Good morning.You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.Trump-endorsed Congressman Randy Feenstra lost the Iowa gubernatorial primary race last night to businessman Zach Lahn.
It's a rare blow to President Trump, who has seen almost all of his chosen candidates succeed.Farmers in Iowa have been disproportionately impacted by Trump administration policies like tariffs and the war in Iran.
The state is governed by Republicans, but voters have cast their ballots for Democrats in recent federal and state elections.Democratic voters are strategically selecting candidates they believe will best position them to flip seats in November.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told members of Congress yesterday that plans for Trump's $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund are no longer moving forward.
His remarks come just days after a federal judge temporarily blocked the creation of the fund after Democracy Forward and other organizations filed a lawsuit.Trump announced yesterday that he is appointing Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence.Pulte will replace Tulsi Gabbard, who is stepping down at the end of the month.
His biography on the FHFA website highlights his career experience in housing and philanthropy, but it does not mention any background in intelligence.Researchers are speaking out against a new White House web page, saying that it uses dehumanizing language to target immigrants.The site aliens.gov discusses the threat of "aliens," accompanied by the opening theme of The X-Files.
The webpage equates undocumented immigrants with extraterrestrials.The administration refers to these individuals as an "it" and claims "they do not belong here." While some may dismiss the wordplay as a joke, Ernesto Castañeda, director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at Ame...