‌

The President’s Easter Sunday Message: Trump Threatens Iran with ‘Hell’ Over Strait of Hormuz in Profane Post (Washington Post)

‌

Trump escalated threats against Iran’s power plants, bridges and other infrastructure in an expletive-laden post on Truth Social on Easter morning:

Even for an audience largely anaesthetised to Trump’s rhetoric, this broke new ground. The blend of thuggish profanity and violent threat, underpinned by the casual embrace of what would appear to be war crimes, made yesterday’s message stand out in a crowded field, Politico Playbook writes. 

MAGA world devotee-turned-arch-Trump-critic Marjorie Taylor Greene gave an indication of what some might say if unconstrained by the political need to toe the line.

Trump later suggested that the United States could target “every power plant” in the country — an attack that experts warned could amount to war crimes.

‌

Crossing Lines: Trump Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran (New York Times)

‌

Mideast Latest: New Trump Deadline Looms as Ceasefire Push Keeps Markets on Edge (Bloomberg)

US allies are reportedly pressing for a last-minute deal with Iran, as President Trump extended his deadline to Tuesday for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, keeping markets on edge over whether a breakthrough can be reached.

Axios reported that Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are pushing to secure a potential ceasefire — lasting about 45 days — to head off threatened US strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure and retaliation by the Islamic Republic against countries in the region.

Fighting continued, with Israel, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reporting Iranian attacks overnight into Monday.

The conflict has left thousands dead, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, and brought vessel traffic through Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports normally flow — to a near standstill.

Oil prices rose after Trump’s latest warnings, with Brent trading at about $110 a barrel at 6:30 a.m. in London after trimming earlier advances. The global benchmark is up by more than 50% since the beginning of the conflict.

Energy Shock: US Inflation Seen Spiking in First Snapshot Since Iran War (Bloomberg)

‌

The sudden increase in US gasoline prices felt by American consumers is set to be on full display in key inflation data due out this coming week.

‌

Oil prices have been roiled by five weeks of conflict, climbing to almost $120 a barrel last month as key Middle East energy assets came under attack and Iran effectively closed the critical Strait of Hormuz, creating what the International Energy Agency called the biggest supply disruption in the history of the market.

Bondi Ousted

‌

Office Purge: Pam Bondi’s Portrait Already Taken Down at Justice Department (MSNOW)

‌

It did not take long for the pictures to come off the wall.

‌

Within hours of the news that President Donald Trump had fired Pam Bondi as attorney general, images began circulating of her framed portrait, unceremoniously removed from its place of honor near the president and vice president on the walls of Justice Department offices.

‌

One photo obtained by MS NOW showed Bondi’s portrait in a trash bin.

‌

Current and former DOJ officials said it’s a reflection of how deeply unpopular Bondi was with career officials and agents, thousands of whom left the department rather than follow her orders. Dozens more were forced out.

‌

Loyalty Fails: Pam Bondi Wanted a Graceful Exit. But Trump Wanted Her Gone. (New York Times)

‌

President Trump had complained too freely, too frequently, to too many people about her inability to prosecute the people he hates. She was falling short of Trump’s unyielding, unrealistic demands for retribution against his enemies. 

‌

Bondi’s precipitous fall laid bare a cornerstone truth of Trump’s second term: Loyalty, flattery and obeisance are prerequisites for power, but they don’t provide durable protection from a president intent on carrying out his maximalist personal and political goals.

‌

Whoever replaces her permanently will face the monumental task of satisfying Trump’s appetite for retribution.

‌

Successor Watch: Todd Blanche Steps Into Pam Bondi’s Job and Onto a Trump Tightrope (Wall Street Journal)

‌

After Attorney General Pam Bondi fumbled her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Trump needed a more reliable messenger to help navigate the scandal looming over the Justice Department and his presidency.

‌

The job fell to his former personal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, who in helping Trump through multiple criminal cases and later the Epstein mess has proven adept at walking a fine line between competence and fierce loyalty. 

‌

Now, Trump has handed Blanche his greatest high wire act yet: leading a Justice Department in turmoil, while satisfying the president’s demand for retribution. 

‌

What I'm Reading

‌

Leading Priority: Trump Files Emergency Appeal to Keep Building White House Ballroom (Washington Post)

‌

The Trump administration has appealed a federal judge’s order to halt the construction of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, arguing in an emergency motion that pausing the $400 million project would raise "national security risks."

‌

“Time is of the essence!” Justice Department lawyers wrote, saying that the planned 90,000-square-foot addition to the White House is being designed to defend against “hostile attacks via drones, ballistic missiles, bullets, biohazards” and other potential threats to the president.

‌

They also argued that Trump has the authority to build the ballroom, disputing Leon’s ruling that the project requires congressional approval.

JPMorgan Today: Jamie Dimon Urges US to ‘Get Stronger,’ Keep Economic, Military Power (Bloomberg)

Dimon’s latest remarks follow JPMorgan’s launch of the second of a pair of initiatives to tackle big-picture policy issues. The bank unveiled an “American Dream Initiative” last week, which is aimed at expanding economic opportunity in local communities in the US. That followed a “Security and Resiliency Initiative” announced in October, through which JPMorgan vowed to plow $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next decade.

California a Top Performer: Who Knew ‘Slick’ Gavin Newsom Was Such an Economic Maestro? (Bloomberg Opinion - Matt Winkler)

Of all the prevailing media narratives around Gavin Newsom, the one that is most conspicuous by its absence is how under its two-term governor California became the top performing economy not just among its 49 siblings but also any developed nation, Matt Winkler writes in his column for Bloomberg Opinion. 

Amid the thousands of headlines referencing California failings with wildfires, droughts, floods, mass transportation, aging roads, education, homelessness, unaffordable housing, widening inequality and poverty along with the exodus of billionaires, corporate headquarters and longtime residents -- never mind  the “slick” label whenever the betting favorite for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination is mentioned in the press – the Golden State (population 39 million people), just supplanted Japan (123 million) as the fourth-largest economy, Winkler writes. 

‌

Diplomacy Push: Ukraine Expects Top US Envoys in Kyiv This Month to Reboot Talks (Bloomberg)

‌

UK Bids for AI: UK Courts Anthropic to Expand in London After US Defense Clash (Financial Times)

Keir Starmer’s government is trying to tempt Anthropic to expand its presence in the UK, looking to capitalize on the $380bn start-up’s fight with the US Defense Department to woo one of America’s top AI groups.

‌

Staff at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have sketched out proposals for the San Francisco-headquartered company, spanning an office expansion in London to a dual listing, the Financial Times writes.

‌

Downing Street has been supportive of the work, which will be put to Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei when he visits the UK in late May as part of a trip to meet European customers and policymakers.

‌

Latest Target: Trump Rails at Bruce Springsteen After Singer Says POTUS is Operating a 'Reckless and Treasonous Administration' (Politico)

‌

‌

Win for Los Angeles: UCLA Blows Out South Carolina for First Women's NCAA College Basketball Title (ESPN)

Off the Court: How Wall Street Picks 2026 March Madness Brackets for Charity (Bloomberg)

‌

March Madness has more random outcomes than trying to pick a startup company to invest millions into, so filling out brackets takes more than just a bet on probability. The best minds in finance have very different approaches when it comes to picking the winners of the NCAA basketball tournament.

‌

Some rely on pure luck and find it fun whether they end up on the bottom or not; some are really dedicated to their alma mater and pick them blindly no matter the seed; and some choose to outsource their bracket “like any good PE manager, I just try to find the best talent to get the job done,” said Jonathan Gray, Blackstone’s president and chief operating officer.

‌

Gray is competing in the 11th year of Bloomberg’s Bracket for a Cause, where participants play for a charity of their choosing, pledging $20,000 each for a total of more than $1.2 million to be donated. Even though they are playing for charity, the edge for hedge fund managers, CEOs and investment bankers is all similar: They want to win.

‌

The men’s bracket proved to be a minefield of upsets, leading to disappointment for executives whose favorites suffered early exits. The women’s side, however, played out much more predictably, with all four No. 1 seeds advancing to the Final Four and validating the strategy of picking top-tier power programs.

‌

That strategy paid off for the leaders of the Brackets for a Cause women’s competition. UCLA defeated South Carolina 79-51 on Sunday to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball championship, deciding the women’s leaderboard. The three finalists were Intuit's Sasan Goodarzi, Apollo's Marc Rowan and Brookfield's Connor Teskey, all of whom projected UCLA to win.

‌

Check out where the leaderboard stands here, and tune in for the men's championship game tonight, between Michigan and UConn at 8:50 PM ET.

‌

Best of SNL

‌

"President Trump addressed the nation about the war with Iran and threatened to “bring them back to the Stone Age where they belong.” And in the spirit of Easter, let me just say, “Jesus Christ!”

-- Colin Jost

‌

"President Trump’s speech on the war in Iran interrupted the finale of “The Masked Singer,” and it’s really too bad because Trump would have found out that Cat Witch was revealed to be the new ayatollah."-- Colin Jost

‌

On the recently announced presidential library honoring Trump in Miami:

‌

"The library will include a massive golden escalator and a golden statue of Trump, as predicted in the Book of Revelation"
-- Colin Jost

‌

And from the Cold Open: NCAA post game hosts Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson), Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson), Kenny Smith (Kam Patterson) and Coach Bruce Pearl (Jeremy Culhane) cover the latest news. Click the photo below to watch.
‌