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Rents around the U.S. are growing more slowly than they have in years

April 22, 2026 4:54 PM EDT / CBS News

Good news, renters, plus a dollop of bad.

The typical monthly rent in March was $1,910 per month, up 1.8% from a year ago. That represents the slowest rate of growth in rental costs since December 2020, according to a new Zillow study.

“Rents surged after the pandemic due to a sharp increase in demand colliding with limited supply and strong fiscal support,” Zillow senior economist Kara Ng told CBS News in an email. “Growth is now slowing as new supply comes online, demand normalizes and affordability constraints reduce landlords’ pricing power.”

In another boost for some renters, people’s income rose faster in March than rental costs, giving people a bit more financial wiggle room.

According to the online real estate marketplace’s findings, single-family rents rose 2.5% on an annual basis in March, the slowest rate Zillow has recorded since 2015, when it started collecting the data. Zillow defines single-family homes as attached or semi-attached row houses, duplexes, quadruplexes and townhomes. Multifamily home rents were $1,757 in March, up 1.3% from a year ago.

Among the largest U.S. cities, monthly rents cooled the most in Austin, Texas, where prices are down 2.3% as of March compared to a year ago. Rents are down 1.6% year over year in both Tampa, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, Zillow found.

While the cost of keeping a roof over your head is cooling, Americans still spend a large chunk of their income on rent. The median household spent 26.5% of its income on rent last month, Zillow found.

Meanwhile, a household must earn at least $76,400 a year to comfortably afford the typical monthly rent of $1,910 — that’s up 35% from before the pandemic. The data shows single-family rents have surged nearly 45% since early 2020, while multifamily rents have jumped 28% over that period.

2 University of South Florida doctoral students have gone missing, authorities say

April 22, 2026 / 5:46 PM EDT / CBS News

Two doctoral students at the University of South Florida have gone missing, according to authorities. Family and friends of the pair, both from Bangladesh, say they haven’t heard from them since last Thursday.

Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27, were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16, the University of South Florida Police Department said in a news release. In a statement to CBS News, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which is also investigating, said detectives are actively following leads and conducting searches in multiple locations, including Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Limon is studying the use of AI in environmental science and was set to present his doctoral thesis this week, his family said. He was last seen around 9 a.m. last Thursday at his residence in Tampa, the USFPD said. Bristy is studying chemical engineering. She was also last seen on April 16, at approximately 10:00 a.m. on the USF Tampa campus, authorities said.

Loved ones say their disappearances are out of character and are concerned for their well-being.

Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27, were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16, the University of South Florida Police Department said. Families of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy

“It’s extremely suspicious for us,” said Zubaer Ahmed, Limon’s brother. “How can two people… disappear out of nowhere?”

According to Ahmed, Limon had asked family members not to contact him because of his upcoming thesis presentation.

“He was extremely busy, and Tuesday [April 14]…he also informed us that, please don’t call me unless it is… [an] emergency,” Ahmed told CBS News. There has been no further contact with Limon confirmed since Thursday, April 16, authorities said.

A friend of the pair told CBS News that Limon had put on a shared Outlook calendar at the lab that he was planning to work from home on the day he and Bristy went missing.

“He took a work-from-home to work on [his] thesis,” said Omer Hossain, the friend. “He put it in the Outlook calendar.”

Hossain said the pair were part of the same friend group, and that friends were unaware that the two may have had a romantic relationship.

Ahmed said the pair had developed feelings, “gradually they thought about having a future together, but they preferred their study first.”

Bristy’s older brother, Zahid Pranto, told CBS News that Bristy would typically be in touch with her family on a daily basis.

“There has been no single day without contact with her,” Pranto said. “My family is just devastated.”

According to the families, the disappearances also don’t make sense because the pair already had flights booked to travel to Bangladesh for summer break.

Anyone with information is asked to contact university authorities at 813-974-2628.

Kalshi suspends three US congressional candidates for ‘political insider trading’

2026-04-22T20:27:15.04Z / Reuters

By Jasper Ward

April 22, 2026 8:27 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

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Kalshi logo appears in this illustration taken April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – Prediction markets platform Kalshi said on Wednesday it has suspended three U.S. congressional candidates for “political insider trading,” building ​on its efforts to block politicians and athletes from betting on contests in which ‌they are involved.

“All three cases concern political insider trading and were flagged because of our newly released safeguards to block political candidates from trading on their own elections,” the company said.

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Kalshi identified the ​candidates as Democratic Minnesota state Senator Matt Klein, who was seeking the nomination ​to run for the U.S. House of Representatives seat representing his state’s ⁠2nd district; Republican Ezekiel Enriquez, who is seeking his party’s nomination for the U.S. ​House seat representing the 21st district in Texas; and Mark Moran, an independent running for ​U.S. Senate in Virginia.

Moran admitted to having bet $100 on himself, saying he wanted to get caught.

“I traded $100 on myself, knowing this would happen (also knowing that I wouldn’t be vying for the Democratic nomination) and ​the attention it would create to highlight how this company is destroying young men and ​as Senator I will go after Kalshi and impose significant penalties on them – 25% – a vice tax – ‌to ⁠pay down our national debt,” Moran wrote on X.

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Klein apologized for his $50 bet on his primary race, calling the move a mistake. He said he has paid the penalty.

The other candidates could not immediately be reached for comment.

Prediction markets have surged in popularity since ​the 2024 U.S. presidential ​election, when participants bet ⁠heavily on Donald Trump’s victory.

However, there is a growing concern about insider trading on them after an unknown trader made more than $400,000 betting that ​Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be ousted from his position ahead ​of a ⁠U.S. mission to capture the leader.

California barred state officials last month from using inside knowledge to bet on platforms such as Kalshi and its rival Polymarket.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on ⁠Wednesday ​issued an executive order prohibiting state employees from engaging ​in insider trading on prediction markets.

“Getting rich by betting on inside information is corruption, plain and simple,” Hochul said ​in a statement.

Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham

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Two home explosions on same San Antonio block injure 5

April 22, 2026 7:25 PM EDT / CBS News

San Antonio — Five people were injured when explosions occurred several hours apart at two homes on the same block of a north San Antonio neighborhood Tuesday night, authorities said.

The National Transportation Safety Board described the home explosions as “natural gas‑fueled” in a statement posted to social media. The NTSB, which said it was sending a team to the scene Wednesday, will investigate why no evacuations were issued prior to the second explosion.

San Antonio Fire Chief Valerie Frausto told reporters the first home explosion occurred at about 6 p.m. local time, and the second about two hours later, around 8 p.m. People were inside both homes at the times of the blasts, she said.

“It was very similar to the first, you know,” Frausto said of the second explosion, which occurred two doors down from the first. “The roof blew, there was sheet rock and insulation across the street.”

Frausto said five people, including a child, were rushed to area hospitals with burn injuries from both blasts.

CBS News learned that a family of three — a local pastor, high school teacher and their teen daughter — were injured in the first explosion and were in stable condition Wednesday. The conditions of those hurt in the second explosion were unclear.

Neighbors told CBS News they didn’t smell gas after the first blast, and there was no sign that they might still be in danger. They even said they were out in the street talking with firefighters, along with the residents of the second home that exploded.

But according to neighbor John Young, the residents of that second home returned to it before it exploded.

“Those people had been outside with us, watching what was going on, and they went back inside the house and…then their house went up,” Young said. “I mean, it went in flames.”

Frausto, asked if firefighters had made a mistake in their response to the first blast, responded, “We don’t know when these things happen, when there’s a gas leak, very hard to detect, and especially under these conditions, there’s sometimes no odor. It’s just something that happened, and we have to deal with it.”

Gas and power have since been shut off to the area, and several surrounding homes evacuated, Frausto noted.

“We can’t allow anybody back to their homes until it’s safe,” the fire chief said.

CPS Energy, the natural gas provider for the area, told CBS News in a statement that it is still investigating the cause.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/2-san-antonio-homes-explode-same-street-hours-apart/

“Let the pope have his say”: Pennsylvania Catholics caught between Trump and Pope Leo

April 22, 2026 / 4:13 PM EDT / CBS News

By Zak Hudak

Bucks County, Penn. — Catholic churches seem to be everywhere in this southeastern Pennsylvania county — 33 parishes, to be exact — and for good reason. More than a third of Bucks County residents are Catholic, according to the privately run 2020 U.S. Religion Census.

In 2024, Catholic voters helped deliver Bucks County to President Trump, marking the first time in 36 years that a Republican presidential candidate carried the county and helping him win statewide.

But the Iran war, Pope Leo XIV’s biting criticisms of it and, in turn, Mr. Trump’s attacks on the pope have many Catholics in Bucks County watching closely in a midterm year.

Even Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez, who oversees Bucks County, weighed in. He defended the pope from Mr. Trump’s attacks, saying in a statement that the pope’s call for peace “powerfully reflects the truth of the gospel.”

That sentiment was echoed from the pulpit at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Philadelphia into the pews at St. Mark’s parish in Bristol borough.

William Watkins, a Democrat from Bristol who has voted for GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in past elections, told CBS News after a Friday morning Mass that he would likely vote against the moderate Republican in the fall if the U.S. is still at war with Iran on Election Day.

“I would do it as a protest,” he said. “Not that I think he’s not a good candidate. I just think that the policy of the Republican Party right now is too one-sided.”

Bucks County has comprised the majority of Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District since 2019, and was part of the state’s Eighth District before that. The southern population of the county is more working class than its northern counterpart, and it is fiercely independent.

In 2024, Fitzpatrick won reelection by nearly 13 percentage points, up from less than nine in his first election in 2016, signifying security in a historically swing-happy region, built through a meticulously moderate voting history.

But local elections in Bucks County tell a different story. When Fitzpatrick first won his seat, Republicans held a supermajority among county elected officials, controlling all but one of the county’s 12 seats. Today, Democrats hold 11 of those 12 seats.

“People will come out and vote if Trump is on the ballot. But they won’t come out and vote if he’s not,” said Bob Harvie, vice chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners and the frontrunner for the Democratic House nomination in the district. Harvie is also Catholic.

The pope raised concerns about the U.S.’s war with Iran shortly after it began and grew more critical as the conflict went on, calling Mr. Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization “unacceptable.” Mr. Trump has lashed out in response, calling the first U.S.-born pope “weak on crime” and “very liberal,” and saying he isn’t “doing a very good job.”

Fitzpatrick was swift in his defense of the pope after Mr. Trump’s attacks on the pontiff, calling the president’s words “disgraceful” and “plainly sacrilegious” last week.

“I am not a fan of any divisive rhetoric ever, particularly when it’s targeted at any religious leader,” Fitzpatrick told CBS News. “The pope is one of many religious leaders who’s trying to bring world peace and solve world hunger and see the humanity and dignity of every human being. That’s somebody we should hold in high esteem.”

Archbishop Nelson Perez leads Mass and gives communion to members of the community outside the former site of St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia on June 19, 2021. Tyger Williams / AP

For Pat Balcer, a Catholic Republican from Bristol Township, that’s precisely why he has voted for Fitzpatrick despite breaking from his party and never supporting Mr. Trump.

“Let the pope have his say. The pope is for world peace, and … that’s what he was proclaiming,” he told CBS News after Mass. “I like that [Fitzpatrick] crosses the line every once in a while and doesn’t stay with the rest of the lemmings.”

Still, the war with Iran may be a bigger political issue for Fitzpatrick than the president’s spats with the pope. Polling suggests most Americans oppose the war — including most Catholics.

“Brian Fitzpatrick can talk all he wants about how upset he is with Donald Trump, but I haven’t yet seen him cast a vote that matters when it comes to stopping Trump’s agenda,” said Harvie, the Democrat running for the chance to challenge Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick in March voted against a resolution to force the U.S. military to stop hostilities with Iran without permission from Congress, calling it “recklessly over-broad,” although only two Republican members voted for it. Fitzpatrick did, however, introduce his own resolution in April to force compliance with the War Powers Act of 1973, but the measure has not reached the floor.

Fitzpatrick has also broken ranks on other significant votes in the past, including voting against Mr. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.

“You condemn the statement, which I did. And you introduce a War Powers Resolution, which I did,” Fitzpatrick said. “So what in the world is [Harvie] talking about?”

War in the Middle East has historically been politically precarious in Bucks County.

Before Mr. Trump’s victory in 2024, the last Republican to carry the county was President George H.W. Bush. The year after Operation Desert Storm, the Democratic candidate, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton won Pennsylvania in 1992.

That pattern has extended to congressional races. Bucks County last elected a Democrat to the U.S. House in 2006, unseating GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, Brian Fitzpatrick’s late brother, after he voted to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mike Fitzpatrick reclaimed the seat in 2010.

“I don’t like [the GOP’s] policies connected to the war,” Watkins, the Democrat from Bristol, said. “I don’t think they should have gone in the way they did, and I don’t think they’re going to be able to finish it the way they think they will. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

Still, some of those in the district for whom the MAGA movement initially made the GOP attractive have found ways to square their faith with their support for Mr. Trump.

One CBS News poll conducted earlier this month — before the feud between the pope and Mr. Trump escalated — found 46% of Catholics approve of Mr. Trump’s job performance and 44% approve of U.S. military action against Iran. But Catholics who attend religious services at least once a week are more likely to approve of the president (58%) and action against Iran (50%).

Dennis McGee Jr., a market researcher and podcaster from Bristol Township, said he was a lifelong independent and joined the Republican Party in 2016. He’s now a local GOP committee member.

“I became a registered Republican in 2016 because I was motivated by President Trump in many of his positions,” he said.

McGee, who attends Mass seven days a week, rejected Leo’s criticism of the Iran war.

“Popes have an infallible ability, meaning they speak, and we as Catholics have to be obedient to what they say. This is not an infallible statement that Pope Leo made. It was a general statement,” he said, acknowledging the rarity of such a case.

Dennis McGee Jr. in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. Zak Hudak

Bucks County is often considered a bellwether area politically. Fitzpatrick and Harvie grew up in the southern part of it — their childhood parishes are a six-mile drive apart — where the population is more economically diverse and political fortunes can turn more quickly.

The Iran war, and the pope’s assessment of it, could have broader impacts across Pennsylvania, which has enjoyed must-win status in the last few presidential races.

Nearly two decades ago, the prominent Pennsylvania pollster G. Terry Madonna told The New York Times: “Whoever wins the Catholic vote will generally win our state and, most of the time, the nation.”

In recent years, nearly a quarter of the total population of Pennsylvania still identified as Catholic and more than 60 percent as Christian, according to Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study.

The state’s recent political history reflects that influence. The last two Republicans elected governor of Pennsylvania were Catholic, as are 10 of the state’s 17 current House members. Four of the last seven U.S. senators from Pennsylvania were Catholic.

“For Republicans, the Catholic vote is pivotal,” said Charlie Gerow, a GOP strategist based in Harrisburg. “A lot of Catholic voters are still old-line Democrats, who will vote Republican, particularly in statewide and national elections. So capturing the Catholic vote is very, very important.”

Kennedy Center officials pledge transparency on renovations after Trump takeover

2026-04-22 22:40:53 UTC / Reuters

By Bo Erickson

April 22, 2026 10:40 PM UTC Updated 46 mins ago

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Item 1 of 5 A worker stands amid posters from various performances backstage at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renamed The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, by the Trump administration, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

[1/5]A worker stands amid posters from various performances backstage at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renamed The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, by the Trump administration, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 22, 2026…. Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

• Summary

• Officials highlight infrastructure issues in first public tour
• Renovations will be funded by $257 million in tax dollars
• Preservation groups suing to block changes without Congress approval

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – Officials at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday promised greater transparency about sweeping taxpayer-funded renovations of the Washington landmark, which have come under ​scrutiny after President Donald Trump added his name to the building and named himself chairman of its board.

Trump, whose efforts to remake Washington have ‌become a defining feature of his second term, recently announced a two-year closure of the center starting in July. The plan, approved by his hand-picked board, has drawn sharp criticism from some Democratic lawmakers, donors and artists. Preservation groups have sued to halt the project, arguing it requires congressional approval.

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Against that background, Kennedy Center officials opened the doors for their first public media tour on Trump’s renovations, seeking ​to highlight crumbling infrastructure while calming fears that politics will reshape a cultural institution long dedicated as a memorial to former Democratic President John F. Kennedy.

“I ​know there’s been a lot of turmoil and worry about what we’re doing to the building,” said one official, who was ⁠granted anonymity to speak candidly about the plans. The official pledged to be “more transparent” and “communicative” on the planned structural and cosmetic renovations.

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Much about the changes to the historic ​performing arts spaces remained unclear on Wednesday, however.

Standing in the famed Opera House, which includes a balcony viewing box for the U.S. president, the official said the seats and ​carpet will be updated but the deep red color scheme will remain.

Overall plans for the cosmetic changes have not been finalized, the official said. Asked about the extent of the demolition, the official said: “You’re not going to be able to stand in Georgetown and look over the river and see through the building. That’s not what’s going to happen.”

TRUMP ‘IS IN THE DETAILS’

Trump, who is in the ​midst of a high-stakes, weeks-long war with Iran, is “quite frequently” engaging in discussions about the renovations, the official said, without elaborating.

“He is in the details,” the official said.

During ​a March 2025 tour of the center, Trump said it was in “tremendous disrepair,” casting its condition in political terms and calling it “emblematic of our country” that he was positioning himself to ‌fix. At a White ⁠House meeting in December, he suggested adding white marble armrests to the center’s seating.

Congress dedicated the center to Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, and photos of the former president and first lady Jackie Kennedy decorate the building. The official said no changes were planned to those tributes, including the famous 3,000‑pound Kennedy statue in the center’s hall.

Unlike Trump’s privately funded White House ballroom project, which will involve hundreds of millions of dollars in anonymous donations, the remodeling of the Kennedy Center will be paid with tax dollars. ​Republicans approved about $257 million for the work ​in Trump’s 2025 tax and spending ⁠law.

Draft budget documents submitted in a lawsuit by Democratic U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio board member, show $78 million earmarked for “safety and building systems” and $48.5 million for performance venue “revitalization,” with the largest share going to “front of house” renovations.

The center official said additional corporate ​and private donations are being sought to renovate the center’s lounges.

DEEP STAFF CUTS

Officials acknowledged the center’s staff will be cut ​back to “pretty bare bones” during ⁠the renovation but were not as forthcoming about how ticket sales were impacted by Trump’s takeover, saying sales are not something the institution has publicly disclosed in the past.

“There was a shift in attendance by D.C. locals upon our arrival here,” a second official said.

During the tour, center officials moved from the building’s marble facade to the storied stages, which ⁠will both be ​updated, and then throughout the bowels of the building, where the bulk of the renovations will ​focus on issues such as eroding support beams and corroded electrical vaults.

A cobwebbed filtration system meant to pump in water for cooling from the nearby Potomac River sat broken down, the process hampered by rising river ​temperatures. A large, black pipe was leaking near a poster for the musical Wicked that read, “So much happened before.”

Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis

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Senate GOP blocks fifth Dem bid to end Trump’s Iran war as divisions grow

April 22, 2026 5:45pm EDT / Fox News

Former CIA station chief and Fox News contributor Dan Hoffman warned that China is propping up Iran with ‘dual-use equipment’ and missile-linked chemicals.

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Senate Republicans are still backing President Donald Trump’s war in Iran as the deadline for Congress to get involved is rapidly approaching.

Republicans beat back a fifth attempt by Democrats to call for an end to the war in the Middle East, a day after Trump extended the fragile ceasefire for the next several days on the grounds that Iran’s government was “seriously fractured.” The failed vote to rein in Trump’s war authority came on the 54th day of the conflict.

Whether the administration can strike a long-lasting peace deal remains unclear. Lawmakers are also growing more concerned about the cost, length and end game of the war.

“This war has simply been a disaster, and there is absolutely no reason we should go full steam ahead back into it,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who forced the vote.

SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL IMMIGRATION FUNDING PLAN WITH $140 BILLION PRICE TAG AS DIVISIONS SIMMER

President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2026.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Next week, the conflict will officially hit the 60-day mark. Congress is required to weigh in on continuing the conflict under the War Powers Resolution.

Still, the fast-approaching inflection did little to sway Republicans, who have stayed largely unified against Democrats’ deluge of war powers resolutions since the conflict began. Democrats aren’t done forcing votes either and have another six resolutions teed up.

“Our caucus is united and focused on ending the war in Iran,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “And we’re going to keep voting on those resolutions again and again and again.”

DOZENS OF DEMS FLIP ON ISRAEL, VOTE TO BAN ARMS SALES IN PROTEST OF IRAN WAR

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it was “very likely” she would not vote to extend hostilities.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

And Republicans aren’t totally united on whether to put an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) on the floor.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has been working on an AUMF in the background that would allow lawmakers to have a say on what comes next in Iran.

“We’ll see what our kind of conference’s will is on that and where our members are,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said.

At least three Senate Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Curtis of Utah — have said they wouldn’t support extending the war beyond 60 days and questioned the administration’s objectives in the region.

Collins said last week during the Semafor World Economy Summit it was “very likely” she would not vote to extend hostilities.

“I have said from the very beginning that if the military hostilities in Iran continue to that 60th day, then I believe the War Powers Act is implemented, and the president would need congressional authorization to continue the war in Iran,” Collins said.

GOP HOLDS WITH TRUMP ON IRAN WAR, BUT CRACKS EMERGE AS DEADLINE NEARS

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought speaks during a news conference after a meeting with President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., ahead of the deadline to fund the government and try to avoid a government shutdown, at the White House Sept. 29, 2025.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images)

There’s also the price tag associated with the war, including the current daily costs and a forthcoming spending request from the administration that is expected to focus on munitions supplies.

The administration has yet to send the spending request to Congress, with a ballpark cost that has fluctuated between $50 billion and $200 billion. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told lawmakers last week during a Senate Budget Committee hearing that the request was “not yet” ready.

He also declined to give an estimate when pressed on the cost of the war.

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“If you were to be on the inside of the Department of War, these costs would fluctuate given the day. So, I think it’s hard to give you an average cost,” Vought said.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393553607112

MAGA malaise festers into some high-profile buyers’ remorse

2026-04-22 6:19 PM ET / CNN Politics

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

Tucker Carlson said this week he’s “tormented” by his backing of President Donald Trump.

“Humbly, I’m sorry,” Marjorie Taylor Greene said last November. Her apology, for contributing to toxic politics, came after Trump called her a traitor.

Candace Owens said last June she was “embarrassed” for backing Trump after the first time he ordered the bombing of Iran.

Megyn Kelly didn’t apologize, but she did lash out at Trump this month over his Iran war and his feud with the pope in recent weeks.

Both Greene and Owens, along with fellow serial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, have suggested Trump’s Cabinet should consider the 25th Amendment as a means to remove him from office. To so would require Cabinet members to revolt against him, which seems fanciful at the moment.

Not the MAGA they pushed for

But in some vocal corners of the conservative chattering class, there is a visceral anti-Trumpism, even anger, setting in.

Carlson interviewed his brother Buckley, whom the family calls “Uncle Buck,” in a two-hour interview in which they aired their many grievances and disappointments with the president.

It’s not that the two have suddenly found common ground with Democrats who frequently label Trump as a fascist. Rather, the Carlson brothers don’t think Trump has gone nearly far enough delivering on his promises.

They weren’t shocked at the severity of mass deportations, for instance — they want more. And Buckley, who described himself as a Trump supporter in 2016, before it was cool, is now angry at the president, who he said didn’t do enough to defend January 6 rioters before he pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,000 of them.

Tucker Carlson, who campaigned doggedly with Trump in 2024 and said he was advising the president as recently as a few weeks ago, said Trump hasn’t done enough to unwind the “anti-White” agenda of Democrats. Tucker’s son, also Buckley, recently left a position in the office of Vice President JD Vance.

The Carlson brothers questioned the veracity of polls that show Trump still has the support of most Republicans since everyone they know is hopping mad about the war in Iran, the Epstein files and a lot more.

President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office of the White House on April 18.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP/File

Trump’s approval rating among Republicans has definitely fallen

Republicans were effectively all in on Trump not long after he took office for his second term; CNN polling clocked Trump at 92% approval among Republicans in March of 2025. Nearly two-thirds, 64%, said that month that they strongly approved of his job as president. By this March, approval among Republicans dropped to 80% and strong approval dropped to 43% in CNN polling.

For what it’s worth, Trump has attacked the MAGA supporters who turned on him, and has said that he gets to decide what the movement’s priorities are.

“MAGA is me,” he told NBC News in January.

Conspiracy theories turned against Trump

It’s worth noting here that many of these former boosters turned Trump opponents have made livings stoking conspiracy theories. Those tendencies to creatively distrust authority, as CNN’s Aaron Blake noted, are now being turned against Trump, who remains the master conspiracy theorist.

The administration’s slow-walked release of the Epstein files frustrated many backers who expected full transparency from Trump.

Owens, in particular, thinks there’s more to the story of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year. She has made wild accusations about the murder and drawn the enmity of Kirk’s widow Erika.

And all the MAGA conspiracy theorists now turning on Trump question why more is not known about the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024.

More than disappointment

What’s striking about the buyer’s remorse some right-wing commentators are expressing about Trump is not that it exists; it’s natural for a president to lose support as their campaign promises run into reality.

Rather, these Republicans are now his active political enemies.

The turn has not occurred in all or even most of the GOP, but those who have evolved have done so dramatically.

Trump remorse is far from ubiquitous in MAGA media. Dan Bongino, who went from Facebook-famous podcaster to a top position at the FBI, left the bureau to return to his podcast and remains committed to the president.

A “Make America Great Again” sign sits on the floor following a campaign rally with the US president at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wisconsin, October 24, 2018.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Steve Bannon has expressed frustrations with some of Trump’s policies, but still wants to see him run for an unconstitutional third term.

CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings wondered at Carlson’s apology.

“I mean, is his preference that Kamala Harris had become the president of the United States?” Jennings said to CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “The Arena” Tuesday. “That will come as a surprise, I’m sure, to a lot of people who used to view Tucker Carlson as a conservative and someone who had certain kinds of values.”

On the Iran war, Jennings said Carlson should have seen it coming.

“Is he now claiming he had no idea that Donald Trump held the position that he would never permit Iran to have nuclear weapons? If that’s what he’s saying today, he’s kind of a moron.”

Trump did very specifically promise to keep the US out of forever wars on the campaign trail. But he now has shown a willingness to make use of the US military.

A larger problem for the Trump administration will ultimately be whether rank-and-file Republicans agree more with the MAGA media personalities that cross into their social media feeds or with Trump himself.

The unintended consequences of Trump’s policymaking may not help him or his party in November. The war has driven up gas prices. Tariffs could be blamed for continued inflation. Trump’s effort to draw new House seats for Republicans in Texas and other red states as an election insurance policy has backfired; Democrats hold the redistricting-wars advantage, at least for now, after voters in Virginia and California blessed the redrawing of their maps specifically to combat Trump.

CNN’s Adam Cancryn reported Tuesday the White House could shape its midterm strategy around trying to convince voters Democrats would be worse if they were in charge. It seems unlikely Carlson, Greene or Owens is going to be voting for a Democrat any time soon, but the White House probably shouldn’t count on their support as election season draws near.

Trump administration reaches $1.25 million settlement with ex-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page

April 22, 2026 / 6:24 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The Trump administration has reached a settlement agreement with ex-Trump campaign aide Carter Page over his claims arising out of surveillance warrants obtained by the FBI during its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The settlement is for $1.25 million, according to a source familiar with the settlement discussions.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a filing with the Supreme Court that the Trump administration and Page had “agreed to settle” his claims against the U.S. government Tuesday. The brief was submitted in response to Page’s appeal of a lower court decision dismissing his lawsuit against the Justice Department, the FBI and eight named individuals. Among those Page named in his lawsuit were former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and ex-FBI officials Kevin Clinesmith, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, along with a slew of unnamed FBI employees.

Sauer wrote that the settlement does not involve Page’s claims against the individual defendants.

The deal between the Trump administration and Page only pertains to a claim he raised under the PATRIOT Act, and not those brought under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, against the ex-FBI officials.

“No American should ever face covert and unlawful surveillance based on their political views,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “The investigation into Carter Page — a man never charged with a single crime — relied on inherently flawed and uncorroborated information, proving it was a political sham from the get-go. The targeting of American citizens for political purposes constitutes a severe violation of civil liberties. This Department of Justice is committed to dismantling the weaponization of government and today’s settlement represents one of many initiatives to provide justice to those abused by rogue actors.”

Page served as an informal foreign-policy adviser to President Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. As part of the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in that election and alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, the bureau obtained four warrants under FISA to electronically surveil Page, including one in October 2016 and on three other occasions in 2017.

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog examined the bureau’s handling of the applications to obtain the warrants to monitor Page and found that the FBI made 17 “significant errors and omissions” in its initial application in 2016 and the three renewal requests. In particular, the inspector general criticized the FBI for its reliance on a set of opposition research memos prepared by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The so-called “Steele dossier” contained salacious allegations about then-candidate Trump that have not been proven.

The FBI later acknowledged it should have ended its surveillance of Page earlier.

Page filed his lawsuit in November 2020, alleging that his surveillance was unlawful because the warrant applications were false and misleading. But in 2022, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich dismissed Page’s lawsuit, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed that decision in 2024 after Page appealed.

The D.C. Circuit ruled that the statute of limitations barred Page’s assertions against the federal entities and FBI personnel.

A lawyer for Page did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

John Phelan out as Navy secretary in latest high-profile Trump administration departure

April 22, 2026 / 6:30 PM EDT / CBS News

Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving his role effective immediately, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Wednesday.

The Navy’s new acting civilian leader will be Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao, according to Parnell. Cao is a Navy veteran who ran for Senate in 2024 as the GOP’s nominee in Virginia, losing to Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.

Phelan is the latest high-profile official to depart the federal government in recent months. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down earlier this month, and the Army officers who led the Transportation and Training Command and the Chaplain Corps were removed from their roles. The head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command, Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, also retired at the end of last year.

Elsewhere in the administration, three Cabinet secretaries have left their posts since last month: Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer have left.

The Department of the Navy — which oversees naval forces and the Marine Corps — is losing its top civilian official while the Navy plays a key role in the war with Iran.

A temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has been in place for about two weeks, but the U.S. has continued enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports at President Trump’s direction. The president and other administration officials have also suggested that the Navy could offer escorts to oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz at some point.

A financier who previously helped run billionaire Michael Dell’s family investment office, Phelan was confirmed by the Senate 62-30 in March 2025. Eleven Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of the Trump nominee.

During Phelan’s time as secretary, the Navy took part in the U.S. military’s strikes on alleged drug boats near Latin America and seizures of oil tankers linked to Venezuela. And former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was flown to a U.S. aircraft carrier after American forces captured him earlier this year.

Phelan also played a role in Mr. Trump’s push to expand the Navy’s fleet by building as many as 25 new battleships. Appearing alongside Hegseth and Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago last year, Phelan introduced what the military is referring to as “Trump-class” battleships.

Phelan made his most recent public appearance on Tuesday at the Sea Air Space Conference in the D.C. area.

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