humanity related to his war on drugs during his time in office.
-Marriage rates in China fell by 6.2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, down by about half of 2017 levels, according to newly released data.
The data adds to mounting evidence showcasing China’s growing demographic collapse.
-On this day in 1961, Vice President Lyndon Johnson visited South Vietnam, where he met with President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon.
In 2010, President Barack Obama hosted Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the Oval Office for bilateral talks.
Other Links:
Asia braces for a second wave of energy shocks from the Iran war - AP
Trump says he will discuss Taiwan arms sales, case of jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai with Xi - Reuters
Elon Musk and other CEOs among Trump’s U.S. delegation heading to China - CBS
Bessent pays Japan third visit as secretary - Yahoo Finance
ICC confirms it has issued arrest warrant for Duterte ally - Reuters
Europe
-British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that London would seek to chart a closer relationship with the European Union in remarks just after his ruling Labour Party had suffered major losses in municipal elections held across the country.
View his full remarks here:
Since the defeat, over 70 Labour lawmakers have called on him to resign.
-EU Foreign Affairs Minister Kaja Kallas said that Russia is in a “weaker position than ever before,” just days after Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that his war with Ukraine could soon come to an end.
-The Copenhagen Democracy Summit will convene in Denmark today.
The gathering, organized on an invitation-only basis by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, brings together world leaders who support democratic institutions around the world.
According to the founder and chairman of the group, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the summit meeting seeks to organize a “coalition of the willing” to support free trade to “defend each other against the united autocrats.”
View his full statement here:
Among the attendees who will address the gathering are Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Taiwan President William Lai, who will deliver his remarks virtually.
-On this day in 1949, the Soviet Union ended its 11-month blockade against West Berlin, ending one of the first standoffs of the Cold War.
Other Links:
Europe quarantines hantavirus cruise passengers for 42 days - Euronews
Britain to take powers to fully nationalise British Steel, Starmer says - Reuters
European Union Hits Israeli Settlers With Sanctions - The New York Times
Ukraine’s envoy laments Israel’s lack of ‘interest’ in Kyiv drone expertise - The Times of Israel
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: Russia has no intention of ending this war - Reuters
UK, France to Host Multinational Meeting on Mission to Escort Ships Through Hormuz - Bloomberg
Middle East
-President Trump said yesterday that the U.S. ceasefire deal with Iran was on “massive life support.” The comment came one day after he said Tehran’s response to a U.S. proposal to end the war in the region was “totally unacceptable.”
In the response, Iran calls for war reparations and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that served as a conduit for roughly 20% of the world’s fuel consumption prior to the outbreak of the conflict on February 28.
Speaking to reporters yesterday in the Oval Office, Trump said Iran’s offer to end the war was a “piece of garbage” and that the country was run by “lunatics.”
See his full remarks here:
Global oil prices rose amid the mounting tensions.
-On this day in 1998, President Bill Clinton hosted Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Oval Office.
Other Links:
US issues new sanctions over Iran’s oil shipments to China - Reuters
Lebanon urges US to put pressure on Israel to stop attacks and demolitions - Reuters
Iron Dome nearly 99% effective against incoming missiles, maker Rafael’s chairman says - Reuters
Classified document details Hamas’s military recovery in Gaza — report - The Times of Israel
Former Hostage Calls on All of Israel’s Government to Resign - The New York Times
That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.
Thank you, Jacob, for making me the smartest human in the room! Especially interesting material on immigration cases in the United States; possible European intervention in Hormuz (ideal for the Joint Expeditionary Force + one); possible impeachment of the president of Sud Afrique; as well as, the re-arming of, and recruiting newbies by, Hamas in Gaza.