Peter Baker

House Turns Back Bid to Restrict Trump’s War Powers in Iran

House votes 219 to 212 to block consideration of a bipartisan resolution that would end offensive military operations in Iran that had not been approved by Congress. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u...

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Ousts Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

Trump fires Noem after Republican lawmakers went after her this week at congressional hearings on a variety of topics, including her knowledge of a lucrative advertising contract. Trump to nominate Markwayne Mullin to replace her. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

China Sets Economy’s Growth Target Below 5% for First Time in Decades

China sets target for economic growth for 2026 between 4.5% and 5%, the first time in more than three decades that the benchmark was placed below the 5% mark and an official acknowledgment that the country is on a slower growth path. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...

Trump mulls Noem firing Trump has quietly asked Hill Republicans if he should fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Trump has quietly asked Hill Republicans if he should fire Noem, the latest sign of her tenuous standing inside the West Wing, @bresreports.bsky.social @andrewdesiderio.bsky.social @jakesherman.bsky.social report. punchbowl.news/article/bord...

Justice Dept., Under Pressure From Trump, Fails to Build Autopen Case Against Biden

Under pressure from Trump, the Justice Department sought to figure out a way to prosecute Biden or his aides for using an auto pen but prosecutors could find no way to make a case and dropped it, report Mike Schmidt Devlin Barrett @alanfeuer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/u...

Despite Promises, Veterans Affairs Department Cut Thousands of Roles for Doctors and Nurses

VA has eliminated thousands of medical positions vacated by a wave of resignations and retirements last year. The total number of VA doctors and nurses fell for the first time in at least 20 years. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...

Parents Tried to Shield Their Children From Vaccines. Instead They Got Measles.

At Global Academy in Spartanburg, SC, only 21% of students were vaccinated against measles. Now Spartanburg is ground zero for the largest measles outbreak since 2000, when the virus was declared eliminated in the US. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...

Texas U.S. Senate Primary Election Results

With competitive primaries on both sides, more Texans voted for Democrats than Republicans, 2,252,358 vs 2,141,929 with most ballots counted. The challenge for each will be holding onto voters who backed losing candidates while reaching non-voters in fall. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Can Donald Trump Win a War with Iran If He Can’t Explain Why He Started It? So far, explanations are few and the goals—from regime change to ending a nuclear program the President already claimed to have “obliterated”—are many.

"I don’t get bored,"Trump insisted. "Forty-six seconds later," @sbg1.bsky.social writes, "he began waxing about the 'very, very beautiful' new White House ballroom he’s building, which he thinks will be 'the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world.'" www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

Trump Administration Abandons Efforts to Impose Orders on Law Firms

Trump abandons attempts to impose potentially crippling executive orders against law firms that refused to capitulate to him, walking away from its appeal of victories the firms had won against the White House. @jonesieman.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

By Striking Its Neighbors, Iran Has Deepened the Gulf’s Resolve to Fight Back Diplomats and analysts say Tehran miscalculated with its attacks on Dubai, Doha and Bahrain.

Iran evidently bet that striking Arab neighbors would prompt them to pressure Trump to stop the war. But that gamble seems to have backfired as Gulf states conclude that Iran cannot be allowed to get away with attacking them, @yarotrof.bsky.social reports from Dubai. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Video: Behind Trump’s Reversal On Regime Change As a candidate, Donald J. Trump criticized regime change as “a proven, absolute failure.” Now he finds himself pursuing the exact kind of regime change he once criticized. Our chief White House corres...

How Trump shifted from "no new wars" to regime change. www.nytimes.com/video/world/...

Welcome to Wyoming, the Frontier of America’s New Gilded Age

The richest Americans saw their net worth soar 120% from 2017-25 and the number of US billionaires jumped 50% to more than 900. Overall, the top 1% now control $55.8 trillion in assets — more than the GDP of the US and China combined. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

Trump campaign peace promises loom large over wartime presidency The "anti-war" candidate has bombed seven countries and launched a new regime-change war in Iran.

No president in the modern era has launched more military strikes against as many different countries as Trump, including more individual strikes in 2025 than Biden ordered in all four years. @zacharybasu www.axios.com/2026/03/02/t...

3 U.S. Planes Are Shot Down in ‘Friendly Fire’ in Kuwait, U.S. Military Says

Kuwaiti air defenses mistakenly shoot down three US fighter jets. All six American crew members safely ejected and were later recovered, military says. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/w...

Trump Says War Could Last Weeks and Offers Contradictory Visions of New Regime

While Trump has called for regime change in Iran, he makes clear in phone interview with Zolan Kanno-Youngs that he is fine with remnants of the repressive regime remaining in power. "What we did in Venezuela, I think, is the perfect, the perfect scenario." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/u...

Oil Prices Jump 10% After Iran Attack, Pointing to Economic Risks

Oil prices rise 10% as markets open, underscoring the economic risks of the widening conflict in the Middle East. @rfelliott.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/b...

Iran’s Regime May Survive, but the Middle East Will Be Changed

"The Mideast won’t be the same again": But what exactly emerges from the war may not be clear for a while. The seasoned and deeply sourced correspondent @stevenerlanger.bsky.social covered the Iranian Revolution in 1978-79 and now explores what could come next. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/w...

The C.I.A. Helped Pinpoint a Gathering of Iranian Leaders. Then Israel Struck.

CIA intelligence about a Khamenei meeting with top officials prompted the US and Israel to switch plans to a daylight strike that successfully decapitated Iran's leadership. @julianbarnes.bsky.social @ronenbergman24.bsky.social Eric Schmitt @tylerpager.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/u...

Trump Stays Out of Public View After U.S. Launches Military Assault on Iran

After Trump launched a new war on Iran, he did not rush back to the White House or make an Oval Office address to rally the nation as other presidents have done. He stayed at Mar-a-Lago to attend a glitzy political fundraiser. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

Just one in four Americans supports US strikes on Iran, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Only one in four Americans approves of the U.S. strikes that killed Iran’s leader, while about half — including one in four Republicans — believe President Donald Trump is too willing to use military ...

Some 27% of Americans approve of Trump's attack on Iran, while 43% disapprove and 29% are not sure, per new poll by @reuters.com and @ipsosus.bsky.social. More than half think Trump uses too much military force, including a quarter of Republicans. www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...

Trump, the Self-Declared Peace President, Goes to War Seeking Regime Change

Trump’s increasing willingness to deploy military force underscores the broader change between his first term and second term. He is far more comfortable using the instruments of power than he was the last time around -- at home as well as abroad. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

Only 21% of Americans Support the United States Initiating an Attack on Iran

Only 21% of Americans supported the United States initiating an attack on Iran in polling conducted in advance of the strikes that Trump ordered this weekend. Even most Republicans were opposed or not sure, with just 40% in favor. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

Opinion | Thanks to President Trump, the hour of Iran’s freedom is at hand Our path forward is a new constitution followed by free elections under international oversight.

With his eye on Tehran, Reza Pahlavi, the late shah's son, praises the strikes: "When the Iranian people succeed in reclaiming their freedom in the days ahead, President Trump will be remembered as a leader who stood with them when it mattered most." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Trump, the Self-Declared Peace President, Goes to War Seeking Regime Change

The self-declared “president of PEACE” has chosen to become the president of war after all, unleashing the full power of the U.S. military on Iran with the explicit goal of toppling its government. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

For Trump, the Iran Attack Is the Ultimate War of Choice

Trump decided to launch a war of choice against Iran not because it posed an imminent threat but because it didn't. With Iran weaker than in years, a window of opportunity opened. @sangernyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

Kamala Harris Endorses Jasmine Crockett in Texas Senate Race

Kamala Harris endorses Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Democratic primary race for Senate, just days before voters choose between her and James Talarico, who has built a substantial following on social media. @reidepstein.bsky.social @shanegoldmacher.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/u...

Israelis No Longer Ahead in Americans' Middle East Sympathies Israelis no longer lead the Palestinians in Americans' sympathies, with independents' shift toward the Palestinians driving most of the change.

For the first time since @gallup.com began asking the question in 2001, more Americans sympathize with Palestinians (41%) than with Israelis (36%), a seismic shift with profound political implications. news.gallup.com/poll/702440/...

Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers More citizens are replanting overseas, drawn by a quality of life made easily affordable by the U.S.’s enviable salaries.

The new American dream, for some of its citizens, is to no longer live here. Put aside Trump's deportations, America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves in lands they find more affordable and safe. @drewhinshaw.bsky.social Joe Parkinson www.wsj.com/us-news/amer...

For America’s 250th, Should the Coin of Trump’s Realm Be Gold?

Numismatic glorification: Trump team wants his image on a second coin, this time in gold. But an obscure panel is blocking it. "Only those nations ruled by kings or dictators display the image of their sitting ruler on the coins of the realm.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...