For daily news updates and analysis, be sure to follow us on Instagram. If you are able to support independent journalism, please make a tax-deductible donation to News Not Noise here.
Let’s do the bad news first.
A man with — generously speaking — a documented enthusiasm for sending nude photos to subordinates was, until this week, among the leading candidates to govern California, the largest state in America. His party was aware concerns existed. He is now out of the governor’s race and out of Congress, his departure made politically viable only because a Republican with his own spectacular conduct issues exited simultaneously. One from each party. I think they call this balance.
In other foreign policy developments, the United States has announced a blockade of Iran’s blockade. (Foreign policy by infinite blockade loop?) The logic is that maximum pressure will force Iran back to the table. The risk: it doesn’t.
Also, Trump picked a fight with the Pope. The Pope was unimpressed.
Now the good news, and it is genuinely good: Viktor Orbán, the man who turned Hungary into a template for democratic backsliding, and who became patron saint for the global right, lost badly. Voters turned out in record numbers to reject him. His media, his maps, his apparatus were not enough to defeat the people’s wrath. The lesson: These things can be reversed and elections, held freely, still work.
And we end today with some good news for your joints — and possibly for aging itself.
Dire Straits: The US enacted a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz Monday morning — effectively blockading Iran’s blockade, even as diplomacy remains alive. Trump argues thiswill force Iranto reopen the Strait. The move appears to be a pressure tactic to get Iran to accept US terms before the current two-week pause onfighting expireson April 22. More than a dozen warships areenforcing the blockade, though US allies including UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Australiadeclined to participate. (At least one tankerseems to have slipped throughtoday.)**No Deal:**The statedsticking point in peace talksin Pakistan was Iran’s refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions. Iran reportedlyoffered to pause enriching uraniumfor five years, but the USasked for two decades. Iran accused Washington ofmoving the goalposts. There is some ambiguity here. Trumppreviously claimedthe goal of denying Iran a nuclear weapon “has been attained.” But onMonday he claimed“they still want” a nuclear weapon. US negotiators reportedly also insistedIran give up all its highly enriched uranium, which Iran rejected; Axiosreports thatofficials in Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are helping with negotiations.**Yes, And:**Both sides arestill communicating; Trumpclaimed“the appropriate people” called him Monday seeking a deal andinsistedIran wants “to make a deal, very badly.” He is alsoreportedly weighing resuming strikesto increase pressure. Iran’slead negotiator saidthe regime will not “surrender under threats.” Speaking on CNN, Brett McGurk, former National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said Iran knows the US blockade could be “catastrophic” for the global economy if it lasts for a while. “So they think time is on their side.”
**NATO tension:**Turkey escalated its rhetoric against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,calling himthe “Hitler of our time.” Israeli officialsdismissed Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğanas a “paper tiger” who “accommodates” the Iranian regime.
**Back to the Table:**Envoys for Israel and Lebanon willmeet at the US State Department Tuesdayfor their first direct peace talks in 43 years. The talks center on disarming Hezbollah. Big unknowns: Can the Lebanese government enforce a deal against Hezbollah, whichremains defiant? And will Israel agree to transition from military deterrence to providing security guarantees to its northern neighbor?Can’s Down the Road: Judges in Israel on Sundayallowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to postponetestifying in his corruption trial. He faces multiple charges,including bribery and fraud.
MAGA’s Favorite Autocrat Loses: Hungary’s longtime leader Viktor Orbán just got voted out — days after Trump urged voters to support him and VP Vance flew there to back him. Voters did not, delivering a two-thirds parliamentary majority to opposition leader Péter Magyar and his party, Tiscza. Turnout was thehighest ever recorded, remarkable givenOrbán’s control of the mediaand intimidation of state institutions. Also surprising: Orbánconceded beforehalf the votes had been counted. (Asone professor noted, that underscores just how brazen Trump’s election denial is.)European leadersandfans of democracy everywherecelebrated. In Budapest, thousandsflooded the streets,drinking, crying, andchanting, “Russians Go Home!” So far the Trump administration hasno comment. Here’s why this election has drawn so much attention:Close to Home: Over 16 years as Hungary’s leader, Orbán ranwhat he calledan “illiberal democracy,”railing againstthe “woke virus,” “gender madness” and “migration insanity. He blamed the country’s economic and social problems on the Ukrainian war and European bureaucrats and turned Hungary into themost corrupt,least free,and poorestnation in the European Union. He capturedthe pressand neuteredthe courts. Orbán’s party, Fidesz,controlled accessto everything from lucrative business contracts tolife-saving health care;he redrew electoral mapsto lock in his majority. Orbán pulled Hungary toward Russia,recently telling Putin, “In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.” That meantpassing on information from EU negotiations,resisting sanctionson Russians, andblocking a massive loanto Ukraine. Then the bill came due. The EUcut off tens of billionsin funding.Inflation soared. Voters seethed over prices andrampant corruption. It all exploded in 2024, when it was revealed that the government that spent years selling “family values” quietlypardoned a manconvicted of covering up child sexual abuse. Top figuresclose to Orbán resigned. Among them:The ex-wifeof… eventual opposition leader Péter Magyar. Afterdecades in Orbán’s partyhe broke off and launched the opposition that has now surged into power.Not So New Guy: Magyar is aconservative populistwho spent years relentlessly campaigning across the country. Enemies and allies alikedescribe himas difficult, controlling, and abrasive. During the campaign he leaned into macho posturing and remained laser-focused on bread and butter issues,refusing to discuss the culture war, including hot-button topicslike LGBT+ rights. “We are not voting for Tiscza,”said one politicianwho gave up his own seat to help the party win. “We are voting against Fidesz. That’s the whole point. Hungarians would vote for a goat at this point if it was running against Orbán.”What’s Next: “Together we liberated Hungary,” Magyar▶told a cheering crowdof tens of thousands celebrating his victory. “The Hungarian people didn’t vote for a simple change of government,” he said, “but for a complete change of regime.” Magyarvowed to begin reconstructinga “free, European, functioning, and humane Hungary” — to “restore the rule of law, plural democracy, and the system of checks and balances.”Expertswarn it will bea long, difficult battle. Magyarcalled for the resignationsof senior officials he called “puppets” of Orbán and vowed to pursue those he said “plundered, looted, betrayed, indebted, and ruined” the country. In the short-term, he said Hungarywill end its oppositionto the EU’s $105 billion loan to Ukraine.
Choose the Bear: Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) on Mondayannounced he will resign from Congress. On Sunday he dropped out of the California governor’s race, following reports he sexually harassed and assaulted multiple women.He saidhe’s “deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past” and vowed to “fight” what he called “serious, false allegations.” Morethan 50 of his former staffers, pluslawmakers from both parties, called on him to resign — or be expelled. He dropped out only after the House Ethics Committee announced plans toinvestigatethose allegations. Now that investigation is moot. Also today, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX)announcedhis resignation. Gonzalesadmitted to carrying out an affairwith a staffer who later died by suicide. Lawmakers were[preparing to expel](htt…
