The Dictatorship
We need to talk about why Josh Shapiro’s home was set on fire
On Saturday night, on the first night of Passover, an armed intruder hopped a gate at the residence of Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro and set fire to the building. It appears he did so because Shapiro is Jewish.
According to call logs provided by Dauphin County authorities, Cody Balmer told a 911 dispatcher less than two hours after he allegedly set the fire that “Shapiro needs to know that he ‘will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,’ and he needs to stop ‘having my friends killed’ and ‘our people have been put through too much by that monster.’”
Shapiro, of course, has no control over Israel’s war in Gazaand accusing him of culpability for crimes committed by other Jews, halfway around the world, is the definition of antisemitism.
Few would consider this even a controversial statement. But here’s one that might ruffle a few feathers.
Balmer’s particular pro-Palestinian rhetoric didn’t simply appear out of thin air.
Targeting Shapiro because he’s Jewish is disturbingly similar to certain pro-Palestinian activists calling Shapiro “Genocide Josh” last summer and advocating against him as Kamala Harris’ running mate. It’s little different from anti-Zionist activists targeting Jewish-run businesses in the U.S., Jewish American leaders and Jewish institutions because of their views on Israel.
They are two sides of the same coin — manifestations of modern antisemitism.
It is essential to note that there are caveats to this argument. Anti-Zionist activists didn’t burn Shapiro’s house and try to kill him. Degree matters — as do actions. Moreover, Balmer, according to his mother, suffers from profound mental illness and has a lengthy criminal record.
Still, Balmer’s particular pro-Palestinian rhetoric didn’t simply appear out of thin air. His specific criticisms of Shapiro bear striking similarity to accusations made by anti-Zionist activists that the governor is aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza.
Last summer, critics of Shapiro’s bid to be Harris’ running mate argued that he “stands out among the current field of potential running mates as being egregiously bad on Palestine.” A group of progressive activists calling themselves “No Genocide Josh” urged Democrats to pass over Shapiro for the No. 2 nod. A now-defunct website of the group argued that it was in the Democratic Party’s “best interests” that the VP nominee “support the majority of Democrats and Americans who want social and economic justice for workers and an immediate ceasefire in Palestine.”
But Shapiro’s views are practically interchangeable with those of other prominent Democrats, including his rivals to become Harris’ 2024 running mate.
Like the eventual VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, or Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Shapiro supports a two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state. He has also been far more personally critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he called “one of the worst leaders of all time” and said of him he “has steered Israel in a wrong direction, and made Israel less safe and made their future less bright because of his leadership.” (For Kelly’s part, he attended and applauded Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last year when many other Democrats in attendance wouldn’t, while Walz barely mentioned the prime minister’s name during his time as the Democrats’ VP candidate.) Yet, no one called Walz “Genocide Tim” or Kelly “War Crimes Mark.”
Shapiro has even offered rhetorical support to those protesting Israel’s policies in Gaza, noting “it’s right for young people to righteously protest and question those issues.”
Underlying the criticisms of Shapiro is the unstated idea that Jews cannot be objective when it comes to Israel — a charge once explicitly lobbied against Catholic politicians, including John F. Kennedy — or that American Jews are as loyal to Israel as they are to the United States.
The suggestion of dual loyalty has haunted Jews for generations, but such scurrilous accusations from self-proclaimed progressives are all the more concerning. The left has long partnered with Diaspora Jews in fighting racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. At a time when the president of the United States regularly traffics in antisemitic tropes — and his first term in office was marked by a significant rise in antisemitic incidents — the support of the left is more essential than ever. (Even with Trump out of office, the number of antisemitic incidents in America continued to riseeven before the war in Gaza began in late 2023.)
Criticism of Israel is fair game, but lumping in American Jews with the actions of their co-religionists in Israel is not.
To those rightly rushing to condemn Balmer’s alleged crime, the same unequivocal force needs to be directed at those who traffic in the seemingly more benign but just as dangerous antisemitism — even when it comes from their own political camp. Conservatives like to ascribe blame for antisemitism to the anti-Zionist left. Liberals often place blame squarely at the feet of Trump and other far-right groups. The reality is that antisemitism is prevalent in both camps, even if both right and left-wing leaders are loath to point fingers at their political allies.
Antisemitism is arguably the oldest and most enduring form of ethnic and religious discrimination. It is civilization’s first major conspiracy theory. Since antisemitism is so prevalent and often misunderstood, there is an even greater danger in singling out Jewish politicians for their views on Israel or Jewish administrators at public universitiesor protesting Jewish restaurants, hospitals with Jewish names, or Jewish places of worshipand calling for bans on Jewish religious organizations, like Hillel. Doing so risks turning Jews at large into targets of those aggrieved by the situation in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian activists will argue that such public demonstrations represent a small fringe, but that’s all the more reason to ostracize and exclude those who would turn their attacks on Israel against Jews in America. Jews need and deserve not nitpicking over what is and isn’t antisemitism, but rather full-throated condemnation, even if the hate is emerging from one’s own political camp.
Criticism of Israel is fair game, but lumping in American Jews with the actions of their co-religionists in Israel is not. As we saw this week in Pennsylvania, when such ideas enter the public discourse, the impact can be deadly.
Michael A. Cohen is a columnist for BLN and a senior fellow and co-director of the Afghanistan Assumptions Project at the Center for Strategic Studies at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. He writes the political newsletter Truth and Consequences. He has been a columnist at The Boston Globe, The Guardian and Foreign Policy, and he is the author of three books, the most recent being“Clear and Present Safety: The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans still think their taxes are too high, according to recent polls, even after last year’s tax law fulfilled several of President Donald Trump’s tax-related campaign promises.
In fact, a new Fox News poll indicates people are more upset about taxes than they were last year. The findings from the survey, which was conducted in late March, are another sign that Americans are on edge about their personal finances as the U.S. experiences a spike in inflation and sluggish economic growth. Other polling finds that frustration goes beyond personal tax obligations, with many believing that wealthy people and corporations are not paying their fair share, while others worry about government waste.
The surveys come after Trump and Republicans passed a massive tax and spending cut bill last year. The legislation enacted a range of tax breaks, including a boosted child tax credit and new tax deductions for tips and overtime. Tax refunds are up this seasonand many households are expected to see more income from the Republicans’ tax legislation, but the Congressional Budget Office estimated it will ultimately give the largest benefits to the richest Americans.
Republicans have touted the law as evidence that they are making life more affordable for working families. But polling shows that many Americans may not be feeling the benefits, especially as their tax refunds get eaten up by higher prices.
Most say taxes are too high
About 7 in 10 registered voters say the taxes they pay are “too high,” according to the Fox News poll. That’s up from about 6 in 10 last year. The poll shows heightened concern among very liberal voters and Democratic men, but there has also been a sizable increase among groups that Republicans want to court ahead of the midterm elections, such as moderates, rural voters and white voters without a college degree.
Discontent about taxes has been rising for the past few years. Recent polling from Gallupconducted in March, found about 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the amount of federal income tax they have to pay is “too high,” a finding that’s been largely consistent in the annual poll since 2023. That’s approaching the level of unhappiness found in Gallup’s polling from the 1980s through the 1990s, before President George W. Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
Now, about half of Democrats and about 6 in 10 Republicans say their federal income taxes are too high. Republicans tend to view their tax bill more negatively than Democrats, but Gallup’s polling shows that this gap often shrinks when a Republican is president.
Many believe the rich aren’t paying enough in taxes
Most Americans are troubled by the belief that some wealthy people and corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in January. About 6 in 10 Americans said each of those notions bothers them “a lot,” a measure that is largely unchanged in recent years.
By contrast, only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in that poll said the amount they personally pay in taxes bothers them a lot.
About 8 in 10 Democrats are bothered “a lot” by the feeling that some corporations and rich people aren’t paying their fair share, the Pew survey found, compared to about 4 in 10 Republicans. Government spending is a bigger issue for Republicans, according to the Fox News poll, which found that 75% of registered voters — and a similar share of Republican voters — say “almost all” or “a great deal” of government funding is wasteful and inefficient.
That points to a perception problem for many Americans. Even if their own tax bill is manageable, the idea that the wealthy are underpaying — or that the government is wasting their dollars — bothers many. About half of Americans, 49%, in the Gallup poll say the income tax they will pay this year is “not fair,” which is in line with the record high from 2023.
Broad unhappiness with Trump’s tax approach
Americans’ tax frustration was rising before Trump re-entered the White House, but it’s still a problem for the president’s party — especially if Americans are not feeling the relief that he promised.
The Fox News poll found that about 6 in 10 registered voters, 64%, say they disapprove of how Trump is handling taxes, up from 53% last April. Disapproval has risen most sharply among independents, but also among Democrats and Republicans.
This aligns with a broader feeling that Trump isn’t doing enough to address inflation. Most Americans said Trump had hurt the cost of living “a lot” or “a little” in his second term, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in January. Roughly 9 in 10 Democrats and about 6 in 10 independents said Trump has had a negative impact on the cost of living.
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This story has been updated to correct that less than half of Republicans, 43%, said Trump has helped the cost of living, while 33% said he hasn’t made a difference and only 23% said he has hurt it.
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The Fox News poll was conducted among 1,001 registered voters from March 20-23. The Gallup poll was conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults from March 2-18. The Pew Research Center poll was conducted among 8,512 U.S. adults from Jan. 20-26. The AP-NORC Poll was conducted among 1,203 U.S. adults from Jan 8-11.
The Dictatorship
Democrats to confront Trump budget director Russ Vought about his ‘stone cold silence’
When White House budget director Russell Vought appears before lawmakers on Wednesday, he will almost certainly face questions about a ballooning Pentagon budgeta special war-funding request and an extended Homeland Security shutdown. But Democrats also plan to press him on an issue closer to the Capitol: why he has spent months dodging their questions altogether.
Vought is set to testify Wednesday before the House Budget Committee and again before the Senate’s budget panel on Thursday. It’s a long-awaited chance for Democrats eager to question him on several fronts — including the cost of the Iran war, cuts to health care spending, a demoralized federal workforce and what the government’s own watchdog has described as the illegal impoundment of federal funds.
Lawmakers also have a growing to-do list that involves Vought, including a war supplemental for President Donald Trump’s military campaign in Iran and a reconciliation bill that would fund immigration enforcement agencies. Congress is also supposed to adopt a budget, though that may slip after the president’s budget was weeks late and omitted any information about projected federal debts and deficits.
But Democrats see Vought as “missing and reclusive,” ignoring their questions for months, the Budget Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, told MS NOW. Vought didn’t testify before the committee last year, a break with tradition. And written questions to Vought have been met with “stone cold silence,” Boyle said.
In JanuaryHouse Democrats pressed Vought for answers on the administration’s health care plans, its compliance with congressionally approved funding laws, its attempt to withhold nutrition aid during last year’s government shutdown, and plans for federal layoffs.
“He sent us not one word in response,” Boyle said. “And in doing so, it shows their contempt for the United States Congress, and it shows their contempt for our constitutional system.”
Boyle told MS NOW he plans to introduce legislation to legally require Office of Management and Budget directors to testify before the House Budget Committee, after Vought didn’t do so last year. He also said he aims to require that the OMB director respond to members of the committee.
Democrats didn’t hear back from Vought about testifying to the committee until March, when Boyle displayed a picture of Vought as a missing child on a milk carton. That prompted Vought to respond on X that, “I am coming to testify on April 15. You should get up to speed.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, had previously assured reporters that Vought would testify in 2026, but Boyle said Democrats hadn’t gotten confirmation until the milk carton incident.
“That’s what shamed him into it,” Boyle said of Vought.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Budget Committee, also said Vought had not been responsive to questions from Democratic members of the Senate, including on the cost of the Iran war. She said she’d press Vought at Thursday’s hearing on whether he would distribute funds appropriated by Congress.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he’d ask Vought questions “around this ‘traumatizing the federal workforce’ stuff,” and whether DOGE wasted money by firing employees who needed to be rehired later. And Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said he’d ask Vought “how he’s not a corrupt stooge of the fossil fuel industry.”
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, say they haven’t been pressing Vought hard for answers. For example, the missing debt and deficit data in the budget proposal — which Maya MacGuineas, president of the fiscally conservative Committee for a Responsible Budget called “an astonishing lack of information — hasn’t prompted pushback from conservative lawmakers.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he was unbothered by Vought’s decision to leave out the debt data in the president’s budget request.
“Nobody looks at it anyway,” Scott told MS NOW. “It’s just for you guys to write something.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said he’d ask Vought “to give a great update on the progress that we’ve made” in reducing the deficit. When asked about the missing debt and deficit information, Moreno said he didn’t know about it.
“I haven’t had a chance to see the whole thing, to be honest with you, so I’ve got to see what that’s all about,” Moreno told MS NOW.
In prepared remarks obtained by PunchbowlVought reportedly plans to say that, “when President Trump took office, the nation was facing financial catastrophe under the failed leadership of the Biden Administration and decades of status quo spending strangling our nation.”
But federal spending, according to the Treasury Departmenthas increased under Trump. And the federal deficit is going up. (The federal deficit was $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025 and is projected to be $1.9 trillion in fiscal 2026according to the Congressional Budget Office.)
Republicans have also been patient with the lack of information about the cost of the Iran war.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday he still hasn’t seen a request and doesn’t know how much it will cost.
“The only thing I think I’ve seen is what you guys report,” Thune told reporters.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told reporters he’d want to scour the funding request’s details before he decides if he’ll support it.
But when pressed whether the administration had answered his questions on the topic, Johnson made it clear he hadn’t focused on those details yet.
“Haven’t really asked,” he said.
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University.
The Dictatorship
Justice Department moves to erase Jan. 6 convictions of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys’ leaders
The Justice Department requested on Tuesday for a federal appeals court to erase the seditious conspiracy convictions of a group of leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — two right-wing extremist groups who were involved in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The request asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the individuals’ convictions, effectively erasing their guilty verdicts, and to dismiss the charges with prejudice. A dismissal with prejudice prevents the government from bringing the cases again.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump had already either pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of most of the roughly 1,500 people charged in connection with the 2021 attack on the Capitol after Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in 2020. While most of the defendants received pardons, wiping their convictions, Trump only commuted the sentences of 14 high-profile defendants to time served, which upheld their convictions while allowing them to leave prison.
The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for the extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodeswho didn’t receive pardons last January.
Only 12 of those defendants were referenced in the Justice Department’s request on Tuesday. Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 yearsin prison, is among those who would benefit.
“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Trump himself faces criminal a series of civil lawsuits related to his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack. A federal judge earlier this month rejected his efforts to end the suits ahead of his trial, which has not yet been scheduled.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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