Good morning. Cloudy with a high near 71, and showers likely after 5 PM. Showers will continue overnight, with a low around 56. The Nationals will visit the Mariners this evening. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Cilla Black, “You’re My World.” It’s Cilla Black’s birthday, so let’s enjoy this great torchy ballad while we shake off the dust of a three-day weekend.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Putting the “me” in Memorial Day: President Trump wore a red MAGA hat while he addressed grads at the United States Military Academy Saturday and “rambled at times as he took shots at his opponents and told stories about his famous golf buddy Gary Player.” (NYT) He said the West Point grads “Look like all a bunch of male models — I can’t stand it.” (Politico) The President found some room in the speech to discuss the up- and downsides of “trophy wives.” (HuffPost) Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, Trump said he was glad he didn’t have a consecutive second term, because he would have missed out on hosting the World Cup, the Summer Olympics, and the military parade planned to coincide with his birthday next month. (NYT) In an all-caps post, Trump wished the country a good Memorial Day, wishes he extended to “THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS.” (USA Today)
Trade winds: Trump backed off threatened tariffs against the European Union following a “very nice call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. (Washington Post) EU and US representatives are working away on a deal. One EU rep called Trump’s threat “irritating, and ignorant. Self-sabotaging, drivel.” (Politico) Japan will spend $6.3 billion to soften the effects of tariffs, which have bruised its automotive sector. (NYT) Volvo will cut 3,000 jobs. (The Hill)
Tense at Defense: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s inner circle is riven by “unresolved personality conflicts, inexperience, vacancies in key leadership roles and a steady-state paranoia over what political crisis could emerge next.” (Washington Post) Some in the administration regard Ricky Buria, Hegseth’s acting chief of staff, warily, because he served under the Biden administration and reportedly called some of Vice President JD Vance‘s views “wackamamie crazy.” (New York Post) Trump’s hopes for a military parade during his last term dissolved when they encountered ambivalence in the Pentagon. But this time around, things are a lot different. (NYT)
Administration perambulation: The FBI will take another look at investigations into the leak of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and the pipe bomb found at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, deputy director Don Bongino said. (Washington Post) Trump said he was considering redirecting federal grants to Harvard to trade schools. (WSJ) As swimming pool season arrives, the administration laid off “the team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responsible for tracking and publicizing drownings.” (Politico) Golden Dome can’t happen without Canada’s help. Bonne chance avec ça! (Politico) Some guests at Trump’s memecoin dinner found the food disappointing. (Wired)
The best thing I ate last week, by Ann Limpert:
Fish Shop, the flashy new seafood restaurant at the Wharf, opened in late April. And while the place has Scottish roots, DC chef Ria Montes’s spotlight is on the mid-Atlantic. There’s not a lot of crossover with the original location’s menu (sorry, no haggis bonbons with plum ketchup here), but you will find an appetizer that’s made the trip: savory, seafood-filled crumpets. Montes’s terrific version uses sweet, local blue crab, and the snack calls to mind a very buttery, very delicious lobster roll. (610 Water St., SW.)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• We interviewed Virginia’s Linda Sinrod, who just hung up her skates. Sinrod, whose son is Peter Baker, holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest woman to play ice hockey.
• We pulled the health inspection reports for Gordon Ramsay‘s DC restaurants.
Local news links:
• Trump pardoned former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who was sentenced to ten years in jail for giving wealthy locals badges and police powers in exchange for bribes. (Washington Post)
• Local synagogues have increased security following last week’s shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum. (Washington Post)
• DC police are investigating a break-in at Adams Morgan bar Sinners and Saints as a hate crime. (Washington Post)
• Pentagon air traffic controllers lost contact for 20 seconds with an Army helicopter whose flight caused two commercial jets to abort landings at National Airport. (AP)
• DC Mayor Muriel Bowser will finally deliver her budget proposal today. (WUSA9)
• Bowser says she’ll propose an earlier youth curfew in response to several recent incidents. (Washington Post)
• Virginia reported a second measles case. (WUSA9)
• Adrian J. Hinton of Lorton was sentenced to a year of supervised release after being convicted of burning a car with what he said was napalm outside the Capitol as Jimmy Carter lay in state. (WTOP)
• Booz Allen Hamilton says it will cut staff in response to federal budget cuts. (WBJ)
• During DC’s Memorial Day parade, Gene Simmons met with Harold “Hal” Urban, who helped liberate the concentrate camp where his mother was held. (Washington Post)
• A man was shot and killed at 14th and R streets, Northwest, overnight. (WUSA9)
• Jose Carcamo was killed by a stray bullet from a shooting behind his apartment in DC. (WUSA9)
• Police say they arrested a DC man after he undressed outside a District hotel, then “threw bottles at people and called them hateful slurs.” (WTOP)
• A look at private clubs in DC during the second Trump era. (NYT)
• A black bear napped in a local tree. (NBC4 Washington)
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.
