The fate of dozens of Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to a maximum security prison in El Salvador remains in doubt. So does the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who administration officials admit was removed in error, even as they refuse to return him to the United States. The Supreme Court just issued rulings on these cases, putting a hold on a lower court’s order to reverse Abrego Garcia’s removal, and allowing the deportations of Venezuelans to resume for now. In that second one...
Apr 09, 2025•22 min
As the chaos grows around President Trump’s tariffs, the Mad King is now raging wildly in many directions. He erupted over China’s reciprocal tariffs, threatening dark retribution. He exploded at Republicans, because a handful of them are now moving to reign in his power, which he’s not taking well. Faced with this turmoil, Trump insists the tariffs are already getting results. But the arguments don’t add up. Between this and the cracks now showing in GOP support for him, it’s clear that this wi...
Apr 08, 2025•24 min
President Donald Trump has more support in rural America than any U.S. politician in decades, and farmers remain overwhelmingly loyal to him. Yet with Trump’s tariffs unleashing a trade war and China striking back with retaliatory tariffs, farmers and their representatives have declared again and again and again that this will be absolutely brutal for them. As one put it, if farmers don’t get a government bailout, they will face “a disaster.” Another says farmers are “shocked.” Meanwhile, nearly...
Apr 07, 2025•22 min
After President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from all over the globe, prompting the markets to implode, he took a question about it on Thursday. He ranted and rambled delusionally about how everything is just great, bizarrely likened the country to a patient that had just undergone surgery without grasping why his metaphor is the opposite of reassuring, and spouted more nonsense about money pouring into our country. On top of all that, his imposition of the tariffs is likely an enor...
Apr 04, 2025•22 min
After Democrats scored a huge victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, a contest that revolved heavily around Elon Musk’s involvement, Trumpworld is turning on their favorite billionaire. In a striking turn of events, Politico reports that Trump has informed members of his inner circle that Musk will soon be moving on from his multi-faceted role. What’s more, as Musk’s departure looms, White House loyalists and outside allies are now dishing that they view Musk as unpredictable and a major p...
Apr 03, 2025•23 min
By now you may have heard that the Trump administration deported a Maryland man to a Salvadoran prison in “error.” The administration is refusing to bring him back, and this case has extremely dark implications. JD Vance and press secretary Karoline Leavitt both mounted defenses of this that were both weirdly angry, and quickly went off the rails. Meanwhile, MAGA-friendly media have gone into justificatory overdrive. Here’s the real story: They’re all fine with “accidental” deportations, because...
Apr 02, 2025•24 min
President Donald Trump is set to announce that he’ll impose sweeping new global tariffs on imports, and Congressional Republicans are already scrambling wildly to try to shield their states and districts from the fallout. Meanwhile, a Fox News poll finds that Trump is sliding on the economy, with the public turning against tariffs in particular. And an Associated Press survey also has terrible news for Trump on this front. Notably, all these negative consequences kicked in well before the tariff...
Apr 01, 2025•20 min
President Donald Trump’s own allies are beginning to turn on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Politico reports. White House and Pentagon insiders are increasingly questioning Hegseth’s judgment, and see him as the culprit in the disastrous news that Trump’s top advisers discussed war plans in an insecure chat. Yet there’s little indication that Trumpworld is ready for the next Hegseth fiasco, even as Trump allies clearly are bracing for his tenure to get worse. We talked to Jennifer Rubin, co-fou...
Mar 31, 2025•28 min
By now you may have heard that President Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a foreign student at Tufts under shocking circumstances, for an unnervingly thin rationale. This is only the latest in an escalating trend, in which numerous students are being targeted for removal based in many cases on what appear to be their political associations and viewpoints. In a stunning turn on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated straight out that the administration is hopin...
Mar 28, 2025•18 min
It’s day three of the scandal in which President Trump’s top advisers accidentally allowed a journalist for The Atlantic onto a highly sensitive discussion of a military operation. The latest: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered an incredibly weak defense of this travesty. Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg revealed most of the text chain, which contained lots of operational detail. And Trump is reportedly frustrated over this story, and his top allies are deeply exasperated by his team’s h...
Mar 27, 2025•26 min
As the scandal worsens around the news that President Trump’s top national security officials allowed a journalist onto a highly sensitive text chat about war plans, Fox News figures are wildly denying that anything is amiss. Yet under questioning from Senate Democrats, numerous senior administration figures all but admitted that something deeply amiss really had happened, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard turning in the most disastrous performance. We talked to Rosa Brooks, a...
Mar 26, 2025•25 min
By now you may have heard that President Trump’s top officials discussed war plans on Signal, and that the group chat actually included Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic. After Goldberg published his explosive findings, Democrats called for an investigation, and even the occasional Republican weighed in. But when Trump himself was asked about this, he claimed not to know anything about it. What struck us is what Trump didn’t say: he failed to say that he’s going to get to the bottom of this mess,...
Mar 25, 2025•21 min
Faced with President Trump’s shakedown, the Paul Weiss law firm agreed to a “deal” with Trump that sure looks like a ransom payment. Trump then told reporters that firms like these have the option to make similar “deals” to avoid getting targeted—a straight-up extortion threat right in public. We keep hearing that voters don’t care about this kind of thing. But the White House’s top political adviser is warning that Democratic anger could be a big problem in the midterms—and Trump’s lawlessness ...
Mar 24, 2025•25 min
President Trump is furious with a federal judge who is trying to block his ludicrous deportations of migrants under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. Trump and his allies are demanding the judge’s impeachment. But this has Republicans privately in a big panic. They know they won’t have the votes to impeach the judge, and they dread Trump’s escalating pressure. Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that the Trump administration has violated the judge’s order. And Trump’s attorney general suggested on Fox New...
Mar 21, 2025•20 min
It’s growing harder to shrug off President Trump’s deranged threats toward Canada. In a new Fox News interview, Trump snarled angrily that Canada is “meant” to be a 51st state, explicitly speaking the language of imperialism. Meanwhile, Trump is adopting a very credulous line toward Vladimir Putin in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks. This comes as a surprising new poll shows that American opinion is shifting against a soft line on Russia, even as other polling shows public rejection of Trump’s ant...
Mar 20, 2025•26 min
Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo has suddenly emerged as a leading voice sounding loud alarms about President Trump’s tariffs and the devastating impact they could have on the economy—even though she works for a MAGA propaganda network. On Tuesday, Bartiromo lost patience with a Trump official, and walked through all the reasons why business leaders are unhappy with Trump’s tariff threats. Other Fox personalities have followed suit. Meanwhile, a new NBC poll finds terrible numbers for Trump on the eco...
Mar 19, 2025•27 min
President Trump’s lawlessness is escalating. First he angrily tweeted that his predecessor’s pardons of January 6 committee members are invalid, while threatening to prosecute them. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to have violated a court order in deporting some Venezuelans. And his border czar flatly declared that the administration is set to ignore what judges say. At Monday’s briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt spun madly about all this, but her lack of clarity strongly hin...
Mar 18, 2025•26 min
President Trump’s anger at Canada has darkened: He’s kept up the menacing threats even after it’s become clear Canadians take them seriously. Indeed, Canada’s foreign minister just openly declared that Canadians are “anxious.” Meanwhile, even some Republicans are growing unnerved. Some tell NBC News he appears deadly serious—and that they’re flummoxed by his failure to explain what he really wants from our ally. We keep hearing Americans don’t care about such things. But what if that’s wrong? We...
Mar 17, 2025•24 min
Elon Musk is suddenly facing lots of bad news. A judge just ordered the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal workers in their jobs, a big blow to Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Meanwhile, two new polls show approval of Musk cratering—and importantly, that large majorities are turning against Musk’s mission of gutting the government. What if the mobilization against Musk and Tesla is working? We talked to writer Paul Waldman, who has a good new piece on hi...
Mar 14, 2025•24 min
At a presser on Wednesday, President Donald Trump seemed unusually angry. He ripped into Chuck Schumer, calling him Palestinian. He seethed with anger at Canada, and taunted the Canadians over his tariff threats. And he snapped at three different reporters. All this comes as a new CNN poll finds Trump’s approval deeper underwater amid very broad public rejection of his tariffs. Trump is trapped in an unusual dynamic: He’s clearly taking a beating over his tariff threats right now. But he’s also ...
Mar 13, 2025•25 min
The Trump administration just arrested and is moving to deport Mahmoud Khalil for being a suspected terrorist sympathizer, even though he has a green card and a U.S. citizen wife. And at Tuesday’s media briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dropped an ominous hint, suggesting that this effort is only just beginning. She even suggested pressure on universities to hand over such students is about to intensify in a big way. Meanwhile, Trump is planning to require all noncitizens ag...
Mar 12, 2025•26 min
President Trump is on the defensive. The Dow fell nearly 1,000 points after Trump admitted that couldn’t rule out a recession. This comes after more turmoil in the markets stemming from his erratic flip flops on tariffs. Meanwhile, Trump’s agency heads are raging at Elon Musk over the cuts he’s inflicting on their agencies. The opposition has awakened: House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is whipping opposition to the continuing resolution temporarily funding the government. But will Senate D...
Mar 11, 2025•27 min
The rift between Elon Musk and Republicans is about to get worse. The New York Times reports that in an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, President Trump’s senior agency heads fought bitterly with Musk. They are angry with him because they themselves know the cuts by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency will produce all kinds of fiascoes at their agencies. Tellingly, they expressly don’t want to take the blame for what Musk is unleashing! We talked to New Republic staff writer Kate...
Mar 10, 2025•22 min
As President Trump’s administration gears up to cut Social Security, The Washington Post reports that a top official at the Social Security Administration privately admitted that Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is in charge of the cutting. The official also allowed that DOGE will “make mistakes.” Cuts to Social Security historically face major political blowback. So do Trump’s political team and the GOP really believe turning over Social Security to Musk’s marauders is a goo...
Mar 07, 2025•24 min
In his speech to Congress, President Trump kept lying about his tariffs, falsely claiming that Canada is letting huge amounts of fentanyl into our country and suggesting the trade wars will only get worse. Then press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters directly that if Canada wants to avoid tariffs in the future, it should become the 51st U.S. state. She said it: Trump’s tariffs are really about getting Canada to submit to his will. Newsflash: It’s not okay for the American president to li...
Mar 06, 2025•21 min
After President Donald Trump’s tariffs went into effect, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau offered an extraordinary, heartfelt plea to the American people. He said: “Your government has chosen to do this, to you.” This comes as anxiety is rising among Republicans about the tariffs. Yet even as they’re expressing trepidation, they’re also feeling forced to keep defending the tariffs, because criticizing Trump is a death sentence. We talked to columnist EJ Dionne, author of a new piece illust...
Mar 05, 2025•24 min
On Monday, while President Trump talked about his tariffs, Fox News showed him speaking even as a graphic in the corner displayed the markets sliding. That said it all: No matter how much boasting he does about the economy, the actual metrics are getting worse—and the public knows it. Trump is launching new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and he just announced more tariffs on agricultural products, which could hurt farmers. Meanwhile, new polls from Marist and CNN show his approval under water, in...
Mar 04, 2025•27 min
After President Trump and JD Vance ambushed Ukrainian president Zelensky in the Oval Office, one GOP Senator stepped up. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska decried Trump not just for his appalling treatment of Zelensky, but also for realigning the US with the rising forces of Putinism around the world. Meanwhile, European leaders are set to negotiate a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, which could pressure Trump-Vance to show what they really want the war’s outcome to look like. We talked to Yale professor Lauren...
Mar 03, 2025•17 min
President Trump looks increasingly vulnerable on the very thing that helped him win the election: Rising costs. On Thursday, Trump announced that his tariffs on Mexico and Canada will begin on March 4th. Yet only hours later, a new Bloomberg poll found that 59 percent expect the tariffs to drive up prices further. Only 31 percent say they’ll be good for the economy. Meanwhile, Republicans are starting to cancel their town halls, fearing voter blowback over Elon Musk’s rampage. We talked to Andre...
Feb 28, 2025•24 min
In Texas, an unvaccinated child just died of Measels—the first reported death related to the disease’s recent outbreak. This came up at President Trump’s cabinet meeting on Wednesday, and the results were troubling. After Elon Musk admitted that his cuts had briefly closed down Ebola prevention, anti-vax Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. was surprisingly cavalier about the outbreak, and didn’t bother urging Americans to get vaccinated. Trump said nothing to reassure the na...
Feb 27, 2025•25 min
