Good morning. It is Sunday, May 31st, 2026, and this is your Morning Brief.

COHOST: Today feels like one of those mornings when the calm headline version and the real underlying version are not the same thing.

HOST: That is exactly the read. Stocks finished May at records, the weather is more cooperative, and some of the biggest pressure points look quieter than they did a week ago. But underneath that, Washington, Ohio, and the housing market are all still arguing over who pays, who decides, and what counts as sustainable.

HOST: Start with the clearest fresh national story from the last twenty-four hours: the tariff refund fight is moving into its next phase. The Associated Press reported Saturday that businesses have already started receiving refunds after the Supreme Court ruled President Trump lacked the constitutional authority to impose the struck-down higher import taxes on goods from nearly every other country. But the administration is now appealing a federal judge's order that would let all companies that paid those invalidated duties seek refunds, not just the ones that sued.

COHOST: So for companies this is not theoretical trade policy anymore. Some of them have actual money moving back into their accounts, and Washington is trying to narrow who gets made whole.

HOST: Right. That is why this matters more than a normal legal cleanup story. The administration is trying to preserve room to keep using trade power aggressively, while importers are trying to lock in the broader reading that if the tariffs were unlawful, the refunds should also be broad. That means the next move is not just about past payments. It is about how much unilateral tariff leverage the White House can still exercise after the courts pushed back.

HOST: The practical takeaway this morning is that supply-chain, manufacturing, and retail operators still do not have a stable rulebook. If the appeal succeeds, a narrower set of companies benefits. If it fails, the financial and political cost of the tariff reversal gets larger. Either way, this is a live reminder that trade policy in 2026 is still being written in courtrooms as much as in speeches.

HOST: A second national development with real downstream reach is the White House push to give political appointees more power over federal grants. AP reported Friday that the administration's proposed rules would require senior appointees to review funding for consistency with the law and the president's priorities, while also giving officials more freedom to terminate grants already awarded.

COHOST: That sounds procedural until you remember how much of the country runs on grant money that people usually think of as apolitical.

HOST: Exactly. This reaches universities, medical research, hospitals, state governments, local agencies, and a long list of institutions that rely on federal awards but do not normally assume a political layer will sit directly over the process. The White House says the change is about accountability and oversight. Critics say it puts technical and scientific decisions deeper into partisan hands.

HOST: The why-now angle is simple. This is one of the most consequential attempts in years to change how the executive branch can shape funding without waiting for Congress to rewrite the entire system. And because the proposal enters a public comment period before any final rule, the next several days matter. Institutions that depend on grants now have to decide whether to treat this as a normal regulatory fight or as a defining battle over how federal priorities get enforced in practice.

COHOST: In other words, watch who objects loudly and who stays quiet, because that tells you who thinks they are exposed first.

HOST: That is the right watch. The story is not just the rule. It is the map of who believes they could lose money, autonomy, or both.

HOST: In Ohio, the highest-stakes policy story remains the data-center fight, and it keeps getting more expensive and more politically difficult. The Associated Press reported this week that Governor Mike DeWine suspended the tax break used to lure major data centers as pressure mounted over who should bear the cost of powering AI infrastructure. WOSU, citing new Ohio tax data, reported that the exemption cost the state about five hundred fifty-five million dollars in 2024 and then roughly one point six billion dollars in 2025, far above the original estimates.

COHOST: That number changes the tone of the argument. It is one thing to say Ohio wants to compete for the future. It is another to ask whether residents are quietly underwriting it at a scale they were never told to expect.

HOST: Exactly. And that is why this is no longer just a business-recruitment story. It is now a budget story, a utility story, and a local-governance story all at once. Central Ohio sits right in the middle of that because New Albany and the surrounding corridor have become one of the most visible examples of what the AI buildout looks like in physical form: huge warehouses of compute, enormous electricity demand, and public questions about jobs, taxes, land use, and grid strain.

HOST: The continuity point from yesterday still holds, but the fresh angle is stronger now. Ohio is not merely debating whether data centers are good in the abstract. Ohio is trying to figure out whether the state priced the deal badly, whether lawmakers were working off low estimates, and whether the next round of projects should face tougher terms. That makes the next five days important because lawmakers and local officials now have political cover to demand fuller cost accounting instead of just repeating the growth pitch.

HOST: Staying in Columbus, Sawyer Towers remains one of the clearest local accountability stories because demolition is not closing the case emotionally or politically. WOSU reported that the demolition of the condemned towers is expected to take roughly six months, while city and county officials are using the moment to argue that new laws and faster intervention should help prevent another collapse in oversight like the one residents experienced there.

COHOST: And this is where continuity really matters. Sawyer Towers is not active because the visuals are dramatic. It is active because every promise about landlord enforcement now gets tested against what went wrong there.

HOST: That is the right frame. City leaders want to present the demolition as a turning point. Residents, advocates, and other tenants across Columbus want proof that the response has actually changed. That means this story stays alive as long as officials are still translating public anger into inspection capacity, enforcement steps, relocation support, and measurable follow-through. The watch in the next few days is whether the city can point to more than symbolism.

HOST: On home lending and mortgages, the rate problem is still the main story even though some housing indicators are trying to improve around the edges. Freddie Mac said the average thirty-year fixed mortgage rate was six point five three percent for the week ending Thursday, up slightly from the prior week. The Mortgage Bankers Association said applications fell eight point five percent in its latest weekly survey, with refinance demand down eighteen percent from the prior week and purchase activity only barely holding up. At the same time, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales in April rose one point four percent from March and three point two percent from a year earlier.

COHOST: So the market is not dead, but it is acting like a market that can function only if buyers are unusually determined or unusually well-positioned.

HOST: Exactly. The mix tells a pretty clear story. More people are still signing contracts than the gloomiest view would suggest, but the financing side remains punishing enough to keep activity selective. MBA's deputy chief economist said the thirty-year rate reached six point six five percent in that survey context, the highest level since August of last year, and the average purchase loan size hit another survey high. That is a concise way of saying the higher end of the market can keep moving while affordability remains brutal for everyone else.

HOST: In Central Ohio, that pattern matters because improving inventory does not automatically translate into relief. More options help, but the monthly payment is still the real gatekeeper. If you are buying in Columbus, Dublin, Hilliard, Westerville, or New Albany, the headline to remember this morning is not that more homes may be available. It is that borrowing costs still do most of the sorting.

COHOST: Which is why the early June watch is not just listing volume. It is whether bond yields soften enough to pull mortgage rates down into a range buyers can actually feel.

HOST: Right. Until that happens, normal-sounding housing data can still mask a very abnormal affordability reality.

HOST: On AI and technology, the strongest fresh signal remains on the infrastructure side, not the consumer app side. Reuters reported that Dell raised its annual revenue forecast to a range of one hundred sixty-five billion to one hundred sixty-nine billion dollars from a prior range of one hundred thirty-eight billion to one hundred forty-two billion, and said it now expects about sixty billion dollars in AI server revenue for fiscal 2027, up from fifty billion previously. AP also reported Friday that Dell surged more than thirty-two percent as investors reacted to that outlook.

COHOST: That is not incremental. That is the market being told the buildout is still accelerating and then repricing the hardware winners fast.

HOST: Exactly. And the larger implica...