Good morning. I’m Corrine Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
Trump’s aides hid him from the Situation Room during a live rescue mission because they thought his screaming would make things worse. Congress is reckoning with an institutional culture of sexual harassment. A small-town police chief drove an hour to visit public schools and act as an ICE agent. And restaurant owners in red states are begging the White House for work permits to keep their kitchens staffed.
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Now, let’s go.
The President Was Sent to His Room
When an F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran on April 3rd and two American airmen went missing, the adults in the White House made a decision: they would handle this without Donald Trump in the room.
Trump reportedly screamed at aides for hours after learning the jet had been downed. His top advisors then kept him out of the Situation Room as they received minute-by-minute updates, because they believed his impatience would not be helpful.
He was briefed “at meaningful moments” by phone, which is the national security equivalent of keeping someone busy with a coloring book.
The president’s fears about how the war was playing out were reportedly “ramping up.” One crew member was rescued quickly after ejecting before the aircraft went down. The second spent more than 24 hours behind enemy lines. The CIA ran a deception operation to help locate him, and he was eventually extracted safely.
Trump boasted about the success of the mission on Truth Social at midnight, then went to bed at 2 a.m. The next morning he was posting expletive-laden threats at Iran and ending them with “Praise be to Allah.” On April 7th, he threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Trump as “a steady leader our country needs.” She was not in the room either.
Two Down, a Cesspool to Go
Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both announced within hours of each other last week that they were leaving Congress. Both did it on the day before the House returned to Washington, when they would’ve faced potentially being expelled by their colleagues.
The resignations were a genuine accountability moment. They were also the tip of a very large iceberg. More than three dozen current and former lawmakers and aides told CNN that the persistent problems with sexual harassment on Capitol Hill are deeper than the public is aware.
Since the 2018 reforms began requiring disclosure of harassment-related settlements, there have been eight payments made by House members’ offices, totaling just over $400,000. For context, that covers all workplace violations, not just sexual harassment, and could include misconduct by other congressional staff.
But the payments come alongside accounts that paint a deeper picture of misogyny. One anonymous Democratic House member described Congress to CNN as “a cesspool of inflated male egos that breed predatory behavior.”
Eight payments in eight years. Either Congress solved sexual harassment completely, or the system for reporting it is broken. Congress has reviewed both possibilities and selected one.
Police Chief Pretended to Be ICE Agent to Investigate Kids
The police chief of Gratis, Ohio, drove more than an hour to Cincinnati on April 15th and showed up at three public schools. Tonina Lamanna claimed to be working on behalf of ICE and asked to conduct “wellness checks” on specific students.
She had a list of students she was asking about. She did not have ICE identification, did not have ICE lettering on her uniform, had no warrants, and did not get access to any students. Cincinnati Public Schools staff turned her away at all three schools.
Gratis PD does have a formal agreement with ICE, but the agreement limits enforcement authority to the department’s own geographic jurisdiction. Greater Cincinnati is not that jurisdiction.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval called it “patently ridiculous and inexcusable” that a police chief from a small town would show up at city schools unannounced to intimidate children and their families. The mayor of Gratis called a special meeting to discuss possible disciplinary action.
ICE described the visit as a routine welfare check on unaccompanied minors. Lamanna has not commented, which at this point is the only reasonable decision she has made.
Red State Restaurants Miss the Workers They Voted to Deport
Texas restaurant owners voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. They did not read the fine print about the kitchen staff.
In Texas, where by some estimates nearly 10 percent of the workforce is undocumented, restaurant owners say the crackdown has created a chilling effect among workers regardless of their immigration status. Half of Texas restaurants were unprofitable last year, up from 38 percent in 2024.
The Texas Restaurant Association and business leaders across the country have now formed a coalition called Seat the Table, demanding that Congress and the White House create work permits for long-term, law-abiding immigrants working in agriculture and food service.
The association was careful to note it is not calling for amnesty or a pathway to citizenship. It is calling for the ability to keep the kitchen staffed.
The bipartisan Dignity Act, led by Rep. María Elvira Salazar, Republican of Florida, and Rep. Veronica Escobar, Democrat of Texas, would offer temporary legal status and work permits to undocumented immigrants who have been in the country at least five years. Republican lawmakers likely remain unwilling to support work permit efforts while Democrats lack the votes.
Congress has been unable to pass immigration reform for forty years. The restaurants would like this resolved by dinner service.
The Billionaires Have Their Outlets. This One’s Yours.
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Trump Administration to Begin Refunding $166 Billion in Tariffs. The Supreme Court ruled Trump’s tariffs illegal and the government now owes importers $166 billion in refunds — which would be great news, except the administration is already looking for ways to delay or reduce the payouts, and none of it goes to the consumers who actually paid higher prices for the past year. Large corporations will get their money back. Your grocery bill will not.
Federal judge blocks Nexstar-Tegna TV station merger… for now. A federal judge blocked the $6.2 billion merger of Nexstar and Tegna, which would have created a single company owning 265 local TV stations across 44 states, ruling it likely violates antitrust law and would raise prices while gutting local news. Trump had personally endorsed the deal on Truth Social, the DOJ waved it through, and the FCC waived its own ownership rules to let it happen.
Maryland bans dynamic pricing at grocery stores. Maryland is about to become the first state in the country to ban grocery stores from using your personal data to charge you more than the person standing next to you in the checkout line. Retailers have been quietly using electronic shelf labels that can change prices in real time based on who you are and what they think you’ll pay. The fines top out at $25,000 per violation, which is pocket change to Walmart.
Pancreatic cancer vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial. A personalized mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer showed remarkable results in an early trial, with nearly 90% of patients whose immune systems responded to it still alive six years later. Pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of around 13%. Researchers caution that more study is needed, which is scientist for “don’t get too excited,” but the patients who are still alive six years later are excited.
