Here are today's featured stories, posted by DU members and curated by the Administrators. More news items can be found in our Latest Breaking News forum, and for all the most up-to-the-minute stories that are being talked about by DU members, visit the Latest Discussions page.
April 17, 2026
'Who the Hell Wrote That?' Trump Stops Mid-Speech To Say He Doesn't Know What a 'Corner Store' Is
(Mediaite) President Donald Trump paused his prepared remarks on Thursday to confess he had “never heard” the term “corner store” before. The president was in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he touted last year’s passage of his “No Tax on Tips” policy, which was included in the omnibus budget the Republican-controlled Congress passed in July. “The great big beautiful bill also slashed taxes on millions of Americans, small businesses, including restaurants, dry cleaners, corner stores,” the president said before pausing his speech. “What is a corner store? I’ve never heard that term. I know what a quarter store is, but I’ve never heard it described. A corner store. Who the hell wrote that, please?”
Go to discussionTrump Says Gas Prices Are 'Not Very High' When Asked When Americans Can Expect Relief
(Mediaite) President Donald Trump spoke to reporters outside the White House on Thursday and was asked about gas prices, which he declared are “not very high.” “Okay, and then on gas prices, how much longer will Americans continue to see these high gas prices?” Trump was asked by a reporter during the lengthy Q&A. “Well, they’re not very high. If you look at what they were supposed to be in order to get rid of a nuclear weapon, with the danger that entails, so the gas prices have come down very much over the last three, four days,” hit back Trump. “$4 a gallon still,” replied the reporter.
Go to discussionTrump Turns Totally Toxic for Europe's Far Right
(Political Wire) Politico: "Donald Trump has become so politically toxic in Europe that even his closest ideological allies increasingly view him as a liability. 'We need to keep our distance,' France’s Marine Le Pen told her fellow far-right National Rally lawmakers at a meeting Tuesday, according to a senior party official in attendance.'"
Go to discussionICE went on a hiring spree. Sterling credentials were not required, AP investigation finds
(AP) Their backgrounds stand out. And not in a good way. Two bankruptcies and six law enforcement jobs in three years. An allegation of lying in a police report to justify a felony charge against an innocent woman — an incident that led to a $75,000 settlement and criticism of his integrity. A third job candidate once failed to graduate from a police academy, then lasted only three weeks in his only job as a police officer. Their common bond: All were hired recently by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during an unprecedented hiring spree.
Go to discussionNow it's Republicans blaming American companies for inflation
(Politico) When Democrats were grappling with sky-high inflation just a couple of years ago, Donald Trump called their plans to fight price gouging by American companies tantamount to communism. Now that it’s the Republican Party in the affordability hot seat, Trump Cabinet members — and GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill — are doing much the same, laying into CEOs and calling for new regulations and antitrust suits.
Go to discussionDemocrats eye new strategy after Iran war powers fail
(Axios) A group of House Democrats is discussing plans to force a vote on an Iran war powers every day until one finally passes or U.S. operations in the region end, Axios has learned. It's the kind of showy flood-the-zone tactic that the Democratic grassroots is constantly trying to get the party's lawmakers to pursue in resisting the Trump administration. It's not clear if House Democratic leadership will get behind the tactic, but even some centrists aren't immediately dismissing the proposal.
Go to discussion'Hungry all the time': USS Tripoli and USS Abraham Lincoln crews report food shortages
(WION) Concerns are rising about food shortages aboard US warships deployed in the Middle East, as service members report limited portions and declining meal quality. Dan F, whose daughter is a Marine stationed on the USS Tripoli, said he was alarmed after seeing a photo of her meal. “A lunch tray, two-thirds empty, carried one small scoop of shredded meat and a single folded tortilla,” he was quoted as saying to USA Today. Another image from the USS Abraham Lincoln showed “a small handful of boiled carrots, a dry meat patty and a gray slab of processed meat.”
Go to discussionTrump official hammered over plan to 'decimate' farm and nutrition programs
(Raw Story) Democrats on a U.S. House spending panel slammed President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to farm and nutrition programs Thursday, as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pledged to collaborate with members of both parties to address their concerns. The president’s budget request would make deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gutting programs to help feed hungry people and support farmers in need — even as the rising costs of groceries, gas and other necessities made those programs even more essential, Democrats on the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee told Rollins.
Go to discussionTrump stiffs lawyers as legal money machine wallows in red ink: report
(Raw Story) More than a few members of the army of lawyers Donald Trump has deployed to sue his enemies and keep him out of courtrooms due to lawsuits are waiting hat in hand to be paid, with the Save America PAC the president used to pay them now wallowing in red ink. According to MS NOW's Hayes Brown, Trump's fundraising machinery has hit a wall now that he's no longer actively running for office. According to recent Federal Election Commission filings, the funding stream Trump has been using to pay out millions to law firms is running "very, very low on cash," Hayes is reporting.
Go to discussionJudge Leon reaffirms his order blocking ballroom construction
(Judge Leon) "On March 31, 2026, I granted the motion of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States ("National Trust') for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of a ballroom on White House grounds as ultra vires. Defendants ... unreasonably insist that the entire ballroom project may proceed. Based on the record before me, I cannot possibly agree, but I will clarify the scope of the injunction as described below."
Go to discussion