The Gov Hub Newsletter: May 12, 2026

Inflation is going up, up, up, spiking from 3.3% in March to 3.8% in April. 

Gas prices are through the roof, with the national average price today via AAA hitting $4.504. The Trump Admin. has suggested hitting pause on the 18-cent federal gas tax to temporarily reduce prices – TBD on whether that happens since it requires Congress to act in order for it to become a reality.

In Kentucky, Dem Gov. Andy Beshear signed an emergency executive order to freeze the state’s gas tax at 26.4 cents ahead of what was scheduled for July 1, 2026. In the same vein of stabilizing costs, Gov. Beshear signed a separate EO that freezes the 2025 motor vehicle assessment rate ahead of what was also going to be an increase set to start in January 2027.

According to a new report from Oxfam International and the International Trade Union Confederation, in 2025, CEO pay rose 11% compared with pay for the average worker across the world only increasing by .5%. The report also found that billionaires were paid $2,500 per second in dividends in 2025.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, an iconic American landmark that Trump decided to "refurbish" by painting American Flag Blue, which was originally estimated to cost $1.8M, has somehow swelled in price to $11.3M. The contract for the reno was given to a company that’s done projects for Trump properties before in an expedited no-bid process, with the Trump Admin apparently using an urgency exemption to by-pass the required competitive project bidding process. Taking issue with the alleged failure to adhere to the National Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation has sued.

Promises made, promises altered seems to be the case with the Trump Mobile phones that MAGA die-hards put $100 deposits down on in spring 2025. Now, with the phones still nowhere to be found, nary very few updates aside from that despite the illustration on the website that the phone’s design could change, there’s still not a listed drop date. Anyways, here’s a cathartic video of a MAGA freaking out about it.

In what feels like a variation of an influencer brand trip in the worst possible way, Trump is bringing along the CEOs of major corporations and business leaders for his trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping. Amongst those picked for the trip are Elon Musk, Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink – not to be confused with Blackstone, who is also sending CEO Stephen Schwarzman – Meta’s CEO, GE’s  Mastercard’s, and this whole hodgepodge crew. 

Trump’s Interior Department is overturning a Biden-era rule that allowed public land to be leased for conservation, similarly to how public land can be leased for logging, oil drilling etc.

House Judiciary Dems concluded an investigation into Trump’s DOJ approved $1M+ in payouts to fired FBI agents. Their investigation alleges that the Trump Admin paid out former agents that were fired for egregious conduct like engaging in “commercial sex overseas,” as opposed to the reasoning from the right-side of the aisle that the firings were “political in nature."

Transportation Sec. and former reality show star that won’t let you forget it [evidence loading], Sean Duffy filmed a five-part docu-series called the Great American Road Trip, featuring him and his family traversing the country – and yes, this was in fact filmed during the longest TSA shutdown of all time. While the show’s production costs were covered by a nonprofit, the show also has sponsors, like Shell, Boeing, United Airlines, and others that are supposed to be regulated by Sec. Duffy’s department.

As Politico put it, two MAGA loyalists who both lost their attempts to become governors, Kari Lake [AZ] and Doug Mastriano [PA], have been nominated by Trump for ambassadorships – Kari Lake to be the Ambassador to Jamaica and Doug Mastriano to be the Ambassador to Slovakia. Both nominations have to be approved/confirmed by the Senate.

In the ashes of Kristi Noem’s tenure leading DHS, is the return of Cameron Hamilton, the former acting administrator for FEMA who was fired by Trump, after Noem and Hamilton got into it, with Noem allegedly making Hamitlon take a lie-detector test about him possibly leaking news to reporters. Now, Trump has nominated Hamilton to resume/take the reins at FEMA. In what may feel quasi-like groundhog day, Hamilton’s nomination to be the administrator of FEMA will go before the Senate.

Filed under what feels like it came out of a VEEP eppy, White house COS Susie Wiles sent out an email demanding that staffers stop leaking info to the press.. Then that email/request was leaked to the press.

Last week, Virginia’s state Supreme Court threw out a voter-approved congressional map that had gained Dems a few seats in the gerrymandering war in its most flagrant iteration started by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The court flagged what it called a failure for lawmakers to follow proper legal procedures in administering the referendum, citing early voting already being under way in the ‘in between’ 2025 election as the crux of the issue [the procedural tl;dr: must pass a leg sesh 2x, then an election in between before it goes to voters]. Now, Virginia Dems have filed an emergency appeal to SCOTUS under the argument that members of Virginia’s state Supreme Court committed “judicial defiance” in its ruling.

Following SCOTUS gutting the Voting Rights Act, they have greenlit a request from Alabama state Republicans to use a 2023 congressional map that only has one majority-Black district. For context, as a result of a lawsuit alleging that the state had violated the VRA, a federal court had previously ruled that Alabama had to draw a map with a second majority-Black district. SCOTUS’s greenlight throws that out. Meanwhile, also and related in AL, is GOP leaders calling on SCOTUS to overturn the 14th Amendment.

Keeping to the Voting Rights Act decision from hell SCOTUS, reporting from The Guardian has revealed that Justice Alito’s ruling cited misleading data provided by Trump’s DOJ.

Florida’s Republican AG James Uthmeier took to Twitter to allege that surrogacy is somehow akin to “modern day slavery,” and thus in violation of the 13th Amendment. He also alleged that Chinese nationals are using the practice in a way that endangers national security. The Tweet follows reporting that the AG’s office is considering intervening in a gay couple’s custody case regarding their child born via surrogate. That intervention is based on questions around the constitutionality of surrogacy. 

Trump’s US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued The New York Times on behalf of a former employee of NYT – a white man – that claims he was discriminated against – as a white man – when he was passed over for a promotion that was given to a woman instead.

Albeit allegedly not related to appearing to doze off during pressers, weird amounts of foundation on his hand, a skin rash on neck, and so on, the White House has announced that Trump will be getting another medical check-up at the end of May.

RFK Jr. at a maternal health event held at the White House yesterday rambled on about his concern around teen’s sperm count, saying: “In 1970, men had twice the sperm count as our teenagers do today.” Now is he entirely wrong on this? Actually no, including the fact that studies have connected reduced sperm counts with smoking weed, amongst other environmental and habitual factors. However, that delivery though…

The U.S. Postal Service has proposed a rule change that would allow concealable handguns [pistols and revolvers] to be shipped through the mail, a practice that has been banned by federal law since 1927. Trump’s DOJ however has claimed that the law is unconstitutional and violates the Second Amendment, and asked USPS to change its rules.

Doctors are ringing and raising the alarm as more and more babies die unnecessarily because parents are refusing to allow their babies Vitamin K shots at birth – Vitamin K is vital for blood clotting. The refusal seems to stem from the RFK Jr. area of social media, underscored by his refusal to clarify his viewpoint on Vitamin K shots to Congress last week.

Expected later today is the resignation of FDA Commissioner Dr. Makary, who according to The Hill, didn’t want to approve flavored vapes, which got the green-light last week. Makary is set to be the third Senate-confirmed Trump Admin official to exit stage right so far this year.

Reporting from AP shared highlights from the policy wishlists from Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. Amongst them, the creation of a federal hotline that would have an automated recording populated on it saying “There is no separation of church and state.”

Congressman Jen Kiggans [R-VA] revealed her true colors during a radio appearance in which she agreed with the host’s comments regarding Congressman Hakeem Jeffires [D-NY] that went as follows: “Get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”

According to a new report from The Guardian, in the first seven months of Trump Admin 2.0, the GOP-run U.S. government deported the parents of 27,000 children.

Trump is big mad about Senator Chuck Schumer’s initiative to combat voter suppression, and Truth Social-ed himself into a rage where he threatened to send an "election integrity army to states” during the midterms. Anyways, you can check your voter registration here.

Jes Staley, the former CEO of Barclays has been asked by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to testify in July on behalf of his relationship with Epstein.

Sec. of Commerce Howard Lutnick sat for closed door testimony with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week, resulting in more questions than answers, but an overall conclusion from Dem members of the Committee that Lutnick was dishonest and inconsistent in his story and timelines.

AP: Texas lifts safety rule enacted after deadly flood, clearing the way for some summer camps to reopen

USA Today: Trump says he still wants to visit Fort Knox to see if gold is there

Fox Business: US shrimpers face ‘double whammy’ from soaring fuel costs, tariff refunds

Newsweek: Millennial Moms Are the Most Resentful: Poll