This is the May 21, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’ve been pushing for this. I think I was weaponized against. I think I’m a good example of that.”
— Proud Boys founder Enrique Tarrio, sentenced to 22 years for Jan. 6 before being pardoned by Trump less than two years later, now seeking $2 million to $3 million from the Justice Department’s new $1.7 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund
Sources: Washington Post, CNN, Newsweek, NBC News/Getty Images
Trump’s primary winning streak continues. But his revenge tour could still backfire.
By Matthew Bartlett
In 2016, President Donald Trump began one of the biggest political realignments in American politics. In the 2026 primaries, he will finish remaking the Republican Party in his image. But what that means in the midterm elections and beyond will be up to voters.
Recently, while admiring the roses in a compound for China’s top officials, the president professed hopes of cooperation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But his messages back home were far from rosy and largely aimed at his own party.
Last month, the White House and its allies led a largely successful crusade to primary Indiana lawmakers that refused the president’s demands on redistricting. On Saturday, the MAGA retribution rampage continued in Louisiana, with Sen. Bill Cassidy losing his primary a half a decade on from voting to convict Trump after Jan. 6.
And on Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie lost the GOP primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District. Massie’s strident libertarianism has tested the patience of many Republicans, but his political ending likely was due to his advocacy for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, a cause that the MAGA base once championed.
Read more here.
And get Bartlett’s takeaways on “Morning Joe.”
ON THIS DATE
On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. Under her leadership, the organization responded to both peacetime and wartime disasters — including the 1889 Johnstown Flood, which killed more than 2,000 people, and the 1893 hurricane over South Carolina’s Sea Islands.
WHAT THEY SAID
Jonathan Lemire on Trump’s patterns of grifts
“It’s a safe bet that James Comey and Mark Kelly are not going to benefit from this fund. The theme emerging is that even some in the GOP are seeing that Trump is putting his own interests ahead of the party — doing nothing to help them ahead of November, and instead taking care of himself, his family, and those who committed violent acts in his name.”
Richard Haass on the U.S.-Israel relationship:
“The great irony is that Bibi Netanyahu came to Washington and persuaded Donald Trump to go to war. Now that war has opened up profound differences between the United States and Israel.”
Recommended
Ret. Gen. Mark Hertling on Memorial Day
“All of us who served have memories of people we served alongside — who were the best of us, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country. Sometimes we forget that in our current environment of contention and anger and a lack of understanding of listening to other people.”
John Kasich on Congress’ responsibility
“I’m horrified by the idea that anyone involved in the violence at the Capitol could somehow get money. When I was in Congress, we didn’t need to form a YOLO caucus — because we realized you only live once, and you only have one opportunity to stand up and be something true to yourself.”
Jonathan Greenblatt on calling out hate
“Whether you’re at a synagogue, mosque, or church, no one should be able to assail the people inside. We must call out hate when it’s directed at people — because of their Muslim faith, the color of their skin, where they’re from, or who they love. Hate is a disease that will ultimately kill all of us.”
EXTRA HOT TEA
$1.5 trillion
—The estimated valuation of SpaceX, which is preparing to go public next month in what would be the biggest IPO in history — and could put Elon Musk on track to become the world’s first trillionaire.
ONE MORE SHOT
Stephen Colbert will sit in the “Late Show” chair for the final time tonight. As Willie said this morning, “in this fractured media environment, many people who weren’t up at 6 a.m. watching us found out what was going on in the world — and watched power being held to account — from late-night comedians like Stephen Colbert.”
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