House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called President Trump on Sunday to plead with him to highlight the economy, not his hardline immigration views, in the final two days of the 2018 midterms, Politico reports, but Trump instead "boasted to Ryan that his focus on immigration has fired up the base." It isn't that Republican candidates in swing districts objected to Trump warning about the migrant caravan slowing walking toward the U.S. border, they just "fear Trump went overboard — and that it could cost them dearly in key suburban districts, from Illinois to Texas," Politico says.

"Trump has hijacked the election," one senior House Republican aide told Politico. "This is not what we expected the final weeks of the election to focus on." While House Republicans in districts with sizable suburban areas are trying to change the subject from birthright citizenship and up to 15,000 U.S. troops shooting unarmed migrants, GOP Senate candidates are embracing Trump's heated rhetoric, looking for a boost from Trump's hardcore supporters as they work to beat Democrats in red or purple states.

In any case, "Trump has hardly been cowed by the criticism," The Washington Post notes. "As the campaign has barreled toward its final hours, the president expanded his nativist appeals, proudly calling himself a 'nationalist' and trying to drive his base with threats about" the caravan. "Barbed wire used properly can be a beautiful sight," he said Saturday, touting his troop deployment to the U.S. border.

But there's more at play than just strategy, the Post adds. "The 2016 election confirmed that a potential president could run — and win — after stoking racism. Now, in their closing days, the midterms are shaping up as a demonstration of whether the entire Republican Party can succeed by following his lead." You can read more about this election's "blatant and overtly racial attacks rarely seen since the civil rights era of the 1960s" at The Washington Post. Peter Weber

It's well-documented that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) does not get along with President Trump.

The two have feuded for years, and Romney even singled out the president when he said he was 'sickened' by the findings in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation into 2016 Russian election interference (though he does not support impeachment.) Romney told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday's edition of State of the Union that Trump "has distanced himself from some of the best qualities of the human character." Not very flattering.

But Romney set aside his personal grievances in the very same interview, telling Tapper that the path Trump has chosen to take in regards to trade with China is the right one. Romney said China "has gotten away with murder for years" by skirting around foreign commerce rules and regulations, allowing Beijing to steal technology and intellectual property, all while harming U.S. businesses. So, while the senator understands Americans will bear the brunt of the sanctions, he believes it's a crucial sacrifice.

At the same time, Romney made clear that China is the only case where he supports tariffs. He said he thought Trump's recently-lifted tariffs on metal imports from Mexico and Canada were a bad idea, and he doesn't support potential taxes on Japanese and European automobile imports. Tim O'Donnell

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday's edition of Face the Nation that, yes, his organization is relocating migrants to sanctuary cities. But it's not part of President Trump's self-described "sick idea" to anger those cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Instead, McAleenan said the transport efforts are based on "necessity and capacity" to safely process the migrants. For example, due to overcrowding at facilities in Texas, the agency has begun flying hundreds of migrants to San Diego to increase efficiency. While several of the cities and states that will take in the relocated migrants are, in fact, "sanctuaries," McAleenan said that their selection was not intentional or politically motivated.

But not everyone's buying it. While not responding directly to McAleenan's comments, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) later told Brennan that he thinks the Trump administration is sticking to the sanctuary city idea with the intention of sending migrants to states they "don't care about," implying that it is, indeed, politically motivated. He said that the only reason White House backed out of a decision to send migrants to Florida cities is because the state's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, called the idea "unacceptable." Tim O'Donnell

Iran and the United States have both fervently expressed that they do not seek war with one another, despite heightened tensions between the two sides. Now, Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. ally and rival of Iran, has proclaimed a similar aversion to warfare with Iran. But, as was the case with Iran and the U.S., the kingdom left open the possibility for conflict should they have no other choice.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia does not want or seek war with Iran, but if Iran strikes first, "the kingdom will respond with all force and determination" to defend itself. Riyadh has accused Tehran of ordering drone strikes on two Saudi Arabian oil pumping stations on Tuesday, though Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group claimed responsibility and Iran has denied involvement.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman reportedly recently discussed strengthening security and stability in the Gulf region with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he also called for a meeting later in May with other Gulf State leaders to discuss implications of Iran's possible proxy attacks. "The ball is in their court," Jubeir said, referring to Iran. Read more at Reuters. Tim O'Donnell

The Trump administration has reportedly identified at least 1,712 migrant children who were separated from their parents at the southern border, court transcripts from a Friday hearing revealed. Those children are in addition to the 2,800 children who were separated as a result of the White House's "zero tolerance policy."

In March, a federal judge, Dana Sabraw ordered the Trump administration to identify within six months children who were separated from their families before the zero tolerance policy went into effect. Thousands of more children may still be identified, NBC News reports. So far, the government has reviewed the files of 4,108 children out of 50,000 cases.

Customs and Border Protection Commander Jonathan White, the official who spearheaded the reunification process, said the agency has been focusing on the children most likely to have been separated, but the findings are not conclusive. "I do anticipate that because we were very inclusive we will discover that many of those are false positives after CBP looks at them," White said. Read more at NBC News. Tim O'Donnell

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Saturday became the first Republican to openly call for the impeachment of President Trump.

The congressman created a long tweet thread explaining that he came to the conclusion following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation into 2016 Russian election interference. While Mueller's team found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Moscow, Amash believes Trump has still "engaged in impeachable conduct" and because impeachment does not, legally speaking, "require probable cause that a crime has been committed," Congress would be justified in pursuing that route.

He also said he believes Attorney General William Barr "deliberately misrepresented" Mueller's report. Amash's fellow Michigan representative, Rashida Tlaib (D), has reportedly asked Amash to cosponsor an impeachment investigation resolution.

While it may be fundamentally surprising for a Republican congressman to support impeachment openly, Amash has long been a harsh Trump critic, so it is unlikely his stance will spark similar responses. Tim O'Donnell

Alec Baldwin returned to NBC's Saturday Night Live to portray President Trump once again on Saturday evening for the show's season finale, but he also channeled his inner-Freddie Mercury during the episode's cold open.

While boasting about how much he has accomplished as commander-in-chief in the last year, Baldwin's Trump breaks into a rendition of Queen's hit song, "Don't Stop Me Now." He's shortly joined by a cast of characters including Cecily Strong's first lady Melania Trump, Beck Bennett's Vice President Mike Pence, and Aidy Bryant's White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for what turns into a raucous sing-along. Turns out, not even Robert De Niro's Robert Mueller can ruin their fun. Watch the full skit below.

Tim O'Donnell