June 5, 2026 | By Cate Martel
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May jobs report beats expectations Trump rebrands America 250 concert after dropouts Senate funds ICE after pulling all-nighter Graham Platner disputes new allegations Free doughnuts today at Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’, etc.
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Why the Trump team can exhale this morning: |
AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File
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U.S. employers added a much higher-than-expected number of jobs in May. 172,000 jobs were created last month, more than double what economists had predicted.
Why this is a particularly good sign: Energy prices have been unsteady since the U.S. and Israel started its war with Iran. This shows resilience in the U.S. economy.
What industries helped the job market: Many of the new jobs were in the hospitality and healthcare sectors, the Wall Street Journal noted. As for the new hospitality jobs, the upcoming World Cup certainly helped that.
💬 Follow today’s live blog
WHAT’S HELPING THE ECONOMY? CONSUMER SPENDING:
Americans are still spending and that’s fueling the economy, writes The Washington Post’s Rachel Lerman, but rising prices may impact that.
“One significant warning sign is flashing: Consumers are dipping into their savings and setting less aside to keep up with their spending. The personal savings rate fell to 2.6 percent in April, the lowest level in nearly four years, and the second poorest showing since the height of the Great Recession.” Read more: ‘Americans’ spending is fueling the economy, but it might not last’
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Rebranding the America 250 concert to the ‘Greatest Rally, EVER!’: |
President Trump announced a change in plans for the “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall after several artists dropped out.
Instead, he will hold a rally in Washington to commemorate America’s 250th birthday.
Rapper Vanilla Ice says he hopes to perform. Country singer Lee Greenwood and tenor Christopher Macchio are also expected to sing. List of performers
Trump says today that “we don’t want singers with no talent.”
NEW REPORTING FROM A WHISTLEBLOWER:
Trump officials had planed to mark 2.7 million living people, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, as dead as part of its immigration enforcement plan, a whistleblower told The Washington Post.
The Post notes this would have “effectively [erased] people from the financial system, potentially cutting them off from wages, banking, government benefits and other services.”
However, the Trump administration did not follow through with this plan.
The whistleblower, Jeremiah Schofield, worked at Social Security for more than two decades. He filed a whistleblower complaint to the Senate.
Read more: ‘Trump officials planned to mark 2.7 million living people as dead, whistleblower claims’
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And on the 19th hour, they rest: |
The Senate ended its marathon vote-a-rama just before dawn this morning, passing the $69.5 billion budget reconciliation package to fund the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement after more than 18 hours of back-to-back votes.
This finally puts an end to the fierce battle to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, a monthslong fight that caused a 76-day partial shutdown earlier this year.
The final vote: 52-47. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) was the only Republican to vote “no.”
Now, what?: The bill heads to the House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) plans to pass it next week.
The drama of the vote-a-rama: Republicans had internal disagreements about some of the Trump administration’s recent moves — and the grueling 18-hour vote-a-rama highlighted those disputes.
The most dramatic part happened right at the beginning of the vote-a-rama when Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) offered a motion to block the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” Three vulnerable Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jon Husted (Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) — voted in favor of Schumer’s motion. That could have derailed the entire bill (!) It all hinged on Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) vote — yes, Cassidy, who recently lost his primary after Trump endorsed his challenger. After three hours of intense negotiations, Cassidy agreed to vote against Schumer’s proposal in exchange for a vote on his own similar proposal.
So, where does the ‘anti-weaponization fund’ votes stand?: Well, the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the rules and ruled that senators would have needed 60 votes to include it in the reconciliation package.
This means that Republican senators passed ICE funding but did not kill the “anti-weaponization fund,” despite some GOP senators having concerns about it.
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Follow Washington closely? Something new is coming
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The Hill Insider launches July 2026. Premium access to the reporting and analysis most readers never see. Be among the first inside.
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Graham Platner and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: |
Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has had quite the week of bad headlines.
The New York Times published new allegations of his past behavior on Thursday. The Times interviewed several of Platner’s past girlfriends, one of whom described her relationship with him as “unsettling” and claimed Platner was “rough” with her, “particularly when they were drinking, leaving her shaken and sometimes afraid.”
Platner’s campaign says it “strongly disputes” the new allegations from his former girlfriends, including that he knew his tattoo was a Nazi symbol and that he was rough with a former partner.
Read the New York Times report: ‘Several Women Who Dated Graham Platner Recall “Unsettling” Behavior’ ]
Platner appeared on MS NOW to defend himself: “There are some allegations in this piece that I — just want to be kind of unequivocal about — are simply not true,” Platner told MS NOW’s Chris Hayes.
“In this piece, there is a lot about my struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self-medicating with alcohol, and I have been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign,” he said, noting it happened during “a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service.”
Why Senate Democrats are rattled: This race is considered one of Democrats’ best chances to flip a seat in November. Pretty much any path for Democrats to take control of the Senate in the midterms hinges on flipping Maine.
Graham is seen as the presumptive Democratic nominee challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R). Platner had been polling so well that Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) suspended her campaign in April, despite being the establishment favorite.
^ However, Mills did recently remind voters that she’s still technically on the ballot.👀
GRAHAM’S EX-GIRLFRIEND IS NOT HAPPY WITH THE NYT REPORTING:
Lyndsey Fifield, the ex-girlfriend who was quoted for detailing allegations of “unsettling” behavior in Platner’s dating life, expressed frustration with how The New York Times portrayed her in its report, accusing the newspaper of a “set up.” Read her frustrations
TIDBIT — WHAT A SPLIT-SCREEN:
Several reporters posted a split-screen of Collins casting her 10,000th consecutive vote in the Senate while Platner was on MS NOW defending the new allegations. 📸 See the side-by-side
Oh, and another Collins tidbit: Thursday was Lobster Day in the Senate! NOTUS’s Igor Bobic noted that “Susan Collins is hosting lunch, and plastic bibs with an image of a lobster on it are draped over each seat in the room where Republicans are about to eat.”
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— New studies are making scientists optimistic that GLP-1 drugs may help prevent and treat some types of cancer, including breast, colon and lung cancer. Read more
— The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone. This could pave the way for the Trump administration to restrict its use. Read more
— Steak n Shake says it is undefeated in political endorsements this year. Steak n Shake! Come for the burgers and shakes. Stay for the surprisingly accurate election analysis!
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Politico: Trump’s next GOP loyalty test: Ending the changing of the clocks
Melinda French Gates in The New York Times: Women, We Deserve Better Than This
The Hill: Pete Buttigieg, untethered, acts as Trump counterweight for angry Democrats
The Wall Street Journal: Americans on GLP-1s Are Overwhelming Retailers With Their Nonstop Returns: Retailers struggling with jump in returns, especially in larger sizes, as shoppers on weight-loss drugs shed pounds
The Atlantic: The World Cup of Ugh: Why isn’t this more fun?
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The House and Senate are out for the weekend. President Trump is in Wisconsin this afternoon and heads to New Jersey this evening. (All times EDT)
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2:50 p.m. Trump tapes an interview in Wisconsin.
4 p.m. Trump participates in a roundtable in Chippewa Falls, Wis., on American agriculture. 💻 Livestream
This evening: Trump flies from Wisconsin to Bedminster, N.J.
Sunday morning: Trump sits down with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”
3 p.m. Monday The Senate returns. 📆 Monday’s agenda
5:30 p.m. Monday Trump participates in a tele-rally from Bedminster.
8:30 p.m. Monday Trump attends the NBA finals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
June 11: . The FIFA World Cup begins!
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🍩 Celebrate: Today is National Doughnut Day! Lots of doughnut shops are giving out free doughnuts today! Cel-e-brate free doughnuts, come on! 🎵
🐊 This sounds like the plot of a great potential Pixar movie: A private zoo in Louisiana has misplaced a “[Nile crocodile], Marabou stork, a lynx, two Indian crested porcupines, a family of capybaras, a mob of kangaroos, a flock of flightless Rheas, a herd of water buffalo and an entire safari exhibit of bison, zebras and antelope,” reports The Wall Street Journal. Read: ‘Inside America’s Most Dysfunctional Zoo’
^ This headline alone had me locked in.
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Will someone *please* take this good boy on a hike immediately? I’ve never seen someone so ready to explore the wilderness.
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