POLITICO Nightly: Wes Moore versus the cancel culture

By Charlie Mahtesian Maryland Gov. Wes Moore takes questions from reporters on the last day of Maryland's legislative session on April 7. | Brian Witte/AP LESSONS NOT LEARNED — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is headlining a dinner and fundraiser for South Carolina Democrats tonight, marking the first real political foray into a key early presidential state by one of the brightest stars in the Democratic Party. But if it was up to some South Carolina Democrats, he wouldn’t be there at all. Moore, as POLITICO’s Brakkton Booker reported this week , was the target of a failed effort to rescind his speaking invitation because of his recent decision to veto a slavery reparations bill in Maryland. Moore’s position is squarely in the political mainstream — roughly seven-in-ten adults say descendants of enslaved people should not be repaid, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center poll . A more recent poll in California found nearly 60 percent opposed to cash reparations . Even so, the first-term governor, widely viewed as a top presidential prospect in either 2028 or beyond, was considered by some party leaders to have forfeited his right to address the party by virtue of staking out this one position. It’s a reminder of how far the Democratic Party still has to go in diagnosing and addressing the weaknesses revealed by the 2024 election results — among them, the perception that Democrats have moved too far to the left, focused too much on identity group politics, spent too much time on language policing and became too dogmatic and intolerant of differing views, even within their own party. Moore’s brush with the party’s cancel culture puts him in the company of a number of other Democratic lawmakers who also have been stung by intra-party demands for ideological conformity. Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton has faced harsh Democratic attacks for departing from party orthodoxy on the issue of transgender athletes . Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democratic centrist in Washington state, has come under frequent fire for a variety of ideological transgressions , with surprisingly little consideration given to the political imperatives of representing a rural, Republican-oriented House district. The same is true of Maine Rep. Jared Golden, another House Democrat precariously perched in Trump Country. The buzz surrounding Original Sin , the recently published account of Joe Biden’s ill-fated decision to run for a second term and the efforts made to hide his diminishment, has renewed attention to the fate of former Rep. Dean Phillips. The Minnesota Democrat was ostracized and essentially exiled from the party for raising questions about Biden’s age and health and then challenging him in the 2024 primary — a debate that, in retrospect, the party desperately needed to have. The Trump-era GOP isn’t exactly a party that brooks internal dissent either. But it hasn’t recently emerged as a competitive impediment — the party is in a period of expansion, not contraction. The Republican brand is not nearly as damaged with voters. There’s an important distinction in how the parties view their apostates. Dissent in the contemporary GOP is seen as disloyalty to Trump, who metes out his own political justice to wayward Republicans. There is no such figurehead in the Democratic Party, where dissenting views are characterized as moral failures, unworthy of public airing and perhaps deserving of exile. When Moore walks into dinner this evening, he’ll almost surely be greeted warmly by the majority of the guests in the room. The effort to cancel his appearance failed, after all. But the mere attempt suggests the party still has a ways to go in understanding where it went off the rails. Moore is a combat veteran, a Black rising star, a dynamic talent and a landslide winner who is aligned with the party on most of its priorities. If his voice can be stifled, then the Democrats have completely missed the lessons of 2024. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmahtesian@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @PoliticoCharlie .   A fresh chapter for Playbook —powered by bold reporting and unrivaled access. Jack Blanchard leads with clear-eyed analysis on Trump’s second term. Dasha Burns brings exclusive White House scoops as one of the most sourced Trump reporters in D.C. Adam Wren writes the must-read political storytelling every weekend. Sign up now to read what Washington’s power players use to drive their day.     What'd I Miss? ***CENSORING FREE SPEECH! MORE WITCH HUNTS TO SILENCE THOSE WHO FAIL TO CONFORM! THE MAGA WAY!**** — State begins rolling out expanded student visa vetting — starting with Harvard: The State Department has told U.S. consulates and embassies to immediately begin reviewing the social media accounts of Harvard’s student visa applicants for antisemitism in what it called a pilot program that could be rolled out for colleges nationwide. The cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, obtained by POLITICO, was sent late Thursday. It says consular officers should “conduct a complete screening of the online presence of any nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose.” The policy, while primarily affecting students, will also include faculty members, researchers, staff members and guest speakers at Harvard. excerpts:  The cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, obtained by POLITICO, was sent late Thursday. It says consular officers should “conduct a complete screening of the online presence of any nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose.” The policy, while primarily affecting students, will also include faculty members, researchers, staff members and guest speakers at Harvard. The document puts into motion a proposal the Trump administration floated earlier this week for expanded social media vetting of all foreign students applying to U.S. colleges, pausing new appointments for student visa applicants in the meantime. Increased social media vetting did already exist, but it was previously primarily intended for returning students who may have participated in protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Notably, State Department leadership wants consular officers to consider “whether the lack of any online presence, or having social media accounts restricted to ‘private’ or with limited visibility, may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant’s credibility.” The cable also instructs consular officers to inform applicants with private social media accounts that they could be viewed as evading vetting and request they make their accounts public while the Fraud Prevention Unit reviews their case. It also adds to the White House’s battle with elite academic institutions over alleged mishandling of cases of antisemitism during campus protests in response to Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip against militant group Hamas. The cable specifically identifies antisemitism and antisemitic viewpoints as the focus for consular officers but does not spell out what specifically would rise to the level of inadmissible antisemitism in the eyes of State Department leadership. It says that the Harvard review process “will also serve as a pilot for expanded screening and vetting of visa applicants” and that “this pilot will be expanded over time,” indicating it will likely reach other universities in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. The new guidance comes as the U.S. government continues its showdown with Harvard for alleged failures to address antisemitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The federal government has stripped Harvard of billions in research funding and entered in dueling litigation with the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school. It had also suspended Harvard’s ability to enroll international students by briefly blocking visa applications before that decision was blocked by a federal judge. It also comes as the administration has targeted other academic communities, including Chinese nationals studying at U.S. colleges and universities. Rubio said Wednesday the administration would “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese nationals studying in sensitive fields, the potential implementation of which has flummoxed State Department officials. ***THOU SHALT OBEY! FOX NEWS = FAKE NEWS LIARS PROVIDED INCOMPETENT BOOBS & SEAN DUFFY (PRONATALIST) WHO SLASHED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS & CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO KEEP PLANES IN THE AIR TOPS THE LIST!**** — Trump allies urge crackdown on Cabinet secretaries meddling in GOP primaries: President Donald Trump’s allies are fuming at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for getting involved in Michigan’s Senate primary, a race that now threatens to divide Republicans. Duffy is headlining a planned June 4 fundraiser for Rep. Bill Huizenga, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO — a move that puts Duffy at odds with the National Republican Senatorial Committee and 2024 Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita. Duffy has also been advising Huizenga, according to a person familiar with the race. Duffy, according to the two people close to Trump, never cleared his political engagement with the White House political shop and has now drawn the ire of Trump’s top political hands. The transportation secretary’s move to fundraise for Huizenga has now prompted threats of a crackdown on Cabinet secretaries’ political activities ahead of the midterms, POLITICO has learned. ****BRAINSTORMING TO DESTROY EDUCATION?**** — White House convenes meeting to brainstorm new Harvard measures: The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against Harvard University — and looking for new ways to bring the storied institution to heel. The White House convened officials from nearly a dozen agencies on Wednesday to brainstorm additional punitive measures , according to one administration official and a second person familiar with the meeting, who were granted anonymity to share details. The administration official said that forthcoming actions are expected from the State, Treasury, Health and Human Services and Justice departments, among others, and could happen as early as next month. ***PETTY LITTLE MAN CAN'T SOLVE THE ECONOMIC DISASTERS HE CREATED: TACO!*** — Trump says he’s fired National Portrait Gallery director amid Washington arts scene takeover: President Donald Trump said he was sacking the longtime director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery , Kim Sajet, today, ending the 12-year tenure of the first woman to serve as the gallery’s director. “Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am herby (sic) terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery. She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post this afternoon. AROUND THE WORLD French President Emmanuel Macron is seen at the Sorbonne University in Paris on May 5, 2025. | Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool via AP WARNING SIGN — French President Emmanuel Macron warned China that NATO could become more deeply involved in Asia if Beijing does not do more to stop North Korea from taking part in Russia’s war on Ukraine. “North Korea in Ukraine is a big question for all of us. If China doesn’t want NATO to be involved in Southeast Asia, it should prevent [North Korea] from being engaged on European soil,” Macron said today during an address at a major defense summit in Singapore. France has long maintained that the transatlantic military alliance shouldn’t expand its reach into Asia and led the campaign to block the opening of a NATO liaison office in Japan in 2023. “I had objected to NATO having a role in Asia because I don’t believe in being enrolled in someone else’s strategic rivalry,” Macron said, hinting that Paris could revisit its stance. NE FUME PAS — France is banning smoking in areas where young people socialize including beaches, parks and sports facilities from July 1 to clamp down on the harmful habit and make it less attractive. The ban, which extends to bus stops, gardens and areas close to schools, is intended to “denormalize tobacco and limit its attractiveness,” the French health ministry said today. The fine for smoking in such areas will reach €135. The move comes as data shows smoking is at a “historically low level” in France and tobacco sales fell more than 11.5 percent last year. Nonetheless, tobacco consumption still kills 75,000 people each year, equivalent to 200 deaths per day in the country. The health costs amount to €150 billion per year.   Policy moves fast—stay ahead with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant . Effortlessly search POLITICO's archive of 1M+ news articles, analysis documents, and legislative text. Track legislation, showcase your impact, and generate custom reports in seconds. Designed for POLITICO Pro subscribers, this tool helps you make faster, smarter decisions. Start exploring now .     Nightly Number Almost 20 percent The amount that imports into the United States dropped by from March to April , as companies adjusted to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff regime, in an early signal of how his global trade war is unfolding in the U.S. economy. RADAR SWEEP IT’S MARGINAL — Large farms dominate America’s landscape, producing the grand majority of the American-made food that we consume. But in some pockets of the country, small farmers continue to subsist, living on increasingly tight margins in communities that are shrinking. One such place is a cattle branding farm in Nebraska that’s the subject of a photo essay from Alyssa Schukar in The New Republic. Schukar goes into the Burdick farm and explains how cattle branding remains an industry in flux, relying on neighbors and high school wrestlers to get the job done. Parting Image On this date in 1968: Members of the Poor People's Campaign gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after a heavy thunderstorm canceled a concert. | Bob Schutz/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on X Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   Follow us

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