• Ceasefire “on life support”: President Donald Trump described the ceasefire with Iran as being “on life support” on Monday. The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, initiated a month ago, was intended to open the Strait of Hormuz, but it remains closed. Trump blasted the Iranians’ proposed peace deal, calling it “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” It seems clear that Iranian leaders, or what is left of them, think Trump is bluffing, and they can outlast his willingness to block the Strait or carry on military action. Trump insists he can outlast the Iranians, but as gas prices continue to tick up, domestic pressure is mounting. It seems likely the ceasefire will collapse soon. When it does, Trump can hopefully hit the Iranians hard enough to force a surrender.

• Inflation rises: The annual inflation rate rose to 3.8%, the highest since May 2023, as the consumer price index increased 0.6% in April. The leading driver of inflation was, unsurprisingly, energy prices, which jumped 3.8% (they’ve risen 17.9% over the last 12 months). Food costs rose 0.5%, housing and apparel increased 0.6% respectively, and airfare jumped 2.8%. While the Iran conflict has contributed to inflation, the other major factor has been tariffs, which have raised the cost of everything. Meanwhile, average hourly wages have failed to keep up with inflation, dropping 0.5% in April and 0.3% annually. Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long noted, “For the first time in three years, inflation is eating up all wage gains.”

• Trump’s gas tax relief: In an effort to combat rising gas prices, President Trump told reporters that he plans to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax, which has been 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993. “I’m going to reduce until the — let me tell you, as soon as this is over with Iran, as soon as it’s over, you’re going to see gasoline and oil drop like a rock,” Trump stated. He acknowledged that “it’s a small percentage, but it’s still money.” The Iran conflict, with the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, is the primary reason for high gas prices, and Trump is right that once the conflict ends, prices should drop. However, Trump has repeatedly claimed that a peace deal was imminent, only for it to fail to materialize. In the meantime, Americans’ frustration with high gas prices will likely grow.

• Group sues Trump over Reflecting Pool: Nothing says Trump Derangement Syndrome like opposition to the president acting to clean up and beautify our national monuments. A nonprofit group, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s cleaning and resurfacing of the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration failed to follow congressionally mandated procedures before embarking on its cleaning and resurfacing. The group claims that “no consulting parties have been notified, engaged, or given an opportunity to participate” and ridiculously asserts, “Every day that the resurfacing continues, the historic character of the Reflecting Pool is being further and fundamentally altered.” President Trump’s motive for acting quickly to clean and beautify the Reflecting Pool is to prepare to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

• Is the UK’s Labour Party over? The political status quo in the United Kingdom, where the “conservative” Tories and the left-wing Labour Party exchanged power across elections, has ended. Labour Prime Minister Kier Starmer rose to power with only 34% of the vote after voters wiped out the Tories in 2024. On Thursday, the Labour Party suffered a similar defeat in local elections, while Nigel Farage’s Reform Party won the day with 26% of the vote. Starmer responded by warning of his “dangerous” opponents and promising to prove the voters wrong, while fending off calls from his own party to step down. Reform is unwilling to accept endless mass migration and wants deportations. Meanwhile, the upstart Restore UK party, which says Reform won’t go far enough, won all 10 of the elections it stood in.

• California’s ChiCom mayor: Arcadia, California, Mayor Eileen Wang has confessed to working as a Chinese spy and propagandist. Before her election in 2022, Wang worked with another Chinese spy, her then-fiancé, “Mike” Sun, on the website “U.S. News Center” for two years. The two spies posted prewritten articles from their Chinese handler on the website and then sent reports on the propaganda’s performance. Wang distanced herself from Sun after charges were brought against him in 2024. In February, he was sentenced to four years in prison. Prosecutors say Sun and the Chinese handlers hoped to turn Mayor Wang into a political star to represent Chinese interests in California. Wang entered into a plea deal, resigned from office, and faces up to 10 years in prison.

• Moms.gov launches: Rather than using a federal website to push abortion as the Biden administration did, the Trump White House just launched a website promoting life, called Moms.gov. The Daily Wire reported that the site addresses “the needs of mothers and fathers who face difficult or unexpected pregnancies and [ensures] the well-being of mothers and the health of American families.” A pregnant woman seeking information and help can find resources and pregnancy clinic locations. Pregnancy clinics all over the country offer a variety of services and support for expectant mothers and fathers, including ultrasounds. Moms.gov includes other helpful information on pregnancy nutrition, HHS dietary guidelines, the CDC’s recommendations for pregnant women and babies, and resources for those struggling to conceive. The website would not be complete without the Trump baby accounts, granting $1,000 per enrollee.

• 215k federal workers delinquent on taxes: According to an IRS inspector general report, 6.9% of the entire federal workforce, or roughly 215,000 government workers, were delinquent on their taxes in 2024. Of those, some 50,000 had failed to file tax returns for multiple years, and more than 1,000 federal workers had not filed returns at least six times during their federal careers. The report noted that these delinquent workers owed $2.1 billion in taxes. Furthermore, the problem of federal workers’ tax delinquency has increased by 43% over the last three years, to $6.3 billion in outstanding tax debt. The federal agency with the highest rate of tax delinquency is the U.S. Postal Service, where 10% of workers hold a combined $570 million in unpaid taxes. The second-worst agency is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has a 7.3% delinquency rate, totaling $380 million in owed taxes.

• Dems demand apology for colloquialism: “Jen Kiggans must immediately apologize for agreeing with openly racist and vile remarks,” said a Democrat spokesman. For all the sound and fury around the situation, readers might expect that Rep. Kiggans said something unacceptable. In fact, all she did was agree with a radio host who told Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Yankee from New York, to get his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.” Rep. Kiggans ‘ Democrat opponent, Elaine Luria, jumped on the opportunity, saying, “I grew up in the South. I know what these racist dog whistles mean.” Democrats demonstrate their lack of understanding of Southern culture by mistaking this phrase as racial. “Hold on a cotton-picking minute” and similar phrases are standard Southern colloquial intensifiers long removed in common speech from any racial associations.

Headlines

• Cole Allen pleads not guilty to attempted Trump assassination (NY Post)

• SCOTUS clears the way for Alabama to redraw congressional map (Washington Examiner)

• Tehran executes grad student accused of being CIA and Mossad spy (NY Post)

• In response to Iran strikes, NoKo will automatically launch nukes if supreme leader is killed (Not the Bee)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.