The Friday Brief, May 29, 2026

Inside

Two Coverups
When Will The Editors At Axios Wake Up?
Texas Culture War and “Peak Woke Got Weird”
Dying On The Job
Blind Item
White House Fight Club
Aerobatics and Drone Killing
The Influencer-Industrial Complex, Cont.
Trump Favorite Ryan Fournier Is A Domestic Abuser

The Big Picture

Two Coverups, One Press Corps Asleep at the Switch

There are two coverups running in Washington right now, and they have something in common beyond the obvious. Both are being run by people who think you’re stupid. And both are being abetted, day after day, by a press corps that would rather attend the briefing than do the job.

Let’s start with the one you can see with your own eyes, because that’s the part that should make you crazy.

The White House wants you to believe that the 79-year-old man caking two mismatched shades of drugstore concealer onto his swollen hands is “the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history.” That’s a real quote. Somebody got paid to write it. Somebody else stood at a podium and said it without their voice cracking.