Trump keeps creating all these phony crises—an 'invasion' at the border, immigrants in the interior, crime in D.C.—so he can put on a show of force for his white base. He's also declaring fake emergencies on college campuses so he can shake them down, or declaring an economic emergency to impose tariffs. Now, he's looking at a 'quick reaction force' to respond to protests. It's all a naked power grab, and a potential prequel to sending in troops during elections. Plus, Trump wants fabricated eco...
Aug 12, 2025•55 min
Crime is down in D.C., but Trump is using the pretext of an attempted carjacking of "Big Balls," the former 19-year-old DOGE employee, to take over the city's police department and deploy the National Guard. It's a threat to other blue cities, and an ominous sign ahead of 2026 and 2028. Meanwhile, the DOJ has appointed 'a special attorney' and empaneled grand juries to investigate Trump enemies Adam Schiff and Tish James. Plus, it's odd how JD never seems to defend Trump on Epstein, and Putin ha...
Aug 11, 2025•46 min
There's a direct line between when the Democratic Party got nationalized and when it started getting wiped out in red states. Dems need to embrace heterodoxy in their candidates—running in New York City is not the same as running in Nebraska. And the party has to exorcise itself of people like Andrew Cuomo. Plus, the administration has upped the cruelty quotient by denying retirement benefits to longtime trans members of the Air Force, the FBI gets deployed to advance the Republicans redistricti...
Aug 08, 2025•49 min
The United States, through USAID, not only supplied a big chunk of the world's humanitarian aid, it also provided almost all of the logistical support for other aid organizations to deliver relief as well. Now in Sudan, where the state has disintegrated and millions of people are trying to flee anarchy and civil war, virtually no Western organization is there to provide food and shelter. And no American is working on trying to end the conflict. Plus, Tim Cook joins the CEO suck-up to Trump, a to...
Aug 07, 2025•49 min
Gerrymandering has always been partisan, but what's happening in Texas is straight-up racial politics. Republicans are targeting and trying to disenfranchise black voters while betting that Latino voters will stick with them. And because Trump hasn't had a lot of luck making the furor over Epstein and Ghislaine go away, JD is stepping in to host a totally 100% aboveboard damage control session at his house—with the top officials at the DOJ. Plus, the U.S. had almost zero job growth in May and Ju...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Voters in the seven swing states that elected Trump in 2024 thought he'd make the economy better. His perceived strength on the economy is the cornerstone Jenga piece of the whole Trump Tower. And he keeps making the economy worse. Meanwhile, Democratic voters are highly engaged—but just not with the party, whose brand is struggling. Plus, Republicans are still trying to steal the House, and how a stronger, re-imagined local news media can help restore trust in national news. Chuck Todd joins Ti...
Aug 05, 2025•55 min
The boss only wants to hear good news: that's the takeaway from Trump's high-profile firing over the weak job numbers. So if a government worker has something bad to report, they now know they'll have to lie to keep their jobs. And this isn't only about key information on the economy—it's also about hurricane forecasts, intel threats, and potential military mishaps. Meanwhile, the Texas redistricting stand-off is fraying the fabric of our democracy. Plus, Fox's own producers think Jeanine Pirro ...
Aug 04, 2025•57 min
Osborn, the populist independent who ran a surprisingly close campaign for a Senate seat in Nebraska last year, is back for another run in the 2026 midterms. A steamfitter and union member, he says he naturally connects with other workers drawing paychecks who are feeling the squeeze. And he likes to point out that his opponent last time took money from corporate donors; but this time, his opponent is a corporate donor—incumbent Pete Ricketts, one of the wealthiest members of Congress. Plus, the...
Aug 01, 2025•55 min
Texas Republicans are busy gerrymandering their already gerrymandered congressional map, and other red states are looking to do the same—all aimed at blocking the Dems from winning back the House and shielding Donald Trump at all costs. Meanwhile, the DOJ is trying to get state voter rolls and is laying the groundwork for interfering in the midterms. Democrats need to fight fire with fire in blue states. Plus, the cowardice of Big Law, the power politics behind the Emil Bove confirmation, and th...
Jul 31, 2025•50 min
The rise of Elon—and why he is still involved with our government—has everything to do with the dimming of America's one-time crown jewel, NASA. We are now dependent on his rockets and his satellites because Obama and the U.S. government saved SpaceX. Of course, Elon's hypocrisy knows no bounds, because when he had the power, he quickly worked to dismantle the very same government that came to his rescue. The Atlantic 's Franklin Foer explains how NASA engineered its own decline, as well as Elon...
Jul 30, 2025•45 min
Gaza is strewn with rubble, the war's end is nowhere in sight, and an entirely predictable humanitarian disaster is unfolding. With daily reports of starvation and malnutrition, Israel must provide a systematic and orderly distribution of large amounts of aid to stem the crisis—and stave off a Mad Max situation. Meanwhile, our abdication on USAID has led to human suffering elsewhere in the world, and Trump's supporters still seem more preoccupied with trans people in women's sports and a swimmer...
Jul 29, 2025•1 hr 6 min
The man who cavorted with Jeffrey Epstein for 15 years never even bothers to feign empathy for Epstein's victims—even a sociopath would fake it. And neither Trump nor his administration and supporters can get their talking points straight on the scandal: The files are a hoax, but Ghislaine Maxwell is going to name names; she's a horrible person, but the public is supposed to believe her; POTUS denies he went to Epstein's island but it would have been a "privilege" if he had. Meanwhile, Trump is ...
Jul 28, 2025•1 hr 5 min
The deputy attorney general of the United States, who took an oath to help Donald Trump no matter what, is conferring with Jeffrey Epstein's literal partner in crime—a woman who lied about the sex trafficking she orchestrated and participated in. And Ghislaine Maxwell has every motive to exculpate Trump now (and incriminate some other high-profile figure) in return for a pardon or a reduction in her 20-year sentence for sexually exploiting and abusing numerous minor girls, some as young as 14. M...
Jul 25, 2025•58 min
The one thing Mr. Authenticity was supposed to be was the anti-politician: the guy who would supposedly go after the establishment, clean up Washington, and make a booming economy. Now, Trump's acting just like a typical politician trying to cover-up a scandal—and he's vulnerable to a backlash from the manosphere that went all in on him. Meanwhile, he is getting near-Biden polling numbers on the economy, he's trying to make the Fed chair his scapegoat, and he's the best American president the Ch...
Jul 24, 2025•53 min
Mike Johnson is racing to shut the business of the House down to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Trump's own criminal lawyer, who's moonlighting as deputy attorney general, will be minding the matter of Ghislaine Maxwell. And Texas is looking to squeeze out some more House seats to try to protect Trump from having to be held accountable on Epstein. Has any other politician ever acted so guilty? But in this moment, the Dems are finally bringing a gun to a gunfight. And for the midter...
Jul 23, 2025•54 min
Republicans are nullifying bipartisan budget deals and planning a mid-decade redistricting to try to hold the House after the midterms. Trump is methodically working to crush dissent in the media, chill major Dem donors, and shut down the party's online fundraising portal, ActBlue. One political party is breaking all the norms, while the other is trying to stick to them. Sen. Murphy tells Tim that democracies die when the rules change and the opposition refuses to adapt. Meanwhile, Trump's deten...
Jul 22, 2025•46 min
Our government disappeared hundreds of Venezuelans to a hellish Salvadoran prison for 125 days. When Trump's and Stephen Miller's whole CECOT plan even became too much for the dictator who runs El Salvador, Marco Rubio helped orchestrate a political win for Venezuela's strongman, Nicolas Maduro—who gets to look like a white knight in the hostage exchange. Meanwhile, the administration still has not recovered from its rake-step claim that there was no Epstein list. Did Bondi release her memo beca...
Jul 21, 2025•49 min
If anyone in America was still thinking that Trump's ties to Epstein were a nothingburger, Trump’s own behavior this week has probably disabused them of that notion. His panicking and flailing around sure seem exactly like how a guilty man would act. And the sudden firing of Jim Comey's daughter, Maurene—who worked on the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases at the DOJ—isn't helping to tamp down the conspiracy theorizing. Meanwhile, Tulsi and Kash are trying to ferret out the unfaithful, and ther...
Jul 18, 2025•1 hr 3 min
While the Trump administration is doubling down on fossil fuels, China is annihilating us in the clean energy space. Right now, 75% of all renewable projects anywhere in the world are being built by a Chinese company. China is dominating the green energy supply chain with solar panels and batteries, and its electric car can charge in five minutes. The U.S. may be betting on AI, but that build-out needs cheap, fast energy—like wind or solar. We may have thought modernity was a Western story, but ...
Jul 17, 2025•1 hr 8 min
In addition to eviscerating the top leadership at the Bureau, Kash Patel has assigned whole squads of agents to immigration enforcement. Seasoned FBI veterans who used to focus on national security or run RICO investigations are now doing perimeter security during ICE round-ups of kids and grandmas. The administration's purge is draining the Bureau of expertise and apolitical people who did real work defending the rule of law and protecting the country. Plus, do four GOP senators care one iota a...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 6 min
The majority of elected Democrats would prefer to talk only about policy, but that's not enough for today's freewheeling new media environment. It's way past time for Dems to figure out how to shoot the sh*t—and stop being the kids at the front of the class who don't know how to talk to the ones in the back. And when it comes to Epstein, Trump & co were either lying about the pedophiles back then, or they're lying now to protect themselves. Plus, make the Republicans own all the healthcare c...
Jul 15, 2025•1 hr 2 min
With the Epstein case, the conspirator-in-chief has finally found a hoax that MAGA isn't buying—and he's risking his credibility among his newer supporters in the manosphere by continuing to hawk it. Meanwhile, Trump may have figured out that Putin has not been nice to him. Plus, troops are still in Los Angeles, immigration laws meant for the border are being applied to gardeners and farmworkers in the country's interior, and there's a big serving of fascism that goes with all the clownishness. ...
Jul 14, 2025•57 min
Republicans are creating, and celebrating, an immigration police state financed by their megabill. Our cities will be militarized, we'll have prison camps, more masked agents, and more dehumanization—like their sicko alligator hats. And the motivation all seems to be so Trump has a win and the Dems don't. But this is Stephen Miller's administration now. Expect net zero migration, less tourism, less international business, and a lower GDP. As we head into Independence Day, it's hard to see the Je...
Jul 03, 2025•53 min
Trump has moved public opinion against his own immigration policy platform by sending masked agents out to nab people off the street. So, Democrats should skip the last war, and instead push for laws requiring ICE agents to show their faces and wear their names on their badge. And another no-brainer for the midterms, in light of the Big Ugly Bill: they should also grab the green eyeshades and talk up the dangers from the debt and deficit. Plus, the electoral calculations behind slashing Medicaid...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Ever the journalist, E. Jean took assiduous notes about her two civil suits against Donald Trump, the only occasions he has been held liable for his lies since he became president. And while the origin story of her cases is situated in an infamous department store dressing room, she managed to find a high comedy in the courtroom—her description of Alina Habba is one for the ages. Plus, as the reconciliation bill was moving toward final passage in the Senate, Sarah and Tim discussed the preposter...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Thom Tillis finally showed some backbone and opposed Trump—because of the giant Medicaid cuts in the Big Fugly Bill—but now he has to self-deport from the Senate. Meanwhile, the bill funds a giant internal police force for Trump, and gives a handout to the Dr. Strangeloves of Silicon Valley who don't want AI regulated. It would also cripple wind and solar energy, which even the ex-shadow president says is insane and destructive. Plus, ICE's racial and ethnic targeting, the plutocrats are the big...
Jun 30, 2025•54 min
A miracle food paste that fights malnutrition in children, that taxpayers have already paid for, is collecting dust in warehouses. Donated drugs for parasitic infections remain undistributed and are nearing their expiration dates. American-purchased ambulances sit idle because they have no gas. USAID was shut down in the name of government efficiency, but instead, we've spent at least $6 billion to dismantle it—and we've killed a lot of kids in the process, despite what Elon and Marco Rubio say....
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Trump was so awestruck by Israel's intel infiltration and air supremacy over Iran that he just had to give himself an executive producer credit. And he's casting his appointees to help create a Hollywood ending—including using his Val Kilmer-esque SecDef to spike the success of the long-teased, "secret" military operation. At the same time, Trump is having trouble leveraging the intelligence community's confirmation of what happened in Iran since he's spent a decade undermining its credibility a...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 11 min
A DSA candidate winning a Democratic primary in New York City is not an ideal laboratory for other Dems to draw lessons from, but Mamdani sounded authentic, he successfully juggled our fragmented media environment, and he had the right message for this cost-of-living moment—as well as the proper amount of party heresy for this anti-establishment age. Meanwhile, the Republican tax and budget bill is shockingly out of step with the affordability crisis we are living through. Plus, the dangers of t...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 5 min
While Trump and his administration are the ones politicizing the rule of the law, ignoring due process, and annihilating democratic norms, it's Republicans leaders saying and doing nothing in response that poses a bigger threat to our country and democracy. Meanwhile, when it comes to the Middle East, we don't know who Trump is talking to—or listening to. Plus, when Bush 43, McCain, and Jeb pushed for immigration reform, the romantic idealism of Aaron Sorkin, and the sounds of kids and dogs. (An...
Jun 24, 2025•54 min
