Weekly Recap: April 13th - 19th

A recap of the big political stories affecting the United States this past week.

Last weekend, Iran responded to the Israeli bombing of an Iranian consulate building in Syria that killed two top Iranian commanders with an attack of their own. Iran made it known they would launch a retaliatory attack throughout the week, which gave Israel, surrounding nations, and the United States time to prepare. The US already had warships in the area due to the ongoing conflicts and the Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea, but Biden ordered additional ships to move into position to help defend Israel. 

In the early morning hours, Iran launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles towards military targets in Israel. The launches were detected as they began, which gave hours for Israel, Jordan, and US forces to prepare for the incoming barrage.

Israel’s Arrow defense system and Iron Dome showed their power in stopping almost all of the drones and missiles that reached Israeli airspace. The United States and Jordan also shot down numerous drones and missiles on their way to Israel. In the end, only a couple of missiles were able to hit an air base in Israel which caused little damage and only one injury. No casualties occurred.

In the wake of this attack, President Biden condemned Iran’s escalation while also urging Netanyahu to take the successful defense as a win and let the tensions cool. Israel waited most of the week before deciding to respond. Their response was measured and precise. Their main focus was destroying the air defense systems around Iran’s nuclear program facilities, seemingly to show Iran they could take out that target if they wished.

Whether the conflict between Iran and Israel will now be able to cool down or if more tit-for-tat retaliations will continue is yet to be seen.

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In other foreign relations news, the House of Representatives finally moved forward with bills to address foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan after six months of obstruction and delays. The situation in Ukraine has become dire as they await future aid, all while Russia continues to attack Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian targets. 

The most surprising aspect of the progress in the House is Speaker Johnson’s 180 on his views. Johnson had refused to bring a foreign aid bill that had passed the Senate two months ago to a vote in the House, and that vote would have passed. Johnson claims that intelligence he recently saw makes him fully believe Russia is a threat and is working with Iran, North Korea, and China, which is all true.

While it may be new intelligence that convinced Johnson, his motives could also be influenced by members of his own party working towards vacating him from his position as Speaker.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is leading the effort and filed a motion to vacate almost 30 days ago but has yet to bring forward a vote. This is in part because the threat gives her more power and fundraising than the actual result, and Greene doesn’t have the votes to succeed. Some Democrats have come forward and said they would defend Johnson if Ukraine aid were brought forward for a vote. The final vote on that aid is expected to happen today.

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The motion to vacate has gathered more support, with Thomas Massie and Paul Gosar now cosigning the motion, but the vote still has not happened. Other Republicans asked by the media have said they do not support a motion to vacate, including Matt Gaetz, who led the motion and the vote that ousted Speaker McCarthy six months earlier.

This is part of a growing divide within the Republican party where more moderate members have grown tired of the chaos and dysfunction brought by the hard right MAGA politicians. Both sides have been calling each other out in the press and voting opposite of one another on rules and bills.

Even Trump seems to be losing his grip on the party. Trump told the House of Republicans to kill the FISA 702 renewal, but Republicans passed the measure. He then complained about how much money the US was spending on aid to Ukraine, only to see the House approve a large aid bill for a vote that is expected to succeed.

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A fracturing party isn’t Trump’s only trouble. This week, his first criminal trial began in New York for business fraud related to the hush money he paid Stormy Daniels in order to keep his affair from going public in the lead-up to the 2016 Presidential election. 

The jury selection process was drawn out. The lawyers grilled jurors on their opinions of the former President, and the potential jurors' past tweets were read aloud to the courtroom. These tweets were often disparaging and critical of Trump, who was forced to sit back and listen to all of them. 

Trump also struggled to stay awake in court, falling asleep on numerous days, including before lunchtime on day one. This led to widespread coverage on social media since Trump and Republicans have repeatedly tried to label President Biden as low energy, only to have Trump be the one who couldn’t stay awake for more than a couple of hours.

Another blow to Trump was the judge's insistence that he be present in court each day. This will hinder Trump’s ability to campaign during the trial, although Trump’s campaigning was already low the past several weeks, with far fewer visits to key swing states compared to Biden.