Trump’s better-than-expected jobs report

Happy Friday! Monday is Cinco de Mayo, but I absolutely plan on overeating tortilla chips, salsa and tacos this weekend as an early celebration. Who’s with me?! (Here are some Cinco de Mayo restaurant specials if you’re interested.)

In today's issue:

• Trump says he’ll strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status
• Surprisingly strong April jobs report
• Mike Waltz’s Signal texts caught in Reuters photo
• Eye-catching reporting on John Fetterman

⏱️️ NEWS THIS MORNING

Yikes, it’s already the first Friday of another month?:

It’s the first Friday of the month, and you know what that means? It’s jobs day! The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April, according to data released by the Labor Department. Unemployment remained unchanged at 4.3 percent.

Is that good?: Yes, actually! Economists had expected a gain of roughly 130,000 jobs.

Trump quickly touted the numbers: “Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!! Consumers have been waiting for years to see pricing come down,” President Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming prices have lowered on gasoline, groceries, etc.

Keep in mind: The economy has been shaky since Trump began a trade war with the U.S.’s trading partners. U.S. gross domestic product contracted by 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year, but as The Wall Street Journal notes, today’s figure gives better “hard” data on the state of the economy.

Just released — Trump’s wish list:

President Trump just unveiled his budget request for fiscal 2026.

The gist: It would make steep cuts to nondefense spending — cutting spending levels by $163 billion, to be exact. It would increase defense spending to just more than $1 trillion.