Good morning. Partly sunny today with a high around 86. A low near 64 overnight.
Sports this weekend: The Nationals visit St. Louis today, Saturday, and Sunday. D.C. United hosts Charlotte FC Saturday. Loudoun United FC visits Louisville City FC Saturday. The Commanders visit Dallas Sunday. The Washington Spirit will visit the Chicago Stars Sunday. The Mystics visit the Indiana Fever Sunday.
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I can’t stop listening to:
Monsieur Périné, “Nuestra canción.” This delightful Colombian group mixes up swing, cumbia, and pop, and if you have a little extra listening time this morning, their 2016 Tiny Desk Concert is a blast. They play the Lincoln Theater tonight.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this year’s music recommendations. Here are 2025’s songs (Apple, Spotify), too.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
The war: Iran said it struck a tanker that was attempting to make its way through the Strait of Hormuz. (AP) The US is looking into whether Iran hit two tankers bound for Texas with cyberattacks last month. The ships were in the Strait of Gibraltar at the time, which suggests that Iran or an ally “could be seeking to disrupt another key maritime chokepoint or blow up a U.S. port.” (WSJ) Iranians staged a demonstration to show support for their country’s defiant stance this morning; hundreds of thousands of people attended. (AP)
The widening conflict: China, which buys most of Iran’s oil, asked Tehran to get the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to knock off their attacks on shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which has imperiled Saudi oil shipments. (Reuters) The US will sell Saudi Arabia F-35 fighter jets “despite internal reports by U.S. intelligence agencies that China could acquire or steal the warplane’s technology.” (NYT)
The dilemma: President Trump, who started this war in February, said he was mulling whether to “to go in and annihilate” the Iranian regime ahead of a meeting with Gulf leaders. (Axios) And yet: Trump is “reluctant to undertake a dangerous new mission for a US military stretched by the fighting against Iran.” (Reuters) A Fox News poll found that 71 percent of voters think Trump lacks a plan for extricating himself from the war. (Fox News) Democrats in the US Senate—minus John Fetterman of Pennsylvania—pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to account for the war’s costs in detail. (Politico)
The effects: As you may have noticed, everything is more expensive lately. Wages are not keeping pace, and the midterm elections are looming. (WSJ) The cost of heating oil is soaring, especially in the Northeast, due to the war. (NYT) Trump’s attempts to lay blame for the economy at the feet former President Biden aren’t landing with voters. (Politico) Democrats feel confident they’ll retake the US House of Representatives and think they’ve got a good shot at taking the Senate in November. (Washington Post) Republicans in the House know they’re in a sticky situation—and they just left town. (Politico)
Kennedy Center update: Amid all this, the President’s focus appears to be…somewhat diffuse. The once farfetched fear that Trump could tear down the Kennedy Center got very real yesterday when photos emerged that showed him receiving a briefing with the legend “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” (NYT) That document appeared amid Trump’s own escalating threats to vaporize the building unless a federal judge allows him to slap his name on it somehow. (Washingtonian) US Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio asked a judge to intervene, and Christopher Cooper did, ordering the administration to provide 30 days’ notice before it did anything to the arts complex. (Washingtonian) Meanwhile, former workers at the US Institute of Peace—another building near the Kennedy Center that Trump has emptied and glued his name upon—asked a judge to stop him from having his name carved into the building’s marble exterior. (NYT) Kennedy Center supporters will link hands and attempt to surround the center during a demonstration this evening. (Hands Off the Arts)
Administration perambulation: The White House yanked its nomination of Lance Schroyer to lead ICE, which US Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky had stalled. (Politico) David Steiner (N.B.: this is the postmaster general’s second appearance in Washingtonian Today this week) said the USPS is “not doing anything” on a computer system that Trump wanted as part of an effort to restrict mail-in voting. Steiner also denied that he’s considering resigning. (NBC News) Trump is considering the installation of more data centers on federal land than had previously been reported. (Washington Sun) The FAA plans to roll out a new AI-powered air traffic control system in the skies over the DC area, perhaps as early as next week. (WSJ) US representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna say they have enough signatures for another discharge petition intended to force the release of more of the government’s files on the deceased, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Washington Sun) Perhaps you’re too young to remember George H.W. Bush‘s 1998 Willie Horton ad, but the President is not—he’s been bringing it up on the campaign trail lately. (AP) Health Secretary RFK Jr. told a conference of anti-vaxxers that they have a “friend at the White House” and further delighted the group by claiming the US would look into conspiracy theories about “chemtrails.” (NYT)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• A new bar named Carla from the owner of and a partner in Jack Rose Dining Saloon will open in Adams Morgan next week. It will cap the prices of cocktails at $13.
• Michelin announced that the restaurants Rye Bunny, Maison Bar à Vins, Bar Del Monte, and Elcielo Bistró will be in its next DC guide. There’s no word on stars yet.
• MiShi, an izakaya and sushi pop-up, just opened inside BirdSong.
• Film festival season is upon us. Here are a dozen local fests for cinephiles.
Local news links:
• The FBI has almost an hour and a half of surreptitiously recorded footage that shows DC Council member Trayon White receiving envelopes full of cash, discussing his finances and relationships, and describing Navy Yard as a “sin city” full of “freaks, broads, money, girls.” (Washington Post)
• What were federal agents and National Guard troops doing near a DC elementary school yesterday? Officials say they’re part of Trump’s efforts to make DC “safe and beautiful”; parents and neighbors are not exactly overjoyed. (Washington Sun)
• Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that accuses the agency of breaking the commonwealth’s laws while DHS hunts for evidence of election fraud. (NYT)
• Maryland officials—including US Representative Andy Harris, a Republican—criticized an administration move that could affect cleanup in the Chesapeake. (Maryland Matters)
• Police in Prince George’s County say a man has confessed to killing George “Junior” Burdynski, who disappeared in 1993, at the direction of 61-year-old Joseph Lynch. The man, who does not yet face charges, was 13 at the time. (WUSA9)
• A Virginia driver who killed a pedestrian this summer got his case dismissed—after serving 20 hours of community service. (NBC4 Washington)
• Alex Ovechkin addressed the controversy over his appearance in a video promoting a party that supports Russian President Vladimir Putin by saying he’s “full of peace and love.” (Athletic)
• Customized Rolexes are among the status symbols Trump types look for in Washington. (Vanity Fair)
• The Yellow Line will shut down next weekend and the weekend after while WMATA does maintenance and repairs. (Washington Sun)
• DC punk rock will return to the Sylvan Theater next Saturday when Glitterer plays there with Posición Unida and Somebody’s Daughter. Here’s how it happened. (Washington City Paper)
• A bunch (sorry) of people plan to eat bananas together this weekend in Meridian Hill Park. (Axios D.C.)
• Here’s a very Capitol Hill Little Free Library. (PoPville)
Weekend event picks:
Friday: “Routed West,” an exhibition that uses quilts to tell the story of the Second Great Migration, opens at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Saturday: Bikini Kill play the Fillmore Silver Spring.
Sunday: It’s the last day of a Korean street festival in Manassas and a Ukranian festival in Silver Spring.
See more weekend picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
