Good morning. Rain all day with a high near 69. The rain, it will continue overnight, with a low around 63. The Nationals are at Atlanta again today. The Capitals took another tough loss to Carolina last night and are on the brink of elimination from the playoffs. Their next game is at home on Thursday. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
This roundup is now available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.
I can’t stop listening to:
Bush, “Swallowed.” I have to be honest: Time has sanded down a lot of my youthful stances, but not my ambivalence toward this English band’s version of grunge. That said, Bush put on a terrific performance when I saw them at last summer’s HFStival, and Gavin Rossdale is one of the best frontpeople I’ve seen in action. They play the Fillmore Silver Spring tonight.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Librarians at the gate: President Trump named Todd Blanche, the former Trump defense lawyer whom the President has already appointed as deputy attorney general, to be the acting librarian of Congress yesterday. Robert Randolph Newlen, who has been acting as librarian since Trump fired Carla Hayden abruptly, didn’t immediately recognize the appointment, saying Congress hadn’t yet okayed it. (AP) Blanche “has no experience working in libraries or archives.” (NPR) A standoff occurred yesterday at the library’s US Copyright Office when staffers prevented Brian Nieves and Paul Perkins, who said they were Trump appointees, into the office. (Wired) While the President nominates the librarian of Congress, the library itself is part of the legislative branch, and Congressional leaders are signaling a rare, if mild, pushback may be in the offing. (Politico) The library’s Congressional Research Service has a “database that has all the questions that every member has asked for the last 50 years and the answers.” (Rolling Stone)
The gab of grift: Trump’s “free” plane from Qatar could cost taxpayers “tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars” to retrofit with “secure presidential communications, self-defense tech and electromagnetic shielding.” (Politico) The President is “unabashedly leveraging his position to accrue personal benefits or to otherwise advance his personal agenda separate from governmental policymaking.” (NYT) The White House wouldn’t give a timeline for the jet’s refurbishment, but it “was moved five weeks ago to San Antonio International Airport, suggesting that preparations for improvements might already be underway.” (Washington Post)
Cave man: Markets rallied after Trump and China climbed down from high tariffs yesterday, but “businesses and investors must contend with uncertainty about whether the truce will last.” (AP) The White House reduced the tariff on small packages from China late Monday, but kept a minimum $100 fee in place. (Axios) The tentative deal is “strangely good” for China. (The Economist) “Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs—and by Mr. Trump’s own hand.” (WSJ) The Fed warned that the tariffs could still cause a slowdown. (NYT) Today’s Consumer Price Index report will be closely watched. (WSJ)
Administration perambulation: Trump issued another executive order, this one effectively asking drug companies to lower prices. (NYT) Bernie Sanders suggested Trump should work with Congress if he’s serious about the effort. (NBC News) Trump’s declared victory over the Houthis followed his realization that the US was engaged in “another expensive but inconclusive American military engagement in the region.” (NYT) Popular streamer Hasan Piker was detained while entering the US. (User Mag) DHS announced it would end temporary protected status for people from Afghanistan. Thousands could be deported as a result. (Politico) The feds are in talks with Elon Musk‘s Boring Company about a planned tunnel between DC and Baltimore. (NYT) The White House Correspondents’ Association complained that Trump didn’t take any wire service reporters on his trip to the Middle East. (AP) Trump endorsed Jack Ciattarelli in the New Jersey governor’s race. (NBC News) GOP Congressman Chuck Edwards is accused of hitting a sassy Rotarian with a clipboard. (Charlotte Observer)
Outdoor swimming holes that are safer than Rock Creek, by Daniella Byck
Let’s say, hypothetically, you get a hankering to swim in Rock Creek. Might we instead suggest some safe alternatives a drive away from DC? Head to Rock State Park and hike half a mile to wade into the pool at the bottom of Kilgore Falls, one of Maryland’s tallest waterfalls. This is the last weekend before you need a reservation for the popular area. In Shenandoah National Park, the strenuous 8.1-mile Cedar Run-Whiteoak Circuit rewards hikers with multiple cascades and small pools to dip in along the way. Patapsco Valley State Park also offers a natural spot to splash around, with easy river access near Cascade Falls in the Avalon area. All the aforementioned locations are swim-at-your-own risk, so be sure to invoke best safety practices.
The Washington Wizards are losers at losing, by Patrick Hruby
It’s official: Wizards fans, all 12 of us, can never have nice things. Never ever. The latest case in point? Last night’s NBA Draft Lottery. Thanks to finishing the regular season with the league’s second-worst record, the Wizards walked into the event as one of three teams with the best odds to win the No. 1 pick in this summer’s draft, which in turn would have allowed them to draft Cooper Flagg—a much-hyped freshman forward from Duke University considered by almost all Basketball Knowers to be a future superstar, good enough to eventually become rarest of pro basketball talents, the best player on a championship team. Of course, that’s not how things went.
The Wizards did not get the No. 1 pick. They didn’t get the No. 2 pick, either, which would have let them add the Flagg Consolation Prize/other seemingly sure thing in the draft, Rutgers guard Dylan Harper. The Wizards did not get the No. 3 pick, the No. 4 pick, nor the No. 5 pick. Nope. They fell all the way to No. 6, literally the worst possible outcome given their record, and watched a bunch of franchises with much lower lottery odds—because they won more games and are much closer to already being good!—leapfrog them in the only competition the team was trying to win.
Brutal. Just brutal. You could argue that the draft is rigged, and that the NBA really needs to Stop the Steal, because its simply beggars belief that the Dallas Mavericks are being rewarded with the No. 1 pick after making the worst professional sports trade of the current century, and that the San Antonio Spurs have been gifted with the No. 2 pick after already winning the Victor Wembyama draft lottery, and that the Philadelphia Sixers—wait, what are they doing here?—are somehow picking No. 3. It feels like a conspiracy!
But no. That’s not it. It’s just bad luck. The only luck the Wizards ever have. This is the franchise of Michael Jordan’s forgettable actual last dance, of trading Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond and Ben Wallace for Ike Austin and the draft pick that became Steph Curry for a bag of magic beans. This is the franchise of Gilbert Arenas’s Gungate and John Wall suffering a career-killing injury in the shower and waiting way, way too long to let go of Ernie Grunfeld, only to replace him with his longtime deputy. In the here and now, the Wizards finally seem to have a competent front office, and a handful of squint-and-they’re-promising young players, but they’re still years away from maybe being decent, and that timeline just got set back, again.
Years ago, former Wizards coach Flip Saunders said “don’t ever think it can’t get any worse, because it can.” For fans of the this accursed franchise, truer words have never been spoken. Oh, and in related news: it’s not too early to start scouting prospects for the 2026 lottery. I’m all in on Darryn Peterson!
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• We tried a tasting menu that was designed to evoke the experience of psychedelic mushrooms—minus any actual psychedelics.
• Meet DC’s duck whisperer.
• Trump’s health secretary swam in bacterial waters and posted about it.
Local news links:
• The Guardian got an early copy of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson‘s new book about Joe Biden’s final years in office, and quotes from it should enliven many local conversations today. (The Guardian)
• DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has figured out a strategy for holding off Trump. Others are taking notice. (Politico)
• Homelessness is down in DC, according to results of the recent Point-In-Time count. (Washington Post)
• Loudoun County residents have been inconvenienced by Trump’s visit to his golf club in Sterling, and the county’s sheriff’s department isn’t being reimbursed for its security assistance. (WUSA9)
• A 16-year-old pleaded guilty in the fatal beating of Bryan Smith last fall. (Washington Post)
• DC cops announced arrests of teens in a carjacking Friday at Navy Yard. (PoPville) “The victim held a senior staff position with a member of Congress.” (Washington Post)
• Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin “has vetoed a bill that would have allowed African American history courses to count toward high school graduation requirements.” (WTOP)
• DC’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, joined a lawsuit against Kenneth Brewer Sr., the former director of a housing nonprofit accused of enriching himself. (Washington City Paper)
• Watermen in Maryland hope Trump’s tariffs will help them in their struggle against cheap crab from abroad. (NBC4 Washington)
• A woman accused of driving her BMW through a street festival in Laurel because she said she needed to get to work will remain in jail. She allegedly hit a police officer. (Washington Post)
• “There have been 440 new Tesla registrations in D.C. between Inauguration Day and May 5.” (Axios D.C.)
Tuesday’s event picks:
• Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer celebrates the paperback release of his book “Reading the Constitution” at Sixth and I.
• “Twelfth Night” gets a playful remix at the Folger Theatre.
• Pianist Tomáš Kačo plays Czech music at the Phillips Collection.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Know someone we should consider for our Tech Titans feature this year? Nominate them here. Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
