The Evening: A test of Trump’s power

May 5, 2026

	By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.

Trump seeks payback in Indiana
U.S. officials say the Iran truce is intact
Plus, a visitor from billions of miles away

Voting in West Lafayette, Ind. today. Cara Penquite/Associated Press

Today’s primary elections will test Trump’s influence

In deep-red Indiana, voters went to the polls today to cast ballots in the state’s primary elections. Such races rarely receive attention outside the Midwest. But this year, President Trump changed that.

The president is seeking to oust seven Republican state senators whom he deems insufficiently loyal. They had helped defeat a redistricting effort that could have boosted the party’s chances of maintaining control of the U.S. House, so Trump found seven challengers to endorse instead. Many of the candidates in the president’s cross hairs are staunch conservatives with long track records.

Tonight’s results, which we are tracking here, will serve as a test of Trump’s ability to bend the Republican Party’s rank-and-file to his will. In the coming weeks, the president also hopes to oust more well-known Republicans in Louisiana and Kentucky.

Ships in a waterway at sunset with mountains in the background.

Reuters

The U.S. and Iran both claim control of the Strait of Hormuz

Trump and other top U.S. officials said today that the cease-fire with Iran remained intact, despite the U.A.E. accusing Iranian forces of attacking it for the second day in a row. The president dismissed those assaults, and others directed at American ships, as minor.

Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said that the U.S. had concluded Epic Fury, the combat operations that started the war. His comments expanded an argument Trump made to explain why he had avoided seeking Congressional approval, even after the war hit the 60-day legal limit. Rubio said that U.S. efforts to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz were a wholly new operation, called Project Freedom.

The strait remains at a standstill. Only two ships were known to have passed through the waterway yesterday, and none appeared to make the trip today. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. was still controlling the strait and working to free trapped vessels. Iran maintained that it was in control there. Some 1,600 ships with 20,000 seafarers remain stranded.

For more:

The U.S. is using relatively cheap laser-guided rockets against Iranian drones.
Our chief diplomatic correspondent explains why Iran is unlikely to make a deal without a big, face-saving compromise.

A person in a shirt, jeans and a mask rolling up their sleeve, seated in a folding chair at a folding table outside.

A Covid-19 vaccine distribution site in Salt Lake City in 2022. Kim Raff for The New York Times

The F.D.A. blocked studies that had found vaccines to be safe

The Food and Drug Administration recently halted the publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against Covid-19 and shingles. The studies, which cost millions of dollars in public funds, found serious side effects to be very rare.

A spokesman for the Health department said “the studies were withdrawn because the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data.” Experts who reviewed some of the studies said they were generally well done.

In other Trump administration news:

The Education Department is investigating whether Smith College, a women’s school in Massachusetts, violated anti-discrimination laws by enrolling transgender students.
Senate Republicans proposed $1 billion for security measures around Trump’s ballroom project in an immigration bill.
East Wing debris was dumped on a public golf course in Washington. Now, soil there has tested positive for toxic metals.

A large blue and white ship in the water near a mountainous port city.

The MV Hondius off the coast of Cape Verde today. -/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

About 150 people are stuck on a cruise ship with an outbreak

A cruise ship that was struck by a deadly outbreak of hantavirus is expected to sail to the Canary Islands, the World Health Organization said today. So far, its passengers have not been allowed to disembark. Spanish officials said that disease experts would inspect the vessel before it was given permission to dock.

The W.H.O. said that some of those who had fallen ill might have been infected through human-to-human transmission, though hantavirus is primarily transmitted by inhaling particles of mouse feces or urine. In this video, a passenger speaks about the anxiety onboard.

More top news

A.I.: Five major publishers and the best-selling novelist Scott Turow filed a class-action copyright infringement lawsuit against Meta and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.
Media: James Murdoch’s company, Lupa Systems, is in talks to acquire major parts of Vox Media, the parent company of New York magazine and a podcast network.
Education: The University of Southern California said it would use a venture capitalist’s $200 million donation to apply artificial intelligence across academic disciplines.
Weather: After a warm, dry winter that all but eliminated the snowpack, parts of Colorado are expected to receive more than two feet of snow.
Venezuela: After the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro, U.S. and Venezuelan officials promised greater transparency in the lucrative oil industry. It’s still a black hole.
South Korea: The widow and daughter of LG’s former chairman say an illegal ownership structure reduced their inheritance. A secret recording is at the heart of their claim.
France: At a closed marine park, two orcas swim circles in an aging tank that may soon fail. No one is sure what to do with them.

WHERE STEAK IS MEDICINE

Four pictures: A woman in a T-shirt that says “Eat Meat. Love Jesus. Be Happy”; a hand holding a meat shank; a person in a T-shirt that says “Meaties,” holding a bottle of milk; a table of meat hors d’oeuvres.

Juan Diego Reyes for The New York Times

Most doctors encourage people to eat vegetables and avoid consuming too much red meat. That perspective is of little interest at Meatstock, a three-day convention in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

There, devotees of the carnivore diet bond over butter-dipped brisket and cups of raw milk. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he follows the diet.

TIME TO UNWIND

Onstage, a man wearing a backpack talks to a woman wearing a backpack. Behind them, three couples dance.

Alex Brightman, left, and Sara Chase in “Schmigadoon!” Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

‘Schmigadoon!’ and ‘Lost Boys’ lead this year’s Tony nominees

In an unusual Broadway season, thin on new musicals, “Schmigadoon!” and “The Lost Boys” had 12 Tony Award nominations apiece, more than any other show. The full list of nominees revealed this morning also reflects Broadway’s embrace of star actors who drive ticket sales: John Lithgow, Daniel Radcliffe and Rose Byrne each earned a nomination.

Our critics noticed several snubs. Bleak shows were largely shut out. And did the Tony voters forget about Lea Michele and Kristin Chenoweth?

The covers of Hollow Spaces: A Novel, by Victor Suthammanont; Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, by Belle Burden; and The Infamous Gilberts: A Novel, by Angela Tomaski.

Find your next great read

I’m quite fond of Tuesdays — the day when new books are published and bookshops can finally put them on shelves. My colleagues at the Book Review have built a tool to help you sort through what is worth reading based on your tastes.

Here’s a sprinkling of what’s new today:

The best-selling thriller writer Patricia Cornwell takes a scalpel to her own life story in “True Crime.”
In “Ghost Stories,” Siri Hustvedt recalls her life with the writer Paul Auster.
Kathryn Stockett, whose debut “The Help” sold 15 million copies, is back after 17 years with “The Calamity Club.”

Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Dinner table topics

Admire the best looks from last night’s Met Gala and see which outfits were most admired by Times readers. (Here’s what our critic thought.)
Crowds are descending on Venice, where the art world’s most prestigious event is about to begin.
Hunting for the rare thrills of northern Vietnamese food? Try Portland.

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

Golden brown bars covered in chocolate and sprinkled with salt flakes.