Let’s keep it a hundred: rent is too high, and everybody in the streets is feeling the squeeze. But instead of giving the people some real relief, Washington is back to playing political chess. On Wednesday, President Trump made a wild move, announcing he won’t sign the 21st Century Road to Housing Act—a massive bipartisan bill meant to build more housing and lower costs—until the Senate passes the Save America Act. That's his strict new voting bill that forces people to show real-deal proof of citizenship to register and cracks down hard on mail-in voting.

This housing bill was actually a rare moment of politicians doing their jobs. After months of talking and negotiating, both the House and the Senate passed it with huge numbers. Everybody was celebrating, especially with the midterms coming up in November where voters are ready to kick politicians out over high prices. But Trump threw a wrench in the whole operation, calling the housing bill "minor" and using it as bait to get his way on voting laws.

This whole showdown kicked off right after a federal court shut down Trump’s attempt to push these same voting rules through an executive order. The court blocked his plan that would have forced folks to show passports or birth certificates just to register or change their address. Voting rights groups fought back and won that round, but now Trump is trying to bypass the courts by forcing Congress's hand. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, was furious, saying Trump is running away from a real win that would actually help regular people pay their bills.

Meanwhile, the drama behind closed doors is getting messy. A Republican senator who got crushed in his primary after Trump backed his opponent got into a straight-up shouting match with the president on Wednesday. Congress is stressed out about the war in Iran, and senators are tired of Trump demanding they push these controversial voting laws right before they have to face voters.

At the same time, Trump is pointing fingers at the oil companies. With the conflict in the Middle East causing drama, gas prices are hurting everybody's pockets, and Trump is claiming the oil giants aren't lowering prices like they should. He ordered the Department of Justice to investigate them for price gouging, which might sound good to anyone trying to fill up their tank, but it remains to be seen if anything real comes of it.

And you can't even make this last part up—the government spent $14.7 million to renovate the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, and right before the country's big 250th anniversary, the whole thing is a complete disaster. We're talking nasty algae, peeling paint, and dead ducks floating around. Trump and the Department of the Interior are claiming somebody sabotaged it, and now they're putting up fences around the landmark. Between the dead ducks and a federal judge demanding to know why there's a giant tarp covering the Kennedy Center, it’s clear the people in charge can't even keep the capital looking right while regular people are struggling to survive.